The Next Stage, Inc.

03/28/2026

UPDATE: 2 MORE TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR THE SUNDAY 3/29 PERFORMANCE

What is a dramatic presentation, anyway, compared to full productions we’ll offer Summer and Fall? It’s rehearsed. It’s fully acted, except the actors don’t walk around the stage and they do carry…

03/28/2026

Two tickets to "A Walk in the Woods" have just become available.

03/27/2026

Thank you for your support!

A Walk in the Woods is SOLD OUT for the Sunday March 29 staged reading.

What is a dramatic presentation, anyway, compared to full productions we’ll offer Summer and Fall? It’s rehearsed. It’s fully acted, except the actors don’t walk around the stage and they do carry…

03/18/2026

The Next Stage Theatre Company offers
a dramatic presentation* of
Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
dir.: Drew Pirrone-Brusse
with Michael Bérubé and Nate Schierman
A review in The Guardian said this:
“…Blessing’s brilliant two-hander…satisfies the senses and challenges the intellect.”

Sunday, March 29th, at 3:00 p.m., in The Attic at The State Theatre
Note: Only one performance. Only 19 seats left.
Tickets: $16 plus fees. Open seating. Want to be seated together? Come early.
https://thestatetheatre.org/?p=39719&post_type=mec-events&preview=1&_ppp=26dfbc12e7

[*What is a dramatic presentation, anyway, compared to our full productions this Summer and Fall? It’s rehearsed. It’s fully acted, except the actors carry scripts and they don’t walk around the stage.
Patrons tell us they find these dramatic presentations exciting.]

A Walk in the Woods (1987) features a younger American negotiator and his older
Soviet counterpart in Geneva for arms treaty talks.

Honeyman and Botvinnik walk and talk after the day’s work, each trying to pull the
conversation in a different direction.

A very warm and human story, about unexpected friendship and connection.

With Russia once again on the move and global chaos, this Pulitzer Prize finalist speaks
to this moment too.

It’s refreshing, though, to see what recapturing norms and mutual respect might look
like.

02/18/2026

The Next Stage Theatre Company offers
a dramatic presentation* of
Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

dir.: Drew Pirrone-Brusse with Michael Bérubé and Nate Schierman
Sunday, March 29th, at 3:00 p.m., in The Attic

Note: Only ONE performance, only 45 people get to see it.
Tickets: $16 plus fees. Open seating. Want to be seated together? Come early!
[*What IS a dramatic presentation, anyway, compared to our full productions this Summer and Fall? It’s rehearsed. It’s fully acted, except the actors carry scripts and they don’t walk around the stage.]

Tickets now on sale. ONE performance. Only 45 seats.
Link to The State’s Tickets page:
https://thestatetheatre.org/?p=39719&post_type=mec-events&preview=1&_ppp=26dfbc12e7

“Lee Blessing’s brilliant two-hander… satisfies the senses and challenges the intellect. “

Blessing’s play is chilling now, in this time of global chaos and Russia once again on the move.

“Blessing was examining the lack of diplomacy by the U.S. and its attempts to mitigate the Soviet Union’s influence...pitting a young negotiator, John Honeyman, against the consummate career diplomat, Andrey Botvinnik.” After the negotiating day, they walk and talk. We eavesdrop.

“The genius of the play is that Blessing … simply allows the characters to interact.” Honeyman wants to talk about disarmament. Botvinnik keeps trying to turn to more personal topics. “…Honeyman’s resistance to playing those games creates the story’s dramatic tension.”

Excerpts from a review in The Guardian

Please note:
*If you buy tickets from The State’s website, use the “Events” tab at the top and pull down to “Local Events at The State”, NOT “The Attic”.
*Please avoid wearing any scent to our offerings to protect those with allergies. Thanks.

What is a dramatic presentation, anyway, compared to full productions we’ll offer Summer and Fall? It’s rehearsed. It’s fully acted, except the actors don’t walk around the stage and they do carry…

02/09/2026

Drum roll, please. Announcing the 2026 season for the Next Stage Theatre. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming performance.

