2025-2026 Season, Penfold Theatre, Round Rock

Penfold Theatre Company Announces 2025-26 Season

Second Season of Round Rock’s First Professional Theatre Company

 

 (www.penfoldtheatre.org)Penfold Theatre Company is proud to announce its 2025-26 season, taking place at Penfold Theatre in Round Rock, TX. The company’s 18th season draws inspiration from the idea of finding beauty in life’s seemingly small moments that hold great emotional significance.

 

“Season 18 lifts stories of people we might write off because of their age, where they live, or how they experience the world,” says Ryan Crowder, Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Penfold. “We all dream passionately, struggle deeply, and strive to find meaning in our own corners of the world, especially when much feels beyond our control. When we recognize that in each other, we open ourselves to receive the good we can offer each other.”

 

In 2024, Penfold became the first professional theatre company to establish a permanent home in Round Rock. Following the inaugural season in the new Rock Creek Plaza space, Penfold will continue its mission of telling stories of hope and empathy with a rich lineup of shows ranging from musical theatre, to a novel twist on a Christmas comedy classic, to two one-person plays. Season tickets are now available for purchase at penfoldtheatre.org.

 

Penfold’s 18th season kicks off September 12, 2025, with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a Tony Award-winning musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin. The show, described by The Washington Post as “a loony lollipop of a musical,” runs through September 28, 2025, and shares the stories of a group of high-achieving young students (comically portrayed by adult actors) contending for a spelling bee championship that represents more than just a local title: it’s a chance to prove themselves worthy of their parents’ approval. This hilarious musical has a heart for all those who've felt they have to be the best just to be good enough. 

 

For the holidays, Penfold is excited to present A Tuna Christmas, written by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, and Jaston Williams, with a unique production in which the two lead actors, comprising the entire cast of twenty-two characters, will be women. (Traditionally, A Tuna Christmas is performed by two men.) The hilarious show satirizes the fictional small town of Tuna, Texas, where the holiday traditions of eccentric neighbors are upended by the shenanigans of a Christmas phantom. The production will be directed by Kate Meehan, founder of Austin’s award-winning commedia dell’arte troupe La Fenice. This zany comedy runs December 12-28, 2025. 

 

In the spring, Penfold will present Wild Horses, a one-woman play written by Alison Gregory and performed by Jennifer Coy Jennings. Wild Horses is a dark comedy about adolescent firsts and self-liberation, related through a tapestry of summertime tales woven with a soundtrack of hits from the 1970s. The show was previously performed by Jennings in The Pony Shed at The VORTEX, and Penfold looks forward to welcoming this solo tour-de-force to Round Rock from February 27-March 15, 2026.

 

The final show of the season will be a revival of Vincent, written by Leonard Nimoy (best known as Dr. Spock on Star Trek), which played to rave reviews in its first Penfold production in 2023. Co-Founders Ryan Crowder and Nathan Jerkins will again alternate performances in the solo role of Theo, the brother of Vincent van Gogh, reprising the portrayals that earned them The Austin Chronicle’s Best of Austin Critic’s Pick for Best Two Men in a One-Man Show. Accompanied by slides of van Gogh's work, the play is a dramatization of letters exchanged between brothers and explores the development of an unconventional yet brilliant artist. Vincent runs June 5-21, 2026.

 

Theatre for Young Audiences

 

In addition to the four mainstage shows, Penfold will present a theatre production for young audiences. The Día de los Muertos-inspired Rosita y Conchita, originally created by the Austin Scottish Rite Theater, runs October 18-28, 2026. The Penfold production adds choreography by Round Rock Ballet Folklórico. This beautiful piece combines music, dance, folklore and humor to convey the comforting message that our loved ones who have passed on stay with us in our hearts and memories. 



Penfold Theatre Company Mainstage Season:

 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Directed by Scott Shipman
Friday Sept. 12-Sunday Sept. 28, 2025

A Tuna Christmas
Written by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, and Jaston Williams
Directed by Kate Meehan
Friday Dec. 12-Sun. Dec. 28, 2025

A Tuna Christmas is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

 

Wild Horses

Written by Alison Gregory

Directed by Rudy Ramirez
Performed by Jennifer Coy Jennings

Friday Feb. 27-Sunday March 15, 2026 

Vincent

Written by Leonard Nimoy, adapted from the play by Phillip Stevens
Performed by Ryan Crowder and Nathan Jerkins

Friday June 5-Sunday June 21, 2026

Individual Tickets (not yet on sale): $35 Standard Admission / $25 Discount

Mainstage Season Membership: $120

Memberships are available to purchase here:

https://www.penfoldtheatre.org/on-stage/season-memberships/

 

 

 

Theatre for Young Audiences:

 

Rosita y Conchita

Created in collaboration with Megan Ortiz, Gricelda Silva, Jesus Valles, Alexis Herrera, Chris Ledesma, Peter Mendoza, and Susan Gayle Todd
Based on the original book by Eric Gonzalez and Erich Haeger
Music and song lyrics by Chris Ledesma 
Choreography by Round Rock Ballet Folklorico
Saturday Oct. 18-Sunday Oct. 26, 2025 

Theatre for Young Audiences Tickets: 

  • Ages 0-2: Free

  • Children ages 3 and up: $15

  • Adults: $20

All shows take place at Penfold Theatre: 2120 N. Mays St. #290, Round Rock, TX 78664
Box Office: 512.850.4849 / boxoffice@penfoldtheatre.org 

About Penfold Theatre Company:

 

With 17 seasons of award-winning, professional theatre serving Central Texas, Penfold

Theatre Company has made Round Rock its permanent home. As the first professional theatre venue in Round Rock, Penfold tells intimate stories of hope and empathy, curates performances by premier local artists, and nurtures theatre-makers of today and tomorrow.

 

Through a range of programs for all ages, Penfold builds community by making a cultural gathering place where we celebrate our diversity and imagine our future together; builds our cultural sector by developing local performing artists through high professional standards, education, mentorship, and opportunity; and builds connection through transportive stories that rekindle a sense of shared humanity, empathy, and hope. For more information, visitpenfoldtheatre.org.