VST 2024-2025 Season

The Virginia Samford Theatre 2024-2025 Season

Welcome to the Virginia Samford Theatre’s 2024-2025 Season

Welcome to the Virginia Samford Theatre’s 24-25 Season. We have assembled an exciting and fresh season of Tony Award winning musicals and plays that reflect VST’s mission of providing high quality theatre for the entire community for 98 years.

Family friendly musicals, modern hits from Stephen Sondheim and Kander and Ebb, classic American plays, three fantastic shows from our STARS program and the return of our wildly successful Community Series create a season with something for everyone.

I urge you all to consider purchasing a mainstage season subscription this year. Not only are we not raising our ticket prices, but we are offering a sixth show to subscribers for FREE. What The Constitution Means to Me, the most produced play in America in 23-24, will be free to subscribers. Combine this terrific value with our brand-new STATE OF THE ART sound system and three hundred free public parking spaces, and you have the best entertainment deal in town!

VST will welcome a number of fresh faces both onstage and off, and I am pleased that women will direct six of our nine shows, several of whom are working with VST for the first time.

VST looks forward to a year of creative energy and first-class entertainment. I would love for you all to be a part of the fun.

Philip Mann Executive Director Virginia Samford Theatre

It’s So Much More Than A Student Performance

Every year we are proud to showcase the very best young talent on our stage as they continue to deliver memorable performances for Birmingham audiences. STARS (Students Take A Role at the Samford) was created to give every young performer an opportunity to learn and grow in a welcoming, safe, and supportive arts environment. This season will be no exception. We have chosen a stellar line-up of shows that are sure to lead our students to new areas of learning and growth. Shakespeare STARS will return this fall with one of “The Bard’s” best comedies Twelfth Night, and this spring we will take on Stephen Schwartz’ classic musical, Godspell Jr. Our summer will be full of fun as Camp VST returns and we step into the territory of Rodgers and Hammerstein with Oklahoma! Youth Edition - the quintessential golden-age musical.

The Virginia Samford Theatre is a teaching theatre. Our mission remains focused on providing affordable, high-quality theatre education and performance opportunities for students led by qualified, professional teaching artists with the passion and drive to cater to every student’s specific needs. That’s why this year we’re thrilled to expand our STARS Studio to offer more masterclass-style learning opportunities throughout the year. My goal is to give our students more access to the world of theatre - like learning more about creative positions in theatre such as costuming, lighting design, or creating original work. These workshops will also have opportunities to learn more about theatre history, methods, and growing as performing artists. I’m even more excited to share that these opportunities will be tuition-free and will only require our students to sign up and secure their spot.

We’ll have something to offer every student this year. Join us for another unforgettable season with STARS at the Virginia Samford Theatre!

Jenna Bellamy STARS Artistic Director

Virginia Samford Theatre

Women Are At The Heart Of Virginia Samford Theatre

Left to Right

(Front Row) Jan Hunter, Chelsea Reynolds (Row Two) Melissa Bush Hallmark, Kelsey Crawford, Suzanne Mann, Jessica Clark Boody, Jenna Bellamy (Row Three) Kristi Tingle Higginbotham, Lori Mercer, Wanda Bussey, Rebecca Yeager, Kristen Campbell

Women are vital to the Birmingham Theatre community, and we’re proud to showcase them in our upcoming season. From six of our nine directors to featured performers in some of the most coveted roles in American Theatre; from Design and Production roles to the STARS all-female cast of Godspell, Jr; from baked goods to box office, Virginia Samford Theatre would not be the same theatre without them.

MAINSTAGE Series

September 12-22, 2024

Directed by Jan Hunter

Music Direction by Joycelyn Whatley Artist in Residence Jan Hunter returns to direct our Season Opener, this time featuring the music of Kander and Ebb and Birmingham theatre royalty, Kristi Tingle Higginbotham. Relive the music of Chicago, New York New York, Cabaret, Kiss of the Spiderwoman and more, all in one night!

“This is Kander and Ebb’s long overdue smash ... an unexpected delight!”

Frank Rich, New York Times

December 5-15, 2024

Directed by Rebecca Yeager

Scenic Design by Ashley Woods

Music Direction by Debbie Mielke

Based on Louisa May Alcott’s American classic, and featuring Birmingham favorite Hannah Kuykendall as Jo, this Civil War story of love and family stands the test of time. Come follow the adventures of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March - this will make the perfect Holiday gift for you and your family.

“a high-energy show fired with charm!”

Emma John, The Guardian

February 6-16, 2025

Directed by Michael Flowers

Music Direction by Jay Tumminello

From Stephen Sondheim, creator of last Season’s hit production of Into the Woods comes Assassins. Winner of 6 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Assassins will feature local favorites Kristen Campbell, Caleb Clark, Amy Johnson and Nick Crawford in a stunning and darkly comic journey into the minds of history’s most famous (and infamous) assassins! *Some mature content

“Sondheim’s score is dazzlingly witty and well-crafted.. the show can make you laugh and then gasp back your breath”

Adam Feldman, TimeOut New York

MAINSTAGE Series

April 3-13, 2025

Directed by David McMahon

Winner of the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play, directed by Artist in Residence David McMahon and featuring Cliff Spencer, Melissa Bush Hallmark, Sara Burris and Steven Hatcher, Virginia Woolf is arguably one of the top plays of the American Twentieth Century. When George and Martha invite a new faculty member and his wife back to their house after a stuffy campus gathering, no one knows what lies ahead.

