Players Workshop:A Legacy Season in San Miguel de Allende

By Richard Hochberg

San Miguel de Allende has long been known for its thriving arts scene, and theatre has played no small part in that story. Back in 1982, Lola Smith founded Players Workshop, planting the seeds of what would become more than four decades of quality English-language productions.

Smith passed away in 2026 at the age of 100, but her influence on San Miguel's theatrical landscape remains profound — without her vision, the town's stage scene might look very different.

Today, Players Workshop continues her legacy under energized new leadership. Artistic Director Richard Hochberg, a veteran director and performer from Los Angeles, brings a taste for the provocative and the profound. "My hope is to Engage, Energize, and Entertain — creating theatre that is thought-provoking, entertaining, and deeply connected to the community here in San Miguel," says Hochberg.

Board President Antonia Banewicz, a longtime New York performer, now helms the organization alongside Treasurer Clara Dunham and board members Phoebe Greyson, Catherine Bryne, Francine Auster, Matthew Rappoport, and Cristopher Berns.

The 2026 season has already proven the company's ambition. January brought Woody Allen's 'Central Park West', which played to sold-out houses. Then in April came 'The Dinosaurs', part of Players Workshop's new works series — performed here in San Miguel while it was running Off Broadway, giving local audiences a chance to experience a new work at the same moment it was making its mark in New York. Both productions were met with critical acclaim.

Now, audiences have something special to look forward to this August. 'Other Desert Cities', the award-winning play by Jon Robin Baitz, runs August 3–8.

This emotionally charged family drama, set in Palm Springs, follows a novelist who returns home at Christmas to announce the publication of a memoir centered on her anti-war activist brother's tragic death — reopening long-held family secrets. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award, the New York Times called it "the most highly enjoyable new play for grown-ups that New York has known in many seasons." Don't miss it.

October brings another first: Players Workshop's debut musical revue, co-produced with the Collective Theater Company.

And looking ahead, the beloved Diez Minutos Festival returns in 2027. Featuring ten-minute plays submitted from around the world, the contest — themed 'Small Spaces' — will showcase the top eight submissions in full production.

Since 1982 Players Workshop, a not for profit organization (AC), has been dedicated to producing quality English language theater and having a positive cultural impact on the community in San Miguel de Allende.