A Canadian play takes top spot!
NEW YORK, NY. September 19, 2025 – American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), has released its Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights lists for the 2025–26 season. These lists are based on season programming submitted by TCG’s Member Theatres as well as productions at Broadway, commercial, and non-member theatres.
“These lists reflect more than a single season. They signal the direction of American theatre,” said Emilya Cachapero, Co-Executive Director of National and Global Programming at TCG. ”Theatres across the country are championing bold stories and diverse voices, ensuring our stages remain vital spaces for connection, imagination, and change.”
By American Theatre’s count, the Canadian musical Come From Away by Irene Sankoff and David Hein will be the most-produced show in the coming season, with 23 productions nationwide. Close behind, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust will be the most-produced play, with 21 productions. These lists count both musicals and plays.
“When we first began writing Come From Away, our goal was simply to share a story we had fallen in love with,” said Irene Sankoff and David Hein. “To see it embraced by so many theatres and shared with audiences around the world is truly a dream come true. There’s never a bad time to tell a story about people looking out for one another—but especially now, it feels like a strong reminder of the kindness, generosity, and courage that emerge when people come together in spite of their differences during difficult times. It’s a message we could all use a little more of right now.”
“I feel so incredibly grateful and elated and moved and weak-kneed that Primary Trust continues to have a life,” said Eboni Booth. “It is so meaningful to me that the story has found a way to resonate with people, and I feel beyond lucky to have these opportunities.”
On the most-produced playwright list, Lauren Gunderson tops the field with 24 productions.“Finding myself anywhere on this list is exhilarating (hell yeah!), confirming (hell yeah!), and humbling (oh my goodness thank you),” said Lauren Gunderson. “Making theatre feels especially collective these days. Every playwright listed is inspiring and sustaining a national conversation with their beautiful, necessary plays—about truth, justice, love, loss, humanity, home, hope. In this era of American struggle—chaos, division, and attacks on art, literature, and human rights—it is emboldening to see a constellation of communities producing all of our plays. When Eboni’s plays, my plays, and the plays of all of these remarkable writers are produced in city after city, they create threads of understanding across place and time that weave us together. That is the power of theatre: the collective interrogation of ourselves and our time through intimate empathy. To do this work alongside such vital, gripping storytellers is the joy of a lifetime.”
These lists appear in the Fall print issue of American Theatre, available online via AmericanTheatre.org, and will be announced live on September 18 at 4pm ET by the editors of American Theatre on Facebook.
Top 10 Most-Produced Plays of the 2025–26 Season
- Come From Away by Irene Sankoff & David Hein (23 productions)
- Primary Trust by Eboni Booth (21)
- Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (14)
- Fat Ham by James Ijames (9)
- Frozen by Jennifer Lee (book) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez (music & lyrics) (9)
- The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh (8)
- Ain’t Misbehavin’ by Murray Horwitz & Richard Maltby Jr. (book), various (music & lyrics) (7)
- Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson (book), Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (music & lyrics) (7)
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, in versions by Heather Chrisler, Lauren Gunderson, Kate Hamill, and Allan Knee (7)
- The Roommate by Jen Silverman (7)
Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2025–26 Season*
(*26 due to ties & shared credits)
- Lauren Gunderson (24 productions)
- Irene Sankoff & David Hein (23)
- Eboni Booth (21)
- Jonathan Spector (15)
- August Wilson (13)
- Kate Hamill (13)
- James Ijames (13)
- Jen Silverman (11)
- Ken Ludwig (11)
- Rajiv Joseph (10)
- Lloyd Suh (10)
- Henrik Ibsen (9)
- Arthur Miller (9)
- Jennifer Lee (9)
- Jeffrey Hatcher (8)
- Richard Maltby Jr. (8)
- Sandy Rustin (8)
- Tennessee Williams (8)
- Katori Hall (7)
- Joe DiPietro (7)
- Sanaz Toossi (7)
- Steven Levenson (7)
- Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer (7)
This year’s lists were culled from 1,446 productions at 293 TCG Member Theatres, plus 156 productions at non-member and commercial theatres. As always, American Theatre omits A Christmas Carol (44 productions this season) and works by Shakespeare (57 productions this season). American Theatre has been creating these annual lists since 1994.
lead photo Canadian playwrights, Irene Sankoff (R) and David Hein (L).
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