2025/26 Season Shines a Light on  Women’s Lives.

By Mimi Sells

January 6, 2025

From female directors, composers and writers to women-centered themes, the upcoming productions at the La Jolla Playhouse (LJP) are a fitting tribute to Joan Jacobs, the San Diego philanthropist in whose honor the 2025/26 season is dedicated.

 “This season – named in honor of the extraordinary Joan Jacobs and her remarkable impact on our theatre and far beyond – features a wonderful mix of new voices, Playhouse veterans, theatrical rock stars…and one actual rock star– Cyndi Lauper.” said Christopher Ashley, the Playhouse’s Rich Family Artistic Director.

Joan Jacobs, whose name, along with her husband Irwin’s, graces numerous San Diego cultural institutions, died in 2024.  Among their social and cultural beneficiaries is the La Jolla Playhouse where Joan served on the Board since 1996. 

The new season will feature two world-premiere musicals directed by Ashley who is a Tony Award winning director. It will also include another “Tony”– the Tony award-winning  Broadway hit JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING.

Elevating Women’s Lives

In keeping with the female-focused theme, the season starts with the brilliant, direct from Broadway hit, JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Whitney White. It celebrates the gutsy women who create hair braiding masterpieces in their local shop.

The season’s second musical is also an ode to women and their ambitions. It is a creative re-imagining of the classic 20h Century Fox movie WORKING GIRL. This world premiere will feature music and lyrics by acclaimed Tony and Grammy Award winner Cyndi Lauper with the book written by Theresa Rebeck. 

The first musical premiere is THE HEART, book and additional lyrics by Kait Kerrigan, music and lyrics by Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath, based on Réparer les Vivants, by Maylis de Kerangal.

Also, premiering in 2025 are INDIAN PRINCESSES  by Eliana Theologides Rodriquez and Directed by Miranda Cornell; ALL THE MEN WHO’VE FRIGHTENED ME by Noah Diaz and directed by Kat Yen; And, finally, a new play about Julia Child, titled THE RECIPE is written by Claudia Shear and will be directed by Lisa Peterson.

The 25/26 season also includes the Annual WOW festival– four days of dozens of performances in April and another special production in early 2025.

Encouraging New Works at LJP

With all the new plays premiering next year, we spoke with Gabriel Greene, LJP’s Director of Artistic Development about how this new season came to life.

How do you choose what plays make the season?

When we embark on season planning, we don’t have an overarching theme in mind. We’re just looking for plays that surprise and delight us and fit our mission and vision.

Coincidentally, this season’s works turned out to be very female forward. Five of the six plays chosen were either written or co-written by women. Their stories explore the resilience and joy required in a world that still struggles with the idea of equality.

Beyond that, in all of our upcoming productions– though vastly different–we recognized they each brought a sense of empathy even as they dealt with relevant and provocative concepts.  

For example, Working Girl is a big, joyous celebration of an underdog seeking to make her mark. JaJa highlights a vibrant community and culture that is strong even when viewed by many as outsiders. In the Julia Child piece we are still working on, we’ll explore the time before she became an icon as she searched to find her life’s purpose. 

And what could elevate the ideas of joy and empathy more than a musical dedicated to the life-saving power of a human heart. The Heart takes place over 24 hours, moving from tragedy to new life in 90 minutes with a breakneck pace and a beating electronic dance music soundtrack.

Speaking of music, we are thrilled to be premiering Working Girl with both original music and lyrics by the legendary Cyndi Lauper. Based on the classic 1988 film, you can expect  that show will rock the house!

What else excites you about this new season?

Five of our six plays are  world premieres. They are mostly works we’ve selected from the over 500 projects we are pitched each year. These new plays are real standouts.

“Indian Princesses came in through our submission process and quickly made an impression! Last summer, we had two interns who read some of these hundreds of plays. Each week, I meet with our artistic interns and use actual script submissions to teach play analysis. After reading Indian Princesses, they came to me immediately and said I needed to read this right now. There was such a groundswell for this show from everyone who read the script that we knew we needed to find a way to make it happen.”

What made it such a compelling project?

Indian Princesses is a father/daughter bonding program that still exists at the YMCA although under a different name. The playwright did it with her father when she was young.  The story is about the complexities of growing up and features five young girls of color and their white adopted fathers. It’s a beautifully written play by an amazing young playwright. Eliana Theologides Rodriguez is going to have a huge career.

How about another new project? 

All The Men Who’ve Frightened Me is the 12th play to come out of our DNA New Work Series play development process. 

Noah Diaz is a fantastically creative and idiosyncratic writer. His play is filled with big and bold theatrical moments while exploring what home is to us and how fear and love are transmitted through generations.

Tell me about Joan Jacobs for whom the season is named.  Did you know her? 

Joan Jacobs was involved with LJP well  before I came here in 2007.  The Jacobs’ contribution as a couple to the civic, artistic, educational and scientific richness of this community is almost impossible to overstate. They had an unceasing passion for bettering this city. We certainly felt that passion keenly here. Joan was very engaged with the Playhouse. She served on our Board for years and always pushed us to be a better organization.   

Though we won’t have her physical presence this year,  we will continue to have her inspiration as our North Star. And I think this coming season would be one she’d be especially proud of.

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Tickets for the Playhouse’s 2025/2026 season are currently available via a subscription purchase at lajollaplayhouse.org or by calling (858) 550-1010.

 The  2025/2026 Season

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Tony Winning Broadway Play
May/June, 2025

 Indian Princesses
World Premiere
July/August, 2025

The Heart
World Premiere Musical
August/September, 2025

All the Men Who’ve Frightened Me
World Premiere
September/October, 2025

Working Girl
World Premiere Musical
November/December, 2025

The Recipe
World Premiere
February/March, 2026

WOW Festival
April 24-27, 2025 

WOW Special Program
The Unfair Advantage February/March 2025