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See cutting-edge puppetry, plays starring Louisa Jacobson and Tavi Gevinson, a new work by a Pulitzer finalist and more
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Adventurous audiences know that some of the biggest theatrical thrills are found on NYC's smallest stages. These shows are also great for theatregoers on a budget. In fact, TDF members can see dozens of Off-Off Broadway productions for as little as $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 fee of five bucks.
In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, rules vary by venue. While we are trying to keep this article up to date, be sure to double-check the protocols before purchasing tickets so you arrive prepared.
If you're a TDF member, log in to your account daily to see what we're selling as ticket inventory changes frequently.
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin March 2. Opens March 5. Closes March 19.
Masks are optional.
The Hearth, one of NYC's premiere theatre companies dedicated to telling stories by and about women, presents brainsmash, a new play by Sophie Weisskoff about a young woman who's hit by a car and sent into a tailspin. A tragicomic examination of traumatic brain injuries and acquired disabilities, the production stars Julia Greer and is directed by Emma Miller, the talented and ambitious Kenyon College graduates who cofounded the company.
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Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
Previews begin March 3. Opens March 9. Closes March 25. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Masks are required.
Cofounded by performer Erin Treadway and her husband, playwright-director Leegrid Stevens, the Brooklyn-based Loading Dock Theatre specializes in stories about humans in extreme situations. The company's last multimedia production, the award-winning Spaceman, chronicled the journey of an astronaut on the first solo mission to Mars. In Stevens' War Dreamer, Treadway plays an Iraq veteran struggling to keep her grasp on reality as she shifts between memories and delusion. An immersive sound design plunges viewers into her surreality in this psychological horror play, which is codirected by Stevens and Jacob Titus.
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HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue at Dominick Street in Soho
Begins March 8. Closes March 25.
Masks are optional.
A longtime destination for cutting-edge puppetry, HERE presents the second annual Puppetopia festival co-curated by puppet master Basil Twist. Sponsored by the Jim Henson Foundation, the three-week fest features five separate productions, including the shadow puppet symphony Tin Iso and the Dawn, the two-act experimental piece The Emotions and the tabletop puppet show Mother Mold. Note: These shows are not child's play and are aimed at grown-ups! Looking for cheap seats? For each production, 10 tickets are sold for just $10. Alternatively, if you pay full price you can buy three shows and get one for free.
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La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Previews begin March 10. Opens March 12. Closes March 19. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Masks are required.
Inspired by Hello, This is Radio 477!, a jazz musical at Ukraine's Berezil Theatre in 1929, this new show from Yara Arts Group explores a forgotten piece of Ukrainian history. A hit in its day, the musical and its creators disappeared during Stalin's purges. Decades later, Yara's director stumbled across the conductor's score hidden in an archive. With new songs by award-winning Ukrainian poet Serhiy Zhadan and composer Anthony Coleman alongside the rediscovered century-old numbers, Radio 477! celebrates long-ago artists and audiences and connects their struggle for freedom to Ukraine's present-day fight.
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Connelly Theatre, 220 East 4th Street between Avenues A and B
Previews begin March 11. Opens March 19. Closes April 1. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $21 tickets.
Masks are required.
Recently, women playwrights have been challenging Arthur Miller's The Crucible with their female-forward takes on the Salem Witch Trials. Sarah Ruhl's Becky Nurse of Salem just ran at Lincoln Center and Kimberly Belflower's John Proctor is the Villain got raves in Washington, DC. Now Talene Monahon (How to Load a Musket, Jane Anger) is reframing the story with The Good John Proctor, produced by Bedlam, a company known for deconstructing classics, including The Crucible. Don't let the title fool you, this is the tale as seen through the eyes of the girls at the center of the hysteria. Initially, they're typical tweenagers of their time, churning butter, playing with dolls and hanging out in the woods. But when Abigail goes to work for John Proctor, their lives are turned upside down as they grapple with superstitions, Satan and adolescence. In a sly bit of casting, the ensemble includes Tavi Gevinson, who starred in Ivo van Hove's polarizing reinvention of The Crucible on Broadway in 2016.
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Various locations
Begins March 15. Closes April 2.
Safety protocols vary by venue. Check the official website.
The 22-year-old EstroGenius Festival—NYC's longest-running fest showcasing the work of women, nonbinary, trans women and gender nonconforming artists—takes place over three weeks at four venues: The Kraine Theater, Under St. Marks and Arts On Site in the East Village, and the Decatur Street Community Garden in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The jam-packed lineup includes a slew of solo shows, eclectic dance performances, spoken word, performance art and music. You'll find anything and everything here... save for men! Given the recent setbacks for women and other marginalized genders, including the overturning of Roe v Wade and anti-trans legislation, many offerings explore our challenging reality.
