Tuesday afternoon in Anne’s Black Box — which was filled with a crowd of excited Upper School and Middle School students — Charlotte Latin School’s Theatre Arts Department announced its slate of plays and musicals for the 2025-26 school year. In keeping with Latin tradition, the announcement was festive and had elaborate production values: Matt Cosper (Director of Theatre Arts), Meredith McCarter (Assistant Director of Performing Arts), and Ryan Harrison (Director of Choirs) were all dressed as characters from “Little Red Riding Hood.” That didn’t mean that the lineup included Into the Woods or any other Grimm-related material, just that the theatrical team enjoys faking out students (and wearing costumes).

Next year’s season on Latin’s stages:

The Lower School musical tells the story of a group of toys who live inside a claw machine, including the Flair Bears, the Beanie Elders, and an anxious stuffed cow named Dot. Lower School students will perform The Claw on January 29 and 30, 2026. 

“It was Covid times, we were outside and masked, there was no audience,” McCarter said of the 2020 Middle School production of Treasure Island. But she always wanted to do justice to the show under better conditions — so on April 17 and 18, 2026, the Middle School will revisit Treasure Island.

“We tried to pick shows that we’ve been hoping to do for a while, but that it felt like the right time was now,” McCarter said. She then announced the Middle School musical, based on a book by Roald Dahl: Matilda, Jr., to be performed on November 14 and 15, 2025.

“It begins at the very end of Shakespeare’s Hamlet,” Cosper said of the Upper School play. “Hijinks ensue: the ghost of Hamlet is trapped in a television set.” The comedy Fortinbras by Lee Blessing will run October 24–26, 2025.

“This is not a comedy,” Cosper said of the Upper School musical. “It’s equal parts docudrama and nightmare about what happens when people try to ignore evil.” Cabaret, the Kander and Ebb musical set in the Kit Kat Club as Germany slides from decadence into the Nazi regime, will be presented in Anne’s Black Box from February 26 to March 1, 2026. “It’s total theatre and it’s a way to honor people who were taken from us,” he told students. “We’re going to make sure we do it the right way.”

In a letter to Latin theatre families after the announcement, Cosper added, “We believe that theatre is at its best and most vital when it confronts the big questions. It was with these goals in mind that we chose to produce Cabaret. It's a landmark work of musical theatre that will entertain, inform, and challenge our community. I’m proud to work with students and colleagues who I know are up to the task of taking on this project. It’s a challenging work of art that unflinchingly addresses the disenfranchisement of many and the ostracizing of many more, and we plan to approach this production with thoughtfulness, care, and courage. By doing this work, we make a commitment to face history and ourselves. We do not take this commitment lightly, and we appreciate your partnership in ensuring this is a meaningful and productive experience for our students and community. There are plans for collaboration across departments on a series of small group sessions and guest speakers to help contextualize the work we are doing for our student body.”