A harrowing rescue mission in Nazi Germany, an unsung female codebreaker, and a three-play cycle reckoning with Christian nationalism: All of these subjects are on the table and, come next season, onstage at Florida Atlantic’s Studio One Theatre, as part of Theatre Lab at FAU’s 2026-2027 slate of premiere plays.
Building anticipation for the season, the Boca Raton-based professional theater company unveiled its shows one at a time over the past three weeks, culminating yesterday. It begins with a production that literally ties the season together with last year’s work.
On Dec. 5-20, the theater will produce VIRGINIA, the last of Joanna Castle Miller’s “Bad Faith Trilogy.” If the playwright’s name sounds familiar to Theatre Lab attendees, it’s because the company mounted the first two shows of the trilogy, CONVERSA and INFERNA, last season. In VIRGINIA, the protagonist—who, like those in the first two shows, takes Miller’s name—is the daughter of a candidate who runs for president in 2016 on a far-right third party. Joanna’s therapeutic response is to write a comedy show about it. Like the other plays in the trilogy, VIRGINIAgrapples with issues of faith, identity, and the dangers of Christian nationalism.
While each show works as a self-contained play, Theatre Lab will revisit the first two shows in reimagined productions during the premiere of VIRGINIA, producing all three in repertory and allowing audiences to grasp the full scope of the playwright’s vision.
The season continues Jan. 23-Feb. 7, 2027 with Sheltered, the company’s third collaboration with playwright Alix Sobler, following 2020’s The Glass Piano and 2023’s Last Night in Inwood. Inspired by real events, it follows the brave and dangerous mission of Evelyn and Leonard Kirsch, a Jewish-American couple who traveled to Nazi-occupied Europe in 1939 in an attempt to exfiltrate some 40 children out of the country and into safety. Facing challenges both personal and political, this exploration of courage in the face of a global evil makes its Florida premiere at Theatre Lab following successful runs elsewhere.
Theatre Lab concludes its season April 10-25, 2027 with Ken Weitzman’s Recognition, which captures the life of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, who has become known as “America’s first female cryptanalyst.” For this budding talent, a study of the relationship between Sir Francis Bacon and Shakespeare’s sonnets would lead to a career breaking codes during both of the World Wars as well as Prohibition-era smuggling crimes. While cryptography giants like Alan Turing have been recognized for decades for their groundbreaking work, Friedman’s contribution to the war efforts did not surface until the mid-2010s. In this world-premiere play, Weitzman, who also conceived Theatre Lab’s nontraditional theatrical experience The Happiness Gym, will explore why.
Existing Theatre Lab subscribers may now purchase early-access tickets to the season. Season tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning July 1, with individual show tickets available Aug. 1, all at fauevents.com or 561/297-6124.
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