Staff photo / Andy Gray Trumbull New Theatre concludes its 2025-26 season this weekend with the musical comedy “Deer Camp” — featuring, top bunks from left, John Brien and Jim Desharnais; bottom bunk, Ron Wolford; and Jerome Teasley — and readies its 2026-27 season.

Trumbull New Theatre will do four shows instead of five for its 2026-27 season, but its board is starting a new program in hopes of getting back to its regular slate.

TNT creates its season based on submissions by local directors, and board President Brett Bunker said only four directors submitted plays for consideration.

The season will open Sept. 11 with a classic, William Inge’s 1953 drama “Picnic,” which won the Pulitzer Prize. Josh Crank directs the play about a drifter whose arrival disrupts a small Kansas town.

“Josh has a tendency to skew more towards some of the classic stuff, which I really appreciate,” Bunker said.

Bunker will direct the political comedy/satire “The Outsider” by Paul Slade Smith, who also wrote “Unnecessary Farce,” which TNT staged in 2024.

“I’ve been circling this for a little while, and I actually had this in mind to submit for the election year in 2024 until the opportunity came up to do ‘Laughter (on the 23rd Floor),’ which was more of a bucket list item for me,” Bunker said. “But I love this show because it just lampoons the government in general. It doesn’t matter which way you lean. It just shows the ridiculousness of how far we’ve fallen when it comes to our government.”

In February 2027, Lisa Bennett will direct Chelsea Marcantel’s dramatic comedy “Tiny Houses,” and the cast builds a tiny house on stage during the performance.

The season concludes with Terri Gilbert directing “Bingo: The Winning Musical,” about a group of friends who gather for their weekly bingo game. The show by Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid and David Holcenberg also gets the audience involved in the bingo action.

In the short term to make up for the abbreviated season, Bunker said they are considering hosting area school choirs for a holiday concert in December. In the long term, TNT is creating a program to recruit first-time directors.

Under TNT’s current policy, those submitting scripts for consideration must have directed at TNT in the past or worked as an assistant director on a show there.

To increase submissions for next year, TNT put out an open call to those interested in directing and received five applications. The board will pick two entrants to be paired with a mentor and go through the process of preparing a one-act play. Those one-acts will be staged later this summer, probably in July for a one-weekend run, Bunker said.

After completing the process, those directors will be eligible to submit shows for consideration for the 2027-28 season.

“We’ve noticed that we have a shrinking director pool, and we wanted to give the opportunity to people who want to get the experience to direct,” Bunker said. “With those five submissions, we got a big swath of people. We have an 18-year-old graduating senior out of high school, a college student at Mount Union and a few local actors that want to get involved in directing and just don’t have the opportunity where they’re at now.

“I’ve only ever been at TNT, so I know how it works here, but you do everything. You find a set designer or you design it yourself, and you’re building your lighting. It’s very intense, and it’s time consuming for three months out of the year … We definitely want to try to reengage our community and find some people that want to do this.”

2026-27 Trumbull New Theatre Season

• Sept. 11 to 25 — The drama “Picnic,” directed by Josh Crank

• Nov. 6 to 22 — The comedy/satire “The Outsider,” directed by Brett Bunker

• Feb. 5 to 21 — The comedy “Tiny Houses,” directed by Lisa Bennett

• April 9 to 25 — “Bingo: The Winning Musical,” directed by Terri Gilbert

All shows are staged at Trumbull New Theatre, 5883 Youngstown-Warren Road, Niles. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays for the three-weekend run, and 3 p.m. Sundays for the final two weekends.

Ticket prices are $17 for adults and $15 for students for plays, and $20 and $18 for musicals. For season tickets or more information, go to trumbullnewtheatre.com.