red barn News
THE RED BARN’S 47TH SEASON IS ‘BOLD, DAZZLING, ICONIC’
Key West’s Red Barn Theatre has pulled out all the stops in the line-up for their stellar 47th season under the banner of shows that are “Bold, Dazzling, and Iconic.”
Key West’s Red Barn Theatre has pulled out all the stops in the line-up for their stellar 47th season under the banner of shows that are “Bold, Dazzling, and Iconic.”
The mainstage shows include a sizzling group of plays by playwrights who have garnered a number of accolades, from the Kennedy Center, the American Theatre Critics Association, the Lucille Lortel Awards, the Broadway World Off-Broadway Awards, the Drama Desk Awards, the Outer Critics Circle Awards, and none other than the 2026 Tony and Pulitzer Awards. The plays range from heartwarming romantic comedy to sexy, campy fun, to a powerfully moving look at mothers and daughters trying to navigate the early days of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
“It may be one of our strongest seasons ever,” said artistic director Joy Hawkins. “Excellent stories by excellent writers, cast with top actors who will deeply move and entertain you.”
The season opens with award-winning playwright Steven Dietz’s endearing romantic comedy, “Shooting Star”, a tale of chance encounters, second chances, and how life doesn’t always end up where you’re aiming. It centers on two college lovers who have not seen each other for years, but have a life-altering reunion when they are snowed in overnight at a Midwest airport. As the night gives way to laughter, banter, remembrance, and alcohol, Elena and Reed revisit a past that holds more surprises than they imagined—and a present that neither of them could have predicted. The play will star Key West favorites Dave Bootle and Lauren Thompson, directed by Hawkins.
It was called "…a moving look into that place in our hearts where lost loves still hold sway” by the Los Angeles Times. And the Austin Chronicle said of it, "Stories told this well don't come around very often."
“Shooting Star” will run December 8, 2026 through January 2, 2027. There will be no shows Christmas Eve, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve, but there will be added shows on specific Monday nights – be sure to check the schedule. All shows will curtains at 7 pm.
Next up January 19 through February 20, 2027 will be the over-the-top, very sexy and campy “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors” by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, winner of the Best Off-Broadway Play and a Lucille Lortel Nominee. It’s a masterful mash-up of Bram Stoker, Mel Brooks, and Monty Python – a laugh-out-loud, gender-bending romp. The show stars Susannah Wells, Erin McKenna, Phillip Cole White, Jody Orrigo, and Dominic Paolillo, each of them playing several different characters as the show unfolds. It is directed by Mimi McDonald.
“It’s a wild, fun, unpredictable show,” McDonald said. “Each actor creates so many crazy characters, and there are dozens of fast costume changes. The costumes, by the way, are all created by Sushi…they’re amazing.”
The story centers on two sisters, one of whom has “a disease of the blood,” so they enlist vampire hunter Van Helsing to find Dracula to help her. Their hunt for the dangerous and sexy Count abounds with clever wordplay and quick-change antics. It’s a blood-curdling, upside-down take the literary classic.
Called “…a brilliant send-up…a hilariously reimagined take..” by Broadway World. All curtains are at 7:30 pm.
In a real coup for the Barn, the third mainstage show of the season is one of the most lauded shows of this past or any season – “Liberation” by Bess Wohl. Winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awards, it’s also garnered accolades from the Dramatists Guild, the Drama Desk Awards, the Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Lucille Lortel Awards, among almost a dozen others.
The story is set in 1970. Somewhere in Ohio, six women meet on a basement basketball court to form a consciousness-raising group, determined to shake up their lives and change the world. Fifty years later, one of their daughters tries to understand where things fell apart. A provocative, very funny, and wildly theatrical play that poses vital questions about friendship, legacy and the true meaning of liberation, investigating what we inherit, what we forget, and what we’re still fighting to understand, all while being thoroughly entertaining without being preachy, cringey, or on-the-nose.
“Liberation” stars Morgan Fraga Pierson, Lauren Thompson, Cassidy Timms, Fritzie Estimond, Jessica Miano Kruel, Ivy Munnerlyn, Shannon Edwards, and Jack McDonald. It will be directed by Joy Hawkins. It runs March 2 through 20, 2027. Called “An unadulterated pleasure…powerfully moving and funny” by the New York Times. All curtains are at 7:30 pm.
