Inaugural Season with New Leadership Team
Colleen Kollar Smith, Incoming Artistic Director
Mike Bradford, Incoming Chief Business Officer
Jennifer Bradford, Incoming Chief Philanthropy Officer
Season 56 renewals are currently open. New subscriptions go on sale November 5th
Lamb’s Players Theatre (LPT), now celebrating its 55th Season and championing its mission to Tell Good Stories Well, is thrilled to announce the lineup for their 56th Season at their resident stage in Coronado. Season 56 marks the inaugural season for LPT’s incoming Artistic Leadership team, who begin their tenure in January of 2027: Artistic Director Colleen Kollar Smith, Chief Business Officer Mike Bradford, and Chief Philanthropy Officer Jennifer Bradford. They build on the vision of LPT’s longtime Artistic Leadership team, who continue to lead the company through the end of 2026. Season 56 renewals are currently open. New subscriptions go on sale November 5th, 2026. Online at www.lambsplayers.org or 619-437-6000.
Kollar Smith first performed at Lamb’s in 2002 and has spent more than two decades with the company as a performer, choreographer, and director, co-creating the long-running Mixtape. She was a member of the resident ensemble, where she also worked in administration in both education and development prior to moving to leadership roles at other organizations in the region. Her work as a choreographer and performer has been recognized by the San Diego Critics Circle. She will continue in her role as inaugural Executive Artistic Director of UC San Diego’s Campus Performances and Events Office while serving as Artistic Director of Lamb’s.
The incoming team has worked together previously at Moonlight Stage Productions, during a period of significant growth in audiences, education programs, and philanthropic support. All three are working alongside the current leadership team through the end of the year.
Mike Bradford takes on the Chief Business Officer role. His background includes serving as Executive Director of Programming and Operations at Moonlight Stage Productions. Prior to his role at Moonlight, he served as a senior data analyst for a Fortune 500 company. Jennifer Bradford becomes Chief Philanthropy Officer, bringing more than a decade of nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, including her tenure as Executive Director of the Moonlight Cultural Foundation, where she led annual giving, planned giving, and a successful capital campaign.
The mission of Lamb’s, To Tell Good Stories Well, will remain. The team steps in honoring the legacy of the company while prioritizing new work development, arts education and partnerships across the region.
Regarding the transition, Incoming Artistic Director, Colleen Kollar Smith shared
“Lamb’s has been an artistic home to me for over twenty years. Early on, the leadership here trusted me to follow bold ideas, create new work, and put artistry first, which set the course for my career. I have stayed connected artistically over the years, and I’m honored to serve in this role at a theatre shaped by fifty-five seasons of storytelling and to offer that same opportunity to the next generation of artists and audiences.”
Kollar Smith continues, “As more of daily life happens in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, we are leaning into what theatre has always been. It’s the original shared reality. A few hundred people together, laughing at the same moment, gasping at the same twist, holding the same silence, and seeing something live that will never happen the same way again.
That’s our foundation for Season 56. We invite audiences to experience Lamb’s through these characters, stories, and worlds. A swing band that gives veterans a way forward, a murder mystery where the laughs pile higher than the bodies, a smooth voyage across the saxy seas, a masterpiece and the man tearing at it, and a Christmas party loud enough to shake the walls at Sun Records. There’s a night here for everyone. So, whether a patron is returning to Lamb’s or coming for the first time, we’ll have a seat ready.”
LAMB’S ENCORE SERIES — CLOSING THE 2026 SEASON
Celebrate the work of outgoing Producing Artistic Director Robert Smyth with one of the most requested productions in Lamb’s history.
Godspell
Book by John-Michael Tebelak
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Directed by Robert Smyth
Dates: January 6 – February 21, 2027
Our Encore Series – the tail end of our 2026 Season – allows Lamb’s to bring back audience favorites before the next Season kicks off in March! This vibrant, contemporary, and uplifting production of the hit musical presents a joyful, energetic theatrical retelling of the parables of the Gospel according to Matthew.
ABOUT SEASON 56
March – December 2027
Bandstand the Musical
Regional Premiere
Music by Richard Oberacker
Book and Lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker
Directed and Choreographed by: Colleen Kollar Smith
Dates: March 10 – April 25, 2027
Lamb’s opens Season 56 with the regional premiere of Bandstand, a full-throttle swing musical played live onstage by the cast. It is a story about love, loss, and the everyday men and women who came home, started over, and built something new.
It’s 1945, and America is meeting again — in the clubs, on the radio, wherever there’s music. Private First Class Donny Novitski is home with a talent for songwriting and a shot at something bigger. When NBC announces a national contest to crown America’s next great swing band, Donny recruits six fellow veterans and builds a band from scratch. They are all real musicians, and they are all carrying something. Then he meets Julia, a singer, poet, and the widow of Donny’s best friend, and the sound finally clicks into place.
