The Adams Theater is kicking off its 2026 season with an earlier opening, bringing a wide array of talented artists and thought-provoking work from April to October, featuring acclaimed choreographer Omar Román de Jesús, a celebration for MA250 with Massachusetts Poet Laureate Regie Gibson and Pulitzer-winning essayist and Adams native Stacy Schiff, and a Selected Shorts storytelling event produced by Symphony Space, featuring acclaimed actor David Strathairn and two additional actors to be announced soon.

There will be plenty to see and engage with this season, including lots of local talent, the return of the annual Majesty of the Berkshires Pride Pageant, comedy shows, music, and community partnerships. Learn more and get tickets at www.adamstheater.org/events.

The season opens with Bluegrass legends Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff on April 17. Locals may recognize them from their 2025 performance at FreshGrass Festival; the wider bluegrass world is celebrating their upcoming duo album “We Like Jim & Jesse!,” out in March on Wild Geranium Records.

New residencies
The Adams Theater Presents will also start its artist residency calendar earlier in 2026 with Omar Román de Jesús and his dance company Boca Tuya from April 20-May 2, with a performance on May 2. De Jesús, currently presenting work at the Guggenheim in New York, will come to Adams via a Works & Process residency, a program that brings NYC artists to 25+ different residency locations to develop work and give audiences an intimate look into the artistic process.

De Jesús is the inaugural Baryshnikov Arts Center Fellow at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, a 2025 Works & Process recipient, and a former Artist-in-Residence with 92NY. De Jesús is a 2023 Dance Magazine Harkness Promise Awardee and was awarded the Alan M. Kriegsman Residency at Dance Place and the Kennedy Center for 2024-25. His accolades include the 2022 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, the 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Choreography, the 2022 Palm Desert Choreography Festival Grand Prize, and the 2020 Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow.

Selected Shorts: Outsiders
The Adams Theater is bringing Symphony Space’s legendary show “Selected Shorts” to the Berkshires on May 23, featuring acclaimed actor David Strathairn and additional actors to be announced soon.

The popular radio show and podcast Selected Shorts presents an evening of funny, moving, and surprising stories about people on the margins. Join us for an unforgettable night as acclaimed actors perform short fiction about rebels, newcomers, and lone wolves—celebrating how life on the outside can spark fresh perspective and the unexpected moments that turn strangers into insiders.

Our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time. Sometimes funny, always moving, Selected Shorts connects you to the world with a rich diversity of voices from literature, film, theater, and comedy.