For its 40th anniversary, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati will revive its production of a rock musical that redefined musicals. The 2025-2026 season also features a gripping and lyrical one-person play, a witty and heartfelt comedy and a nostalgic coming-of-age musical based on true events in Cincinnati.
The upcoming season kicks off in September with a fresh staging of Next to Normal, the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical that explores the emotional complexities of a family living with mental illness. At its center is Diana Goodman, a suburban mother grappling with bipolar disorder, whose condition strains her relationships with both her determined daughter and caring husband. The production offers a raw, compassionate look at how love and resilience persist amid grief, instability and the search for healing. ETC previously offered Next to Normal in 2014 and it proved so popular that it was brought back within a year. (Sept. 13 – Oct. 5, 2025)
Last December Fiona: The Musical was a major hit, telling the story of the Cincinnati Zoo’s world-famous hippo. This year, ETC will offer a sequel: It’s Fritz, a story based on Fiona’s little brother, born in 2022. It’s another collaboration by playwright Zina Camblin and composer David Kisor. This will be another cute, tuneful and family friendly musical, telling how Fritz figures out who he wants to be. With a famous older sister stealing the spotlight, Fritz can’t help but wonder if there’s any room left to shine. This playful, heartfelt tale — complete with messy puddles and big emotions — follows his journey to discover where he belongs and how to make a splash all his own. (Dec. 3-31, 2025)
ETC will begin 2026 with Donnetta Lavinia Grays’ regional premiere drama Where We Stand, an award-winning play from 2020, first at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and then Off-Broadway by WP Theater. The script is a long-form poem with humor, heart and music about a man standing before his town asking for forgiveness after he has made a deal with a mysterious stranger on the citizens’ behalf. A gripping blend of fable and modern-day storytelling, the show both engages and implicates the audience in determining the man’s fate. (Jan. 31-Feb. 22, 2026)
A comedy by Eric Pfeffinger with the unlikely title Fourteen Funerals will get its regional premiere at ETC in the early spring. When a woman is unexpectedly asked to give eulogies for long-lost relatives, what starts as an unusual obligation soon turns into a meaningful path of self-reflection — and a surprising friendship with an offbeat funeral home receptionist. Blending sharp humor with emotional depth, this new play examines how identity, connection and the legacies we carry shape who we are. (March 21-April 12, 2026)
The season will close with The House on Watch Hill by Cincinnatian Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor, the Tony-nominated creators of the Broadway hit Bandstand. Full of nostalgic charm, it’s set in summer 1984 in a quiet Cincinnati suburb, where a group of teen misfits work to create a memorable haunted house from a grand old home in their neighborhood. As their journey unfolds, the characters find themselves facing fears that feel all too real — ones no imaginary monster can match. Framed by Cold War tension, the freedom of latchkey childhood and a pulsing ’80s-inspired soundtrack, this coming-of-age musical blends adrenaline with emotion. It’s a story about friendship, identity, loss and the boundless reach of imagination — perfect for fans of Stranger Things and The Goonies, and for anyone who remembers that fleeting moment between childhood and growing up. (May 9-31, 2026)
Subscriptions to the 2025-2026 Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati season are on sale now. Packages can be purchased by calling the box office at (513) 421-3555. For more information about Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s new season, visit ensemblecincinnati.org.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 10, 2025.