“An open-hearted musical that will have you clapping your hands and clenching your fists, tapping your toes and blinking back tears.” — The New York Times
Winner! 2017 Tony Award for Best Choreography
Nominee: Two 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Orchestrations
Winner! Two 2017 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Orchestrations
Nominee: Seven 2017 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Music & Outstanding Book of a Musical
Clue
Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn
Written by Sandy Rustin
Additional Material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price
Based on the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Based on the Hasbro board game CLUE Original Music by Michael Holland
Directed by: Geno Carr
Dates: May 12 – June 27, 2027
Based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue is the ultimate whodunit that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist. It’s fast, it’s physical, and the manor has more secret passages than it has survivors.
It’s a dark and stormy night at Boddy Manor. Six guests arrive for dinner, each invited by a host none of them has met, each using a name that isn’t theirs. The butler lays out the weapons. Then the host turns up dead — and the guests have until the end of the evening to work out which one of them did it, where, and with what. Scarlet, Plum, White, Green, Peacock and Mustard, racing through the halls, blaming each other, and running out of rooms.
“Fast, Furious, Funny” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Come Sail Away: A Yacht Rock Experience
World Premiere from the Creators of Mixtape and Pump Up The Volume: a 90s Palooza
Created by: Colleen Kollar Smith and Jon Lorenz with Taylor Peckham
Directed by: Colleen Kollar Smith
Musical Direction by: Taylor Peckham
Musical Arrangements by: Jon Lorenz and Taylor Peckham
Dates: July 14 – September 12, 2027
Casting off from Coronado: Come Sail Away: A Yacht Rock Experience is a feel-good celebration of the silky-smooth sounds that defined an era, performed live by the region’s finest performers and musicians. It is an evening of irresistible grooves, sophisticated harmonies, and smooth sailing from the first downbeat.
Check in, find your muster station, and settle in for the chart-topping hits of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Whether you know every word or you’re hearing them for the first time, this is a night of breezy ballads, umbrella drinks, and bingo on the lido deck. So grab your captain’s hat, toast the sunset, and prepare to cruise into a night of smooth sailing, smooth sounds, and smooth operators.
Red
by John Logan
Directed by: Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
Dates: September 29 – November 7, 2027
Winner of six Tony Awards including Best Play, Red is John Logan’s visceral two-hander about the ferocious, abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. It is a play about art, money, and what one generation of artists passes to the next.
Mark Rothko has taken the largest commission in the history of modern art, and he may already regret it. The murals are bound for a fashionable Manhattan restaurant, where people will eat beneath them and may never look up. In his Bowery studio, he hires Ken, a young assistant, to stretch canvas and mix paint. Over two years, the two argue about what art is for, who it belongs to, and what a painting is worth once someone has paid for it.
Winner! Six 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play
Winner! 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
Winner! 2010 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
“Logan sends American painter Mark Rothko into battle with his demons in this electrifying play of ideas.” — Variety
“Smart, eloquent entertainment…Logan’s dialogue is a sleight of hand; behind its wallop
is a lot of learning.” – The New Yorker
Million Dollar Quartet Christmas
Book by COLIN ESCOTT
Originally developed and produced by Madison Wells Live
Original developed at The Phoenix Theatre Company, Michael Barnard, Producing Artistic Director
Directed by: Kerry Meads
Dates: November 24 – December 26, 2027
Elvis, Johnny, Carl, and Jerry Lee are back at Lamb’s, and this time they’ve brought Christmas with them. Million Dollar Quartet Christmas celebrates family, faith, and the songs that raised a generation.
It’s December 1956, and the four young musicians who would come to define American popular music are back in the room at Sun Records, at a moment when nobody knows whether rock and roll is a fad or a revolution. They trade stories of Christmases past, present, and yet to come, and play favorites like: “Blue Christmas,” “Run Run Rudolph,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” alongside the chart-toppers that made them famous, including “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Ring of Fire.”
ABOUT LAMB’S PLAYERS THEATRE
Lamb’s Players Theatre (LPT) is one of San Diego’s leading not-for-profit, professional performing arts organizations. Founded in 1971 as a touring ensemble, the company relocated to Southern California the following year and spent its early decades performing in venues across San Diego County. In 1994 Lamb’s opened its resident stage in Coronado’s historic 1917 Spreckels Building, where it presents a varied slate of work year-round — musicals, dramas, comedies, and adventurous premieres.
Now in its 55th season, with Season 56 opening in March 2027, Lamb’s works with a full-time staff and a wide circle of associate artists — actors, directors, designers, and craftspeople.
With a mission to TELL GOOD STORIES WELL, Lamb’s Players Theatre looks for stories that probe and question the values and choices of contemporary culture; that celebrate the joys, strengths, and diverse traditions of family and community; that explore the spiritual dimension of the human experience; that champion the moral imagination.
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