*Some mature content

“a wry and electric evening in the theatre”

Howard Taubman, New York Times

July 17 - August 3, 2025

Directed by Stacy Alley

Music Supervision by Bobby Horton

Winner of seven Tony awards, including Best Musical. Big River is based on Mark Twain’s classic 1884 novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and features the music of Country legend Roger Miller. Stacy Alley (Head of the University of Alabama’s Musical Theatre Program) and Bobby Horton (‘Three on a String’ and Music Director for Ken Burns) will guide us on a fresh and authentic musical journey through Mark Twain’s timeless tale of humanity and redemption.

“the musical Big River still has something to say and sing”

Philip Brandes, Los Angeles Times

NEW THIS SEASON

All Saturday Performances will now be 2:30pm Matinees

Mainstage Subscription Packages are $225 and include a free ticket to the Community Series production of WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME

February 6-16, 2025

Directed by Pat Flowers

See Inside back cover for Subscription Details

STARS Series

Students Take A Role at the Samford

October 24-27, 2024

Directed by Jessica Clark Boody

Our STARS tackle one of The Bard’s best comedies filled with practical jokes, clever disguises, and serious crushes as a pair of shipwrecked siblings try to reunite in Illyria. Play on!

“this comedy of lost and found identities [is] a vicarious voyage into the light”

Ben Brantley, New York Times

March 13-16, 2025

Directed by Jenna Bellamy

Prepare ye! An all-female cast will explore the themes of leadership, friendship, and trust in this musical retelling of the Gospel of Matthew and teach us all to learn our lessons well.

“Godspell Jr. is a sensation that continues to touch audiences”

Music Theatre International

June 26-29, 2025

Directed by Reid Watson

People will say they’re in love with this groundbreaking musical and our STARS are sure to shine in this story about young love, and life’s challenges in a brand-new state.

“one of the landmarks of 20th century theatre”

Houston Chronicle

COMMUNITY Series

The Community Series was a huge success this past season, so it’s back again with even more events and spread out across the entire season!

September 6, 2024

plus January 31 and April 25, 2025

Gladys returns to VST throughout the season, with their first performances on Friday, September 6. Trained in the New York, Chicago, and LA improv scenes respectively, Michael, Jacob and Tim have brought their lightning fast and thunderously weird version of long-form improv home to Birmingham, and they call it Gladys.

“y’all were amazing; this show was surprisingly moving; thanks for a wonderful night!”

GLADYS Instagram Fans

November 1, 2024

VST Executive Director, Philip Mann, is creating a new and wholly unique collaboration fusing the work of Matt Layne (poet, librarian and early advocate of Dia de Los Muertos in Birmingham), and local jamband legends T.U.B. The Unknamed Band. This celebration of life and death will pair the music of The Grateful Dead and traditional Day of the Dead remembrances. If you were lucky enough to catch Here Comes Sunshine last year at VST, you know you are in for a special evening!

December 19-29, 2024

Ravenswood Radio Theatre returns to VST with their immersive Holiday experience - a step back in time to the 1944 radio broadcast of It’s a Wonderful Life. With a stellar cast of six, a vintage musical underscore and live foley sound effects that bring the entire town of Bedford Falls to life.

“it’s 90 minutes of pure holiday entertainment” Alec Harvey, AL.com

COMMUNITY Series

February 6-16, 2025

Directed by Pat Flowers and featuring Kelsey Crawford Playwright Heidi Schreck breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape future generations. Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this hilarious and hopeful new play, she resurrects her teenage self, tracing the deep relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. “The most-produced play in the 23-24 American theatre season” - Theatre Communications Group

February 28 - March 2, 2025

After celebrating their 25th Anniversary with us in a jam-packed weekend, the Dill Pickers will be returning to VST with another great weekend of music, stories and lots of laughs. More details to come, but one thing’s for sure - you’re gonna have a great time! And remember – The Dill Pickers are always appropriate for every member of the family…. so bring the grandkids and grandma, too!

“Such a great show! Awesome talent. I laughed so much!” - Dill Pickers Fans

March

22, 2025

Returning to VST after their smash soldout event this past March, Here Comes Sunshine is a one of a kind exploration of the history of the Grateful Dead through story and song. Conceived by local poet and Deadhead Matt Layne, VST Executive Director Philip Mann and Birmingham jamband legends T.U.B. The UnKnamed Band.

“It was TOTALLY rad” - Everybody Who Was There

March

28, 2025

Conceived by longitme friends and collaborators Allen Barlow and Jon Campbell, and joined by drummist/singer Mark Lanter and bassist Chris Kozak, together they have created a fresh tribute to Led Zeppelin that is dedicated to recreating the band’s acoustic gems and “acoustifying” interpretations of electric classics.

The VST SEASON at a GLANCE

SEP 6, 2024 C

SEP 12-22, 2024 M

OCT 24-27, 2024

GLADYS IMPROV #

THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND

William Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT S

NOV 1, 2024 DAY OF THE DEAD C

DEC 5-15, 2024

DEC 19-29, 2024

JAN 31, 2025

FEB 6-16, 2025

LITTLE WOMEN The Musical M

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: LIVE # C

GLADYS IMPROV # C

Stephen Sondheim’s ASSASSINS M

FEB 6-16, 2025 C

FEB 28 - MAR 2, 2025 THE DILL PICKERS C

MAR 13-16, 2025

GODSPELL Jr. S

MAR 22, 2025 HERE COMES SUNSHINE C

MAR 28, 2025 C

APR 3-13, 2025 M

APR 25, 2025

JUN 26-29, 2025

JUL 17 - AUG 3, 2025

M S C Mainstage Series STARS Series Community Series # Performances for these productions in the Martha Moore Sykes Studio

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME #

BRON-Y-AUR An Acoustic Tribute to Led Zeppelin

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

GLADYS IMPROV # C

OKLAHOMA Youth Edition S

BIG RIVER The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn M