Kent State University at Trumbull Campus Theatre’s 60th anniversary season will be bookended by a pair of well-known musicals.

The season will open with the Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening” and close with the cult favorite “The Rocky Horror Show,” the original stage production that spawned the film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

In between will be the holiday comedy “A Tuna Christmas,” a stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice” and “Adultreyhood,” the first script featured in Kent-Trumbull Sips & Scripts play reading series to get a full-scale production on campus.

Eric Kildow, assistant professor of theater at Kent-Trumbull, said many considerations went into compiling the season, starting with a survey, not only of theatergoers but local theater performers.

“When you work in a community theater, there’s not only (the question of) what would the audience like to see but also what would the performers like to do, what can you get people to turn out for (at auditions)?” he said.

Kildow, who will be on sabbatical next school year, asked directors to submit shows they were interested in doing. He then presented the suggestions to Baz Wenger, Kent-Trumbull Theatre’s technical director, to see which shows might be best suited to the performance space.

That thought also influenced the selection of “Spring Awakening” and “Rocky Horror.”

“It’s a rock musical,” Kildow said. “Given the size and shape of our space, we do that a little bit better than the big classical Golden Age musicals with large pit orchestras. Since we are doing what we can to keep canned music to a minimum in our space — that is something that we had identified as somewhat important to us — so we are leaning toward rock musicals and smaller ensembles, because that’s what we can do more effectively. And so ‘Spring Awakening’ seemed like a good fit.”

It also is a nod to Kent-Trumbull’s history. While this is the first time the musical has been done there, Daniel-Raymond Nadon directed the German play that inspired the musical during his tenure.

“A Tuna Christmas” is a show Kent-Trumbull has done before. It even still has some of the props from that original production. It will be directed by Harmon Andrews.

“He’s been mentioning that he was interested in directing, and he’s such a phenomenal performer,” Kildow said. “We’ve seen him as a chameleon on our stage, playing so many different roles, and I think this would be a good roll out for his directing chops, because you’ve got to essentially teach actors how to play multiple, different roles.”

The adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice” was written by Akron-area performer Cait McNeal and will be directed by Joe Soriano, who has worked with McNeal on productions in Akron.

“Pride & Prejudice” will give Kent-Trumbull theater students a chance to work on a period piece. It also allows the theater to encourage the development of new works, which is something that Kildow wants to make a priority.

“Adulteryhood” by Columbus-area playwright Greg A. Smith also falls into that category.

“Brian Westerley, the director who pitched it, also directed the reading,” Kildow said. “It was one of our better attended and more successful readings. The playwright got a great deal out of the process.

“It’s also sort of a classic sex comedy — a pair of couples, mutual infidelities and them looking at various ways to try and negotiate it. It’s been a minute since we’ve done one of those, and those are a common genre that are popular in community theater and in dinner theater and small regionals and whatnot. So I figured this is a good opportunity to kind of check that curricular box as well.”

Kent-Trumbull also plans to bring back Sips & Scripts in 2025-26 with that schedule announced at a later date.

The schedule

• Nov. 13 — The musical “Spring Awakening,” directed by Paul Dahman

• Dec. 12 — The comedy “A Tuna Christmas,” directed by Harmon Andrews

• March 6, 2026 — The play “Pride & Prejudice,” directed by Joe Soriano

• May 1, 2026 — The comedy “Adulteryhood,” directed by Brian Westerley

• July 16, 2026 — The musical “The Rocky Horror Show,” directed by Marie James