Theatre Woodstock’s 2026/2027 role includes three new musicals

(Left to right) Alicia Suavé, Rusty the Puppet, and James Callaghan announcing that Avenue Q will be Theatre Woodstock’s winter musical for the 2026/2027 season. (Emily Stewart Photo)

Emily Stewart, Echo Correspondent

The 80th season of Theatre Woodstock will feature more musical productions than ever before.

The organization announced its upcoming season on April 1 at the Market Centre Stage.

"It's our 80th anniversary season, so we're very excited for the shows that we're going to be putting on,” said Emil Wijnker, president of Theatre Woodstock. “We've taken some risks this year, which is a great step for our organization."

The season will kick off with Dracula: The Chamber Musical from Oct.16 to 25. A Christmas Story, the beloved Christmas movie about a young boy named Ralphie who wants nothing more than a BB gun for Christmas, will take the stage from Nov. 27 to Dec. 6.

The Tony award-winning musical Avenue Q, a parody of Sesame Street with mature themes that are absolutely unsuitable for children, is set for Feb.18 to 29, 2027.

“It's a bit of a riskier production for us to take on as a small community theatre, but we're very confident that our patron base is ready for it and we're very excited to bring a Tony-award winning musical for Best Musical to Woodstock,” Wijnker said.

Strangers Among Us, a love story between two patients with Alzheimer’s disease, will run from April 2 to 11 of next year. The play was supposed to be presented in 2020 but was cancelled due to worldwide COVID-19 restrictions which included putting a pause on live theatre.

The 2026/2027 season will conclude with the Senior STAGES production of the Mean Girls musical from May 7 to 16.

Families with young ones in theatre also have some shows to look forward to. Theatre Woodstock also announced their STAGES programming for the year, beginning with their summer camp production of Madagascar: A Musical Adventure.

The fall STAGES session will have Disney’s Frozen: Kids and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe with performances between Jan. 24 and 27, 2027. The spring session will end with Treasure Island and Oliver! Jr. performances from June 11 to 13 of next year.

Throughout the roll out, members of Theatre Woodstock talked about all the ways to get involved with the community theatre group both on stage and backstage.

"We're always looking for people to join our volunteer ranks, whether it's on stage you can audition to be one of our performers but also behind the scenes or backstage. We're always looking for assistant stage managers, technical operators, technical designers or even people helping behind the scenes with production; sewing, costumes, props creation, props assembly,” Wijnker said. “There’s always something to do. If you want to become involved with theatre, there's certainly a job for you to be found in one of our shows."

Wijnker added Woodstock will host the Western Ontario Drama League (WODL) from May 18 to 24 of 2027 on the Victoria Day long weekend.

The evening also featured performances from Into the Woods JR., Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Addams Family Musical.

Theatre Woodstock will present 39 Steps from April 17 to 26 and STAGES The Addams Family from May 22 to 31.

Packages are available now for the 2026/2027 season, where subscribers can pay $100 for five shows. More information can be found online by visiting www.theatrewoodstock.com.