Lincoln Center Theatre Announces 2025-2026 Season

Lincoln Center Theater’s 2025-2026 season is set — and stacked. Kara Young and Kerry Washington will take the stage in a series of monologues written by Whoopi Goldberg as part of Lincoln Center Theater’s 2025-2026 season. The season marks the first full for new artistic director Lear deBessonet, who directed this season’s Once Upon a Mattress and the hit Into the Woods revival at New York City Center.  

‍The Whoopi Monologues, directed by Whitney White, begins previews Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on July 7, 2026, with opening night set for July 14, 2026. Young and Washington will lead an ensemble of five women in bringing back iconic characters from Goldberg’s 1984 one-woman show. 

On Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, deBessonet will direct Ragtime, based on the 1975 novel of the same name with a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Ragtime will star Caissie Levy, Joshua Henry, Brandon Uranowitz, and Shaina Taub. The production begins previews on Sept. 26, 2025 and opens on Oct. 16. 

The season will also feature Kyoto, a new play written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The play, which begins previews on Oct. 8, 2025 and opens Nov. 3, 2025, about the 1997 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where American oil lobbyist Don Pearlman stood in the way of an agreement. 

For the holidays, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning opera star Joyce DiNotano will star in the family opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. It marks the first seasonal family offering in Lincoln Center Theater history, and will be presented in association with the Metropolitan Opera. The production will run from Dec. 16 to Jan. 4, 2026 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. 

At the Claire Tow Theater, screen’s Jenny Slate will take the stage in The Comedy Series, LCT3 and Seaview will come together to present a night of standup-meets-storytelling. It will begin performances in October, 2025. 

‍Night Side Songs, a folk musical about how song heals us and empowers the human spirit, will begin performances at the Claire Tow Theater on Feb. 14, 2026, with opening night set for March 2, 2026. 

On May 16, 2026, A Woman Among Women will begin previews, with opening set for June 1, 2026. The play tells the story of a founder of a women’s wellness center who holds court in her backyard, threatening to destroy the community she’s worked hard to build as her family and friends pass through. 

Additionally, LTC will present a new reading series, where six playwrights will bring a one-night-only staged reading to the Lincoln Center stage. The dates for the readings will be announced. 

“I am honored to welcome these beautiful artists to Lincoln Center Theater, and to roll out the red carpet for audiences next year in my first season as Artistic Director,” deBessonet said in a statement. “The richness and range of work speaks to theater as a place for wonder, truth, and heart—a place where democracy thrives, and we can experience a restored sense of human connection. I’m excited for all that is to come, and grateful to steward this magnificent theater into its next glorious chapter.”