Imagination Stage

05/27/2026

Pete the Cat is in the house!
This week we welcome the cast and creative team for this summer's production of Pete the Cat: A Live Rock Musical. At our first rehearsal we also saw design presentations - scroll through and see some of the fun elements that will come to life on stage!
Then, get your tickets! 🔗 in bio.

Pete Cast:
Michael Perrie Jr.
Quadry Brown
Kylee Márquez-Downie
Brigid Wallace Harper
Jay Frisby

Understudies:
Dylan Toms
Kate Lurie
James B Mernin

Creative team:
Kate Bryer - Director
Jennifer J. Hopkins - Chroeographer
Debbie Jacobson - Music Director
Tomya Pryor - Scenic Designer
Paris Francesca - Costume Designer
Dean Leong - Lighting Designer
Ben Harvey - Associate Lighting Designer
Justin Schmitz - Sound Designer
Luis Garcia - Projections Designer
Dre Moore - Resident Props Designer
Samantha (Sam) Leahan - Resident Stage Manager

Sarah Beth Hall - UMD Scenic Advisor

05/21/2026

Huge congratulations to the 2026 Helen Hayes Award Winners! 🏆✨
We are incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such immense talent and to regularly collaborate with artists who consistently raise the bar for high-caliber art.

We are bursting with pride for our frequent collaborators and friends who took home awards this week:

🎨 Design & Creative Excellence:
- Ashleigh King (Director, Frog & Toad) & Ryan Sellers (Performer, Snowman and the Snowdog) – Outstanding Choreography in a Musical (Helen) for The Lightning Thief at Adventure Theatre MTC
- Paris Francesca (Costume Designer, Petite Rouge, Pete the Cat) – Outstanding Costume Design (Helen) for Not Your Mother's Goose! at Adventure Theatre MTC
- Megan Holden (Scenic Designer, Production Camps at JDS) – Outstanding Set Design (Helen) for Not Your Mother's Goose! at Adventure Theatre MTC
- Justin Schmitz (Sound Designer, Frog & Toad, Dory Fantasmagory, Pete the Cat) – Outstanding Sound Design (Helen) for hang at 1st Stage
- Luis Garcia (Designer, Pete the Cat) – Outstanding Media/Projections Design (Helen) for Professor Woland's Black Magic Rock Show at Spooky Action Theater

🎭 Outstanding Ensembles:
🎶 Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical (Helen) – Head Over Heels at Constellation Theatre Company, featuring our wonderful artists Ariana Caldwell (Cinderella: A Salsa Fairytale), Harrison Smith (Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed), Stephen Russell Murray (Petite Rouge), and Jordan Essex (The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show)

🥸Outstanding Ensemble in a Play (Helen) – Not Your Mother's Goose! at Adventure Theatre MTC, featuring our fantastic artists Irene Hamilton (Dory Fantasmagory, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show), Trenton McKenzie Beavers (Grinch), and Hannah Taylor (Paper Dreams, The Last Martyr)

And a special, extra shoutout to our Theatre-for-young-audiences neighbors at for an amazing 5 Helen Hayes wins this season!
👏👏
We love watching our DMV theatre family shine. Congratulations to all! ✨

05/20/2026

We are thrilled that the 3 million members of the NEA Today can read about how our Educational Theatre touring show Ghosted engages middle and high school students through theatre, opening up important conversations around teen mental health in our school communities.
Thanks to Cynthia Long for her excellent article. Read it here: https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/school-theater-program-tackles-teen-mental-health

Learn more about Ghosted and our partnership with Kaiser Permanente at imaginationstage.org/educational-theatre/

Finding a meaningful way to talk to students about su***de is tricky. Theater can help.

05/14/2026

Rocking out or leap in to the weekend?
Either way, start early with these amazing shots of our IStage Dance Theatre performance (Photos from ). Then, come see these dancers perform in our Christopher and Dana Reeve Studio Theatre, today and tomorrow, May 14-15 at 7:00.
*These are free/unticketed performances.

05/11/2026

This week brings the culmination of our many advanced training programs! Join us in attending these performances and see what our programs have to offer. Then, take the next step and get ready to for one of these programs next year.

👯‍♀️IStage Dance Theatre, our advanced teen dance company performing in the styles of modern, jazz, and tap (May 14-15, 7:00pm*)
🎭Acting Conservatory Showcase, the culminating performance event of our year-long teen acting training program (May 16, 4:00pm*)
👨🏾‍🎤Musical Theatre Conservatory Showcase, the culminating performance event of our year-long teen musical training program (May 17, 4:00pm*)

Audition information for the 2026-27 school year, and more about these training and performance programs can be found on our website.

*IStage Dance Theatre and Conservatory Showcases are free/unticketed performances.

Photos by from Istage Dance Theatre 2025, Pippin, and Tuck Everlasting

05/07/2026

Latinx Performers:
Imagination Stage's upcoming production of "Tomás and the Library Lady" performed at Planet Word Museum in Washington, DC will feature four (4) performers and three (3) understudies.

The casting and creative team is specifically looking for latinx actors to play the roles of Florencio/Papá Grande and Josefa/Enrique.

Roles are open to any non-equity performer. All characters are played by adults who are 18+. Performers will be hired locally, therefore Imagination Stage will not provide housing, transportation or per diem.

Auditions will be June 1 from 12-3 pm at our theatre in Bethesda, and Interest/Availability is Due May 15 at 1 pm.

Scroll through these photos from the 2025 production of "Tomás and the Library Lady". Then head to imaginationstage.org/news-events/careers/latinx-performers-tomas-and-the-library-lady/ to read more about auditions.

05/01/2026

This weekend only:
BUT I'M A MONSTER HUNTER
A new play written by Rose Hahn
Conceived and performed by The Speak Out on Stage Ensemble
Directed by Kathleen Barth
Assistant Directed by Cameron Noel

Camp Creep is a camp like no other, where a group of quirky and sweet kid monsters spend their summers exploring the outdoors and playing games. This peaceful bliss is disrupted when three monster hunters arrive at camp, determined to fight the fierce and terrifying creatures they’ve been trained to destroy.
Best for ages 8+.

The Speak Out on Stage Ensemble program gives young performers in grades 4-6 the opportunity to share their experiences and ideas to help create fun, dramatic, and insightful new works for the stage.

Photos:
Ticket link: imaginationstage.org/on-our-stages/but-i-m-a-monster-hunter/

04/29/2026

We love seeing these young performers singing Seasons of Love 😍

Need a minute of joy?
Listen to the performance yourself, featuring more than 20 youth from second grade to high school performing alongside professionals and Deimoni Brewington in front of an audience of 300 guests earlier this month at our Imagination Celebration.

04/23/2026

We can't get over this moment from Jodi Picoult's visit to Imagination Stage! 💖

“I am living proof that theatre education teaches transferable skills from critical thinking to public speaking to an ineffable sense of community that any cast and crew share.”

Be loud, Jodi says. And we take that to heart.

As a member of our community, you can use your voice every day to support the more than 120,000 children and families we serve nationwide through making a gift to Imagination Stage

Your voice can make a difference. Give that gift to a child who will grow in empathy, confidence, and compassion. Just like Jodi, let’s show that arts education works!

Link to donate: imaginationstage.org/donate

04/17/2026

Speak Out On Stage (SOOS), is our program for 4-6 graders where actors work with artistic staff members to create their own original play or musical. See the productions from this year's ensembles and get ready to be part of next year's!

Tickets are on sale now at the link in our bio.

04/16/2026

We're not crying, you are. 🥰

Our children and teachers wanted to share their "why" with you.

🎥Created by Giovana Roskosz Reis