Bloomington-Normal’s long-running theater troupes have announced their upcoming seasons.
It’s a unique year for Community Players Theatre [CPT], whose planned renovation is scheduled to take place this winter. Their 103rd season kicks off in their theater on Robinhood Lane in Bloomington with Heathers: The Musical on Sept. 19-Oct. 3 and Tim Firth’s comedy Calendar Girls, running Nov. 14-23.
A set of four productions collectively called The Dark Series will take place elsewhere. Dates and locations are yet to be announced for the series, which includes productions of a popular musical and play, Fun Home and Proof, plus a staged new play reading and concert revue.
Construction should be complete by May. The theater’s glow up, including new seats, will be revealed with the hit musical Dreamgirls, running May 8-24, 2026. Annie caps the season, keeping the CPT tradition of an all-ages, family-friendly summer musical performed three weekends in July.
A joint gala with Friends of the BCPA takes place Oct. 11 at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.
Heartland Theatre Company
Normal’s Heartland Theatre at the Community Activity Center has four dramas planned for the 2025-26 season, beginning with Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Primary Trust on Aug. 28-Sept. 13.
Amy Herzog’s 2024 adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People comes next, running Nov. 6-22, followed by Noah Haidle’s surrealist gaze at family dynamics called Smokefall on Feb. 5-21, 2026. The final full-length production further hones in on family with Lisa Kron’s Well, running April 9-25, 2026.
Heartland’s annual 10-minute play competition is themed around the Route 66 centennial, with the 8 winners performed in a staged reading May 28-June 13, 2026. New Plays from the Heartland, a one-act play festival held in honor of late Heartland artistic director Mike Dobbins, runs July 10-12, 2026.
Prairie Fire Theatre
The 28-year-old light opera company typically performs from late spring to early fall, beginning with a champagne gala and cabaret-style performance at Illinois Wesleyan University on May 17.
The troupe’s signature touring show brings an original children’s opera to schools and community centers throughout the month of May. This year, playwright Nancy Steele Brokaw wrote The Ghost in the Opera House for the occasion.
Revues of opera and Broadway highlights take place July 10 in Westbrook Auditorium at Illinois Wesleyan and July 12 at Connie Link Amphitheatre.
The main event runs Aug. 13-17 in IWU's Westbrook Auditorium: a full-scale production of The Baker’s Wife. The 1989 musical is based on a 1938 French film of the same name, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin) and book by Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof).
Oct. 2-5, Prairie Fire partners with Nomad Theatre Company for Seasons of Change, an original jukebox production by Bloomington-Normal theater mainstays Cristen Monson, Jennifer Rusk and Michelle Vought.
Prairie Fire tickets are on sale at prairiefiretheatre.org.
