Performing Arts Productions
NTID Performing Arts
Productions
2025 - 2026 Season Productions
NTID’s Department of Performing Arts and the RIT School of Performing Arts are thrilled to unveil their collaborative theatrical and dance lineup for the 2025–2026 season at Rochester Institute of Technology. This season promises to captivate audiences with a rich tapestry of storytelling and dynamic performances. From thought-provoking dramas and whimsical fantasies to the opening of the new Music Performance Theater, the lineup offers something for everyone in this innovative and engaging series of productions.
This season’s productions are:
❖ The 39 Steps
Adapted by Patrick Barlow
From the novel by John Buchan
From the movie by Alfred Hitchcock
Directed by J.W. Guido
November 7-10, 2025
Robert F. Panara Theater, NTID
A fast-paced comedic thriller, The 39 Steps follows Richard Hannay, an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary adventure after a mysterious woman is murdered in his apartment. Armed only with a few cryptic clues—including the phrase “The 39 Steps”—he finds himself fleeing to Scotland, pursued by both the police and secret agents.
Content Disclosure: Contains mild violence and action sequences, mature themes, light innuendo, and romantic situations.
❖ Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Cut by Ryan Underbakke
November 13-16, 2025
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater, SHED
Shakespeare’s Macbeth explores a world of political ambition, misinformation, and moral decay. The play delves into themes of unchecked power, betrayal, and the psychological toll of guilt. Authoritarian leaders cling to power, revealing the devastating consequences of reckless ambition. In an age when truth is often obscured and ambition unbounded, Macbeth serves as a cautionary tale and a striking reflection of our times. This production of Macbeth will highlight physical theatre.
Content Disclosure: Includes poetically portrayed violence, murder, psychological distress, blood and gore, supernatural elements, suicide, and violence against children.
❖ RIT Dance Festival
Produced by RIT School of Performing Arts and NTID Department Performing Arts
December 5-6, 2025
Robert F. Panara Theater, NTID
The RIT Dance Festival celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of dance at RIT. Beginning with performances from student-led dance clubs, the festival also features workshops in various dance styles, opportunities for collaboration, and live music. The event concludes with the debut of the RIT Dance Collective Repertory Showcase, featuring original choreography in hip-hop, ballet, contemporary, and tap.
❖ The Nether By Jennifer Haley
March 26-29, 2026
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater, SHED
Directed by Andy Head
Produced by RIT School of Performing Arts
Set in a near-future where people live immersed in a virtual world, The Nether explores the boundaries of reality, ethics, and identity. In the darkest corners of this digital realm, troubling questions arise: If it’s just code, do consequences still apply? A provocative sci-fi thriller that examines the nature of morality in a virtual age.
Content Disclosure: Discusses child endangerment, sexual exploitation of minors, and suicide. No explicit depictions will be staged.
❖ Till There Was You
April 10, 2026
Music Performance Theater
Directed by Christopher Ryan
RIT School of Performing Arts
This inaugural event in the Music Performance Theatre celebrates the diverse creativity of the performing arts ecosystem at RIT. Till There Was You includes theatre, dance and music. Themed around longing, desire, and emotional transformation, the performance features various selections from the musical theatre canon.
❖ Pure Imagination: The Magical Candy Factory
April 17-19, 2026
Robert F. Panara Theater
Produced by Dance at RIT/NTID Department of Performing Arts/RIT School of
Performing Arts
Step into a world of wonder in this original, reimagined tale set in a fantastical candy factory. Told through a vibrant fusion of dance, music, American Sign Language (ASL), and multimedia, this immersive production features ballet, tap, jazz, modern, Afro-hip hop, aerial dance, animated avatars, and cutting-edge projection technology—seamlessly blending tradition and innovation in a dazzling spectacle.
For more information on the entire season, please visit:
https://www.rit.edu/performingarts/theatrical-seasons
TICKET INFORMATION
Prices: $5.00 for Student, Senior (60+), and Children under the age of 12
$10.00 for RIT Faculty/Staff/Alumni
$12.00 for General Public
On-site: RIT University Arenas, 200 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester NY 14623.
Website: www.rittickets.com
By phone: 585-475-4121
Tickets will also be available on performance days, starting two hours before curtain, subject to availability.
Thy Name is Woman
November 9-12, 2023
Co-created by Jill Bradbury, Alexa Scott-Flaherty, and Andy Head
Lyndon Baines Johnson Hall (LBJ)
Produced collaboratively by RIT & NTID Performing Arts, Thy Name is Woman is an immersive adaptation of Hamlet. Set in a modern context, this production explores the character of Ophelia, one of Shakespeare's most under-developed female characters, and yet one of the most well-known and debated of Shakespeare's female roles. Thy Name Is Woman uses multi-sensory experiences and non-linear performance to investigate Ophelia's past, psychology, motivations, and desires, all the while inviting audiences to create their own understandings of her life and her decisions. Thy Name is Woman will offer performances in American Sign Language, spoken English, and Protactile.