The final production of the season brings back the perennial favorite “Short Attention Span Theatre,” an evening of short, punchy, funny, unpredictable short plays by well-known playwrights, all centered around a central theme. It’s a fast-paced evening featuring a troupe of hilarious actors directed by a stellar group of directors. The 2027 edition will no doubt prove to be provocative and entertaining!
SAST will run March 30 through April 24, 2027, with all curtains at 7:30 pm.
One Special Event is set for this 47th Season as well – Christine Mild returns to the Barn with another new show, “For the Love of Country.” It will run January 5-9, 2027, with showtime at 7:30 pm. Expect Christine’s usual enthusiastic delivery of the best of country music, supported by her always-terrific band.
Tickets for all shows individually for by subscription are available now at redbarntheatre.com. Visit the website for more information.
For Immediate Release
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102
THE COMICS COME ALIVE AT THE RED BARN THEATRE WITH “YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN”
At some point in our lives – in a moment when it feels like the world is conspiring against us in every way possible -- we all feel like Charlie Brown.
At some point in our lives – in a moment when it feels like the world is conspiring against us in every way possible -- we all feel like Charlie Brown.
Maybe that’s why we love him so much. Cartoon character he may be, but we recognize that he is, in reality, us, and we relate. He lets us know that no matter what happens in those unexpected and mostly unwanted instants, we’re going to survive.
Well, the Red Barn Theatre invites all the Charlie Browns in us to join them for fun and music in the final production of their 47th season, as Charlie Brown – along with all the other beloved characters in the Peanuts comic strip -- take their stage in “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown”, for four shows only, May 1-3.
The show was a massive Broadway hit in the late Sixties, and again in revival in the late Nineties, garnering Outer Critics Circle Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and three Tony Awards. It has become one of the most-performed musicals in American theatre history, celebrating its 58th year of entertaining audiences.
The Red Barn’s production is a special one, featuring the stellar talents of a host of young musical theater students out of Bravo Theatre, a group of 2nd to 7th graders from area schools. Daniel Goldberg will play Charlie Brown, Olivia Blass will be Lucy, Cody Hawks will be Schroeder, Annabel Garrido plays Snoopy, Rowan Thompson is Linus, and Virginia Spottswood takes on Sally. Joining them as part of the ensemble are Zadie Haskell, Romy Witherow, Scarlet Smith, Mila Fernandez, Isabel Marrero, and Uma Simon. The show is co-directed by Lauren Thompson and Amber McDonald Good.
“It’s fantastic,” Thompson said of working with young talent. “These kids are really inspiring because they are fearless. All the inhibitions and stops we have as adults, they don’t have. Their minds are not cluttered up as yet….they’re so much more adept at connecting openly and easily. You really feel like you’re looking at fresh minds open and alive to the fun they’re presenting.”
The show – a series of vignettes featuring songs that capture you and choreography that amazes – follows Charlie Brown, the eternal blockhead, as he and his gang suffer through disastrous baseball games, infuriating book reports, and – of course – the humiliation of trying to kick a football out of Lucy’s hands. But as trying as all that may be, in the end they remind each other – and us – that happiness is all around us.
“The best part of the show,” Thompson said, “is that cartoonist Charles Shultz had an incredible ability to draw his characters in deep and meaningful conversations about human beings and how we each may see things and how we’re emotionally different from one another. It’s really wonderful to have kids do this, because they’re learning as they’re doing the show…having the experience. It’s an important time for conversations such as these. For them and for us.”
The music and book for the show were originally written by Clark Gesner with later additions by Andrew Lippa, who also wrote “The Addams Family.” Musical direction for the Red Barn production is by Nancy 3 Hoffman, with choreography by Penny Leto. Sushi will be making all the costumes.
Called “A delight! A small miracle...almost everything works because almost everything is effortless…” by the New York Times, and “…a show that comforts your nostalgic inner child while welcoming the newer generations with open arms…” by DC Metro Theatre Arts.
Tickets are already limited. Visit redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911 before they completely sell out. Shows are Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm.
The show is sponsored in part by the generous support of Truman and Company, the Community Foundation, and Keys Open Doors.
