To curate a season of performances, the Fordham Theatre Program begins brainstorming a year in advance. Theater students and faculty meet in October to pick four mainstage plays that will challenge the department, inspire the Fordham community, and “engage with the world,” said May Adrales, director of the Fordham Theatre Program.
“We explore how each play resonates with the moment we’re living in,” said Adrales. “How can we use it as a creative lens to reflect—or challenge—the sociopolitical questions that are on our minds?”
This thoughtful vetting led them to By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, which opens the season. Running through Oct. 17, this satirical play by Lynn Nottage follows the up-and-down career of a Black actress from the 1930s to the 2000s, raising issues we’re still dealing with, said Adrales, such as racial stereotypes and representation in Hollywood. And it offers meaty roles and exciting design and costuming opportunities for Fordham students. (The Tempest, A Lunar Rhapsody, and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice round out the 2025-2026 season.)
Exposure to NYC Theater
Directing the play is accomplished actor, director, and educator Adrienne D. Williams, one of the many working directors, actors, and playwrights who are brought in to work with students and help create each season’s shows. Ain’t Too Proud playwright Dominique Morisseau also joins the department this fall as the new Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre. She delivers a talk on Oct. 15 titled “Art as Righteous Indignation” and will be part of an Oct. 16 talkback with Williams.
“This philosophy of having students work with working professionals carries out in the classroom,” said Adrales. “Many of our adjuncts are quite reputable and renowned within the field, and they often bring their students to be a part of what they’re working on.”
The program also immerses students in the NYC theater scene through exclusive Broadway and Off-Broadway experiences. Denzel Washington recently treated students to a talkback following a performance of Othello. And John Johnson, a Fordham grad who runs Johnson Wagner Productions, invited Fordham students to the premiere of this year’s Broadway hit, John Proctor Is the Villain, which he produced.
Just as students are encouraged to take in as many shows as they can, Adrales and her colleagues have some recommendations for faculty and staff as well. Fordham employees can get discounts to Broadway and Off-Broadway productions through the Theater Development Fund, or TDF. Membership ($42 a year normally, $35 for Fordham employees using this link) is open to higher education employees, and provides up to 70% savings on musicals and plays like Liberation, one of the many fall shows recommended below.
May Adrales recommends:
–Torera, by playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza at WP Theater through Oct. 19, which tells the story of a woman daring to become a bullfighter.
-The revival of Queens, by the Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok and showing at New York City Center from Oct. 15 through Nov. 30. The show centers on immigrant women reckoning with difficult choices.
–Mexodus written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson and extended at Audible Mineta Lane Theater through Nov. 1. This hip-hop musical is about the little-known Underground Railroad route to Mexico.
Fadi Skeiker, Ph.D., professor of theatre and chair of the Department of Theatre and Visual Arts, recommends:
Archduke by Rajiv Joseph at the Roundabout Theater Oct. 23 through Dec. 21. The play reimagines the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as led by a gang of teenagers.
Chauntee’ Irving, head of acting and assistant professor in performance, recommends:
– Liberation by playwright Bess Wohl at the James Earl Jones Theatre, now in previews. The show revisits the 1970s women’s liberation movement.
-The Broadway revival of the musical Chess, at the Imperial Theatre from Oct. 15 through Nov. 16. The show uses the backdrop of the Worldwide Chess Championship to explore the American-Soviet conflict.
