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Photo by Leah Huete

THIS IS HAPPENSTANCE THEATER'S 20th YEAR.

COME SEE US AS WE ENTER OUR ROARING 20s!

2026 SCHEDULE

PLAYdate | Coven Edition 

Prince George's Publick Playhouse

5445 Landover Rd. | Hyattsville MD 20784

May 2 @ 7pm &  May 3 @ 4pm​​​

Happenstance Theater has invited some new collaborators for a PLAYdate! Just in time for Spring, this will be a super-charged explosion of original work by powerhouse performers from the DC/MD Theatre community who want to dive into devising. In only ONE week, the generative artists, who all happen to be women, will build an assemblage of vignettes and scenes inspired by themes of passages, oceans and PLAY itself! Let the adrenaline soar! Come see what we conjure and be a part of the Happenstance magic.

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” – Pla(y)to.

PHYSICAL COMEDY Workshop

Round House Theater Education Center

​925 Wayne Ave. | Silver Spring MD 20910

May 30 & 31

Saturday & Sunday 10am - 6pm

PINOT & AUGUSTINE

​​Parks Playhouse Junior

@ Cabin John Regional Park

7400 Tuckerman Lane | Bethesda MD 20817

Saturday, June 7 @ 10am

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"If you’d like to, or need to be reminded of the pure and simple joy of life, PINOT  & AUGUSTINE will do the trick. Their show is pure entertainment, clean and fresh fun...

The Most Adorable Show in the World!"

                                           - DC Metro Theatre Arts

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A 45-minute, bilingual, guaranteed crowd-pleaser,  PINOT & AUGUSTINE is a classic, family-friendly clown duo inspired by the golden age of Circus.  

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Summer Tour to North East USA

Howland Cultural Arts Center, Beacon NY 6/20 @ 2pm

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​The Foundry, West Stockbridge MA 6/21 @ 3pm​​

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Puppet ShowPlace Theater, Brookline MA 6/22 @ 7pm & 6/23 @ 7pm  

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Sandglass Theatre, Putney VT 6/25 & 26

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Mayo Street Arts, Portland ME 6/27

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This tour has been generously sponsored by Anonymous & Ted and Mary Gene Myer

HAPPENSTANCE THEATER'S 20th BIRTHDAY PARTY

MD Location and details TBD

July 11 (Rain date July 12) 

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ADRIFT | A Medieval Wayward Folly

Round House Theatre Mainstage

4545 E West Hwy | Bethesda MD 20814

7/16 - 8/2

"ADRIFT is full of wonders! Part Samuel Beckett, part Monty Python, part Lewis Carroll, part opium dream, and part Hieronymus Bosch…Highly entertaining."              – Talkin' Broadway

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A ship of fools adrift at sea.

They ask, “What do we do now?”

After an apocalypse, the search begins.

 

Characters from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, archetypes from the Tarot, and medieval marginalia are brought to life in this ingeniously staged production of theatrical alchemy using live music, physical comedy, puppetry, and so much more.

 

This pod of eccentrics will drift into the world to bring delight, share hopes and fears, and find a way forward. 

 

A dynamic medieval tapestry of pure theater…and it wouldn’t be the Middle Ages without a hellmouth, demons, and angels.

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This run has been generously sponsored by Bob Atlas, Cass Cannon & Charlotte Dean

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​​​​​​​​​FOOLS NAMED 'O' & LA!LA!​

Maryland Renaissance Festival

1821 Crownsville Rd. | Annapolis MD 21401

8/29 - 10/25

​​​DEATH & THE FOOL

Maryland Renaissance Festival

1821 Crownsville Rd. | Annapolis MD 21401

10/3, 10/4 & 10/10, 10/11

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BAROCOCO

Baltimore Theatre Project

45 West Preston St. | Baltimore MD 21201

10/29 - 11/15

 

​"...it’s a tasty little eat-the-rich hors d’oeuvre."                                - TimeOut NY

​​BAROCOCO is a collaboratively devised ensemble work in which Happenstance Theater portrays oblivious entitlement on the brink of extinction. This timely reflection on history is a physical comedy dive into the late Baroque and flaunts 18th century finery, wigs, panniers, gestural styling, elaborate ornamentation and the excesses of Rococo.

The characters navigate dangerous curves of manners and the Age of Enlightenment from the exquisite to the revolting. Happenstance has great fun puncturing one percent pomposity and presents the poignant possibility of change.

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Featuring Stephanie Baird, Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas and Alex Vernon.​​​

This run has been generously sponsored by Carolyn & Dan Matthews

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​​​​​​​JUXTAPOSE | A Theatrical Shadow Box

Leila Gordon Theatre

2310 Colts Neck Rd. | Reston VA 20191

12/20

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JUXTAPOSE is set in a magical-realist tenement building

occupied by four eccentric characters trying to co-exist during the sixth mass extinction. Their lives are interrupted and illuminated

by a human shooting star who arrives through their roof.

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Featuring

Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, 

Sarah Olmsted Thomas and Alex Vernon

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"All of the role-juggling performers prove themselves to be adepts of the deadpan, the sidelong glance, the freeze and the pregnant pause."

               - The Washington Post

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Happenstance Theater is a resident company

at Baltimore Theatre Project and a Co-Op Company in Residence at 59E59 Theaters in NYC

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