Santa Cruz Shakespeare Announces 2026 Season Expansion
Five Summer and Fall Productions Connected by Theme of “Till Death Do Us Part”; A Christmas Carol Returns for Winter Production
August 26, 2025– SANTA CRUZ, CA— Santa Cruz Shakespeare (SCS), celebrating 12 years as a nationally recognized non-profit professional repertory theater company with history in Santa Cruz County going back more than 40 years, has announced its lineup of six productions for its 2026 season, expanding from its 2025 season to include a second fall show. Performances will take place July 12 to Oct. 4 in the Audrey Stanley Grove (The Grove) in Santa Cruz’s DeLaveaga Park, with the holiday production of A Christmas Carol taking place in Nov. and Dec. at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall in downtown Santa Cruz.
The productions of the 2026 season include:
- Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- Fences by August Wilson
- Private Lives by Noel Coward
- The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“Hot on the heels of our most successful season ever, I am excited to build on our incredible accomplishments and continue the expansion that has made them possible,” said Charles Pasternak, SCS artistic director. “In 2026, we will further expand the fall into with a rotating repertory of two shows, which extends our summer and fall season to five shows. Add to that our production of A Christmas Carol, which will return for a third year in 2026, and we have doubled the number of shows we produce in only three years. It is a miraculous accomplishment, made possible by the enthusiasm and generous support of this incredible community.”
The 2026 Season will also include SCS’s Fringe Series, including two staged readings and two performances of the apprentice show. Titles and dates to be announced later.
The theme for 2026 summer and fall productions is Till Death Do Us Part, in which all productions take a deeper and more intimate look at partnerships and marriage.
About the Summer 2026 Productions:
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Charles Pasternak
One of Shakespeare’s wittiest and most beloved comedies, the 2026 season will open with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Of all the couples in Shakespeare, perhaps none is more widely loved than Beatrice and Benedict. Their battle of wits; their antagonism turned to eroticism; their history. Before the play begins, they already seem to define each other. The audience, like the other characters in the play, wait with excitement as their wits clash, and eventually, as their love blossoms.
Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Paul Mullins
Dark, bloody, brutal, and magnificent, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one of the greatest plays ever written. Its central couple, ironically, is one of Shakespeare’s happiest. At least at the beginning. Where Much Ado shows us the coming together of antagonists, Macbeth explores what we become when our second half is ripped away. A powerful unit, wildly in love with each other, the Macbeths follow the insinuations of the witches – the famous weird sisters – and commit murder in the name of their shared ambition: the throne of Scotland. But even with their goal achieved, Macbeth’s paranoia and guilt lead him further down the road of blood. The central unit tears apart under the shadow of its deeds. Who are these two without each other? Slowly and surely, the play shows us society’s ruin in the form of its leading pair.
Macbeth will star Dan Donahue in the title role and Paige Lindsey White as Lady Macbeth.
Fences
By August Wilson
Directed by Susan Dalian
August Wilson joins the Santa Cruz Shakespeare stage for the first time in 45 years. Fences is the perfect offering, wonderfully in line with the season’s theme: Till Death Do Us Part. Troy Maxson is one of Wilson’s great creations; Shakespearean in scope; a wordsmith and brilliant storyteller. He has survived the terrible trauma of his past and built himself a good life. But the backbone of that life, the spine that keeps it standing strong, is his wife Rose. Like all of Wilson’s best work, Fences is both mythic and intimate; the questions it asks both human and eternal.
About the Fall 2026 Productions:
Private Lives
By Noel Coward
Directed by Laura Gordon
If you think Beatrice and Benedict go at it in Much Ado, wait until you see Amanda and Elyot. Both on honeymoons with new spouses, having violently divorced years before, Amanda and Elyot discover each other sharing adjoining balconies in the same hotel. Well, one thing leads to another, and… sometimes the line between love and hate is so thin. In Noel Coward’s masterpiece, we witness two selfish, passionate, egotistical, madly in love people drive each other absolutely crazy. How can they possibly survive together? But more importantly, perhaps, how can they survive apart? With Coward’s searing wit, you’ll laugh until you cry while they scream until they kiss. And vice versa.
Private Lives will star Charles Pasternak as Elyot and Paige Lindsey White as Amanda.
The Last Five Years
By Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Laura Gordon
Music Direction by Luke Shepherd
Coming full circle on the theme, Till Death Do Us Part, Brown’s gorgeous musical looks at the beginning and ending of a relationship through the eyes of Cathy and Jamie. In rotating songs, Cathy’s journey moves backward through the relationship, while Jamie’s moves forward. Through beautiful music and clever, moving lyrics, Brown looks deeply at the sacrifices we make, how we come to define each other, and what it costs to let it go.
Tickets go on sale to members in April 2026 and the public on May 1, 2026.
For more information, visit santacruzshakespeare.org.
About Santa Cruz Shakespeare Membership
Become an annual member of SCS to support the entire 2025 season and ShakesEDU. SCS memberships range from $50-$10,000 with tiered benefits including pre-sales, ticket discounts, early admission, free parking, free food and drink, cushioned seats, and other benefits. For those under 25 years old, join the Hathaway Club and receive one half price regular ticket to any three shows. Learn more: https://santacruzshakespeare.org/member/.
About Santa Cruz Shakespeare
Featuring professional actors from around the country and inspired by deep local roots that go back more than 40 years, Santa Cruz Shakespeare stages bold productions of the plays of Shakespeare and other great playwrights that stimulate audiences’ senses and spark their imagination. Learn more at santacruzshakespeare.org, Facebook and Instagram.
