By Lauren Emily Whalen
In like a lion, out like a lamb. No matter the day’s weather, March’s regional theater picks are coming in hot. A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has its world premiere English-language stage adaptation in Chicago, and Philadelphia’s celebration of a beloved living playwright continues with a satirical skewering of a First Lady (no, not that one). In San Francisco, a commission from an acclaimed playwright explores teen girlhood, encroaching disaster, and the power of music. Add a contemporary adaptation of a Chekhov family drama and a historical feminist take on Twelve Angry Men, and the stage is alive with the promise of spring.
‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ at Goodman Theatre, Chicago
How does a sweet, virginal college freshman find love—especially when he’s trying to outrun a family curse? Based on Junot Díaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, Goodman Theatre’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao follows the title character, who, with the encouragement of his roommate, journeys from New Jersey to Santo Domingo in search of romance and redemption. Marco Antonio Rodriguez’s stage adaptation is an English-language world premiere. The play’s original Spanish production was commissioned and presented by New York’s Repertorio Español.
Performances through April 12, 2026. Chicago, IL
‘The Welkin’ at Frank Theatre, St. Paul
Presented at St. Paul’s Frank Theatre, Lucy Kirkwood’s feminist history play follows a group of twelve women in 1759 England, who must decide if a young woman accused of murder is telling the truth about her side of the story and the pregnancy she is claiming to escape execution. Oh, and Halley’s Comet is returning any day now. Broadway World called The Welkin “equal parts Twelve Angry Men, The Crucible, and The Vagina Monologues,” to which this writer replies, “Say less!”
Performances March 6 through March 29, 2026. St. Paul, MN
It wants better content.
‘Fires, Ohio’ at Alliance Theatre, Atlanta
What happens when natural and personal disasters collide spectacularly? In Alliance Theatre’s Fires, Ohio, playwright Beth Hyland updates the Chekhovian classic Uncle Vanya for modern times, where family drama is a constant, and the negative effects of climate change are always just around the corner. When a family friend unexpectedly comes to a Midwest college town amid the looming threat of wildfires, life for a college professor’s second wife and grown children will never be the same. Hyland’s script won both the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Award and the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting.
Performances through March 22, 2026. Atlanta, GA
‘||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :||’ at American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco
Summer camp is notoriously intense; summer arts camp, even more so. ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| follows four gifted and driven young women over one life-changing summer music program in Berkeley. Cracking wise, collaboration and conflict unfold against a backdrop of danger and potential disaster—can art truly save us all? A coproduction of American Conservatory Theater and Vineyard Theatre, this world premiere play with music was written by A.C.T.-commissioned playwright Elsa Davis, whose previous Bulrusher was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Performances March 12 through April 19, 2026. San Francisco, CA
‘The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington’ at Wilma Theater, Philadelphia
Before Oh, Mary!, there was another new classic putting a late First Lady on blast. Part of a citywide celebration of playwright James Ijames, Wilma Theater’s The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington is a delightfully bizarre takedown. Fact: on her deathbed, George Washington’s wife was surrounded by enslaved people who were to be freed at the moment she passed. Ijames’ dark comedy creates a hallucinated “trial” in which Martha must answer for her past and present crimes against humanity. Racism, corruption, and power: it’s all on the satirical table.
Performances March 17 through April 5, 2026. Philadelphia, PA
