LAST UPDATED: 9/17/2024
Friends always ask me how I see so manyy plays that they’ve never even heard of. The long answer is, “I get recommendations, pay attention to playwrights whose work I’ve liked in the past and most crucially, I also subscribe to (and skim) many, many individual theater’s newsletters.” The short answer is, “It’s weirdly hard and annoying!” And EXPENSIVE. (But good news if you’re under 30, 35 or even 40: Quite a few theaters have great ticket discount programs.)1
This is a free newsletter, but it’s also an ever-updating landing page and a list of what I’m seeing, as well as what I’d like to see in-theater. I’ll annotate when it feels right: a star* means I have a ticket, two stars** means I liked it (or, honestly, a trusted friend-of-the-newsletter did) This letter will appear in your inbox when there’s enough worthy of an update. Otherwise, please check back regularly!
SEEN ANYTHING GOOD LATELY? REPLY TO THIS EMAIL & TELL ME! PLEASE!
currently running (and about to run)
Trivial Pursuit by Molly Soda (Sept 14 — 20, PAGEANT)*
Three girls ⇢ one vision board
The 2 Queers a Lesbian Meets at The Home Depot by Savannah Hankinson (Sept 20 — Oct 6, A.R.T.)
Three queers' lives come crashing into each other, wreaking havoc, but ultimately shaking them out of their not-so-happy daily routines.
The Voices In Your Head by Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee (Sept 9 — Oct 6, Egg & Spoon Theater Collective)*
Over an hour-long meeting, eight New Yorkers of varying backgrounds exchange stories, escape the ridicule of the outside world, and build an oasis, even as individual needs test its stability.
Dirty Laundry by Mathilde Dratwa (Sept 21 — Oct 20, WP Theater)
After the woman who unites them dies, three people grapple with love, loss, lust…and household chores. Meanwhile, a spin cycle of voices pings with questions: are you still a daughter when your mother dies?
Counting and Cracking by S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack (Sep 6 — 22, Skirball)*
Radha fled Sri Lanka with her unborn child as the nation struggled with conflict. Two decades later, her son Siddhartha, now an Australian man who knows little of his family’s background, receives a call from the past that changes everything he thought he knew, and who he thought he was.
The Ask by Matt Freeman (Sept 6th — 28th, wild project)
With comedic precision, THE ASK dissects a tense visit between a struggling young fundraiser and an affluent liberal donor, as they navigate the treacherous power dynamics at the heart of charitable giving.
ANTIGONE IN THE AMAZON by Milo Rau (Sept 27 — 28, Skirball)
In this captivating rendition of Antigone, witness the stirring performance by Amazon indigenous activist Kay Sara in the titular role, accompanied by a Greek chorus comprised of survivors from Brazil’s historic Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) massacre in 1996.
A Meal by Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya (Sept 11 — 29, HERE)
A multi-sensorial live performance: part-ritual, part-celebration, part-installation, and part-dinner, A Meal explores our deep connection with food—where it comes from, what we eat, and who we share it with.
One Song by Miet Warlop (Oct 3 — 5, Skirball)
In this highly anticipated U.S. premiere, twelve performers take the stage in a mesmerizing ritual that explores themes of hope, life, death, and resurrection. Throughout the performance, an audience votes after each act, a cheerleader offers unwavering support, and a sportscaster provides live commentary.
Banya by Gracie Gardner (Oct 3 — 6, TheaterLab)*
Two strangers, Brian and Darlene, confrotn their darkest secrets during a revealing sauna session, blending dark humor and poignant reflections to explore shame, fear, millenial despair, and the search for genuine connection.
Anton Goes To Heaven (?) by Stefan Diethelm (Sept 19 — Oct 6, Theater for a New City)
Confronted by the omniscient Id, his neglectful mother, and sundowning grandfather, Anton is forced to reckon with himself and the people who made him who he is.
You Must Wear A Hat by C. Meaker (Oct 10 — 12, TheaterLab)
Tuesday and Weeks make hats on the Great Barrier Reef waiting for the world to end.
Reconstructing (Still Working but the Devil Might Be Inside) by The TEAM (Oct 24 — 27, BAM)* …AS A PART OF BAM’S NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL 2024!
On the stage is a two-story house. From one angle, it’s mucked out after a flood. From another, it’s a new development wrapped in Tyvek. And from another, it’s “Tara” from Gone with the Wind being transformed into an Airbnb. Sometimes it looks like it’s on fire. Someone is quilting in the corner. Come in.
The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny's Bar by Sarah Gancher (Sept 28 — Oct 27, Vineyard Theater/En Garde Arts)
At the end of Conover Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on the waterfront, there is a bar called Sunny’s. For over one hundred years, it’s been run by one family, through booms and busts, prohibition and pandemics, blight and gentrification.
A Woman Among Women by Julia May Jonas (Oct 15 — Nov 3, Bushwick Starr)
It’s Cleo’s backyard, Roy’s back in town, and Christine’s brought information. I mean, basil. A riff off Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, A Woman Among Women challenges the audience to participate in the making of a tragic hero, experience her Aristotelian fall from grace, and interrogate the meaning of collective catharsis.
Our Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek (adapted by Norman Allen) (Sept 12 — Nov 3, CSC)
Ten Polish classmates — five Jewish and five Catholic — grow up as friends and neighbors, then turn on one another with life and death consequences.
