Western Michigan University's director of the School of Theatre and Dance, Joan Herrington, along with professor of Music Theatre Jay Berkow, talk with Cara Lieurance about the new 8-show season that brings Broadway professionals directly to Kalamazoo students, featuring Tony Award winners and current Broadway performers as guest artists throughout the year.
The season opens Sep 26 with Utopia by Charles Mee at the York Theatre, directed by Joan Harrington. The play explores love and relationships through interconnected conversations, featuring a large ensemble cast of 27 students. "It captures everything from a blind date to people who have decided their relationship must end," explains Harrington, head of the theatre program.
October brings Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" to the Williams Theatre, starting Oct 24. Director Jay Berkow promises an immersive, environmental production where "the audience is more or less on stage" with cats performing throughout the space. Broadway veteran Mikey Winslow, who has seven Broadway credits including Hamilton and West Side Story, returns as choreographer.
November features The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley, a contemporary play set in New Orleans that incorporates Creole culture and magic. The production brings in guest director Dee Dee Batiste and features faculty member Dwondra Lampkin in the leading role.
Next Stop Broadway returns in December, featuring Broadway star Lana Gordon. Gordon, who recently played Persephone in Hadestown and previously performed as Velma in Chicago, will work directly with graduating seniors while performing her own cabaret. "It's kind of like having Beyoncé in your class," says Berkow.
Spring 2026 continues with The Coast Starlight by Keith Bunin, an innovative play set entirely on a train that blends real and imagined conversations between strangers. Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing follows, directed by Kate Thompson.
The season concludes with Stephen Sondheim's dark musical Sweeney Todd in April, which Berkow describes as "Sondheim's most surprising hit show" about a vengeful barber. A newly added bonus production, The Mirror Cracked, an Agatha Christie mystery adaptation, rounds out the season in May.
Season passes and individual tickets are available through the WMU Theatre website, with flexible packages allowing patrons to customize their theatre-going experience throughout the year.
This article was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
