NextStop Theatre unveils shortened fall lineup, tickets on sale today

Herndon’s NextStop Theatre Company will fully reopen this fall with a trio of shows to kick off its eighth season.

Announced on Thursday (July 15), the truncated fall 2021 lineup features the comedy “An Act of God” (Aug. 12-Sept. 5), the action-adventure play “Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” (Sept. 10-19), and the ’70s disco musical “Disaster!” (Oct. 7-Nov. 7).

Unlike the one-person show “White Rabbit Red Rabbit,” which gave the theater its first performances in front of an indoor, live audience since the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming fall shows will be full-scale productions without a limit on capacity other than the number of seats available in the venue.

“I am so unbelievably excited about sharing the joy of live theatre with our community again,” NextStop Producing Artistic Director Evan Hoffmann said in a news release. “It has been an unbelievably trying time for all of us. So we thought it was only fitting to make our return with a collection of shows that are all about celebrating our ability to face uncertainty with grace, to overcome adversity with conviction, and above all else, our capacity to persevere with compassion and perhaps some humor!”

Individual tickets and packages for the fall season went on sale at 8 a.m. today (Monday), with season packages starting at $80. They can be purchased online or through the NextStop box office at 703-481-5930.

The NextStop stage has been mostly dark since COVID-19 forced theaters across the country to close their doors. The company returned to life gradually with private film screenings and outdoor concerts before experimenting with an online theatrical production this past spring.

The upcoming fall schedule has been pared down from its usual season, which generally consists of six to 10 plays and musicals over the course of a full year, according to the theater’s press release.

In addition, while two shows will be staged at NextStop Theatre at 269 Sunset Park Drive, “Sherwood” will be performed outside instead in a temporary, open-air theater that the company will set up in the Northwest Federal Credit Union headquarters parking lot (200 Spring Street). Northwest Federal Credit Union is sponsoring the production.

Hoffmann and its board of directors “felt it was necessary and appropriate” to take a cautious approach to the new season “as they consider what the organization and theatre in general looks like in the future,” NextStop said in its press release, adding that more information about the spring 2022 season will be shared later this fall.

“Despite all the challenges and hardship, it is impossible to deny that the experience of the last year and a half has taught us so much,” Hoffmann said. “…While I am so eager to see the curtain rise again this Fall, I am even more enthusiastic about the opportunity before us to rebuild in a way that makes us a much stronger institution, a more thoughtful and supportive home for artists, and an even more welcoming and inclusive destination for everyone in our community.”