Writers Theatre of Glencoe announced its five-show 2026-27 subscription season Tuesday, highlighting a new play by Matthew Libby about artificial intelligence, fresh productions of “The Royale” by Marco Ramirez, Emma Rice’s musical adaptation of Noël Coward’s “Brief Encounter,” August Strindberg’s “Creditors” and the return of local favorite Hershey Felder, this time with a musical show based on his own life as a writer, pianist and actor.
The season begins in August in Writers’ smaller Gillian Theatre with Libby’s “Sisters” (Aug. 13 to Nov. 8), to be directed by Jessica Thebus. “The Royale,” a boxing drama inspired by the life and times of Jack Johnson, follows on the Nichols mainstage (Oct. 22 to Nov. 29), under the direction of Tyrone Phillips.
Shana Cooper directs “Brief Encounter” for a February mainstage opening (Feb. 11 to March 28, 2027), alongside musical director Matt Deitchman. Rice’s eclectic West End hit (which explores both the Coward play and the famed movie) was first created in 2008 for Rice’s Kneehigh Theatre Company and was seen in the U.S. at New York’s Roundabout Theatre in 2010. According to artistic director Braden Abraham, the show will be staged to take advantage of Writers’ immersive capabilities in its Nichols Theatre.
Jen Silverman’s adaptation of Strindberg’s “Creditors” will follow in the Gillian Theatre (April 8 to July 3, 2027), marking the third Strindberg play to be produced at major Chicago theaters in a little more than a year. The Writers season concludes in the Nichols Theatre with Felder’s “The Piano and Me,” currently slated for a run of roughly two months (May 5 to June 27, 2027).
Felder is well known to Chicago audiences after several long runs at the former Royal George Theatre in Chicago and other local venues. His new autobiographical piece will include music by a variety of composers from Johann Sebastian Bach to Frédéric Chopin to George Gershwin.
For more details, visit writerstheatre.org
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.Chris Jones is a Tribune critic