Jeremy Koch, artistic and managing director of Farmers Alley Theatre, joins Cara Lieurance for a full season preview, walking through six productions — from a new Michigan comedy to a Tony-winning musical revival — that will carry the downtown Kalamazoo theater from September 2026 through the summer of 2027.
The season opens Sep 17 with the Kalamazoo premiere of My Mother and the Michigan/Ohio War, a comedy by playwright Paul Stroili that Koch first encountered at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea. Laura Jordan, fresh off her acclaimed turn in last season's Misery, returns to play the lead role of Izzy. The play centers on a family divided by college football loyalties who clash over staging a reenactment of the obscure 19th-century border dispute between Michigan and Ohio.
One anticipated announcement is the return of Come From Away, the fastest-selling show in Farmers Alley's history, which opens Nov 5. Koch describes it as "a musical about opening your hearts and your homes to strangers who need you" — the true story of the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland, that absorbed thousands of airline passengers grounded on September 11, 2001. Nearly the entire original production team is returning, including director Kathy Mulay and music director Brendan Vincent, with the added feature of a full revolving turntable on stage.
The 2027 portion of the season includes Accomplice, a twisty murder-mystery comedy by Rupert Holmes (opening Jan 28); Lost in Yonkers, Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that Farmers Alley was forced to cancel on the eve of its March 2020 opening; Kimberly Akimbo, the Tony Award-winning musical by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire (opening May 20); and the season finale, Waitress, featuring music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles (opening July 15).
A new performance schedule adds Saturday matinees for all productions. Flex passes and single tickets are available at farmersalleytheatre.com or by calling 269-343-2727.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
