Season 51

2024

Birmingham Festival Theatre Presents: Unveiling the Extraordinary
Welcome to a mesmerizing journey of theatrical brilliance as Birmingham Festival Theatre proudly unveils its new season, promising to transcend boundaries and ignite the imagination. Prepare to be captivated by an array of extraordinary productions that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, laughter, and thought-provoking stories.
In this season, we dare to challenge conventions and push artistic boundaries, bringing you an eclectic mix of classic masterpieces, innovative contemporary works, and bold new creations. Each performance is meticulously crafted by talented directors, seasoned actors, and visionary designers, ensuring an unforgettable theatrical experience for every audience member.
At Birmingham Festival Theatre, we believe that theatre has the power to shape lives, ignite conversations, and challenge perceptions. Join us as we embark on an extraordinary journey through the magic and innovation of live performance. Be a part of our community, where artists and audiences come together to celebrate the transformative power of the stage.
Unveiling the Extraordinary: A season of thought-provoking, exhilarating, and remarkable productions that will leave you inspired, moved, and craving more. Don't miss out on the chance to witness the magic unfold at Birmingham Festival Theatre. Experience a season like no other.

PAGEANT-Book and Lyrics by Bill Russell and Frank Kelly; Music by Albert Evans; Conceived by Robert Longbottom
Jan 26 - Feb 11 2024

Like no beauty pageant you've seen before! Six contestants vying for the title of "Miss Glamouresse"! With judges selected from the audience, who will win is anyone's guess! Pageant is a pageant. Judges selected from the audience actually vote and determine the winner who, therefore, may be different at each performance. The show takes its shots not by mocking the pageant from the outside, but by being one. The six contestants compete for the title of Miss Glamouresse (Glamouresse being a cosmetics company). Miss Deep South, Miss West Coast, Miss Great Plains, Miss Bible Belt, Miss Industrial Northeast, and Miss Texas and compete in evening gowns, talent, swim-wear and spokemodeling, plus the finalists answer actual calls from the Glamouresse Beauty Crisis Hotline.

“Screamingly funny!” - New York Times
“Hilarious! Incredible! 90 minutes of the kind of laughter that makes tears run down your face.” - Gannett Newspapers
“So funny I thought I was going to die.” - Susan Powell, former Miss America

Tickets are available now to all of our Season members.

The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl
Mar 08 - Mar 24 2024

The play takes place in what the author describes as "metaphysical Connecticut," mostly in the home of a married couple who are both doctors. They have hired a housekeeper named Matilde, an aspiring comedian from Brazil who's more interested in coming up with the perfect joke than in house-cleaning. Lane, the lady of the house, has an eccentric sister named Virginia who's just nuts about house-cleaning. She and Matilde become fast friends, and Virginia takes over the cleaning while Matilde works on her jokes. Trouble comes when Lane's husband Charles reveals that he has found his soul mate, or "bashert" in a cancer patient named Anna, on whom he has operated. The actors who play Charles and Anna also play Matilde's parents in a series of dream-like memories, as we learn the story about how they literally killed each other with laughter, giving new meaning to the phrase, "I almost died laughing." This theatrical and wildly funny play is a whimsical and poignant look at class, comedy and the true nature of love.

"Fresh, funny ... a memorable play, imbued with a melancholy but somehow comforting philosophy: that the messes and disappointments of life are as much a part of its beauty as romantic love and chocolate ice cream, and a perfect punch line can be as sublime as the most wrenchingly lovely aria." - The New York Times
"A rich work about big themes from a young playwright with an original and audacious voice." - Variety
"Casts a spell that had me hooked." - The New York Daily News 

Tickets are available now to all of our Season Members.

Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison
April 19 - May 05, 2024

It’s the age of artificial intelligence, and 85-year-old Marjorie — a jumble of disparate, fading memories — has a handsome new companion who’s programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance? In this richly spare, wondrous new play, Jordan Harrison explores the mysteries of human identity and the limits — if any — of what technology can replace.

“Jordan Harrison’s elegant, thoughtful and quietly unsettling drama… keeps developing in your head, like a photographic negative, long after you have seen it...At some point, you realize that it’s been landing skillfully targeted punch after punch, right where it hurts." - The New York Times

Tickets are available now to all of our Season members.