10/22/2025

The Next Stage Theatre Company presents
Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn
dir.: Norrine Sims, with Elizabeth Baptista, Michael Bérubé, and Mike Waldhier

Friction (between close friends). Fission (of uranium nuclei). Uncertainty. Complementarity. Complicity with N***s.
A time of division, suspicion, and misunderstanding.
1941
Performances:
Oct. 31st at 7:30
Nov.1st at 3:00 and 7:30
Nov. 2nd at 3:00
and
Nov. 7th at 7:30
Nov. 8th, no performance
Nov. 9th at 3:00

In The Attic, at The State Theatre
Get your tickets soon, at the link below:
https://tickets.thestatetheatre.org/c/zmjdts3m

10/09/2025

10/09/2025

The Next Stage Theatre Company presents Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn

dir.: Norrine Sims, with Elizabeth Baptista, Michael Bérubé, and Mike Waldhier

Working together, Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg revolutionized modern physics.

Now, on opposite sides in a world war, they square off in a tense and complex meeting in Copenhagen. Each remembered a different version of that meeting, and their memory of what they each said -- and meant -- shifted in the following years.
Oct. 31st at 7:30
Nov.1st at 3:00 and 7:30
Nov. 2nd at 3:00
and
Nov. 7th at 7:30
Nov. 8th, no performance
Nov. 9th at 3:00

In The Attic, at The State Theatre

https://tickets.thestatetheatre.org/c/zmjdts3m

09/27/2025

The Next Stage Theatre Company
presents
Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn
dir.: Norrine Sims

with Elizabeth Baptista,
Michael Bérubé,
and
Mike Waldhier

“Endlessly fascinating. The most invigorating and ingenious play of ideas in many a year…An electrifying work of art.” -Ben Brantley, The New York Times

Oct. 31st at 7:30
Nov.1st at 3:00 and 7:30
Nov. 2nd at 3:00
and
Nov. 7th at 7:30
Nov. 8th, no performance
Nov. 9th at 3:00

In The Attic, at The State Theatre

Copenhagen Buy tickets for State Theatre on 09/27/2025, State College, PA from vivenu. Presented by The Next Stage Theatre CompanyDirected by Norrine Simswith Elizabeth Baptista, Michael Bérubé, and Mike Waldhier“Endlessly fascinating. The most in...

08/15/2025

Update: 2 more chances to see Time Flies Like and Arrow, Fruit Flies Like a Banana
Friday August 16 Sold Out
Saturday August 17 @ 7:30pm
Sunday August 18 @ 3pm

Tickets on sale now, at this link:
https://tickets.thestatetheatre.org/c/ynt1aysb

Do you need relief from the world's chaos? Last chance to come see our special brand of chaos, and laugh.
Were you in one of the sold-out houses that loved our The Importance of Being Earnest?
Well, you get to enjoy the work of three of those actors in this show.

Ives, who wrote the first four plays, has been called the master of the short play.

Come find out why.

Ives focuses on language as a wonderfully imperfect medium. On gleeful wordplay. On an absurdist existential look at connecting with others.

The New York Times described Alan Arkin’s play Virtual Reality this way:

"Imagine the testy, silly one-upmanship of Abbott and Costello crossed with the menacing ambiguity of Harold Pinter….”

Sheer genius. Two actors creating a world right in front of you. No set. The only prop -- a pencil.

Directed by Jason Zanitsch (dir. The Importance of Being Earnest)

with
Jeff Buterbaugh (Saint Joan)

Alexa Krepps (Earnest)

Hannah Almon Matangos (Eleemosynary and The Net Will Appear readings)

Drew Pirrone-Brusse (Earnest)

Nate Schierman (Earnest)

Time Flies Like an Arrow Buy tickets for State Theatre on 08/14/2025, State College, PA from vivenu. Presented by The Next Stage Theatre CompanyWe’re celebrating our 30th season in State College with a few audience favorites from earlier years. Time Flies Lik...