Franklin Stage Company Announces 2025 Summer Season

FRANKLIN — Franklin Stage Company, Delaware County’s renowned summer theater, announces their 29th season from July 4th through August 24th. “We have an amazing summer of performance planned and we’re very excited!” said Patricia Buckley, Artistic Director. “There will be 2 powerful plays, an amazing solo show, and dance, and we’re thrilled to bring it to the region.” 

The season opens with Kimberly Akimbo, a comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire. Written in 2000, the play was later reworked into the 2023 Tony-winning musical of the same name. Lindsay-Abaire’s original play for 5 actors tells the story of teenager Kimberly Levaco who suffers from a rare condition causing her to age rapidly, making her appear much older than her actual years; as a result, she must navigate the challenges of adolescence and her dysfunctional family while trapped in the body of an elderly woman, ultimately finding a connection with a fellow outsider at school, all while confronting the reality of her shortened life expectancy. “It’s a screwball comedy, but also very poignant,” said Buckley, “and the writer has created a hero for young and old in the character of Kimberly.” Kimberly Akimbo runs July 4-–July 20, with 5 shows per week. Next, on July 25–27, FSC presents an encore performance of solo show Magdalene by Erin Layton. “We brought this piece to FSC in 2017, and it feels like the perfect time to bring it back,” said Buckley. “Erin’s show is a fictionalized version of stories that happened to many young women in Ireland throughout the 20th century.” Layton has won awards for the show, and her performance was described as “marvelous” by The Scotsman newspaper.

The following weekend, August 1–3, FSC will present Bridgman|Packer Dance Company, whose choreographic vision stretches the boundaries of dance by merging it with video technology. Their work has been described by the NY Times as "ingenious...magical and fascinating.” FSC’s final production of the season is John Logan’s Red, a play which portrays a period in the life of 20th-century abstract expressionist Mark Rothko as he struggles to paint murals for a commission for the Four Seasons restaurant. The play is an exploration of the ever-changing relationship between the artist and his creations, and explores the rewards and temptations of fame and its challenges to an artist's integrity.

Franklin Stage Company’s 29th season runs from July 4 through August 24 at Chapel Hall, 25 Institute Street in Franklin, NY. Please note all evening shows have a curtain time of 7:30 pm. Sunday shows are at 5:00 pm. Kimberly Akimbo and Red will also have 3:00 pm Saturday matinees. General Seating. Admission is free—sthe uggested donation is $25 per person. For reservations, visit www.franklinstagecompany.org. Programming at the Franklin Stage Company is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

FRANKLIN STAGE COMPANY's dual mission is to produce professional, admission-free theater that brings together audiences and artists to create community and celebrate the enduring power of stories; and to ensure the preservation of Chapel Hall, our historic home, as both an architectural treasure and a center of community activity.

Franklin Stage Company is a professional Actors Equity, not-for-profit theater founded in 1997 in Franklin, NY. FSC is dedicated to producing classic and new plays that stimulate thought and provoke discussion to illuminate as well as entertain. FSC also presents both emerging and established artists working in a variety of performance disciplines. The company was founded on the principle that great theater should be accessible to all.