Organizers promise a “bold, heartfelt” 2025-26 season with universal appeal.
“(Family) can be something built over time with care (and) it can be found through shared passions,” said Emily N. Wells, artistic director of the Human Race Theatre Company. “We are given family, we are chosen family and we are found family. So what better way to celebrate our 40th birthday than by honoring family in all its beautiful, unique and complex forms. Our upcoming season explores those bonds that define us, challenge us and carry us through.”
With descriptions provided by the Human Race, here is the 2025-26 Loft season:
“Dad’s Place — A Farce”
By Jake Lockwood
Director Joe Deer
Sept. 3–14, 2025 — World Premiere
Paul briefly steps away from a lucrative writing career in LA to help his father, Karl, go through an apartment that’s overrun with “stuff.” Paul seeks to use this time away from corporate clients to write something more meaningful, but the distractions of Karl’s life prove to be more than Paul’s creative inspiration can overcome. In the end, Paul finds he has just as much “stuff” to work through.
“Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really”
By Kate Hamill
Director Emily N. Wells
Oct. 29–Nov. 9, 2025
Bouncing between horror and humor, Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel is a thrilling play that questions where the true monsters hide. No damsels in distress, no romanticized villains — just a gleeful stake through the heart!
“Seasonal Shorts”
By Kelsey Celek, Chris Leyva, Marley Masterson, Aleah Vassell, Torie Wiggins, Robb Willoughby
Director Heather Wilson-Bowlby
Dec. 10–21, 2025 — World Premiere
Six short plays celebrating seasonal memories, moments and silliness—for adults only! Featuring all the ups and downs of winter, our local playwrights’ original plays will have your sides splitting and leaving the theatre in a festive mood.
“Contradictions of the Southern Soul”
By Sally Mayes with director Brett Cullen
Feb. 24–March 1, 2026 — World Premiere
An actress returns to her East Texas hometown in the wake of a family tragedy to make peace with the past and accept the future. A love letter to people in her family, this memory play with music sparks the human need for connection.
Credit: SCOTT J. KIMMINS
Credit: SCOTT J. KIMMINS
“Hay Fever”
By Nöel Coward
Director Bob Hetherington
April 8–26, 2026
Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, Judith and David Bliss, a retired actress and her novelist husband, find peace to be impossible when their children, Simon and Sorel, appear with guests of their own. A houseful of misunderstandings, tempers, and drama ensue as the quiet weekend comes to a hilarious and exhausting end.
“The Hot Wing King”
By Katori Hall
Director Darnell Pierre Benjamin
June 3-14, 2026 — Regional Premiere
It’s time for the annual “Hot Wang Festival” in Memphis, Tennessee, and Cordell Crutchfield knows he has the wings that’ll make him king. Supported by his beau Dwayne and their culinary clique, The New Wing Order, Cordell is marinating and firing up his frying pan in a bid to reclaim the crispy crown. When Dwayne takes in his troubled nephew, however, it becomes a recipe for disaster. Suddenly a first-place trophy isn’t the only thing Cordell risks losing.
Subscription renewals will begin at the start of May and new subscriptions are available at any time. All tickets are available through Dayton Live Box Office at 937-228-3630 or daytonlive.org/series/loft-season/.
Reflections of UD’s ‘Fledermaus Unmasked’
I had the great pleasure of serving as a guest judge in the University of Dayton’s elegant, humorous and musically rich production of “Fledermaus Unmasked” April 25-26 at the Roger Glass Center for the Arts.
Written and directed by Dr. Andrea Chenoweth Wells, the show placed a reality TV competition spin on the world of opera, social media and pop culture featuring timeless selections from “Die Fledermaus,” “Carmen,” “Don Giovanni” and “The Mikado” among others. My fellow guest judges were UD Artistic Director Dr. Minnita Daniel-Cox and Governor Bob Taft. I absolutely enjoyed our fun, improvisational rapport, a throwback to old school “American Idol” when critiques were sensical and valid.
Credit: Knack Video + Photo
Credit: Knack Video + Photo
The vocally talented cast consisted of Kat Bishop (Lorelai Leigh Evans), Luke De Villiers (Everett Lark), Charlotte Dilvidi (Lulu), Annie Hart (McBrinzleigh Rose LaRue), Katrina Lagodzinski (Genevieve Carrington), Samantha McIntyre (Chardonnay von Sparkles), Dylan Reynolds (Craig Miller), Henry Riesbeck (Barry Rosenbrightmore III), Connor Veal (Percy Argall) and Wells (Isolde Nachtstern).
The production featured music direction by Dr. David Sievers, choreography by Jennifer Sydor, costumes by Chloe Cappuccilli, set and lighting design by Rachel Robinson, sound design by Jacob Hausler and stage management by Amy Schiffler.
Credit: Knack Video + Photo
Credit: Knack Video + Photo
Kettering Children’s Choir Spring Concert
“America: From Sea to Shining Sea” is the theme of the annual Spring Concert of the Kettering Children’s Choir.
The concert, which is the culmination of the spring semester’s work for the Chorus, Chorale, Concert Choir, Cantamus, Cappella and Alumni Choirs of the KCC, will take place at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, May 11 at Kettering Seventh Day Adventist Church, 3939 Stonebridge Road, Kettering.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children (5-17) and military personnel. Tickets are available from any KCC singer or through the group’s webpage at ketteringchildrenschoir.org.
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