THE RED BARN EXPLORES LIFE AND WONDER WITH ”A ROCK SAILS BY”
With their next mainstage production, Key West’s Red Barn Theatre takes on nothing less than the intersection of science and faith, the unknown, and the human condition in general. Not a small task for 90 minutes, but they do it all with humor, heart, and touching emotion.
Cast of Red Barn’s Production A ROCK SAILS BY (Lauren Thompson Not Pictured)
With their next mainstage production, Key West’s Red Barn Theatre takes on nothing less than the intersection of science and faith, the unknown, and the human condition in general. Not a small task for 90 minutes, but they do it all with humor, heart, and touching emotion.
“A Rock Sails By”, by prolific playwright Sean Grennan, runs March 31 through April 25, with all curtains at 7:30 pm. It has garnered high critical praise for its script and emotional depth.
The play explores the great questions of our time: Is there life beyond our planet? What happens after death? Why is life, in all its beauty, filled with fear, anger, and hatred? And, perhaps one of the most complicated of questions – What’s the point? It tells the story of an astrophysicist, Dr. Lynn Cummings, who, while investigating a mysterious interstellar object nearing earth, finds herself dealing with personal grief, physical and mental decline, challenges to her professional reputation, and trying to reconnect with her daughter. She’s always believed in science, but now that her life is changing, the certainty that was once a source of comfort to her has become a source of emptiness. How she deals with the collision of all these new elements in her life is what gives the play its beating heart.
Playwright Grennan recently told a reporter, “In 2017 I read a news article about an odd object that was flying through our solar system. It had come from outside our galaxy, which was very unusual. It’s Hawaiian name – “Oumuamua” – translates to ‘Messenger from our distant past’.” That got Grennan to thinking about what it might be and what it could mean to mankind. “I’d been thinking about mortality – friends are passing, I’m wearing out, fewer days ahead than behind – so I wanted to explore all of that.”
Astrophysicist Cummings does the same in the play, as she navigates her new personal challenges, though always with wit and humor. Mimi McDonald, the Barn’s Managing Director, portrays Cummings in a rare onstage performance and tour-de-force role. She’s accompanied by Susannah Wells, Lauren Thompson, Jody Orrigo, Glenda Donovan, and Fritzie Estimond. The play is directed by Joy Hawkins.
Broadway World called the play “…smart, witty, and relatable…a thought-provoking story filled with wit, humor, and emotion.” Coral Gables Magazine said it was “A soul-searching delight.”
This production is sponsored in part by Berkshire Hathaway and Stanley Kovak, as well as the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com or by calling the box office at 305-296-9911. All curtains are at 7:30 pm. There will be an Opening Night After Party for all ticketholders that night.
RED BARN BRINGS THE BRILLIANCE OF BROADWAY’S KANDER AND EBB TO THEIR STAGE
Every musical theater lover knows there’s a special magic woven into every Broadway musical, an alchemy of melodies and lyrics that worm their way into the mind and memory, where they take up residence forever.
Cast of Red Barn’s Production AND THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND, with Musical Director Michael Fauss
Every musical theater lover knows there’s a special magic woven into every Broadway musical, an alchemy of melodies and lyrics that worm their way into the mind and memory, where they take up residence forever.
Key West’s Red Barn Theatre will present an evening of the best of these alchemic confections by two of Broadway’s most celebrated musical wizards in “And The World Goes Round – The Music of Kander and Ebb.” The show runs February 24 through March 21. All curtains are at 7:30 pm.
Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb were one of Broadway’s most creative, versatile, and dynamic musical theater writing teams. Over their partnership of 40 years, they created over 15 of Broadway’s greatest classics, including “Cabaret,” “Chicago,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Woman of the Year,” “Zorba,” and “New York, New York,” among many others. Many of their shows found their way onto the silver screen as well.
“And The World Goes Round” is a unique evening of the duo’s work – a clever collage of love songs, torch songs, and witty comic numbers cherry-picked from their top shows. But while it is a musical revue, the show – originally conceived by director Scott Ellis, choreographer Susan Stroman, and librettist David Thompson –is something far more unique. It accomplishes the feat of expressing the lives and emotions of characters through the music alone, without the need for a story line or character dialogue. The songs serve as a lens into the lives of the characters on stage, exploring love, heartbreak, hope, and the resilience of the human spirit, all through Kander and Ebb’s unique blend of wit and emotion.
The show stars four great Key West voices -- Lauren Thompson, Claire Caplan, Arthur Crocker, and Jeremy Zoma. A real extra plus for this show is having musical direction by New York’s Michael Fauss, a Broadway orchestrator and musical director for such shows as “Brigadoon,” and “Oliver!”. The show will be co-directed by Red Barn artistic director Joy Hawkins and Lauren Thompson, who also handles the bulk of the choreography.
“I love that we get to celebrate these men who are icons of Broadway,” said Hawkins. “They wrote such celebrated Broadway musicals, with intricate harmonies and fancy footwork. This is a terrific night of music, and a celebration of these men who served musical theatre so brilliantly. This will be one of our best musical offerings ever.”
The show ran for over a year in New York, garnering Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel awards for Outstanding Musical Revue. Broadway World called it “…stylish, sophisticated, and thoroughly satisfying…”. MD Theatre Guide said it is “…one of the most satisfying and enjoyable musical evenings I’ve ever experienced…”. The Marriott Theatre Review said it is “…an emotional thrill ride of amazing voices…”.
Tickets can be purchased at redbarntheatre.com or by calling the box office at 305-296-9911. The show is sponsored in part by Duval Street Media, the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, and the Monroe Country Tourist Development Council.
RED BARN CELEBRATES WITH THE HEARTFELT AND HILARIOUS “AT THE WEDDING”
Ah, weddings. Those wonderful celebrations of love and the commitment of two hearts to the sharing of a life together. We expect an evening of joy, laughter, too much good food and drink, and endless toasts to the happy couple.
Cast of Red Barn’s Production AT THE WEDDING
Ah, weddings. Those wonderful celebrations of love and the commitment of two hearts to the sharing of a life together. We expect an evening of joy, laughter, too much good food and drink, and endless toasts to the happy couple.
And then there is the somewhat sideways reception for the nuptials depicted in Bryna Turner’s heartfelt and hilarious “At The Wedding,” the next mainstage presentation in the Red Barn Theatre’s 46th season. Running January 20 through February 14 at their 319 Duval Street facility, it is an invitation that you surely won’t want to miss.
It’s not that Turner’s very funny play doesn’t have all the trappings of a typical joy-filled wedding. They’re in there somewhere. But she has reimagined the classic wedding-genre story by lampooning the tropes of such stories and adding just enough off-the-wall spice to elevate the play into the rare air of great comedy that manages to deliver a poignant message.
The story centers around a gregarious wiseacre named Carlo who has crashed the wedding of her ex-girlfriend, Eva, a vivacious young woman that has left their gay relationship to marry a straight man. Carlo has several goals in attending: not to get drunk, not to make little kids cry, and to try to win back Eva. The play is fast-paced, sharp, funny, and emotional, blending its humor with poignant reflections on love, loneliness, and heartbreak.
Along the way, we meet a cornucopia of great characters: Carly, the bridesmaid and “frenemy” of Carlo; Eli, a high school English teacher who thinks all of life can be explained in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Leigh, an alluring guest who flirts with Carlo and tries to get her to ditch the wedding with her; Victor, a very charming waiter; and Maria, the classic mother of the bride. The brilliance of Turner’s play is how she uses the interactions of these characters to examine how societal institutions often fail to accommodate diverse human experiences. And she does it while making us laugh out loud.
The play features the talents of Jess Polak, Martha Hooten-Hattingh, Jody Orrigo, Rita Troxel, Susannah Wells, Jessica Miano-Kruel, and Jack McDonald. It is directed by Joy Hawkins.
“I loved the play instantly,” said director Hawkins, also the Red Barn’s artistic director. “She’s a total fresh voice. The play has a nuance and poignancy, and a very special sweetness. It’s very today. We get to take this journey with this woman who is so adorably lost, and we get a great romantic look at life and how hard it can be sometimes. It’s simply an adorable play.”
DC Theatre Arts called the show “…wickedly funny…with plot twists and laugh-a-minute dialogue…”. TheatreMania called it “…brutally hilarious…”. The New York Times says, “…spritely smart…so fresh…so funny…”.
