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Actors Theatre of Louisville recently announced The Storytelling Revolution Festival, a new work festival celebrating bold new stories that explore the wonder and complexity of our time. Produced in collaboration with the Louisville Fringe Festival, the festival will take place April 1–12, 2026, throughout Actors Theatre’s Main Street Complex. Tickets for the festival will go on sale to members February 3 and to the public on February 17 at actorstheatre.org or by calling 502-584-1205.
The Storytelling Revolution Festival brings together artists and companies from across Kentucky and the region for a grassroots, community-centered festival featuring world premieres, readings, immersive performances, dance-theatre, devised work, and experimental forms. The festival invites audiences to experience multiple productions in close proximity—encouraging conversation, connection, and discovery as part of the theatrical experience.
Actors Theatre of Louisville has a long and nationally recognized history of developing new work, including this season’s world premiere of FDR’s Very Happy Hour. For decades, Actors Theatre has served as a launchpad for playwrights, composers, ensembles, and interdisciplinary artists whose work has shaped the American theatre landscape.
“The Storytelling Revolution Festival will serve as a joyful gathering where audiences and artists can bounce between performances, discover new voices, and stick around to talk, toast, and connect,” said Artistic Director Amelia Acosta Powell.
“By partnering with the Louisville Fringe, Actors Theatre serves as a convener for bold new work from across Kentucky, bringing together frequent collaborators from each of our organizations as well as artists we are thrilled to encounter for the first time. It’s a celebration of the range, imagination, and vitality of storytelling happening in our communities, and an invitation to encounter it all side by side.”
The festival also reflects Actors Theatre’s broader commitment to supporting artists at every stage of creation while welcoming audiences into the process of discovery. “Supporting artists in creating and sharing new work has always been core to Actors Theatre,” said Managing Director Emily Tarquin. “The Storytelling Revolution Festival ensures that our legacy of new work is not only preserved but intentionally evolved. This new model deeply celebrates the amazing artists of our region while activating our full theatre complex, and inviting audiences to engage with new stories in meaningful ways together.
In keeping with Actors Theatre’s long tradition of festivals as shared cultural events, Storytelling Revolution Festival will also include opportunities for artists and audiences to gather beyond the stage.
Festival Gatherings
Actors Theatre will host an Opening Night Party on April 3 to kick off the Storytelling Revolution Festival, followed by a Closing Party on April 12 honoring the creativity and successes of the week. The parties will be open to all festival ticket holders and will include drinks, bites, music and mingling in the lobby spaces of the theatre complex. Additional details will be announced.
FESTIVAL OFFERINGS
(Schedule and performance times to be announced)
Actors Theatre of Louisville presents Wave After Wave
April 1-12 in the Bingham Theatre
by Benjamin Benne
Directed by Amelia Acosta Powell
World Premiere produced by Actors Theatre of LouisvilleCousins Sean and Nathanael return to the same beach year after year, growing from childhood into adulthood as their lives, bodies, and the natural world change around them. Wave After Wave spans a century, exploring human and ecological transformation through a tender, complicated bond.
Louisville Tens
Sunday, April 5 at 7pm in the Bigham Theatre
With short plays by Sara Brown Bell, Stephanie Michelle Collins, Betsy Anne Huggins, Amy Pan, Terry Tocantins, Teresa WillisAn evening of short plays by Louisville writers that spark wonder, challenge
convention, and reflect the heart and diversity of our region.
Artists Collaborative Theatre presents Blood Song: The Story of the Hatfields & the McCoys
Friday, April 10 at 7pm and Saturday, April 11 at 2pm in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
Written by Chelsea Marcantel
Directed by Jason JusticeThe official Kentucky state play on the Hatfield–McCoy feud, Blood Song is a gripping examination of family, tribalism, and cycles of violence, performed by a multigenerational company of Appalachian theatre artists.
This Bridge Theatre presents A Reading of Chagutok
Sunday, April 12 at 7pm in the Bingham Theatre
by Vince Gatton
Directed by Zac Campbell-HoogendykFour strangers travel to a remote Alaskan island to witness a rare phenomenon known as the Chagutok Lights. Expecting solitude, they find each other—and then a mystery—forcing unexpected collaboration and connection.
Don’t Do It! With Hannah Don’t DeWitt
Saturday, April 11 at 9pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
Hosted and curated by Hannah Don’t DeWittAn evening revue of wild, uncouth performance art by local artists, emphasizing work that is often discouraged elsewhere. Content warnings are plentiful; viewer discretion is advised.
Ho Ho Havoc
Saturday, April 11 at 2pm and Sunday, April 11 at 2pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
By Eric Sharp and Andrew Newton Schaftlein
Starring May O’NaysBelief and hope are at an all-time low—but May O’Nays has a plan. A holiday performance featuring original music, crafts, cookies, and a search for devotion in unexpected places.
La Petite Volontaire
Saturday, April 4 at 2pm and Sunday, April 5 at 2pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
Written and directed by Brittany ConderA surreal exploration of self-doubt, curiosity, and resilience as one woman navigates an inner and outer world filled with unexpected tools, creatures, and possibilities.
Life of the Party
Saturday, April 11 at 7pm and Sunday, April 12 at 7pm in the Victor Jory Outer Lobby
by Tara Anderson
Directed by Tory ParkerAn immersive dark comedy set inside a shopping party that examines friendship, loss, and the stories we tell about death through the lens of multi-level marketing.
Looking for Lilith Theatre Company presents Because you were, I am!
Saturday, April 4 at 7pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
An interactive journey through The Ancestors ProjectAn interactive performance sharing ancestral stories collected across Kentucky, inviting audiences to listen, participate, and reflect on the lives and legacies that shape our communities.
Ambo Dance Theatre presents Mimi
Friday, April 10 at 7pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
A 45-minute dance-theatre work exploring survival, agency, and autonomy through movement, multimedia, and intimate audience engagement.
She Dreams Entertainment presents Romantics vs. Rebels
Friday, April 10 at 9pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
Written by Divinity RoseA comedic, interactive performance where audiences pledge allegiance, choose sides, and participate in a playful theatrical contest filled with music, humor, and spectacle.
Sally Salem’s Horror in the Holler!
Saturday, April 4 at 2pm and Sunday, April 5 at 2pm in the Victor Jory Theatre
Written and directed by Zoë PetersonA family-friendly immersive show using puppetry and magic to bring Kentucky legends to life—from the Goatman of Pope Lick to the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Knob.
This Bridge Theatre presents Shotz!
Saturday, April 11 at 7pm in the Pamela Brown AuditoriumA one-night-only short play festival where local playwrights, actors, and directors race against the clock to create and perform brand-new 10-minute plays.
Show! The Show presents: Never Bring a Gun to an Art Fight
Saturday, April 1 at 9pm in the Victor Jory TheatreA sketch comedy performance that absolutely will not derail into revolution. Definitely not. Especially not Joey.
Mary Shelley Electric Company presents The Tongue
Saturday, April 4 at 2pm and Sunday, April 5 at 2pm in the Victor Jory TheatreA whimsical reimagining of Gogol’s The Nose, blending puppetry, dance, music, and absurdity as a woman searches for her missing tongue—and her voice.
*Additional information, full schedules, and tickets will be announced at a later date.
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2026.