SUNY Cortland Performing Arts Announces 2026-2027 Season

CORTLAND, N.Y. — As a new year begins, the SUNY Cortland Performing Arts Department is looking ahead to a 2026-2027 season built on new leadership, new faces and four productions that showcase the range of its BFA Musical Theatre program.

Professor Scott Holdredge begins his first year as department chair this season. A scenic designer who has taught technical theatre at SUNY Cortland for a number of years, Holdredge also serves as scenic and lighting designer for Franklin Stage Company each summer and has designed for Cortland Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Opera and Syracuse University, among others.

The department also welcomes Alison Croad to the full-time staff as technical director. A graduate of the University of Arizona with a BFA in Theatre Production and Design, Croad previously worked at scene shops throughout New York, including the Rev Theatre Company in Auburn, and at theaters in Arizona including Arizona Repertory Theater, Live Theatre Workshop and Arizona Theatre Company.

Joining the adjunct faculty this semester are Priscilla Hummel, who will teach Musical Theatre Performance, and Andrea Dotto, who will teach Tap and Jazz dance. Hummel, a lecturer in theatre and dance performance at Ithaca College and founder of Walking on Water Productions, brings directing and choreography credits from Chicago and Central New York and has previously taught at SUNY Cortland. Dotto, a Broadway performer whose credits include “Bandstand,” was recently named Interim Artistic Director for Cortland Repertory Theatre.

The season opens Oct. 1-4 with “The Laramie Project,” Moisés Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project’s landmark work built from interviews conducted in the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard, directed by Mark Reynolds, in the Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre.

The department’s fall musical, “Carrie: The Musical,” runs Oct. 30-Nov. 8 in the Dowd Fine Arts Center’s Lab Theatre. Directed by Deena Conley and music direction by Ben Kapilow, the musical adapts Stephen King’s novel about a bullied high school outcast whose telekinetic powers erupt on the night of her senior prom.

Spring brings two more productions. “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” Alan Ball’s comedy following five bridesmaids waiting out a wedding reception, runs Feb. 25-28 at Cortland Repertory Theatre Downtown, directed by Adara Alston. The season closes April 2-11 with “The Addams Family,” the musical comedy based on Charles Addams’ classic cartoons, in the Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre.

Audience members should note a schedule change this season: evening performances now begin at 7 p.m., a half hour earlier than in past seasons.

Tickets and full schedules for all four productions are available at Cortland.edu/PerformingArts.