*Content warning: This play contains content relating to domestic abuse and relational abuse, so some scenes may be triggering.
*Please be advised: This production contains flashing lights and the use of scents.
Performance Schedule - all performances will be open captioned
| ASL | Spoken English | Protactile |
|---|---|---|
| Thu, Nov 9, 2023 6:45 PM Thu, Nov 9, 2023 7:55 PM Fri, Nov 10, 2023 6:45 PM Fri, Nov 10, 2023 7:55 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 1:45 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 2:55 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 6:45 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 7:55 PM |
Thu, Nov 9, 2023 7:20 PM Thu, Nov 9, 2023 8:30 PM Fri, Nov 10, 2023 7:20 PM Fri, Nov 10, 2023 8:30 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 2:20 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 3:30 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 7:20 PM Sat, Nov 11, 2023 8:30 PM |
Sun, Nov 12, 2023 performance is reserved for DeafBlind patrons |
AstroDance II: Across The Universe
December 1-3, 2023
Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Thomas Warfield
SHED – Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
AstroDance: Across the Universe is a multi-media, experiential dance production exploring basic concepts of astrophysics - gravitational waves and the interactions between objects in space - through a series of vignettes performed in dance, ASL and music. This aesthetic educational and interactive performance combines ballet, modern dance, tap dance, hip-hop dance, aerial arts, astrophysics, and the technologies of motion capture, projection mapping and gaming interactives. AstroDance is an interdisciplinary project which brings together students and faculty, creating collaboratively, from the Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation in the College of Science, NTID Department of Performing Arts in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), RIT School of Performing Arts in the College of Liberal Arts, the 3D Design Program in the College of Art and Design, and the School of Interactive Games and Media in the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. The performance aims to engage both performers and audience on a collaborative journey of discovery, innovation and education.
Schedule:
Friday, December 1 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 2 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, December 3 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Location:
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
The Student Hall of Exploration and Development (SHED), RIT Campus
Tickets:
$5 (students); $10 (faculty/staff/alumni); $12 (general public)
Tickets on sale now from RITTickets.com, by visiting the Gene Polisseni Center Box Office from 10am-6pm Monday-Friday, or by calling 585-475-4121.
Ada and the Engine
April 5-7, 2024
Written by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Kelley Holley
SHED – Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
As the British Industrial Revolution dawns, young Ada Byron Lovelace (daughter of the flamboyant and notorious Lord Byron) sees the boundless creative potential in the “analytic engines” of her friend and soul mate Charles Babbage, inventor of the first mechanical computer. Ada envisions a whole new world where art and information converge-a world she might not live to see. A music-laced story of love, friendship, and the edgiest dreams of the future. Jane Austen meets Steve Jobs in this poignant pre-tech romance heralding the computer age.
Immersive Theatre Project
April 12-14, 2024
Conceived and directed by Ryan Underbakke
SHED – Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
The Immersive Theatre Project is a year-long creation process culminating in a student-made production. Story enthusiasts and artists of all kinds, from actors to game designers to LARPers, will all collaboratively develop a piece "in conversation with" the School for Performing Arts other spring production, Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson. Students will spend the fall semester devising storytelling concepts based on theatrical space, thematic structure, and performance. In the spring semester, these ideas will be transformed into a theatrical showing that connects back to Ada. Throughout the production, students will lead decision-making for marketing, rehearsals, design, and performances.
Deaf Creators Play Festival
April 19-21, 2024
Robert F. Panara Theatre
Directed by JW Guido and Gail Gonzalez
The Deaf Creators Play Festival will feature one act plays by diverse Deaf, deaf, and hard-of-hearing playwrights.
April 19-20, 2024 @ 7:30PM
April 20-21, 2024 @ 2:00PM
Tickets are $5 (students, seniors 60+, children under 12); $10 (RIT faculty/staff/alumni); and $12 (general public). Tickets can be purchased from RIT Box Office Website, by visiting the Gene Polisseni Center Box Office from 10am-6pm, or by calling 585-475-4121.
PRESS CONTACTS
Joseph Fox (NTID), Marketing Communication Specialist
(585) 662-3652 | jwfnpa@rit.edu
Emily Foley (RIT), Operations and Marketing Specialist, School of Performing Arts
(585) 475-4316 | ecrspa@rit.edu
Ticket Information
- Purchase tickets:
- On campus: RIT University Arenas, 200 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester NY 14623
- Online: http://www.rittickets.com (type the event name in the Search Events box)
- By phone: 585-475-4121
- Tickets also will be available on performance days two hours prior to curtain.
- Prices:
- $5.00 for Student, Senior (60+), and Children under age of 12
- $10.00 for RIT Faculty/Staff/Alumni
- $12.00 for General Public
