MANSFIELD, OHIO — The Renaissance Theatre’s Emerging Artists Festival enters a new chapter during the 2026–2027 season, expanding beyond workshop readings to present selected original works as black box productions at Theatre 166.

Directed by Renaissance Artistic Director Michael Thomas, this season’s festival will feature two original musicals: Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir, with book, music, and lyrics by Mansfield-native Brianna Kothari Barnes and concept by Dame Productions, May 28–30; and The International Baths Presents The Fabulous Lady B, by Colin Hanlon and Gregg Ostrin, June 18–20.

The Emerging Artists Festival began in 2020 after the Renaissance received support from the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage, develop, and champion artists creating original work. Since then, the program has provided playwrights, composers, lyricists, filmmakers, and theatre artists with opportunities to collaborate, refine new ideas, and introduce their work to audiences.

For the 2026–2027 season, the program expands beyond its workshop and reading format. Selected works will be presented as black box productions, giving artists an opportunity to continue developing their work through performance while allowing audiences to experience new theatre in a more immersive setting.

Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir

Part rock concert and part social experiment, Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir is an immersive new musical that asks whether a person’s life can be reduced to their choices—and who gets to decide which choices matter.

The musical follows John Casey, an ambitious young songwriter determined to get his mother out of her abusive marriage to his alcoholic father. As ambition turns to desperation and confidence becomes pride, John finds himself haunted by the addiction he grew up resenting.

On the night of his worst choice, John awakens in Rathskeller, an eerie dive bar in the basement of the afterlife. There, a devilish bartender and her ghostly staff of souls offer him the elixir of a lifetime—but its consequences could be deadly.

The production puts part of John’s fate into the hands of the audience, inviting them to help determine how his story ends. Driven by a punk-rock score, Rathskeller explores addiction, accountability, mercy, justice, and the complicated question of what any person ultimately deserves.

The Virginian-Pilot praised the work for taking “a radically ambiguous stance on mercy and justice.”

Mansfield-Native writer and composer Brianna Kothari Barnes is an actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and composer whose work includes Let There Be Light, winner of Best Musical and Best Score at the 2018 New York Theatre Festival; Walking With Bubbles, a Drama Desk-nominated and Off-Broadway Alliance Award-winning production; and Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir, which has previously received workshop productions at the SheATL Arts Festival and The Z Theater. Barnes was a 2022 NYC Women’s Fund Grant recipient and a 2021 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist. Barnes was last seen on the Renaissance stage playing the title role Mary Poppins in 2015.

Barnes has also performed professionally across the country, including appearances with Florida Studio Theatre, Theatre Aspen, Capital Repertory Theatre, and the national tour of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Her credits include Jenna in Waitress and Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

The concept for Rathskeller was created by Dame Productions, a theatrical company founded by actor, choreographer, and songwriter Grace Rudd. The company is dedicated to helping young women find their voices, with a New Works program focused on supporting female and BIPOC creators and developing original concepts in musical theatre.

Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir will be presented Friday, May 28, Saturday, May 29, and Sunday, May 30 at 7:30 PM at Theatre 166.

The International Baths Presents The Fabulous Lady B

Set inside a gay bathhouse in New York City in the early 1970s, The International Baths Presents The Fabulous Lady B is a new jukebox musical following Brenda Green, an ambitious singer who creates an outrageous stage persona within a vibrant world on the cusp of enormous cultural change.

As Brenda finds fame, she must navigate relationships with her best friend and arranger, Alan; her overbearing mother; and a controlling manager. Her personal rise unfolds against the backdrop of the early Gay Rights movement and a period of liberation, nightlife, music, and community in New York City before the AIDS epidemic transformed that world.

The musical is written by Colin Hanlon and Gregg Ostrin, marking the second collaboration between the two artists.

Hanlon is a New York-based actor, writer, director, producer, and educator. His Broadway acting credits include Falsettos and Rent, as well as the first national tour of Wicked. Off-Broadway, he appeared in the New York premiere of Colman Domingo’s Dot, directed by Susan Stroman, and A.R. Gurney’s final play, Final Follies. His television credits include Modern Family, Difficult People, The Sinner, The Good Fight, and Uncoupled.

As a director, Hanlon has worked Off-Broadway and regionally, including productions at George Street Playhouse, Sharon Playhouse, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, and Richmond Triangle Players. He recently served as Associate Director for The Fantasticks on Broadway and directed Ostrin’s Kowalski at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre.

Los Angeles native Gregg Ostrin has had plays professionally produced in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, New York, Canada, and Scotland. His play Kowalski, inspired by the true story of Marlon Brando’s audition for A Streetcar Named Desire, premiered Off-Broadway in 2025 and was subsequently produced at Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago starring Johnny Galecki.

The International Baths Presents The Fabulous Lady B will be presented Friday, June 18, Saturday, June 19, and Sunday, June 20 at 7:30 PM at Theatre 166.

Together, the two productions represent the continued growth of the Renaissance’s Emerging Artists Festival and its commitment to creating space for artists to take risks, develop original work, and connect new stories with audiences in North Central Ohio.

Ticket Information

Reservations for Emerging Artists Festival productions are available at rentickets.org, by calling the Renaissance Box Office at 419-522-2726, or by visiting the theatre at 138 Park Avenue West, Mansfield. The Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship opportunities are available for Renaissance events and programming. Businesses and organizations interested in supporting the Renaissance while connecting with audiences throughout North Central Ohio may contact Grace Riegel, Development & Executive Affairs Coordinator, at 419-522-2726, ext. 203 or grace@mansfieldtickets.com for more information.