James Clements and Sam Hood Adrain, the Co-Artistic Directors of What Will the Neighbors Say? Theatre Company are thrilled to announce their eleventh season. The Neighbors’ 2026-2027 season features new work, a flagship residency program, dynamic creative partnerships and major free arts education programming.
The Neighbors are officially beginning development on their thirteenth original production. “¡FRUTAS!” is an experimental multidisciplinary documentary theatre play exploring the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, engineered by the CIA and the United Fruit Company. It combines dance, farce, Bouffon clown work and 360° video design, coupled with a source-based script, to create a delirious, manic fever dream unpacking the events of December 1953-June 1954 across New Orleans, Miami, Managua and Guatemala City. Alongside Clements, Hood Adrain and resident artist Pablo Calderón-Santiago, core collaborators include Sophie Amieva and Edu Díaz. A fully bilingual script in English and Spanish, this provocative and political piece examines the covert geopolitical forces that shape our world and explores the ethical implications of democracy. Confirmed supporters include the North American Cultural Laboratory (NACL), the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) and the Creag Foundation, and a workshop presentation will take place in April 2027.
The Neighbors are also proud to launch the second cycle of their New to the Neighborhood residency. The program was initially created by the Neighbors with the support of the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Brooklyn Arts Council, and is intended to be an incubator for Brooklyn-based early-career artists who are members of underrepresented communities. While all can apply, the program is specifically seeking residents who are female, trans or non-binary writers of the Global Majority living in Brooklyn. The Neighbors selected these specific groups as they have historically been underserved by the American theater industry, and this residency aims to help redress that imbalance. This cycle is supported by the Wyman Potter Foundation, and residents will be announced in October, ahead of a December residency and presentation in collaboration with The Brick in Brooklyn.
Beginning in 2027, the Neighbors will be in residence at the Library for Arts and Culture at Brooklyn Public Library in Downtown Brooklyn, working with local constituents across a variety of sessions. In the Spring, the Neighbors will run eight workshops, every other Tuesday, each with an hour of interactive artistic sessions run by a different Brooklyn-based artist and an hour of guided generative creation. In Fall 2027, during their twelfth season, the Neighbors will combine primary research with the self-scripting, creative writing and interviews from the Spring to craft a new piece of documentary theatre that explores how Downtown Brooklyn, and indeed the wider borough, has changed over the last 100 years. This will culminate in a free public presentation/installation in December 2027, featuring Brooklyn-based creatives and stakeholders. Adwoa Adusei, the manager of the Library for Arts and Culture at Brooklyn Public Library, said about the collaboration, [the] Library for Arts and Culture, Brooklyn Public Library's newest location in the heart of the borough's cultural district, is excited to partner with What Will the Neighbors Say to excavate the history of art production and consumption in Downtown Brooklyn through robust explorations of institutional archives, and also through the stories and memories of local Brooklynites.
For a second consecutive season at Classic Stage Company, the Classic Perspectives Series will be curated and hosted by Hood Adrain and Clements. Classic Perspectives is a free post-show discussion program at CSC offering audiences the chance to go beyond the performance and engage in meaningful conversation. Following select performances, the series brings together artists, scholars and creative team members to unpack the themes of the production, explore its connections to both past and present experiences and dive into behind-the-scenes processes. The Neighbors are excited to host nine of these talkbacks throughout CSC’s 2026/27 season, for shows including Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty,
directed by Steven Pasquale, Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,
by Ashley Robinson, Dan Gillespie Sells and Shakina and the New York premiere of Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret
by Pulitzer finalist Talene Monahon.
The company will return for a fourth year as mentors in Barrington Stage Company’s Playwright Mentoring Project, part of their What Will the Kids Say? programming. This free youth education program creates essential space for teens to generate and perform original theatre. Jane O’Leary, Director of Education at Barrington Stage, praised the partnership, sharing [I]t’s always wonderful collaborating with both of [the Neighbors…their] flexibility, creativity and responsiveness are greatly appreciated. [Clements and Hood Adrain] both have elevated the work in ways that support and highlight student growth.
As part of their ongoing free digital community programming, last season the Neighbors launched “From the Neighborhood,” a free online culture magazine created and curated by Federica Borlenghi, an Italian writer, director, designer and a frequent collaborator of the Neighbors. The initiative spotlights emerging and established creatives and engages the Neighborhood with new and exciting partners. Speaking about the collaboration, Borlenghi said that “[O]ver the past year, it’s been quite special to give interviewees undivided attention while listening to their experiences and opinions on the theatrical industry. I’m looking forward to continuing learning and sharing more from my peers.”
