The season features four operatic reimaginings, spanning 1,000 years of history, that lift up art’s power to unmask tyrants and their tyranny
(WASHINGTON, D.C) – IN Series has announced its 2026-27 season titled Sic Semper Tyrannis, which will feature a bold and brave season that dares to stand up and speak out during tumultuous political times. Additionally, this year of performances serves as a celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and a reminder of the work that is still yet to be done. It also marks the beginning of a build toward IN Series’ 45th anniversary year, to be celebrated in 2027, and the opening of the company’s new permanent D.C. home at the Arts Hub in Southwest D.C. Performances in Baltimore will continue throughout the season. Season Tickets will go on sale May 1, 2026 and will be available at www.inseries.org
IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson stated, “with Sic Semper Tyrannis, we’re using our defiantly intimate scale to do what IN Series does best: bring audiences into immediate encounter with music and poetry that unmasks power, confronts oppression and reminds us that art is not an escape from public life but one of the clearest, and bravest ways we can speak to this moment and imagine a better future.”
“As I begin my first full season as IN Series’ Executive Director,” said IN Series Executive Director David Mack, “I am proud that our 2026–27 season affirms an important principle at the heart of great art: the freedom of artists to express themselves creatively, unapologetically and without censorship or retaliation, is essential – not incidental – to meaningful artmaking. IN Series continues to center our artists’ creative expression in that spirit. I look forward to the thought-provoking conversations that this singular season sparks across our community.”
2026-27 SEASON PROGRAM INFO
THE MAKADO
Make America Kingly Again! An Operatico-Politco-Buffo-Satirico…
October 10-25, 2026
340 Maple Drive, Washington, DC
Baltimore Theater Project – 45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD
Based on The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan (London, 1885)
New English texts by Bari Biern
Written as a witty, political and social indictment of the Victorian British establishment, this tuneful satire has been absent from many stages over the last few decades due to claims of political-correctness. As IN Series lampoons all forms of tyranny, from would be kings to cancel culture itself, THE MAKADO: Make America Kingly Again! An Operatico-Politico-Buffo-Satirico reimagines the iconic musical spoof as set in a great golden gilded oval office, with a cast of all too familiar characters that take no prisoners as they delight audiences and poke fun at fools from all sides. With added strains of John Phillip Sousa, new rhymes from THE CAPITOL STEPS veteran writer Bari Biern, and over-the-top costumes, sets, and comedy. THE MAKADOuses laughter and music to say what no one is saying but we’ve all been thinking…
Featured vocalists include Hayley Abramowitz, Andrew Adelsberger, Melanie Ashkar, Allan Palacios Chan, Teresa Ferrara, Robin McGinness, Cecelia McKinley, Noah Mond, and Hunter Shaner
Stage Direction: Corinne Hayes & Timothy Nelson,
Musical Direction: Dana Scott
Set Design: Josh Sticklin
Lighting Design: Paul Callahan
Costume Design: William Linares
(N)O King(S)
January 23-February 7, 2027
340 Maple Drive, Washington, DC
Baltimore Theater Project – 45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD
King Harald’s Saga (Scotland, 1979)by Judith Weir
8 Songs for a Mad King (London, 1969) by Peter Maxwell Davies
O King (Maine, 1968) by Luciano Berio
Into the Little Hill (Paris, 2006) by George Benjamin & Martin Krimp
(N)O King(S) is a Requiem for the American Dream, a powerful and unforgettable melding of three of the most bold and audacious works of vocal-theater from the 20th Century with the first great operatic masterpiece written in the 21st Century. From the explosive imagination of Artistic Director Timothy Nelson, these works will combine into a shattering evening that examines the darknesses of the Great American Century with mesmerizing and haunting beauty. Also, as part of this powerful and unique event, IN Series will collaborate with world renowned photographer and visual artist Connie Imboden.