Tickets for “At The Wedding” can be purchased at redbarntheatre.com or 305-296-9911. Curtains for all shows are at 7:30 pm. Be aware that there is no parking at the Red Barn Theatre.
CHRISTINE MILD RETURNS TO RED BARN WITH NEW SHOW, “QUEENS OF COUNTRY”
Christine Mild
Christine Mild, vocalist star of the uber-popular “Always…Patsy Cline” shows, will return to Key West’s Red Barn Theatre with her all-new evening of songs from the vaults of country music.
The all-new show is called “Queens of Country Music: Patsy! Dolly! Loretta!” The limited engagement runs January 7 – 10, 2026 only, and is expected to sell out quickly, as all of Mild’s past shows have done.
“When I started designing the show,” Mild said recently, “I asked myself who I would call the ultimate Queens of country music – the ones who set the bar and who have influenced everyone who’s followed them. And honestly, there were only three – Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn. You can name dozens of “Duchesses” who came up after them and thanks to them, but those three stand by themselves.”
Mild will be cherry-picking the best of the Queens in the new show’s line-up of classic country, while sprinkling in tunes from several Duchesses, including Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, Gretchen Wilson, and Beyonce.
“For a country music lover, this show will give you a multitude of songs that you know and love from these remarkable women,” Mild said. “And we won’t forget a few of the newer voices that may hint at who might, at some point, assume the kind of reign Patsy, Dolly, and Loretta were able to achieve.”
Joining Mild on stage will be what she calls a “kick-ass ensemble” of great players. She’s enticed UK guitarist Matt Becker, who has played with the likes of Julian Lennon, among many other notables, to spend some time in Key West and join her on stage. Playing bass will be Geoff Lowe, a friend from Chicago, who many Key Westers may have seen in playing recently around the jazz clubs in town. Key West’s Gary McDonald will again be on drums, and the keyboards will be handled by Jim Rice.
“It’s a great, great band,” Mild said, “and we’ll also be adding another terrific female voice in my dear friend Erin Parker, who has a real connection to Nashville as one of Reba McIntyre’s back-up singers. She’s fantastic. With that group on stage, there’s no way you won’t have an awesome time. This will be our best one yet.”
For tickets and more information, check redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911.
RED BARN’S SEASON OPENS WITH THE HILARIOUS “SCROOGE MACBETH”
Just for the fun of it, let’s imagine Charles Dickens happens to run into William Shakespeare in an out-of-the-way London pub late on a snowy Christmas Eve, and they start talking shop, and after five or six pints, they’ve drunkenly forged an outrageous idea for a new Christmas play – a little bit Charles, a little bit William, and all of it hilarious.
PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102
For Immediate Release
Just for the fun of it, let’s imagine Charles Dickens happens to run into William Shakespeare in an out-of-the-way London pub late on a snowy Christmas Eve, and they start talking shop, and after five or six pints, they’ve drunkenly forged an outrageous idea for a new Christmas play – a little bit Charles, a little bit William, and all of it hilarious.
Well, we actually don’t have to imagine it, because with the Red Barn’s opening mainstage show of its 46th season, we get to see the kind of unprecedented madness such a collaboration might yield.
“Scrooge Macbeth,” by the award-winning playwright David MacGregor, is a fantastically funny mash-up of everything The Bard and everything The Boz. And it effortlessly manages to get us fully into the Christmas spirit and keep us there for 80 minutes. The show runs December 9 through January 3, 2026, with all curtains at 7:30 pm.
The story centers around a small community theater about to open a holiday production of Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale.” The hope is that the show will save the financially-strapped theater before bankruptcy closes the doors. But as fate would have it (so Shakespearean…), most of the cast is laid low by food poisoning (so Dickensian…) mere moments before curtain time, leaving the last four actors standing to pull some kind of holiday entertainment together on the fly for the audience that is waiting just outside the theater. What they come up with is Shakespeare running headlong into Dickens as they try to combine two iconic tales into a single production, complete with improvised turns on the best-known carols of the season.
