A look at theater productions coming to New Mexico in 2026

The ball has finally dropped, ushering in the New Year, and now New Mexico’s local theaters are raising the curtain on 2026.

The Santa Fe Playhouse is jumping into 2026 with productions all themed around the idea of “Power Plays,” Anna Hogan, producing artistic director, said.

“All of our six productions on our main stage have to do with conversation of power,” Hogan said.

“So whether that’s power in a kind of traditional sense, whether that’s the power of coming into identity or the power of making decisions in light of life and changes and all of those things,” she said.

The theme came from a desire to put on pieces that invited audiences to open conversations on what they were watching, she said.

“It’s less focused on spectacle, and it’s more focused on conversation and introspection and even advocacy and further education resources,” Hogan said.

The Vortex is celebrating its 50th anniversary season with a mix of old and new shows, including “Waiting for Godot,” which was the premiere performance when the theater opened in 1976.

“We wanted to revisit several, six very successful plays, and we also wanted to bring some things that hadn’t been seen to our stage,” Leslee Richards, Vortex board member, said.

One of the new performances is the world premiere of “They Must be Women Now,” which Vortex will perform as part of the American Association of Community Theatre’s “New Play Fest 2026.”

Richards said she finds theater to be one of the most important art forms.

“I think perhaps the most important thing is to recognize that theater requires us to get our noses out of our screens, to listen, to hear, to be a part of a world,” Richards said.

Nancy Sellin, board president at The Adobe Theater, said that the ALT season is filled with audience pleasers, including “Of Mice and Men,” “Clue” and “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”

“The Adobe is known for more traditional stuff, and our audiences are a little older than some of the audiences,” Sellin said, “and they love the things that are really easy to understand, and not so much left of center.”

The Adobe will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2027, and over the years, Sellin said she has seen the importance of local theater.

“There’s emotional stuff that comes up, and we have to learn to love all people and to be very diverse and understanding and compassionate,” Sellin said. “That’s one of the things I think we desperately need right now in our world.”

Musical Theatre Southwest will bring classic and contemporary musicals to the stage in 2026.

Executive Director Raul Saenz said one of the focuses during a season is to respect the legacy that classic musicals have left and the impact their stories have had on audiences.

“Being able to bring back those classics to the Albuquerque community is essentially key to being able to perform and say, ‘Don’t forget about what happened in the past,’” Saenz said.

The theater will begin the season with “Prince of Egypt” and end with “Les Misérables.” Sanez said that MTS has an edgier side when it comes to performances.

“We don’t shy away from musicals that could be for children, but also that have very adult, strong content and ‘Prince of Egypt’ is a little bit of both,” Saenz said.

Upstart Crows of Santa Fe will be kicking off their season with “The Winter’s Tale,” which board member Caryl Farkas said hits on tragedy, comedy and romance but also historical aspects.

She said they chose “The Winter’s Tale” to begin the 2026 season to move away from too many tragedies in a row and work in a comedy. Additionally, Upstart Crows had not done a historical play recently, and this will be the young actors’ first introduction to the material.

“They didn't know the play at all, but as we started, they fell in love with it,” Farkas said. 

The Albuquerque Little Theatre is finishing up its 2025-2026 season with “The Children’s Hour,” “Anything Goes” and “Company.”

The Albuquerque Little Theatre recently appointed Jon Montgomery as its new executive director and Brandon Thomsen as its artistic director. Both are excited to finish up the latest season and dive into a new one.

Montgomery said that as the season finishes, the focus will be on a diverse mix of genres and styles.

“Our season will reflect everyone is welcome,” Montgomery said. “Everybody has something that they can come and enjoy.”

Thomsen said he wants next season to have an ebb and flow, finding local theater can be the heartbeat of a community.

“It should be a reflection of who we are and what we want to be,” Thomsen said.

The Adobe Theater (adobetheater.org)

“Anthropology”: Jan. 16-Feb. 1 

“Social Security”: Feb. 27-March 22

“Of Mice and Men”: April 10-May 3

“The Great American Trailer Park Musical”: May 29-June 21

“These Shining Lives”: July 17-Aug. 9

“The Crucible”: Sept. 4-27

“Clue”: Oct. 16-Nov. 8

“The Man Who Came to Dinner”: Dec. 4-20

Albuquerque Little Theatre (albuquerquelittletheatre.org)

“The Children’s Hour”: Jan. 30-Feb. 8

“Anything Goes”: March 6-22

“Company”: June 12-28

Musical Theatre Southwest (mtsabq.org) 

“The Prince of Egypt: The Musical”: March 12-29

“Spring Awakening”: June 4-29

“The Light in the Piazza”: July 24-Aug. 9

“Come From Away”: Sept. 3-27

“Les Misérables”: Dec. 3-20

Santa Fe Playhouse (santafeplayhouse.org)

“POTUS (Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive)”: March 19-April 12

“At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen”: May 7-31

“Cabaret”: July 9-26

“Bad Medicine”: Aug. 6-30

“Company”: Nov. 19-Dec. 20

Upstart Crows of Santa Fe (upstartcrowsofsantafe.org)

“The Winter’s Tale”: Jan. 23-Feb. 1

“The Tempest”: June 5-15

“The Importance of Being Earnest”: July 31-Aug. 9

The Vortex Theatre (vortexabq.org) 

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: Jan. 9-Feb. 1

“An Enemy of the People”: Feb. 14-March 8

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”: March 20-April 12

“Sense and Sensibility”: April 24-May 17

“Waiting for Godot”: May 29-June 21

“Bless Me, Ultima”: July 10-26

“The Motherf**ker with the Hat”: Sept. 11-Oct. 4

“Antigone”: Oct. 16-Nov. 8

“Picasso at the Lapin Agile:” Nov. 27-Dec. 27