Tim Tai, Senior Photographer

Yale’s fall theater lineup is stacked with new works and reimagined classics across musicals, operas and original work.

This fall season is an amalgamation of genres and styles that theater nerds and theater virgins, alike, can enjoy. Students are hoping to spice up the Yale performing arts scene with a series of original content and niche productions.  

Directed by Roy Kohavi ’26, the upcoming CPA production, “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals,” aims to challenge Yale’s mainstream theater conventions by creating more accessible show opportunities for students.

Kohavi said that he aims to confront “typical theater culture of only talented actors having the chance to be in really elite shows.” 

The Starkid production — the company known for a “A Very Potter Musical” and other parody shows — is refreshingly comedic and open to actors of all entry and experience levels, not just extraordinarily talented ones, Kohavi said. 

During the upcoming fall semester, viewers can also expect to see a few original works, such as the “Treadmill Play” by Audrey Kolker ’25, “Little White Lies” by Natalie Brown ’25, “Honesty Hour” by Anaiis Rios-Kasoga ’25 and “Laid Off” by Emma Ventresca ’26 and Aaron Ventresca SOM ’27. 

The themes of these debut performances range from a romance between star-crossed lovers to a historical drama that explores themes of racial identity and family.

Additional CPA productions this semester include more recent pieces such  as “P.Y.G.” and “The Effect,” in addition to theater classics such as “Pippin,” “Grease” and “The Seagull.”

Opera at Yale also has an exciting lineup this year, including the American premiere of the Spanish language opera “Darwin en Patagonia,” put on by Veronica Zimmer ’25 and Abby Trejo ’27.

Set to run on Dec. 5 and 6, this show follows Charles Darwin and the crew of the H.M.S. Beagle as they explore the world over the course of their five year journey. The opera examines the implications of evolutionary theory and analyzes Darwin’s interactions with the people of Patagonia. 

Presented by the Opera Theater of Yale College, “Six: An Opera Cabaret” will also be showcased this semester. 

The opera production draws its influence from the popular musical “Six.” However, rather than the six wives of King Henry VIII, the show brings together six operatic protagonists. Staging scenes from different operas, this show hopes to lend the female protagonists of operas more agency in their stories. 

“To be a woman in opera is to suffer at the hands of men,” wrote co-director Ava Gaughan ’26 in an email to the News. “[In this show], six leading women from six different operas come together to lament their situations, commiserate with each other and eventually find strength in one another’s company. They might even plot their revenge…”

At the Dramat, audiences can expect two exciting productions. The Fall Mainstage will be the Stephen Sondheim-created “Into the Woods.” The show boasts a large cast of eighteen actors and is set to run from Nov. 13 to 16. 

“Stupid Fucking Bird,” a contemporary and wry rendition of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” will be on stage this season as the Dramat’s Fall Ex Show. 

More specifically, “Stupid Fucking Bird” follows a playwright as he wrestles with his identity, confronts a complex relationship with his mother and mourns his chaotic love life. 

According to co-director Millie Liao ’27, the piece asks audiences “to question why we create art, and what the purpose of love truly is.”

The Yale Dramatic Association is Yale’s largest and oldest undergraduate theater organization.