“It’s one of the funniest plays I’ve ever been a part of,” said Barn Managing Director Mimi McDonald, who also directs the show. “It has a surprise a minute and takes advantage of the intimacy of the Barn’s space – the audience will feel they’re right in the craziness as part of the show. And I think it capitalizes on the strengths of the Red Barn – we love the off-beat, the off-kilter here, and we’re lucky to have cast some of the great comedic actors Key West has.”
The show features a host of Shakespeare characters as you’ve never seen them – imagine hearing “I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas” sung from the point of view of Richard III. Or Ebenezer Scrooge showing up on Juliet’s balcony. Or Hamlet going Christmas shopping. And then there are the twisted turns on the most beloved holiday carols, like the Shakespearean take on the “Twelve Days of Christmas” –
“Twelve Severed Heads!
Eleven Forest Fairies,
Ten Doomed Lovers…”
You get the idea. The fun, music, and Christmas spirit never stop, even when one of the characters – an over-the-top diva – adds a bit of drama to the proceedings by refusing to do the show until he’s allowed to play Othello, who gets pulled into a very odd and lyrical holiday Shakespeare cabaret. And yes, it’s as funny as you’d imagine it would be.
“Scrooge Macbeth” stars Key West’s Dominic Paolillo, Nina Pilar, Mathias Maloff, Cassidy Timms, and Gerri Louise Gates, all perfectly suited to play the laugh-a-minute insanity of such a tale. Costumes will be brilliantly styled by Sushi.
Broadway World called the play “…a confectionary Holiday Romp that will make you feel good.” The TBN Weekly said the play “fills the audience with holiday cheer while poking fun at the world’s most famous writers.” The Gabber called it “…a blazingly witty script.”
While the play is set for the holiday season, be aware that there will be no performances Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or New Year’s Eve. There will be a performance New Year’s Day. There will be an Opening Night Party after the performance on December 9, with all ticketholders welcome to join the cast and crew for light fare and libations.
There is no parking at the Red Barn Theatre.
For tickets to “Scrooge Macbeth” or to purchase a subscription to the entire 46th Season (and save 20%!), visit redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911.
Sponsored in part by Key TV and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, and by the generous donations of our patrons.
RED BARN ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR IT’S 46TH SEASON!
Key West’s Red Barn Theatre will follow up last year’s remarkably successful season with another stellar lineup of plays and special events that will bring a full measure of laughter and emotion to its audiences.
PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102
For Immediate Release
Key West’s Red Barn Theatre will follow up last year’s remarkably successful season with another stellar lineup of plays and special events that will bring a full measure of laughter and emotion to its audiences.
“I think there’s something for everyone,” said Joy Hawkins, the Barn’s artistic director. “We take our time finding the best new plays that have come along, and this year’s group is very special. And we’re again fortunate to have a terrific company of actors to bring them to life.”
The Red Barn’s 46th Season kicks of December 9th this year with the holiday-themed “Scrooge Macbeth” by David MacGregor. It’s a hilarious mash-up of Dickens and Shakespeare when a theater company is left to come up with a replacement show for their Shakespeare production when all their actors call out sick. Can they save their theater by coming up with a show in a couple of hours? It’s a very funny collision of everything Christmas and everything Shakespeare. The show stars Dominic Paolillo, Nina Pilar, Mathias Maloff, Cassidy Timms, and Gerri Louise Gates, and will be directed by Mimi McDonald. It will run through January 3, 2026. Please note that there will be no performances Christmas Eve, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve.
Christine Mild will return to the Barn with her latest musical special event, “The Queens of Country: Patsy! Dolly! Loretta!”. The show will have only four performances, January 7-10, 2026. Pianist Jim Rice will once again lead a terrific country band to back Christine up. Limited tickets will be available, and Christine always sells out, so grab your seats as soon as they go on sale later this summer.
Joy Hawkins will direct the next mainstage production, “At the Wedding”, by Bryna Turner, running January 20 through February 14, 2026. Patrons will be cordially invited to a Northern California wedding and meet Carlo, an agent of comedic chaos, as she attempts to make it through the night without drinking too much, talking too much, or trying to win back the bride. The very funny play stars Jess Polak, Martha Hooten-Hattingh, Jody Orrigo, Rita Troxel, Susannah Wells, Jessica Miano Kruel, and Jack McDonald.
