From a world premiere to a flying car, here are the 7 shows we loved on Philly stages in 2025

Philadelphia theaters have weathered a difficult year as arts organizations across the region faced deep cuts in federal funding. The numbers paint a somewhat bleak picture: the state lost a total of $1,463,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts alone, and though some attendance figures have risen from last year, the performing arts sector has struggled overall to recapture pre-pandemic audiences.

Yet there remain some bright signs of what’s to come next year, from Philadelphia’s massively successful Fringe Festival returning to full-year programming to a new, five-week-long arts festival launching for America 250 (with plans to recur on a regular basis). Plus, a program of three plays written by forever South Philadelphian and Pulitzer winner, James Ijames.

This year, despite challenges, Philly’s scrappy, beloved, and award-winning theater community kept showing up and showing out on local stages with incredible productions and exciting world premieres.

Here are few of our favorites from 2025.

Written and directed by Tanaquil Márquez, this Fringe Festival world premiere from 1812 Productions was a heartwarming comedy about three estranged sisters reuniting for their father’s 80th birthday party in Colombia. The real drama all happened in the kitchen as cousins played pranks, sisters bickered endlessly, and at one point the set exploded in a burst of tropical vines that broke into the realm of magical realism. The show fired on all cylinders, from the versatile cast in multiple roles, to its engrossing production design, to the sharp trilingual dialogue that echoed the rhythm and intimacy of a big family much like my own. (The clever use of subtitles ensured that no one got lost in translation, from English to Spanish to Vietnamese.) I laughed a lot, especially thanks to the standout performance from Yajaira Paredes. We named it one of the works with a high chance of post-Fringe Fest success, so here’s hoping to see it back on our stages soon.

Another promising world premiere came from playwright Damon Chua with this tense, small InterAct production following a Chinese American mathematics professor accused of being a spy. Inspired by actual instances of academics suspected of espionage, the drama provided a provocative and chilling reflection of the U.S. government’s targeting of immigrants amid the ever-encroaching creep of censorship. As the titular Qiu, Justin Jain played a convincingly aggrieved intellectual who finds the entire investigation absurd. But he’s essentially left helpless at the whims of law enforcement hellbent on punishing him, regardless of the facts. The minimalist set centered our attention on the high stakes he faces trying to clear his name, with moody lighting that heightened our sense of dread. By the end, Jain breaks the fourth wall to underscore the message: “That’s the world we live in. That’s the world you live in.”

The Arden’s commitment to staging all of August Wilson’s Century Cycle plays is a laudable effort and each production is a major theatrical event. Ijames directed this run with Akeem Davis playing the titular King, a struggling formerly incarcerated man released at the height of the 1980s recession. The story depicts a harsh reality for the Black family at the center, played deftly by a well-rounded cast that pivots from warmth to fury to humor. It was not an easy watch — the tragic ending left me in tears — but it was a vital story that still felt so relevant, urgent, and timeless.

At the risk of being a little corny, I had a blast seeing one of my favorite classic movies adapted into a musical — mainly because the much-hyped time-traveling DeLorean was genuinely as impressive as promised. I went in thinking that the car bit would be too gimmicky but I was proven so wrong, in the best way: the masterful production design featured illusions that (tiny spoiler) made the car fly in the air. I gasped! The show also delivered transportive scenery alternating between the 1980s and 1950s, amplified by captivating group choreography and great singing. There were certainly some questionable choices, like leaning into the whole Marty-tries-avoiding-incest plot and songs that try but fail to give depth to Marty’s family. But overall, it was a lot of fun.

Every year, Philly’s Fringe Fest delivers some of the most shocking and strange productions with dazzling results. This was the craziest production I saw onstage this year and I’m still obsessed. It started as a petty PowerPoint presentation as the star/creator Clayton Lee explained that all his ex-boyfriends look like wrestler Bill Goldberg. It shifted into an interactive experience as Lee interviewed someone in the audience, flirting with him and asking sexually explicit questions. Then it evolved again into a wrestling ring, where Lee invited Goldberg doppelgängers (who were incognito in the audience) to the stage for a smackdown, complete with BDSM contraptions and a lot of body oil. It was a wild show that had the audience in side-splitting laughter one moment and stunned silence the next.

This year, the Wilma presented its first production for all ages in this adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 fable (from which Disney’s Frozen also draws inspiration). Seeing a weekday matinee was such a treat because the rows were filled with eager schoolchildren who responded back to the actors with infectious enthusiasm. The sprawling fairy tale features a terrifying ice queen who turns hearts cold and kidnaps a young boy named Kai. His determined friend Gerda goes on a quest to save him after he’s been brainwashed. Directed by Yury Urnov, the show spotlights delightful characters with an inventive and quirky production and costume design. And with a heartfelt, whimsical story about the power of good over evil. It was such a visually dazzling experience, complete with musical talent and a wonderful cast.

It may surprise people to learn that the first-ever authorized stage adaptation of James Baldwin’s classic 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room held its world premiere, right here in Philadelphia. It’s certainly something to brag about: it took nearly 20 years, two rejections, and several rewrites, but actor/playwright Benjamin Sprunger and director/playwright Paul Oakley Stovall made it happen at Quintessence Theatre. The story centers on a closeted gay American who falls in love with a brash Italian bartender in Paris — and it’s no spoiler to say it ends in tragedy. The slim novel was one of Baldwin’s most popular and groundbreaking works, providing rich source material for a play. Onstage, it was a lyrical production with spellbinding light design and fascinating choreography; it was an excellent first run and I hope to see it progress in future productions, too.