Iowa Stage launches new season

12/31/2025

Iowa Stage Theatre Company is central Iowa’s successful professional theatre company, an evolving, dynamic amalgam of predecessor companies. That creative DNA has delivered a steady series of top-notch stage works featuring some of the best regional actors. At the ISTC core is the Resident Artists Company (RAC), with auditioning filling additional roles as needed. A quick Q&A with Co-Artistic Director (with Co-Artistic Director Davida Williams) Alex Wendel reveals a tantalizing potpourri of plays for 2026.

Center Stage: Why shift your season to a calendar year?

Alex Wendel: We found a lot of season reveals happening around the same time…a calendar year allows us to avoid conflicts of content/scheduling and to have our season reveal stand alone from a marketing standpoint. It’s also a lot easier to wrap my head around a season that always ends with “Christmas Carol.” It just feels so fitting to celebrate the year we had with such a warm production every year.

Center Stage: How does ISTC select its shows?

Alex Wendel: The suggestions come from all over but especially the RAC. The ultimate conversation that finalizes things happens between Artistic Producers, but not without a ton of input from everyone around us. We place a lot of importance on offering classics and contemporary works each year. 

Center Stage: What makes ISTC unique?

Alex Wendel: We are the amalgamation of multiple companies that came before us (Drama Workshop, StageWest, Repertory Theatre of Iowa), which is a great excuse to not box ourselves into one lane. Classics, cult classics, contemporary and “problem” plays all in the same season. It keeps us on our toes, and we are fortunate enough to have a board of directors and audience base that appreciates the variety.

Center Stage: Are there any Iowa connections to scripts in the upcoming season?

Alex Wendel: Our opening production of the year, “Seagull,” is an original adaptation (of Anton Chekhov’s 1895 play) done right here by members of our company. It may take place on a small estate outside Moscow, but the content is universal especially to us right here in Des Moines. Using different public domain translations, we’ve woven the story together in a way that hopefully leaves you with a romantic heartache.

The ISTC Season at a glance:

“Seagull” – The Play Advisory Committee pushed hard for a Chekhov script. This is the first script in Chekhov’s canon of work. 

“I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire” – Concord Theatrics just made the rights available for this new show that killed it on the West End. Without giving too much away, this is really a return to form for our StageWest DNA.

“Measure for Measure” – This was a conversation with Salisbury House as they are our partners for Shakespeare on the Lawn every year. Since we had just come off of three years of comedies, we knew we wanted to bridge the gap before jumping straight to a tragedy or historic. Measure is categorized as one of Shakespeare’s “problem” plays because it can’t really sit neatly in the comedy or tragedy genre. It’s a mix in content and structure of both genres.

“Reefer Madness” – Dani Boal, on our board of directors, championed us working musicals back into our repertoire. Davida and I knew that whatever musical we chose, it needs to be something that isn’t taking material away from the other local companies, and that it’s something that you could only imagine ISTC producing. It’s what came out on top to lead us into a new era of ISTC doing musicals.

“A Christmas Carol” – Brittny Rebhuhn and Clifton Antoine have done such a lovely job reimagining Christmas Carol this year. Once we saw the writing on the wall that this year’s offering was going to be so fun, we saw it as a no-brainer to continue the tradition and build upon what they have built. 

Auditions and a new perspective on Red

The Playhouse offers a wonderfully engaging tale through its Kate Goldman Family Series program with “KF Red Riding Hood: Both Sides of the Story.” Wolfgang, the greatest actor in the world, is interrupted in his tale-telling when a delivery person arrives with a mysterious package. Like an unexpected package, when you open up a fairy tale, you never know what you’ll find. A welcome addition to show options: Sunday, Jan. 11 at 4 p.m., a sensory-friendly performance.

If your thespian yearnings are long to tread the bare boards, here are some upcoming auditions to consider. Plenty of time to prepare:

“Crazy for You” (Gershwin musical) – Jan. 19, The Playhouse

“Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical” – Feb. 16, The Playhouse, Kate Goldman Family Series

“For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday” – Feb. 22-23, Tallgrass Theatre, Dream Project ♦

John Busbee produces The Culture Buzz, a weekly arts and culture radio show on www.kfmg.org, covering Iowa’s arts scene with an inclusive sweep of the cultural brush. He received the Iowa Governor’s Arts Award for Collaboration and Partnership in the Arts. He has performed in more than 100 musicals, including many leading roles.