Next year marks the 50th birthday of Nuffield and the City of Southampton, an anniversary being marked by the commissioning of a new theatre work about the city's football club based on its supporters' memories.
It will be staged in Guildhall Square as part of the Nuffield In The Square festival, a large-scale, outdoor programme of celebratory events over July and August.
A second festival also features in the inaugural season of Nuffield's Creative and Executive Director, Sam Hodges.
Fulcrum Southampton will be a three-day event with the University of Southampton that will look at science and art through talks, shows from visiting companies and work developed under the theatre's artist development programme.
The theatre programme includes A Number by Caryl Churchill, a co-production with English Touring Theatre of Tonight At 8.30 by Noël Coward and Feathers In The Snow by Philip Ridley, The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Company from The Nuffield Youth Theatre.
Visiting productions include Catch 22 by Joseph Heller from Northern Stage.
Sam Hodges says, “I believe that theatre has to be responsive, dynamic, and constantly evolve if it is to flourish; moving forward, I want Nuffield to be a theatre company that is not restricted by one space or one form.
"Southampton is already world-class in many fields, from science to football. I want theatre to be recognized in the same league, developing a culture of excellence that pushes boundaries whilst attracting the highest calibre of artists to the city.”
Hodges has appointed directors Blanche McIntyre, Michael Longhurst and Natalie Abrahami and designer Tom Scutt as Associate Artists and Adam Brace as the first writer-in-residence.