If the productions this year are all about creativity and taking you to places outside of the everyday, then you’re in for a real treat. Without further ado, let’s dive in!
At the La Jolla Playhouse Campus
3 Summers of Lincoln
February 18th - April 6th, 2025 | Mandell Weiss Theatre | World Premiere
I’ll start with a little bit of a bonus performance to get us started. While officially part of the 2024 / 2025 season, there’s still time to see 3 Summers of Lincoln which has been extended until April 6, 2025!
This is the true story of the friendship and respect between Fredrick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.
The sixth production from Joe DiPietro and Christopher Ashley, this new musical focuses on the three meetings Douglas and Lincoln shared to discuss their vision for the future of the country.
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
May - June, 2025 | Mandell Weiss Theatre | A Broadway Hit
The 2025 / 2026 season will get off to an incredible start when the Broadway Hit Jaja’s African Hair Braiding which arrives in May, a play by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Whitney White.
Direct from Broadway, you’ll be taken to a West African hair braiding shop in Harlem where you’ll get to witness the friendships, hardships and challenges of an incredible group of women.
Dreams will be explored, love will grow and friendships will be shaken. When the heat gets turned up, these close friends will explore what it means to feel like outsiders in their hometown.
There’s drama combined with witty comedy that comes together to entertain, which to me is what going to the theater is all about!
Indian Princesses
June - July, 2025 | Mandell Weiss Forum | World Premiere Play
The Indian Princesses by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez and directed by Miranda Cornell is the story of five girls, their father and growing up. That’s all I personally need to hear to know this world premiere play will be very entertaining!
Based on a real-life father-daughter YMCA program the writer Eliana was part of as a kid, you can expect a journey through emotions from happiness to confusion centered around friendships, struggles, challenges, financial hardships and not being seen for who you are as a person.
The story is deep, funny and heart-felt as it explores the magical mess that is growing up! I think you’ll enjoy the conversations that connect and the power of love as the journey ensues.
The Heart
August - September, 2025 | Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre | World Premiere Musical
Based on the gripping novel "Réparer les Vivants" by Maylis de Kerangal and directed by our very own Christopher Ashley, this world premiere musical is an emotional rollercoaster based around 24 suspenseful hours in San Diego.
When a young surfer’s life ends too soon, it means a second chance for a terminally ill woman. The musical follows the heart on its way to saving a life and all those that it touches in the process.
As a musical, you can expect energetic music that is unique with a feel of electronic sounds you just have to experience for yourself.
All the Men Who’ve Frightened Me
September - October, 2025 | Mandell Weiss Forum | World Premiere Play
All the Men Who’ve Frightened Me by Noah Diaz and directed by Kat Yen is a multidimensional drama full of creative ways of thinking and very funny humor.
This wildly unexpected story follows Ty and Nora as they look to start a family. When Nora finds out she is unable to carry their baby, Ty, a trans man steps in to save the day. But the story gets even more tricky when three strange men from Ty’s past begin showing up in his new home.
This play is dramatic and funny and for me, an opportunity to step away from my every day and be entertained!
Working Girl
October - December, 2025 | Mandell Weiss Theatre | World Premiere Musical
The next performance set to arrive during the La Jolla Playhouse’s 2025 / 2026 season is Working Girl, a world-premiere musical based on the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Picture written by Kevin Wade and directed by San Diego’s Tony Award-winner Christopher Ashley.
Working Girl is the story of an ambitious Staten Island secretary with big ideas that makes bold moves and takes big chances to make her dreams come true. With help from friends and a charismatic businessman, she has no time to waste.
A very funny adaptation of the iconic 1988 film, the story is the ultimate feel good adventure as a seemingly normal girl embarks on a journey that is anything but average!
The Recipe
February - March, 2026 | Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre | World Premiere Play
The final performance on the official 2025 / 2026 La Jolla Playhouse calendar will be The Recipe, written by two-time Tony nominated Claudia Shear and directed by two-time Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson.
Another world premiere play, this one follows Julia Child during her early years well before she was a famous TV chef. I know enough about Julia Child from movies like Julie and Julia and just having a personal interest in cooking and celebrity chefs to know that the story alone should be funny and entertaining.
Starting in Pasadena California, Julia will find her way through fear, confusion and failures to strength and success. Often without much of a plan, Julia was surely driven and the play will follow her journey against all the odds and doubts as she makes her way to Paris’s Cordon Bleu on her way to becoming one of the most famous chefs of all time!
I haven’t seen it yet but I’m excited for this one to arrive in February 2026!