Next up February 24 through March 21, 2026 will be a wonderful musical revue, “And the World Goes Round”. The show features the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb, the composers behind such great hits as “Chicago,” “Cabaret,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” and the movie scores for “Funny Lady” and “New York, New York.” It will be directed by Joy Hawkins and Lauren Thompson, with musical direction by Michael Fauss, and feature the voices of Lauren Thompson, Jeremy Zoma, Claire Caplan, and more.
The Barn’s season will close with “A Rock Sails By,” a play by Sean Grennan that Broadway World called “A thought-provoking story filled with humor, and emotion.” When a UFO is sighted heading towards Earth, astrophysicist Dr. Lynn Cummings grants an interview to a journalist who has misquoted her, inviting him to view the object with her as it comes close to our planet. There is no telling what she will discover beyond the stars. The play will be directed by Joy Hawkins and star George DeBraud, Susannah Wells, Jody Orrigo, Fritzie Estimond, and Glenda Donovan. “A Rock Sails By” will run March 31 through April 25, 2026.
Tickets will be available on this website and at 305-296-9911 later this summer. As always, Opening Night ticket holders are invited to an Opening Night reception with the cast and crew. So make your plans now to join us for another stellar season at the Red Barn!
REMEMBERING JOHN WELLS
We are heartbroken to share the news that our dear friend, John Wells, one of the Founding Members of the Red Barn Theatre left this earthly plane August 14, 2025.
A Celebration of Life for John Wells will be held at the Red Barn Theatre on Friday, November 21 from 5-7pm. Join us as we share stories, laughter, and love in remembrance of a life well lived. All who knew and loved John are welcome to attend.
We are heartbroken to share the news that our dear friend, John Wells, one of the Founding Members of the Red Barn Theatre left this earthly plane August 14, 2025. John was a consummate performer, actor, musician, and passionate storyteller who lit up the stage in countless productions for over 45 years at all of the stages in Key West Theatre. He leaves behind his loving wife and daughter. His presence will be profoundly missed, but his legacy will live on in the Red Barn and in the hearts of all who knew him.
JOHN LEE WELLS
Songwriter, singer, musician, actor and storyteller John Lee Wells passed away August 14, 2025, peacefully, at his home in Key West where he had been a resident since 1978. Born in Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, he went on to lead the marching band of John Marshall High School and was a graduate of the University of Richmond where he was the Drum Major for their award-winning ROTC Band. In the late 60's John founded the very successful band The John Wells Delegation which enjoyed over a decade of popularity playing every major club in the Washington D.C. area including the famed Cellar Door, Blues Alley and The Bitter End and The Village Gate in NYC. The Delegation was known for their original songs, tight harmonies and electric showmanship that defied genres with their blend of rock, folk and showtunes. They scored several documentaries for NBC-TV including Venice Be Damned, The Inside World of Outer Space and appeared on the Today Show. Patty Duke and Elizabeth Taylor (to John Warner) had them play at their wedding receptions.
John was a major figure in all of Key West's theatres. One of the founding members of The Red Barn Theatre, he was cast in leading roles that included Pippin, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well..., The Roar of the Greasepaint..., One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Smoke on the Mountain, Love Letters, several versions of Conchs, Cowboys and Tales of Old Key West and so many more, including his own one-man show John Wells is Still Alive and Well and Living in Key West. Musicals at the Tennessee Williams Theatre Included leading roles in Oliver, South Pacific, The Music Man, The Man of La Mancha and appearances with The Paradise Big Band. He also was seen at The Waterfront Playhouse in Urinetown, August: Osage County, The Trip to Bountiful and 1776. John was the original Pool Man of Key West, an appreciator of home cooked meals from Fausto's and a friend to most everyone he met.
He will be missed by his traveling buddy....his wife and partner of 50 years...Joy Hawkins, his beloved daughter Zoe Hawkins-Wells to whom he was the greatest Popi in the world, his adoring nieces and their children and all those who were fortunate to know and love him.
A Celebration of his Life will be held at The Red Barn Theatre on Friday, November 21 from 5 - 7. All those who knew and loved him are welcome. Only bikes may park at the Barn.
