The Theatre Lab: Something Rotten!

This wildly entertaining musical farce, set in the 1590s, follows brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom, struggling playwrights desperate to outshine the reigning Renaissance rock star William Shakespeare. Their chaotic quest to invent the world’s very first musical leads to a series of laugh-out-loud surprises, clever wordplay, and affectionate jabs at Shakespearean tropes. The show was nominated for ten Tony Awards and is widely celebrated as one of the funniest musical comedies ever written. This production is the capstone of The Theatre Lab’s renowned Musical Theatre Institute for Teens (MTIT), a four-week intensive training program in which participants rehearse and perform a full musical under the guidance of top Washington D.C. theatre professionals.

Venue: Atlas Performing Arts Center.

When: July 9–11, 2026.

Showtimes: Thursday July 9 at 7:30pm; Friday July 10 at 7:30pm; Saturday July 11 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm.

Tickets: Available for purchase through the Atlas Performing Arts Center. No specific price tiers are listed.

Run time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.

Ages: Recommended for ages 10 and older.

Content Advisory: Contains mild profanity, suggestive mature humor, sexual innuendo, and brief references to alcohol and death.

Cast and Company: The production is performed by teen participants of The Theatre Lab’s Musical Theatre Institute for Teens, an award-winning educational program that has been serving the Washington D.C. metro area for nearly 35 years as the largest independent drama school in the DMV.

Note: The Theatre Lab provides classes for all ages and experience levels in acting, musical theatre, playwriting, TV, film, and voiceover. A separate Broadway Masterclass event is also offered at the venue.