TDF Stages

Enjoy immersive productions, politically charged plays and other innovative fare

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We've already told you about what's opening on Broadway and Off Broadway this month. But November is also a busy time for Off-Off Broadway. Adventurous audiences know that some of the biggest theatrical thrills are found on NYC's smallest stages. Bonus: These shows are great for theatregoers on a budget. In fact, TDF members can see dozens of Off-Off Broadway productions for just $11! Not a TDF member? Consider joining our Go Off-Off and Beyond program, which gives you access to discount tickets to indie theatre, music and dance performances for a one-time $5 fee.

In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, all of these productions require audiences to provide proof of being fully vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine. Masks are also mandatory.

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FRIGID New York: Gotham Storytelling Festival - November 1

The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Through November 13. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account and search for Gotham to purchase $11 tickets to most performances.

FRIGID New York is known for its eclectic theatre festivals, including annual favorites Queerly, The Fire This Time Festival and the Gotham Storytelling Festival, which runs through November 13 at the Kraine Theater. Enjoy compelling tales performed by vibrant raconteurs, including Jamie Brickhouse's Stories in Heels: Tall Tales of the Glamorous Women Who Changed My Life on Sunday, November 7 and Saturday, November 12; a one-woman adaptation of the George Orwell classic Animal Farm on Wednesday, November 10; and the latest solo show from acclaimed performance artist Michele Carlo on Sunday, November 13. Unable to attend in person? The performances will also be live-streamed to at-home audiences and tickets are pay-what-you-wish. How's that for affordable theatre?

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The Irondale Ensemble: alice...Alice...ALICE! - November 1

The Space at Irondale, 85 South Oxford Street between Lafayette and Greene Avenues in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Through December 5.

Lewis Carroll's trippy Alice in Wonderland characters have inspired many a show. With the heroine navigating an unfamiliar world filled with enchantments and unexpected dangers, it feels like a fun-house mirror reflection of our pandemic surreality. So it's fitting that Brooklyn's venerable Irondale Ensemble has reopened with an immersive, adults-only riff on this literary classic, with Alice guiding theatregoers through the troupe's cavernous, 19th-century space, where surprises lie around every corner. First presented by the company in 2010, alice...Alice...ALICE! is performed by a cast of five for an intimate audience of 30.

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Metropolitan Playhouse: Radium Girls - November 1

Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 East 4th Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village

Through November 21. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $11 tickets.

Founded in 1993, Metropolitan Playhouse is an Obie Award-winning theatre company dedicated to expanding the American theatre canon. While the troupe typically revitalizes forgotten gems, it's reopening with a new history play by D.W. Gregory called Radium Girls. Set in the 1920s when radium was all the rage and used to create luminous watch dials, the drama centers on a woman who falls ill while working with the radioactive metallic chemical element. But no one wants her to blow the whistle on the dangerous craze.

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Odd Man Out - November 3

The Flea Theater, 20 Thomas Street between Broadway and Church Street in Tribeca

Previews begin November 3. Opens November 9. Closes December 4.

An immersive audio play that takes place in total darkness, Odd Man Out puts theatregoers in the shoes of Alberto, a blind musician traveling back to his homeland of Argentina after decades of self-exile in New York City. Upon entry, audiences don blindfolds and headphones to experience Alberto's story of love, prejudice and fear via surround sound and sensory special effects, including enhanced odors and tactile objects. If you saw Blindness Off Broadway earlier this year, it's similar, but kicked up a notch. When's the last time you smelled theatre?

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The Pool Plays - November 4

The New Ohio Theatre, 154 Christopher Street between Washington and Greenwich Streets in the West Village

Begins November 4. Closes November 20.

The playwright-led pop-up theatre company The Pool presents a trio of new works running in rep at The New Ohio Theatre. Emily Zemba's Superstitions is a dark comedy about a penny that brings bad luck. Jenna Worsham directs a veteran ensemble cast, including six-time Obie Award-winner David Greenspan. In Kate Cortesi's Is Edward Snowden Single?, a tour-de-force comedy about the challenges of sisterhood, Rebecca S'Manga Frank and Elise Kibler take on 19 roles. Brenda Withers' The Ding Dongs or What is the Penalty in Portugal? centers on a surreal home invasion. Since the dramatists are producing their own work and sharing resources, audiences get to see their uncompromised visions.

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The Anthropologists: No Pants in Tucson - November 6

A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 West 53rd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West

Begins November 6. Closes November 14. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $11 tickets.

The women-led theatre company The Anthropologists returns to in-person performances with No Pants in Tucson, a provocative and timely comedy that excavates the many sexist and heteronormative 19th- and 20th- century laws that were meant to keep ladies and gender-nonconforming folks in their place. The troupe's founding artistic director, Melissa Moschitto, wrote and directed this misogynistic history tour.

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The Bushwick Starr: Preparedness - November 10

HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue at Dominick Street in Soho

Begins November 10. Closes December 11.

While Brooklyn's Bushwick Starr readies its new $2.2 home, the innovative company sets up shop at Soho's HERE Arts Center for Preparedness, a comedic thriller by Hillary Miller about embattled arts educators forced to undergo a hazardous self-defense training. Immersive horror pioneer Kristjan Thor directs a cast that includes Tony nominee Lou Liberatore.

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La MaMa: The Indigo Room - November 11

La MaMa, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Begins November 11. Closes November 21. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $11 tickets.

Seattle-based Indigenous performance artist Timothy White Eagle created The Indigo Room, a work of ritual theatre inspired by ancient myths about heroes swallowed by fearsome creatures. The performance begins with audiences passing through a Carnivale-style room with games and challenges, then joining Eagle and his costars on their enlightening journey. The run includes two talkbacks with Eagle's frequent collaborator Taylor Mac.

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Nylon Fusion: Candlelight - November 27

The New Ohio Theatre, 154 Christopher Street between Washington and Greenwich Streets in the West Village

Begins November 27. Closes December 19.

Writer John Patrick Shanley won a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for Doubt, and an Oscar for Moonstruck. Yet his new play is premiering Off-Off Broadway with Nylon Fusion. A Bronx boy whose work typically celebrates colorful NYC communities rarely represented on stage, Shanley has been collaborating with Nylon Fusion for several years because he loves that it's "a genuine, scruffy, big-hearted New York theatre company." Unsurprisingly, Candlelight is also set in the Big Apple, a Nuyorican neighborhood in Brooklyn to be exact, as a pair of 10-year-olds fall into something deeper and more dangerous than love.

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Gallery Players: Ain't Misbehavin' - December 2

Gallery Players, 199 14th Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Begins December 2. Closes December 19.

We're cheating with this one since it actually runs in December. But that means you can plan ahead to see Park Slope's Gallery Players' production of Ain't Misbehavin', an exuberant revue of songs by legendary jazz pianist and composer Fats Waller. Although the show won the Tony Award for best musical in 1978, it's rarely revived in NYC. We're sure the joint'll be jumpin'.

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Andrew Block is an Ovation Award-winning director who hails from New Orleans and now works primarily with the vibrant NYC independent theatre community. He also serves as TDF's Manager of Off & Off-Off Broadway Services.

TDF MEMBERS: Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.

Top image: The Anthropologists' No Pants in Tucson. Photo by Tiffany McCullough.