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The Flea, 20 Thomas Street between Broadway and Church Street in Tribeca
Previews begin March 15. Opens March 17. Closes April 3.
Masks are required.
The Flea presents HANG TIME, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard (STEW, the indie feature Premature), who also directs. In this intimate meditation on the joy and vulnerability of living in male Black bodies, three men get into deep conversation under an old, wide tree. Cecil Blutcher, Akron Watson and Dion Graham from The Wire star.
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122CC, 150 First Avenue at 9th Street in the East Village
Previews begin March 15. Opens March 27. Closes April 22. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $13 tickets.
Masks are required.
After a celebrated but brief run at Clubbed Thumb Summerworks, Sarah Einspanier's Lunch Bunch was just about to begin previews for a longer engagement at PlayCo when the pandemic hit. Three years later, the encore staging of this acclaimed absurdist comedy is finally happening. Legendary downtown thespian David Greenspan and Louisa Jacobson from The Gilded Age (who also happens to be one of Meryl Streep's daughters) lead the cast of this production about seven public defenders who counteract the stress of their jobs with their ongoing quest for the perfect lunch. Inspired by an Instagram account run by real-life Bronx attorneys, the play is an amusing and poignant exploration of the search for meaning and midday meals.
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin March 17. Opens March 18. Closes April 8. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Proof of vaccination and masks are required.
A wealthy man comes between two queer BFFs in Kev Berry's new dark comedy Rough Trade, an examination of the insular and at times toxic nature of NYC's gay scene. Will these longtime pals and aspiring artists be able to remain friends, or will the sugar daddy tear apart this chosen family?
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La MaMa's The Downstairs, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins March 23. Closes April 2. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Masks are required.
Companhia Nova de Teatro presents this multimedia solo show about the women who were arrested and tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. Carina Casuscelli shares real-life testimony from some of the victims, with archival video and projections enhancing this harrowing history play.
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La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins March 24. Closes April 2.
Masks are required.
Most people recognize O-Lan Jones as a striking character actress from film and TV. But she's been involved in experimental theatre as a composer, sound designer, writer and performer for more than half a century. Her latest category-defying work is Iceland, an opera-theatre piece inspired by Icelandic folklore, specifically Huldufólk, aka hidden people. In this modern-day love story, a disillusioned architect and a dispirited wilderness guide embark on separate journeys across a glacier and connect in the creatures' magical realm. Cowritten by Emmett Tinley, the production features a cast of 14 and an 11-piece chamber orchestra.
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La MaMa's The Club, 74A East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins March 23. Closes March 26. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Masks are required.
An Afrofuturist, post-apocalyptic spin on Pinocchio about a robot that longs to be a real B-boy, Tarish "Jeghetto" Pipkins' clever reinvention of an old fairy tale combines music, video and amazing handcrafted marionettes. Aimed at families with children ages 10 and up, the show features Pipkins' teenage sons as puppeteers and explores timely issues of racism and police brutality in easy-to-understand ways. Bonus: It's being performed in The Club, one of La MaMa's recently renovated spaces.
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Various locations in Brooklyn
Begins March 24. Closes April 2.
Safety protocols vary by venue.
An immersive horror play running at two Brooklyn theatres, Ivories centers on a couple caring for an ailing grandmother in an old home in suburban New England. As memories of childhood trauma resurface, the pair starts to wonder if something sinister is afoot. The content warning list is long so expect to be terrified and triggered by this intimate, in-the-round production.
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Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin March 29. Opens April 2. Closes April 23.
Masks are optional.
Writer-performer Colin Campbell recently penned an unforgettable essay for The Atlantic about the uneasy conversations he had with friends and family after his two teenage children were killed by a drunk driver. Yes, his loss was unfathomable, but he longed to discuss it. That need to talk about and even find dark humor in tragedy is the theme of his new solo show Grief. Nothing related to mourning is taboo in this raw, real and redemptive monologue about connection and compassion.
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Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin March 30. Opens April 6. Closes April 30.
Masks are required.
Mary Elizabeth Hamilton's new play is a high-tech cautionary tale about a young woman who buys a smart device to look after her aging, ailing, acrimonious mom. Initially, this Alexa-style tool seems like the answers to their problems. But who's behind the AI and how much access should they have to their clients' lives?
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Top image: Tin Iso and the Dawn, which is part of HERE's Puppetopia festival. Photo by Jody Christopherson.
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