Here’s a look at what Door County’s four professional theater companies and one community theater bring to their stages for their 2026 summer and fall theater seasons.

June 11, 2026
By Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press Gazette

Door County’s busy summer theater season is about to kick into gear for 2026.

Yes, the four professional theater companies and one community theater company on the Peninsula have kept busy to varying degrees in the offseason, with a few shows, play readings and other outreach programs over the winter. But now that the middle of June is approaching, it’s almost time for regular offerings for theater buffs. Here’s what’s coming to stages in Door County this summer and fall.

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Third Avenue Playworks

The downtown Sturgeon Bay playhouse traditionally gets an early start on the season, with “Heroes” running from late April through mid-May this year, and offers four more shows throughout the rest of 2026, including a world premiere and a stage adaptation of a classic Christmas movie for the holiday season.

The season is:

• “Moonlight and Magnolias,” through June 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.

• “Red Herring,” July 15 to Aug. 9. Playwright Michael Hollinger has six actors play 18 roles in this “noir comedy” with a hard-boiled 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 Ree

Third Avenue PlayWorks and its 124-seat Kane Theatre are at 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay. The curtain rises for all shows at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, with 2 p.m. Friday matinees during the second week of each run. The first show for all productions is a Wednesday night pay-what-you-can preview, followed by a final preview the next night and the official opening night on the first Friday of the run. Subscribers receive free exchanges all season long and up to a 15% discount on regular ticket prices.

Along with the preview shows, TAP also is hosting a couple of new events tied to its shows. These are Wisconsin Cheese Masters Wine Nights, held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each show’s run ($15 to attend, does not include a show ticket; Bite the Farm Opening Night Receptions, with gluten-free desserts, a champagne toast and a chance to meet the actors on opening night, the first Friday of each show’s run; and Young Professionals Networking nights for ages younger then 40 to meet and mix at 5 p.m. before the second Wednesday performance for each show.