HOTHOUSE by Carys Coburn (Oct 23 — Nov 7, Irish Rep)
Sail through an intergenerational tale complete with horny songbirds, a mad captain, Rachel Carson, and wanting to change, but not knowing how.
The Beastiary by Christopher Ford & Dakota Rose (Oct 7 — Nov 9, Ars Nova)
Medieval meets modern in The Beastiary, a twisted comedic puppet pageant of consumption, corruption and the end of humankind.
Sex Variants of 1941: A Study of Homosexual Patterns by The Civilians (Nov 14 — 24, Skirball)
The Civilians examine the intimate lives of Depression-era queers in this kaleidoscopic, musical fantasia adapted from the 1941 text Sex Variants, a “medical study” of LGBT+ sexuality.
Cellino v. Barnes by Mike B. Breen & David Rafailedes (Aug 9 — Dec 1, AsylumNYC) [EXTENDED]
Through the '90s, 2000s, and 2010s, we witness our pals navigate the ethical ambiguities of the law, grapple with personal demons (and fax machines), and aspire to world domination.
Bad Kreyòl by Dominique Morisseau (Oct 8 — Dec 1, MTC)
Simone, first-generation Haitian American, and her cousin Gigi, Haitian-born and raised, reunite to honor their grandmother's dying wish for them to reconnect. Simone's pilgrimage back to her ancestral homeland forces both cousins to confront their differing world views.
Suppose Beautiful Madeline Harvey by Object Collection (Dec 13 — Dec 22, La MaMa)
Beautiful Madeline Harvey has a problem: she is not certain whether she does or does not, in fact, exist. Handsome Roger Vincent waits for her at a boulevard café, where their eyes meet like an electric shock. A paper-thin love story within a paper-thin world, speeding towards inevitable catastrophe…or perhaps, a very serious twist.
readings
Various @ First Kiss Theatre Company (Sep 22 — Oct 13, The Makers' Space in Brooklyn)
festivals & series
PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL: January 9 — 19, Various
The visionary festival is the only one of its kind in New York City and is a model now emulated around the country – producing and presenting a wide spectrum of works, from intimate black-box experiences to larger chamber opera productions, valuing artistic, curatorial, and producorial risk-taking.
theater over $50 & probably worth it
Table 17 by Douglas Lyons (Sept 12 — 29, MCC) [EXTENDED]
If your ex wanted to meet up again, would you? Previously engaged, Jada and Dallas reunite for dinner to hash out the good, the bad, and the ugly from their romantic past.
Good Bones by James Ijames (Sept 19 - Oct 20, The Public) [EXTENDED]
A work opportunity to revitalize the blighted neighborhood she grew up in has led Aisha and her chef husband Travis to buy and renovate a charming old house. But as everyone knows, renovation is expensive and stressful—both for buildings and the communities that surround them.
The Counter by Meghan Kennedy (Sept 19 — Nov 17, Roundabout)
Every morning at the local diner in a small town, a waitress refills a regular’s coffee. An unlikely friendship develops and keeps him coming back for more. But when he asks for a shocking favor, it brings to light both of their deepest secrets.
Gaviota by Guillermo Cacace (Nov 13 — 23, BAM)2 …AS A PART OF BAM’S NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL 2024!
In an emotionally charged, stripped down interpretation, five actresses sit around an oversized table and offer an extremely intimate presentation of the Russian playwright’s “spectacle of waste”, The Seagull.
WALDEN by Amy Berryman (Oct 16 — Nov 24, 2nd Stage)
In the near future, Stella and her fiancé, Bryan are waiting at their remote cabin for Stella’s estranged twin sister, Cassie. Raised by their astronaut father to be NASA scientists, the twins have taken different paths: Cassie has just returned from a successful moon mission, while Stella has left NASA behind.
King Lear by William Shakespeare (Oct 26 — Dec 15, The Shed)
Kenneth Branagh plays the title role in a new production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, set in the barbarous landscape of Ancient Britain.
GATZ by Elevator Repair Service (November 1 - December 1, The Public Theater)*
One morning in the office of a mysterious small business, an employee finds a copy of The Great Gatsby in the clutter of his desk. He starts to read it out loud and doesn’t stop. At first his coworkers hardly notice. But after a series of strange coincidences, it’s no longer clear whether he’s reading the book, or the book is transforming him. Told over a single 6 1/2-hour production created by Elevator Repair Service.
Hold On To Me Darling by Kenneth Lonergan (Sept 24 — Dec 22, Louise Lortell)
On learning of his mother’s death, country music icon Strings McCrane finds himself in an existential tailspin. The only way out, he decides, is to abandon superstardom in favor of the simple life, so he moves back to his hometown in Tennessee.
Quite a few theaters have “Under 30”, “Under 35” or “Under 40”! programs OR student discounts. Check for them when you’re buying tickets — for example, Manhattan Theatre Club’s 30 Under 35, HIPTIX at Roundabout (if you’re under 40!), Lincoln Center Theater’s LincTix for Under 35s, Second Stage Theatre’s $30 Under 30, Irish Rep’s GreenSeats for Under 35s, Playwrights Horizons’ 30 & Under Membership, Vineyard Theater’s 40 Under 40 (where for $40 (once) you can get any ticket to any show for $20), and New York City Center’s “Access Club” just extended their age limit from 35 to 40(!) — according to this TikToker. Other ways to get cheaper tickets: sign up for the theater’s newsletter (they’ll often send out codes for discounts) or check TodayTix.
Please note that Gaviota is presented in Spanish without English supertitles.