Before he won a Tony Award for playing the Genie in“Aladdin,”before he performed in “Hamilton,” and“Freestyle Love Supreme,”before he appeared in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “Girls5eva,” James Monroe Iglehart was a rising Bay Area stage actor.

Now, as part of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s 2023-24 season, the Hayward native returns to one of the Bay Area theater companies where he got his start. He’ll direct “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (Nov. 29-Dec. 24), Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn’s musical comedy about the American-born form of childhood competition.

The rest of the TheatreWorks lineup, announced Monday, April 10, begins with “Mrs. Christie” (Oct. 4-29) by New York playwright Heidi Armbruster. The West Coast premiere, directed by Giovanna Sardelli, is about a real-life Agatha Christie mystery: when the author disappeared for 11 days in 1926.

In the new year, the company reunites actor Steven Anthony Jones with director (and TheatreWorks Artistic Director)Tim Bondfor a new production of August Wilson’s “How I Learned What I Learned” (Jan. 17-Feb. 11). The show, which the pair previously presented at Seattle Repertory Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, traces the playwright’s extraordinary life, beginning in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, the setting of many of his plays, and proffers hard-won but crackling wisdom.

Spring 2024 continues with “Queen” (March 6-31) by Madhuri Shekar (“House of Joy,”“In Love and Warcraft”). The show, presented in partnership with EnActe Arts, follows bee researchers studying the insects’ disappearance who must weigh their own gain against environmental catastrophe. Miriam A. Laube directs.

Up next is the comedy “Tiger Style!” (April 3-28), about a pair of Chinese American siblings who blame all their professional and romantic problems on their “tiger” parents. Guggenheim fellow Mike Lew writes, andJeffrey Lo,who recently directed a Chinatown-set“Little Shop of Horrors”at TheatreWorks, returns to the helm.

The season concludes with the world premiere of “Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration” (June 5-30, 2024), a tribute to the mighty composer conceived by TheatreWorks founderRobert Kelleyand Resident Musical Director William Liberatore.

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Reach Lily Janiak:ljaniak@sfchronicle.com