notbroadway.theater
mostly plays, mostly new york city & only $50 (or under)
LAST UPDATED: 5/20/2025
Friends always ask me how I see so many 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 can be quite expensive. (Good news if you’re under 30, 35 or even 40: Quite a few theaters have great ticket discount programs. Click the following footnote for more info on that.)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: one 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! If you’re looking to see something on stage (and off-Broadway) TODAY, check out Stage Spotlight NYC.
SEEN ANYTHING GOOD LATELY? REPLY TO THIS EMAIL & TELL ME! PLEASE!
currently running (and about to run)
DAD DON’T READ THIS by Eliya Smith (May 4—24, St. Luke’s Theatre)*
In suburban Central Ohio, four girls meet weekly for a sleepover. They talk and sleep and play The Sims, a computer game that simulates real life, on a laptop.
VANESSA adapted by Jacob Ashworth, newly arranged by Dan Schlosberg (May 12—31, Baruch Performing Arts Center)
In Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Vanessa waits, along with her niece Erika and her mother the Baroness, in her shadowy estate for the arrival of her long-lost lover. When their visitor appears—though not as they expect—he launches the family into psychological turmoil, sends Erika spiraling, and unleashes a reckoning of desire, illusion, and longing.
Othello by William Shakespeare, adapted by Bedlam (Apr 19—May 31, West End Theater)
Othello, a general in the Venetian army, sees his happy marriage to the beautiful Desdemona destroyed when his seemingly trustworthy ensign, Iago, suggests to him that she may be unfaithful.
Indian Princesses by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez (Apr 30–June 7, Linda Gross Theater at The Atlantic)*
In the summer of 2008, five young girls of color and their white fathers attend a program designed to bond families through handmade activities, camp-like adventures, and a heavy dose of cultural appropriation. But where can these girls turn when the program sparks questions that their fathers are unable – or unwilling – to answer?
Thorton Wilder’s The Emporium, completed by Kirk Lynn (April 30–June 7, Classic Stage Company)
As a young man journeys through the city and beyond, he encounters a world of wonder, meaning, and the elusive truths of life itself. Wilder’s long-unseen masterpiece is finally ready to be discovered.
The Maids by Jean Genet, a new version by Kip Williams (May 17–June 14, St Ann’s Warehouse)*
With Madame away, two maids role play their darkest fantasies about their mistress until performance and reality begin to blur.
And Then The Rodeo Burned Down by Xhloe and Natasha (May 19—June 18, Ars Nova)
The rodeo is the best place in the world. Why would anybody burn it down? Dale, a rodeo clown with a big dream (and a mischievous shadow), certainly wouldn’t. After all, Dale wants to be a cowboy. So, if we’re going to find out who burned the rodeo down, we’ll have to finish the play.
||:GIRLS:||:CHANCE:||:MUSIC:|| by Eisa Davis (May 12—June 21, The Vineyard)
During an unforgettable summer at a girls’ music program in Berkeley, California, these four teenagers school each other in identity and intimacy, forging connections through passionate explorations of sound. As the world around them thrums with disaster, their relationships crack under the weight of the unexpected–and demand that they improvise new ways of being themselves.
Jerome by John J. Caswell, Jr. (May 15—June 21, Playwrights Horizons)
Jerome, a ghost town in the secluded Arizona backcountry, is home to Con and Doane, an aging gay couple who’ve built a quiet life far from the chaos of cities and other people—until a stranger arrives, fleeing his damaged past, and falls into their arms.
Can I Be Frank? by Morgan Bassichis (May 21—June 27, Soho Playhouse)**
In a desperate attempt to prove they can think about someone other than themself, Morgan Bassichis turns to the work of queer comedian, musician, and performance artist Frank Maya.
A Woman Among Women by Julia May Jonas (May 16—June 28, Claire Tow Theater)**
It’s a summer day in Northampton, Massachusetts and Cleo, founder of the local women’s wellness center, holds court in her backyard. As friends, family and neighbors pass through, the air hums with a tension that may destroy the community she’s worked so hard to build.
Camping by Victoria Lynne Barclay (June 13—July 11, HERE)
This is a love story. It’s hands that smell of Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue after days spent clutching fistfuls of her hair. It’s the rain hitting the earth in a way that reminds you of blood, that makes you think the world’s holding a knife to your underwear. It’s the spins. It’s running out of air because you gulped too much of it while you were sobbing. It’s waking up hot and sticky. It’s desperately falling in love with your best friend inside a camping tent while everything outside rages.
festivals & series
In The Bricks Festival by Various (May 5—Jun 14, New York Theatre Workshop)
THE PECULIAR PATRIOT by Liza Jesse Peterson
THE UNEXPECTED 3RD by Kathryn Grody
MENTION MY BEAUTY by Leslie Ayvazian
SARDINES (A COMEDY ABOUT DEATH) by Chris Grace*
THE HORSE OF JENIN by Alaa Shehada
Clubbed Thumb SummerWorks, by Various (May 14—June 30, the Wild Project)
TITANS by Jesse Jae Hoon*
DERANGEMENTS by Nadja Leonhard-Hooper*
THE FAMILY DOG by Bailey Williams*
theater over $50 & probably worth it (and sometimes there’s a discount if you’re under 40, so check the fine print!)
Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam (Feb 17—May 23, Astor Place Theater)
A live show you’ll never forget, as the people onstage make a desperate attempt to complete a series of escalating tasks, like cooking a three-course meal and filling out a grant application… all while running on treadmills.
The Receptionist by Adam Bock (May 14—24, 2nd Stage, The Pershing Square Signature Center)
It’s business as usual at the Northeast Office where the cheerfully dutiful receptionist answers phones, brews coffee and gossips with co-workers. But when an unexpected visitor from the Central Office walks through the door, business becomes far from usual.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (directed by Robert Hastie) (Apr 19 —May 17, BAM)
Kicking off an ongoing partnership between BAM and London’s National Theatre, director Robert Hastie brings his witty, fearlessly contemporary take on Hamlet across the Atlantic for a four-week run.
Rheology by Shayok Misha Chowdhury (April 14—May 29, The Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons)** [EXTENDED]
Bulbul is obsessed with the mystery of sand: how it flows like a liquid, but then jams into a solid. Misha is obsessed with his mother. But they’re running out of time. In this boundary-pushing collaboration, an artist son and his scientist mother challenge each other to a high-stakes experiment.
Animal Wisdom by Heather Christian (May 5—June 14, Signature Theatre)**
A journey into the haunted spaces of memory and loss, this transporting experience comes to Signature in a thrilling new production helmed by director Keenan Tyler Oliphant, diving deep into the relationship between the soul, the seen and the unseen.
The Saviors by Bubba Weiler (July 8—Aug 8, Linda Gross Theater)*
When a lost young man takes shelter in their church, two altar boys desperately cling to each other as their changing faiths, lives, and bodies threaten to tear them apart.
Shifters by Benedict Lombe (July6 —August 30, Cherry Lane)
Meet Dre and Des, they are young, gifted, Black. He stayed. She left. Years later they come crashing back into each other’s lives, carrying new secrets and old scars.
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.