The 2026–27 season brings classic theatre, staged readings and community collaboration to Founders Auditorium, as Ohio State Mansfield’s Theatre Program will move between Shakespearean comedy, Revolutionary-era ideals, Broadway farce and the unexplored reaches of the Star Trek universe during its newly announced 2026–27 season. The lineup includes two fully staged productions and two sets of free readings. Students, faculty, staff and members of the surrounding community are invited not only to attend the performances, but also to audition for productions or participate backstage.
The program is part of Ohio State’s Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts. Students in Mansfield may begin work toward a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre or complete a theatre minor alongside another major. Courses include acting, directing, technical theatre and multicultural theatre, with students able to receive academic credit for participating in productions and other department projects.
Hamlet’s Other Two Characters Take Center Stage
The season opens with Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, presented in partnership with the Mansfield Shakespeare Company. The dark comedy retells Hamlet from the perspective of two bewildered minor characters who find themselves swept into events they neither control nor fully understand. As reality and illusion begin to overlap, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern move steadily toward the fate already established for them in Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Often described as a Shakespearean variation on Laurel and Hardy, the play combines philosophical questions with wordplay and absurdist humor. The production arrives during the 60th anniversary season of Stoppard’s best-known work.
Performances in Founders Auditorium are scheduled for:
- Friday, October 23 at 7:30 PM
- Saturday, October 24 at 7:30 PM
- Sunday, October 25 at 2:30 PM
- Monday, October 26 at 7:30 PM
The production is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
A Revolutionary-Era Drama Returns for Veterans Day
November will bring CATO: The Play That Made a Nation, a series of staged readings and conversations offered as a free Veterans Day celebration. The program looks back to the winter of 1778, when George Washington’s Continental Army was struggling at Valley Forge amid disease, shortages and political division. Washington ordered a performance of Cato, a popular tragedy depicting the Roman statesman Cato the Younger’s resistance to Julius Caesar. The play’s treatment of liberty, duty, honor and political sacrifice resonated with Revolutionary-era Americans. OSU Mansfield’s abridged presentation will emphasize those themes while examining the tension between personal conviction and political expediency.
Free performances in Founders Auditorium will be held:
- Sunday, November 8 at 2:30 PM
- Wednesday, November 11 at 6:30 PM
A Theatrical Scheme Spins Out of Control
The season’s second fully staged production will be The Play’s the Thing, written by Ferenc Molnár and adapted by P. G. Wodehouse.
The fast-moving farce follows a young man who overhears what appears to be a romantic encounter between his fiancée and her leading man. His uncle, a resourceful playwright, attempts to convince him that the conversation was simply a rehearsal. To support the explanation, the uncle must quickly write and rehearse an entirely new play.
Filled with young lovers, theatrical egos, servants, hotel guests and an increasingly elaborate deception, the comedy became a New York hit in 1926. Its title nods to Hamlet, while its central plot repeatedly crosses the boundary between real life and performance.
Performances in Founders Auditorium are scheduled for:
- Friday, March 5 at 7:30 PM
- Saturday, March 6 at 7:30 PM
- Sunday, March 7 at 2:30 PM
- Monday, March 8 at 7:30 PM
Exploring the Star Trek Episodes That Never Were
The season concludes with Live Long and Prosper, a staged-reading program featuring excerpts from scripts that were written for the original Star Trek television series but never produced. Marking the 60th anniversary of the show’s first season, the program will bring together faculty, staff, students and community artists. The readings will draw upon original-series scripts and writers’ guides held by The Ohio State University Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, along with related materials and images from the university’s Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute.
A brief discussion will follow each reading, offering audiences a glimpse of ideas and stories that might have expanded the original Star Trek universe.
Both performances are free:
- Monday, April 5 at 6:30 PM in Founders Auditorium at OSU Mansfield
- Wednesday, April 7 at 4:00 PM in Room 150 of Thompson Memorial Library on the Columbus campus
Tickets and Additional Information
Tickets for all of these performances may be reserved through the Ohio State University Alumni Association’s Engagement Center at go.osu.edu/mansfield_tickets. Online reservations are available to current students, faculty, staff and alumni. New users who have not previously ordered tickets may call 800-762-5646 or 614-247-4105 to establish login access and make a purchase. Phone assistance is available Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Tickets also may be purchased at the on-site box office beginning 45 minutes before each performance. Patrons purchasing tickets at the door are asked to arrive at least 15 minutes before showtime.
Questions about performances or on-site accommodations may be directed to [email protected] or the campus box office at 419-755-4045.