Welcome to City Lights!
Since 1982, we’ve been inspiring, challenging and connecting with audiences through live theater. Starting in September: Our exciting new season of plays and musicals! Buy your season pass now to experience our full vision for 2023-24, and get the best savings on ticket prices.
See below for more about shows and tickets. We can’t wait to welcome you to the theater.
-Lisa Mallette, executive artistic director

Over The River And Through The Woods
Runs Nov 20 - Dec 21, 2025
Written by:Joe DiPietro
Directed by:Jeffrey Bracco
Supported by:Producer Toggle Hagan
Nick still sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner in New Jersey. Then he’s offered a dream job thousands of miles away in Seattle. This news doesn’t go over well with his grandparents. Thus begins a series of (well-intentioned) schemes to keep Nick nearby.
Ren's 11th Annual Winter Wonderland
Dec 7, 2025
Catch the seasonal spirit with singer Ren Geisick and her band! Fresh off the glow of releasing her second album, "The Place I Planned To Go," this past June, Ren is excited to bring the holidays to life once again on the City Lights stage.
Running After Shadows
Runs Jan 15 - Feb 8, 2026
Written by:Vincent Terrell Durham
Directed by:Aldo Billingslea
Supported by:Producers Nancy B. Coleman & Paul M. Resch, Producers Elaine Baskin & Ken Krechmer, and Producers Nan Ho & Gary Miner
World premiere!
Winner of Theatre Bay Area's Rella Lossy Award!
Morgan Collins used to buy his cookware at the 99-cent store, and is now a budding gourmet and an America’s Test Kitchen devotee. But today, as he unboxes his new garlic press live on Instagram, he also opens something completely unexpected. This box brings him face to face with childhood memories and the pain left by his absentee father.
Not A Genuine Black Man
Jan 25, 2026
In an evening of laughter, tears and sociology, Brian Copeland's acclaimed solo show “Not a Genuine Black Man” is a hilarious and insightful look at Bay Area history, and at the ways in which our upbringings make us who we are.
Dial M For Murder
Runs Mar 12 - Apr 12, 2026
Adapted by:Jeffrey Hatcher
From the original by:Frederick Knott
Directed by:Mark Anderson Phillips
Supported by:Producers Connie & Paul Boulay, and Producers Karen S. Leonard & Cheryl Lander
Jeffrey Hatcher brings us a new version of a famed mystery that inspired Hitchcock’s masterpiece. Tony believes his wife Margot has been cheating on him with Maxine. In his jealousy, he spins a web of deception that will ensnare them in danger, recrimination and murder.
anthropology
Runs May 14 - Jun 7, 2026
Written by:Lauren Gunderson
Directed by:Lisa Mallette
Supported by:Executive Producers Feroze Taraporevala & Anita Kapadia, Producer Sandra Moll, Producers Jonathan Karpf & Kathie Zaretsky, and producers who wish to remain anonymous
Regional premiere!
In her pristine Silicon Valley home office, coder and AI expert Merril relies on patterns and systems. But when her sister Angie vanishes and the police give up, Merril uses digital clues to build an AI version of her. Virtual Angie offers comfort — until it starts revealing unsettling truths about the real Angie's disappearance.
Ride the Cyclone
Runs Jul 16 - Aug 23, 2026
Book, music and lyrics by:Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell
Directed by:Kimberly Ridgeway
Supported by:Producers Christy Martin & Cindy Melter, and Producer Charlie McCollum
When a roller-coaster accident claims the lives of a choir group, the teens end up in a truly bizarre purgatory. A mechanical fortune teller says that only one of them can be brought back to life. To win the prize, they must prove who deserves it the most…by telling their story through song. Full of edgy comedy and music ranging from dance pop to vaudeville, this Off-Broadway musical has also gone viral on TikTok.
![[image: A silver fork twirling spaghetti, against a blue Formica-esque background]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CityLights_OverTheRiver-1.jpg)
![[image: Three photos of a white female singer with long light-brown hair, smiling and singing while wearing a retro black top and long houndstooth-print skirt]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RenGeisick_2024_trio_web.jpg)
![[image: Cardboard mailing box marked "Fragile," sitting in shadows on a light hardwood floor]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CityLights_RunningAfterShadow_color-adjusted.jpg)
![[image: Man smiling in an orange sweater against a bright blue background]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Brian-Copeland-banner.jpg)
![[image: A black 1950s rotary phone against a patterned Formica-style countertop. The whole image is sepia-toned and slightly eerie.]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CityLights_DialMForMurder_telephone-1.jpg)
![[image: A woman's face in profile and gray hues, with binary-code numbers in pale blues and whites and grays extending back from her face and into her hair, all set against a pink background with dots and lines]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/anthropology_CanvaPro_image_pink.jpg)
![[image: People riding a roller coaster at a dramatic downward-sloping angle, against an artificially purple sky]](https://cltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CityLights_RideTheCyclone.jpg)