Summer is hardly over, but the folks at Hudson Valley Shakespeare are already getting started on their 2026 season in their new theater. The company has announced the lineup for its first season inside the long-awaited Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center in Garrison—an opening that marks a major milestone in HVS’s 38-year history. The 2026 season will feature a repertory pairing of two Shakespeare classics, “As You Like It” and “King Lear,” along with a new production of the blockbuster musical “Les Miserables.” The season runs June 10 through September 27, 2026, at HVS’s 98-acre campus overlooking the Hudson River.
Artistic Director Davis McCallum will direct “King Lear” and leads the company into what he calls “our next stage of life as a company, and a community.” He notes that it feels appropriate to christen the new space with “As You Like It,” a play famous for its Act II monologue on the seven ages of man. “We’ve programmed a season that celebrates love—for each other, for nature, for freedom—as well as one that looks to the past to try to make sense of the present,” McCallum says. “We have been building towards this moment for more than five years and now I am eagerly counting down the days until we can welcome audiences into our new home.”
The season opens June 10 with Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy “As You Like It,” directed by Miriam Laube, a longtime company member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival known for her inventive and emotionally rich productions. Featuring original music by Amanda Dehnert, the production promises a lively journey into the Forest of Arden, where disguise, freedom, and love reshape the lives of exiles and wanderers beneath the trees of an imagined wild world.
Two days later, “King Lear” takes the stage beginning June 12. McCallum directs the tragedy, with veteran HVS actor Kurt Rhoads in the title role. Known for his intense and physically grounded performances, Rhoads brings decades of classical stage experience to the aging monarch who loses his kingdom—and his grip on reality—after misjudging the loyalty of his daughters. The production will run in rotating repertory with “As You Like It” through September 18.
Beginning August 12, Hudson Valley Shakespeare takes a bold turn into musical theater with a new production of “Les Miserables,” by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, produced with the approval of Cameron Mackintosh and Music Theatre International. Directed by Jenn Thompson (“Into the Woods” at HVS), with music supervision by Amanda Morton (“Operation Mincemeat”), the show brings Victor Hugo’s tale of justice, revolution, and sacrifice to the Scripps Theater Center for a six-week run concluding September 27.
The 2026 season will also see the launch of a new student matinee series at the Scripps Theater Center. Morning performances of “As You Like It” and “King Lear” will be offered to student groups for $15 per ticket, expanding the company’s longstanding commitment to arts education in the region.
Designed by renowned architecture firm Studio Gang, the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center will be the first purpose-built LEED Platinum theater in the US. The venue is conceived as a structure that is sheltered from the elements but still visually woven into the surrounding landscape. While the company moves indoors for the first time, HVS will retain its signature lawn seating and open-air experience, allowing audiences to picnic and take in the Hudson River views before each performance.
Further casting, ticket information, and details about the theater’s grand opening celebration will be announced in the coming months. For now, Hudson Valley Shakespeare has made its point clear: a new era is about to begin in Garrison.
