What better way to celebrate a 40th birthday than by honoring family—in all its beautiful, complex forms? Whether it’s the family you’re born into, the family you choose, or the family you create along the way, our upcoming season explores the bonds that define us, challenge us, and carry us through.
As we celebrate this incredible milestone, we are thrilled to present a season that’s bold and heartfelt — filled with the love, fear, hope, belief, and joy that make us who we are.
The 40th Anniversary Season features a five-show subscription package of unforgettable productions.
- Three world premieres
- An origin story with a fresh bite
- Spotlight moments for uplifting local artists
PLUS: a special limited engagement*
Each production will be delivered with the signature style, intimacy, and emotional resonance you’ve come to expect from The Human Race.
With great excitement, we present The Human Race Theatre Company’s 40th Anniversary Season.
Dad’s Place – A Farce
By Jake Lockwood
Director: Joe Deer
September 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.
Recommended if you liked The 39 Steps, Deadline, Shipwrecked!
Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really
By Kate Hamill
Director: Emily N. Wells
October 29 – November 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!
Recommended if you liked Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B; Lizzie
Seasonal Shorts
By Kelsey Celek, Chris Leyva, Marley Masterson, Aleah Vassell, Torie Wiggins, Robb Willoughby
Director: Heather Wilson-Bowlby
December 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.
Recommended if you liked Reindeer Sessions, Who’s Holiday, A Frosty Night
Contradiction of the Southern Soul
By Sally Mayes
Director Brett Cullen
February 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.
Recommended if you liked My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend; Indigo
Hay Fever
By Noël Coward
Director: Bob Hetherington
April 8 – 19, 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.
Recommended if you liked Noises Off; This is Tom Jones!
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.
Recommended if you liked Barbecue; A Distinct Society