TAP’s five-show “season of grand adventures” includes a world premiere, a comedic look at the making of a film classic and the traditional adaptation of a holiday classic.
November 24, 2025 By Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette,
Third Avenue PlayWorks has scheduled what artistic director Jacob Janssen says is “a season of grand adventures,” including a world premiere, a supposed behind-the-scenes look at the making of a film classic and the traditional adaptation of a holiday classic, for the downtown Sturgeon Bay theater’s 2026 season, unveiled in an Instagram video with Janssen posted on TAP’s website.
The plays are:
“Heroes,” April 22 to May 10
This dramatic comedy by French playwright Gerald Sibleyras, translated into English and adapted in 2005 by Tom Stoppard, has three World War I veterans living in a military retirement home outside Paris in the 1950s plotting their escape despite their war wounds, ages and clashing personalities.
“Moonlight and Magnolias,” June 3 to 21
A farcical comedy but with serious notes and based on true events, playwright Ron Hutchison’s work has legendary film producer David O. Selznick, film director Victor Fleming and screenwriter Ben Hecht frantically working behind closed doors to totally remake the script for “Gone With the Wind” within five days after Selznick realizes the existing script and current director are horrible and clueless, respectively. But Hecht hasn’t read the book, so Selznick and Fleming act out the book for him while fending off interruptions.
“Red Herring,” July 15 to Aug. 9
Playwright Michael Hollinger has six actors play 18 roles in this “noir comedy” with a hardboiled female detective in Boston trying to solve a murder mystery intertwined with three love stories, Soviet spies and nuclear espionage in the Cold War days of 1952.
“The Call List,” Sept. 23 to Oct. 11
The premiere of this play by Brian James Polak is part of the World Premiere Wisconsin Festival. It has a dispirited legal assistant tasked with calling people on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide while dealing with their own life crises.
“It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Door County,” Dec. 2 to 27
Neil Brookshire, a director, playwright and actor who’s performed in Door County at TAP, Peninsula Players and Door Shakespeare, penned this stage adaptation of the beloved 1946 holiday movie directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart, Henry Travers and Donna Reed.
Third Avenue PlayWorks and its 124-seat Kane Theatre are at 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay. Season subscriptions for 2026 go on sale in February. For more information, call the box office at 920-743-1760 or visit thirdavenueplayworks.org.