Featured vocalists include: Maribeth Diggle, Cecelia McKinley, Melissa Wimbish, and Jonathan Woody
Stage Direction: Timothy Nelson
Musical Direction and Conductor: Darren Lin
Image Design: Connie Imboden
THEODORA
April 10-25, 2027
340 Maple Drive, Washington, DC
Baltimore Theater Project – 45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD
Music by G.F. Handel
Words by T. Morell
INnovātiō Baroque Orchestra
with District Chorale
Throughout Theodora, Handel weaves the threads of the enlightenment that would just a generation later give birth to the spirit of America: freedom of religion, assembly, speech, from persecution and the free exercise of joy and presence. IN Series mounts its largest production ever with full baroque orchestra and choir as a testament to courage of holding fast to an ideal, at all costs. From its audacious beginning through the most powerful music Handel ever wrote, this rarely staged masterwork promises to move and even transfigure audiences in an experience like none other this season.
Featured vocalists include Robin McGinness, Elizabeth Mondragon, Daniel Moody, Oznur Tuluoguo, and Gene Steger
Stage and Musical Direction: Timothy Nelson
Chorusmaster: Geoffrey Silver
Set Design: Josh Sticklin
THE TRIUMPH OF F.A.U.V.E.L. – An Ass!
June 5-26, 2025
Dupont Underground – 19 Dupont Cir NW, Washington, D.C.
2640 Space – 2640 St Paul St, Baltimore, MD
Based on the Roman de Fauvel (ca. 14th Century)
New English Version and Text by Andrew Albin
Co-production with ALKEMIE
Nearly 1000 years ago an enigmatic work of poetry and music came into being that would ignite the imagination of centuries of writers and composers. The Roman de Fauvel is a vibrant political and social satire that sears the mind and soul as much today as it did in the time it was written. Hear the fantastical and farcical story of a jackass Fauvel, a donkey who takes his name from six of the deadly sins, who becomes king of the world in a dystopian wilderness or wonder and whimsy. In this new immersive version of the text, audiences will journey through a world of acrobats, puppets, song and dance, laughter and horror, moving through the performance and with action surrounding them throughout. Acclaimed scholar and poet Andrew Albin joins forces with one of America’s most audacious early music ensembles, ALKEMIE, for this site-specific Summer arts happening.
Featuring vocalists include Marvin Wayne Allen, Joshua Lucas, Luz Nicolas, Dawna Rae Warren, Mara Yaffee, and more.
Stage Direction: Timothy Nelson
Set/Costume/Puppet Design: Ksenya Litvak
ABOUT IN SERIES
IN Series is the standard-bearer for innovative opera theater in Washington DC. We make theater from music: transforming artists, audiences, and community by disrupting expectations, nourishing empathy, stimulating insight, and deepening the conversation. IN Series envisions a thriving global community in which opera is a fully integrated and essential part of collective conversation. In picturing the journey to this end, IN Series is a change-maker – a force that, with each groundbreaking production and outreach event, radically transforms perceptions of the “who”, “what”, “where”, and “why” of opera: who gets to make opera and for whom is it made; what is defined as an operatic experience; where operas take place; why we make opera; and why opera matters.
Founded by Carla Hübner in 1982 as a concert series of the former Mount Vernon College, “The In Series” became an independent non-profit arts organization in 2000 and has been a resident company at Source Theater since 2008. Timothy Nelson assumed the artistic directorship in 2018, quickly establishing the newly rebranded “IN Series” as DC’s home for “Thought, debate, history, and innovation” (DC Metro Theatre Arts) in opera.
IN Series is supported in part by major funding from Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz, Dallas Morse Coors; Billy Rose, and Paul M. Angell Family Foundations; the Robert Deutsch Foundation; the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; the Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org); HumanitiesDC; Opera America; the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family; Dimick Foundation; Eugene M. Lang Foundation; Share Fund; Theodore H. Barth Foundation; William G. Baker Jr Memorial Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation; the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation; Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation; and Wilhelm Family Foundation. We gratefully recognize the generous support of the Sami & Annie Totah Family Foundation; Robert N. Alfandre Foundation; John J. Leidy Foundation; the David Kalman Chaim Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation.
State Arts Council (msac.org); HumanitiesDC; Opera America; the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family; Dimick Foundation; Eugene M. Lang Foundation; Share Fund; Theodore H. Barth Foundation; William G. Baker Jr Memorial Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation; the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation; Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation; and Wilhelm Family Foundation. We gratefully recognize the generous support of the Sami & Annie Totah Family Foundation; Robert N. Alfandre Foundation; John J. Leidy Foundation; the David Kalman Chaim Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation.