Argenta Contemporary Theatre Announces 2027 Season: “What’s Old Is New Again”
- ACT News
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2026
Media Contact:
Coburn Goss, Artistic Director
Argenta Contemporary Theatre
501-353-1443
Seven-production season dedicated to ACT co-founder Vincent Insalaco features beloved musicals, landmark American plays, contemporary favorites and an audience-selected holiday production
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — August 275 2026 — Argenta Contemporary Theatre (ACT) has announced its 2027 season, “What’s Old Is New Again,” a seven-production lineup bringing together landmark American plays and musicals, contemporary favorites, new perspectives on familiar stories and a holiday production chosen by ACT audiences.
The 2027 season is dedicated to ACT co-founder Vincent Insalaco, whose vision and commitment helped establish the theatre and build the foundation for what ACT has become today. The dedication recognizes Insalaco’s lasting contribution to the organization and the artistic community it continues to serve.
The season opens in February with Ken Ludwig’s deeply personal romantic comedy Dear Jack, Dear Louise and continues with Cole Porter’s Tony Award-winning Kiss Me, Kate, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the teen edition of the international musical phenomenon Hadestown, Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime, the cult musical favorite Little Shop of Horrors and, in December, ACT’s first Audience Choice Holiday Show.
“This season is about the way great stories—and great institutions—continue to evolve,” said ACT Artistic Director Coburn Goss. “We’re revisiting stories audiences may know, encountering others through a new lens and looking at what we carry forward from the past. It feels especially meaningful to dedicate this season to Vincent Insalaco, whose vision helped create ACT and made so much of what we do today possible.”
Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise
February 3–21
Directed by Ann Muse
U.S. Army Captain Jack Ludwig, a military doctor stationed in Oregon during World War II, begins writing to Louise Rabiner, an aspiring actress and dancer in New York City. What begins as an introduction grows into a courtship conducted almost entirely through letters as war and distance continually threaten their chance to meet.
Inspired by the courtship of playwright Ken Ludwig’s own parents, Dear Jack, Dear Louise is a funny, warm and unexpected love story about two people falling for one another before they have ever been in the same room.
Kiss Me, Kate
March 10–21
Music and Lyrics by Cole PorterBook by Sam and Bella Spewack
Directed by Coburn Goss
Choreographed by Allison Stodola-Wilson and Makenzie Burks
Passions run high when leading lady Lilli Vanessi and her ex-husband, actor-director Fred Graham, reunite for a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Their backstage battles soon begin spilling onto the stage in one of musical theatre’s great comedies.
Featuring a celebrated Cole Porter score—including “So In Love,” “Wunderbar,” “Too Darn Hot,” “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” and “Another Op’nin, Another Show”—Kiss Me, Kate was the first recipient of the Tony Award for Best Musical.
August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
May 19–31
Directed by DeLance Minefee
Chicago, 1927. Legendary blues singer Ma Rainey arrives at a recording studio determined to retain control of her music, while ambitious trumpet player Levee sees the session as his opportunity to build a future of his own.
Set during one explosive recording session, August Wilson’s landmark drama examines music, race, ambition, exploitation and the struggle to retain ownership of one’s voice and work.
Hadestown: Teen Edition
July 28–August 8
By Anaïs Mitchell
The ancient myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone are reimagined in Anaïs Mitchell’s acclaimed musical journey to the underworld and back.
Blending folk music and New Orleans-inspired jazz, Hadestown pits industry against nature, doubt against faith and fear against love in a story that asks what happens when, even in the darkest place, we choose to hope again.
ACT will present Hadestown: Teen Edition as part of its expanding commitment to creating ambitious performance and leadership opportunities for young artists.
Marjorie Prime
September 22–October 3
By Jordan Harrison
Directed by Coburn Goss
Starring Candyce Hinkle
It is the age of artificial intelligence, and 85-year-old Marjorie has a new companion: an artificial recreation of her late husband, programmed to help her revisit the increasingly fragmented memories of her life.
As technology begins shaping not only how the past is remembered but what is remembered at all, Jordan Harrison’s intimate play asks what we might choose to preserve, change or forget if given the opportunity.
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Marjorie Prime comes to ACT following a Tony-nominated Broadway production.
Little Shop of Horrors
October 13–31
Book and Lyrics by Howard AshmanMusic by Alan Menken
Directed by Jeremy Williams
Music Direction by Angela Collier
Choreographed by Brian Earles and Jeremy Williams
Seymour Krelborn is a meek floral assistant whose discovery of a strange new plant suddenly brings him attention, success and the possibility of winning the affection of his coworker Audrey.
There is just one problem: the plant is hungry.
With an infectious score, outrageous comedy and a rapidly growing carnivorous plant with plans far bigger than Seymour realizes, Little Shop of Horrors returns audiences to Skid Row for one of musical theatre’s most beloved—and deliciously twisted—comedies.
Audience Choice Holiday Show
December 1–19
For the final production of the 2027 season, ACT is handing the choice to its audience.
ACT will announce a slate of potential holiday productions and invite audiences to vote for the show they want to see onstage in December. Voting details and the winning production will be announced at a later date.
The 2027 season continues ACT’s commitment to bringing together professional artists, emerging talent and young performers while presenting theatre that spans generations, genres and theatrical traditions.
Season and Flex Passes for the 2027 season are now on sale, offering audiences the opportunity to secure their seats for the season and save over individual ticket prices. Individual tickets will go on sale closer to each production.
For 2027 season information, passes and tickets, visit ArgentaContemporaryTheatre.org.
About Argenta Contemporary Theatre
ACT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing and advancing the performing arts through performance, education, and community collaboration. We recognize that today’s artists operate in a culturally diverse and technologically evolving environment, and ACT is committed to promoting and presenting work that reflects these dynamic conditions at both our mainstage theater and education center.
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