2025-26 Season
2025-26 Season
Join us for our 18th season, the second in our new home in Round Rock!
2025-26 season memberships are available for purchase now.
Penfold Theatre Company’s 2025-26 Season
Sept. 12-Sept. 28, 2025
Penfold’s 18th season kicks off September 12, 2025, with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a Tony Award-winning musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin. The show, described by The Washington Post as “a loony lollipop of a musical,” runs through September 28, 2025, and shares the stories of a group of high-achieving young students (comically portrayed by adult actors) contending for a spelling bee championship that represents more than just a local title: it’s a chance to prove themselves worthy of their parents’ approval. This hilarious musical has a heart for all those who’ve felt they have to be the best just to be good enough.
Dec. 12-28, 2025
For the holidays, Penfold is excited to present A Tuna Christmas, written by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, and Jaston Williams, with a unique production in which the two lead actors, comprising the entire cast of twenty-two characters, will be women. (Traditionally, A Tuna Christmas is performed by two men.) The hilarious show satirizes the fictional small town of Tuna, Texas, where the holiday traditions of eccentric neighbors are upended by the shenanigans of a Christmas phantom. The production will be directed by Kate Meehan, founder of Austin’s award-winning commedia dell’arte troupe La Fenice. This zany comedy runs December 12-28, 2025.
Feb. 27-Mar. 15, 2026
In the spring, Penfold will present Wild Horses, a one-woman play written by Alison Gregory and performed by Jennifer Coy Jennings. Wild Horses is a dark comedy about adolescent firsts and self-liberation, related through a tapestry of summertime tales woven with a soundtrack of hits from the 1970s. The show was previously performed by Jennings in The Pony Shed at The VORTEX, and Penfold looks forward to welcoming this solo tour-de-force to Round Rock from February 27-March 15, 2026.
June 5-21, 2026
The final show of the season will be a revival of Vincent, written by Leonard Nimoy (best known as Mr. Spock on Star Trek), which played to rave reviews in its first Penfold production in 2023. Co-Founders Ryan Crowder and Nathan Jerkins will again alternate performances in the solo role of Theo, the brother of Vincent van Gogh, reprising the portrayals that earned them The Austin Chronicle’s Best of Austin Critic’s Pick for Best Two Men in a One-Man Show. Accompanied by slides of van Gogh’s work, the play is a dramatization of letters exchanged between brothers and explores the development of an unconventional yet brilliant artist. Vincent runs June 5-21, 2026.
Theatre for Young Audiences
Oct. 25-26, 2025
In addition to the four mainstage shows, Penfold will present a theatre production for young audiences. The Día de los Muertos-inspired Rosita y Conchita, originally created by the Austin Scottish Rite Theater, runs October 18-28, 2026. The Penfold production adds choreography by Round Rock Ballet Folklorico. This beautiful piece combines music, dance, folklore and humor to convey the comforting message that our loved ones who have passed on stay with us in our hearts and memories.