Matthew C. Williams, right, an assistant professor of performance and movement at SIU Carbondale, works with cast members of the upcoming performance “Come From Away,” which opens the School of Theater and Dance’s season. (Photo by Abigal Doyle)
October 02, 2026
SIU School of Theater and Dance season highlights ‘American Stories’
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The 2026-27 production season for Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Theater and Dance presents a season of powerful stories, unforgettable music and bold movement.
The season includes the story of a small Canadian town in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States as they deal with the sudden arrival of 38 planes — and nearly 7,000 people. The lineup also features “Ragtime,” a powerful musical about hope, justice and the intersection of African and European cultures as a cast of compelling characters pursue the American Dream. “Silent Sky” highlights astronomer Henrietta Leavitt’s passion for the stars and her quest to understand the universe from within a male-dominated field. The season also showcases “Our Town,” a collaboration with the Carbondale Community High School (CCHS) theater department, and the narrative ballet “Dust Roads and Desire.”
Because of ongoing renovations to McLeod Theater, this season’s productions are in Shryock Auditorium, the CCHS auditorium and The Varsity Center in Carbondale.
Special guests
The season starts off with “Come From Away” Oct. 22-25 in Shryock Auditorium. Directed by Matthew C. Williams, an assistant professor of performance and movement, the production, which played on Broadway from 2017 to 2022, is in collaboration with the School of Music. Angela Shultz, associate professor of practice in musical theater and voice is the musical director, Abbie Eads, assistant lecturer, directs the pit orchestra and Anita Hutton, an accomplished local pianist and retired assistant to the dean in SIU’s College of Liberal Arts, takes the piano.
In addition, Joel Goldes, a dialect coach who worked with the original Broadway production, is providing online assistance to students.
One of the primary characters in the musical is the mayor of Gander, Newfoundland, who oversaw the town’s response to the arrivals at Gander International Airport. Claude Elliott, who served as the town’s mayor from 1996 to 2017, will be at SIU Carbondale for each performance, providing insight into his community’s response to the catastrophe. While on campus, Elliott will speak at a noon luncheon on Oct. 22 at the Tedrick Welcome Center. This presentation is part of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute’s John and Muriel Hayward Lecture Series.
Williams and James Reifinger, School of Theater and Dance director, each emphasized the musical is not about the tragedy of 9/11, but the humanity and compassion that followed.
Season overview
Reifinger said he’s excited for the community to see the season’s lineup, noting that performances at several community venues may also raise awareness of the depth and scope of SIU’s theater and dance program and its talented students.
“The productions are relevant,” he said. “They are the kinds of productions that community members want to see and at the same time they are educationally sound for our program.”
The season’s other productions are:
- Dec. 3-6, Carbondale Community High School auditorium — “Our Town,” directed by Segun Ojewuyi, professor of theater and the Africana Studies program. The timeless American classic and Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Thornton Wilder “explores the beauty and fragility of everyday life” in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. Reifinger said he’s excited about the collaboration with CCHS, which includes high school students and faculty in the production.
- Feb. 25-28, Shryock Auditorium — “Ragtime,” directed by Angela Shultz. The Tony Award-winning musical tells the stories of three distinct groups in the early 1900s: an upper-class white family in New Rochelle, a Latvian Jewish immigrant coming to the United States, and a Black pianist in Harlem — all in pursuit of the American Dream. Noting that the nation “feels more divided than ever,” Shultz said she is passionate about bringing the show to SIU because it blends the lives together. As a music style, Ragtime “is a blend of African and European cultures and serves as a metaphor for this new way of life that becomes apparent in the early 1900s in New York City and the surrounding areas,” Shultz said.
- April 8-10, Shryock Auditorium — “Dust Roads and Desire,” directed by Darryl K. Clark, associate professor of musical theater dance. “Dust Roads and Desire,” which includes collaboration with the School of Music, will feature the Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “The Seven Deadly Sins,” a work that combines dance and music to relate its story of struggle, gain and loss. Clark said he is very excited to bring the ballet chanté, or “sung ballet” to campus.
- April 29-May 2, The Varsity Theater, Carbondale — “Silent Sky,” directed by Susan Patrick Steinfeldt, professor, voice and speech specialist in theater. The lyrical and inspiring play tells the story of American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt and her groundbreaking discoveries during a time when women were marginalized in sciences. “It is a stirring story of one woman’s passion for the stars and quest to understand the universe,” Patrick Steinfeldt said. “Leavitt set the gold bar of measuring stars. Her discoveries proved other galaxies. She changed how all astronomers now study our ever-expanding universe.”
Big Muddy New Play Festival
In addition to the five productions, the School of Theater and Dance will also hold the Big Muddy New Play Festival, April 1-4. The festival celebrates the works of student playwrights, along with full-length readings of plays by students in the playwriting program.
“Unconquered,” written by third-year Master of Fine Arts playwright Alice Doherty and directed by first-year MFA student Elliott Jackson, is the festival’s featured play. The thesis production will be at 7:30 p.m. April 1-3, and 2 p.m. on April 4. There will also be three staged readings during the weekend.
Celebrated playwright Stacey Isom Campbell is this year’s guest artist. She will give a public workshop and also do talkbacks after a performance of Doherty’s thesis production, and also after each of the three staged readings, said Jacob Juntunen, a professor of dramatic theory, criticism and playwriting in the School of Theater and Dance
Season, single tickets available
The five-show season tickets — for all productions but the Big Muddy New Play Festival — are available online and at the School of Theater and Dance Office, Communications Building, Room 1033. The subscription series is $100 for adults and $80 for senior citizens 60 and older. Individual tickets are $25 for adults, 21 and older, $20 for senior citizens 60 and older, $10 for students 13-21 years old, and $8 for children 12 and younger. There is also a “Pick-Three” season-ticket option.
The online ticket website is onthestage.tickets/siuc-school-of-theater-and-dance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone at 618-453-5741 or in person at the venue on the night of the performance.