KEYS WEEKLY FEATURE ON MIMI MCDONALD: "SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW”
SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW: MIMI MCDONALD IS UPBEAT AND ONSTAGE
by Carol Shaughnessy | June 2, 2025
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Mimi McDonald is the longtime managing director of Key West’s popular Red Barn Theatre, which she and her husband Gary helped establish 45 years ago. CONTRIBUTED
As Mimi Madden McDonald prepared to audition for her elementary school’s third-grade talent show many years ago, the teacher in charge asked what her talent was.
“Talking!” she announced blithely.
Though completely unaware at that moment, McDonald had just identified the trait that would carry her through a long and satisfying career in acting and theater administration.
For decades, the articulate and energetic woman has been the managing director of Key West’s acclaimed Red Barn Theatre — a theater she and her husband Gary helped establish with colleagues, including Joy Hawkins and Richard Magesis. She’s also vice president of the theater’s guiding board.
McDonald earned a theater degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, then studied dance with the renowned Twyla Tharp at American University. She then headed for Key West, where college friends Rita and Roddy Brown had founded the Greene Street Theater.
“The troupe that came from Richmond decided it was a whole lot more fun to start a theater in paradise than it was to beat the streets of New York City for jobs, with all the competition up there,” said McDonald. “Our impetus was to come down and start a professional theater, because we were interested in the craft — and running shows for longer periods of time, so that actors could really settle into a part.”
In the early years she earned much-needed extra money as a bank teller, which prepared her for handling theater finances and administration. She also choreographed Tennessee Williams’ “Will Mr. Merriwether Return from Memphis?” that launched Key West’s Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center at the then-Florida Keys Community College. She and Gary house-sat for Tennessee Williams himself.
At the same time, the McDonalds helped start the Red Barn Actors Studio, named for the small carriage house that stood behind the Key West Woman’s Club on Duval Street — the building that became the Red Barn Theatre and the company’s home.
The Barn opened in 1980 and mounted five productions during its inaugural 1980-81 season. While funds remained tight, the theater founders’ creativity and optimism outweighed any financial lack.
“It was so much fun,” McDonald recalled. “It was amazing and stimulating, and the sky was the limit.”
Now, 45 years after its initial season, the Red Barn is recognized as a cultural cornerstone that helped set the stage for the creation of other Key West arts organizations. The theater’s successes have included a long-ago production of the musical comedy “Nunsense” that still evokes praise, the American premiere of playwright Hy Conrad’s COVID-era farce “Quarantine For Two,” the biannual and much-loved “Short Attention Span Theatre” shows, and thought-provoking offerings like “The Code” and “Lifespan of a Fact.”
Guiding the Barn’s productions and progress is a family affair for McDonald. Gary, her husband of some 50 years, is the longtime technical director — now stepping back and turning over some duties to their son Jack, who has assisted behind the scenes since childhood. Their daughter Amber also embraced a theatrical career, acting in New York and Los Angeles before returning to the Keys and the stage where she grew up.
While devoting most of her professional life to the Red Barn, McDonald is also the hard-working producer of the Masquerade March and other events for Key West’s annual Fantasy Fest celebration She choreographed Key West High School choral productions for 20 years and directed young actors in local Keys Kids shows for 10 years.
Directing has become her primary passion.
“I’d much rather direct than act right now,” McDonald said. “With acting, you’re reading a script and doing what the director tells you to do — but directing, I felt limitless.”
Her latest directorial triumph was “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B,” an irreverent mystery-comedy that reimagines famed sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson as an eccentric female duo. Debuting in January 2025, it earned stellar reviews and helped McDonald stretch her skills in new ways.
“It pulled out parts of me that I didn’t know I had,” she admitted. “I found it really liberating and refreshing and fun — that’s what happens when you have a good cast that can interpret what you’re saying.”
She will next direct the Red Barn’s 2025 holiday play, “Scrooge MacBeth,” described as an off-kilter mashup of Christmas and William Shakespeare.
When she’s not involved in theater work or exploring her creativity, McDonald spends time cooking, recharging her batteries at the family’s inherited hardwood tree farm in West Virginia, and enjoying the Key West community.
“It’s exotic and beautiful and colorful all the time,” she summed up, displaying her still-keen talent for talking. “It’s a very special place where we’re all connected to each other, and we all share the remarkable history of this crazy island.”