Since 1956, the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket (TWN) has pursued its mission to entertain, enrich, educate, challenge, and inspire performing artists and audiences of all ages. Working with members of the community and visiting artists, and collaborating with other cultural organizations, TWN produces a variety of theatrical works that reflect the highest artistic standards.
Tickets for in-season individual shows are available now, and subscriptions to all productions (except the holiday show) are the most affordable way to see great theatre all season and support this part of Nantucket’s cultural scene. Individual subscriptions are $275 each and include entry for one to each TWN 5 Main Stage Season productions. The TWN Islander Pass is offered to year-round residents only, and for $240, this pass includes entry for one to each of TWN’s 5 Main Stage Season productions.
Opening the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket’s 2025 season is THE COTTAGE, on stage from June 4 to 21, 2025. Fresh from Broadway, this brand-new, side-splitting romp is an outrageous tale of sex, betrayal, and desire as one woman decides to expose her latest affair to both her husband and to her lover’s wife. The true meaning of fate and faith, identity and infidelity, love and marriage are all called into question as a surprising and hilarious web of secrets unravels in this hilarious romantic comedy directed by TWN’s Producing Artistic Director Justin Cerne.
On July 9, the curtain goes up on MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET. This Tony Award-nominated musical is set on December 4, 1956, when an extraordinary twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley together at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. Million Dollar Quartet brings that legendary December night to life with an irresistible tale of broken promises, secrets, betrayal, and celebrations that is both poignant and funny.
Theatre Workshop will relive the era with the smash-hit sensation featuring an incredible score of rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, R&B, and country hits, performed live onstage by world-class actors and musicians. Showcased hit songs include “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Walk the Line,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Hound Dog,” and more. MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is on stage through August 23, 2025.
In repertory is BUYER CELLAR from July 25 through August 14, 2025. This outrageous comedy — winner of the 2014–2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show — is about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs. Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., he takes a job working in the Malibu basement of a beloved megastar. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs?
“Jonathan Tolins has concocted an irresistible one-man play from the most peculiar of
fictitious premises—an underemployed Los Angeles actor goes to work in Barbra
Streisand’s Malibu, Calif., basement—allowing the playwright to ruminate with delicious
wit and perspicacity on the solitude of celebrity, the love-hate attraction between gay
men and divas, and the melancholy that lurks beneath narcissism. This seriously funny
slice of absurdist whimsy creates the illusion of a stage filled with multiple people, all of
them with their own droll point of view.” —The New York Times
A.R. Gurney’s comedy SYLVIA is showing from September 10 to October 5, 2025, directed by TWN’s Producing Artistic Director Justin Cerne.
This show is about Greg and Kate, who have moved to Manhattan after 22 years of child-raising in the suburbs. Greg’s career as a financial trader is winding down, while Kate’s career, as a public-school English teacher, is beginning to offer her more opportunities. Greg brings home a dog he found in the park (or a dog who has found him), bearing only the name “Sylvia” on her name tag. A street-smart mixture of lab and poodle, Sylvia becomes a major bone of contention between husband and wife. She offers Greg an escape from the frustrations of his job and the unknowns of middle age. To Kate, Sylvia becomes a rival for affection. And Sylvia thinks Kate just doesn’t understand the relationship between man and dog. The marriage is put in serious jeopardy until, after a series of hilarious and touching complications, Greg and Kate learn to compromise, and Sylvia becomes a valued part of their lives.
Theatre Workshop of Nantucket’s final in-season show for 2025 is MISERY by William Goldman, on stage from September 12 through October 4, 2025.
Misery follows successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon, who is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan” Annie Wilkes and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads his latest book and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new Misery novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and it does.
TWN’s holiday show for 2025 is A CHRISTMAS STORY, on stage from November 25 through December 13, 2025. Iconic lines such as “You’ll shoot your eye out,” “Fra-gi-le,” and “Over the years, I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap” from this holiday season classic movie have become parts of our culture and are sure to bring a smile.
Humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoir of growing up in the midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself at Higbee’s Department Store. The consistent response: “You’ll shoot your eye out!” All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, including the family’s temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the boys’ experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin; Ralphie’s father winning a lamp shaped like a woman’s leg in a net stocking; Ralphie’s fantasy scenarios and more. A Christmas Story has become a theatrical holiday perennial.
Theatre Workshop of Nantucket is a professional non-profit theatre 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. Setting the stage since 1956, TWN is the place where Nantucket meets Broadway.