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Rachel Pallante in Miss. Adventure, one of many shows that are part of New York City Fringe this month. Photo by KA Photography.
Catch the New York City Fringe, an immersive seder, ambitious puppet shows 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.
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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Various locations
Begins April 3. Closes April 21. Several New York City Fringe offerings are available to TDF members. Log in and search for New York City Fringe.
After a five-year hiatus, NYC has an official Fringe festival again! FRIGID New York presents the New York City Fringe featuring 47 eclectic shows over three weeks at five venues, including Under St. Marks, the Wild Project and 14Y Theater. Highlights include Clown Bar 2 (April 14-21 at The Parkside Lounge), a sequel to the hit noir-thriller-comedy, which I loved. Miami Madness (April 4-20 at the Wild Project), writer-performer David Rodwin's hilarious tale of staging a musical about the history of Miami on a boat owned by a Russian oligarch. Kim Barker's searing Blocks of Sensation (April 5-20 at 14Y Theater), about a scientist and mother battling America's opioid crisis in her lab and at home. The darkly comic Brokeneck Girls: The Murder Ballad Musical (April 6-19 at the Wild Project), exploring violence against women in folk music. Clown, drag and magic collide in Edu Díaz's A Drag Is Born (April 6-20 at 14Y Theater), a movement-based celebration of queer empowerment. And the multimedia lecture Stroke of Genius: Pantomime Masturbation Throughout Performing Arts History (April 7-17 at the Wild Project), which is self-explanatory. If you can't attend in person, many shows are also live-streaming to at-home audiences. Be sure to browse the jam-packed schedule to see what piques your interest.
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Chain Theatre, 312 West 36th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Begins April 3. Closes April 21.
Garret Jon Groenveld's dark comedy is set in a not-too-distant dystopian future when jobs have become so scarce, a special unemployment office assigns people to do hazardous and unethical work—usually against their will. Kim T. Sharp directs the New York premiere of this unsettling, award-winning play.
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Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin April 3. Opens April 11. Closes May 5.
Nelson Diaz-Marcano's fascinating new play dramatizes the Puerto Rico Pill Trials of the 1950s, when white doctors tested the birth control pill on low-income island residents desperate for reproductive freedom. Exploring issues of colonialism, consent, sexism and exploitation, Las Borinqueñas centers on five women who risked everything for bodily autonomy. Rebecca Aparicio directs the production, which is presented by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in collaboration with the Latinx Playwrights Circle & Boundless Theatre Company.
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Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street near Seventh Avenue South in the West Village
Previews begin April 3. Opens April 15. Closes May 26. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
A world-premiere play written and directed by S. Asher Gelman (Afterglow), Scarlett Dreams explores how AI impacts our interpersonal relationships as a virtual fitness trainer becomes involved in the lives of the humans who created her. Broadway vet Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies) and Brittany Bellizeare star.
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Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets in the East Village
Previews begin April 4. Opens April 5. Closes April 21. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $11 tickets.
Briana Bartenieff—the granddaughter of the late Obie-winning character actor George Bartenieff who also cofounded Theater for the New City—wrote the lyrics and book and directs this new musical about the dangers of diet culture. Back in the 1990s, decades before Instagram gave teenage girls body dysmorphia, glossy magazines were peddling unrealistic expectations to adolescents. When her image-obsessed daughter literally starves herself to death, a grieving mom decides to teach the teen magazine industry a lesson.
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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 April 4. Closes April 21. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Puppet master Theodora Skipitares returns to La MaMa with her latest spectacle inspired by ancient philosopher Pythagoras' belief that each of us experiences four lives: as a mineral, a vegetable, an animal and a human. The audience moves through this immersive multimedia piece's four distinct environments, all featuring live music and impressive puppets.
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Begins April 5. Closes April 28. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Interdisciplinary artist Admiral Grey—a performer, puppet and costume maker, and video creator—is behind The Human Dream Project, which depicts people's dreams (and nightmares, presumably) on stage. Dreams are recorded via a hotline (1-845-215-7073, in case you want to contribute), then brought to life through Grey's handmade creations, Chad Raines' live sound effects and music, and a cast of puppeteer-performers. You've never seen anything like it in the waking world!
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La MaMa's The Downstairs, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins April 6. Closes April 21. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
M.M. Haney may be a first-time playwright, but we have high hopes for this drama The Poisoner considering visionary, Obie-winning director Lee Sunday Evans (Dance Nation, Oratorio for Living Things) is involved. A political work of fiction inspired by the Flint water crisis of 2014, the play centers on a journalist who uncovers the abuses of power and government ineptitude that lead to disasters that cause illness and death. After select performances, there are informative talkbacks, in case you want to dig deeper.
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The Connelly Theater, 220 East Fourth Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
Previews begin April 8. Opens April 20. Closes May 10.
Page 73, an inventive company that champions emerging writers and coproduced the world premiere of A Strange Loop, presents Stargazers, a new play by Majkin Holmquist about a grieving mother who's being urged to sell her Kansas farm by the ghost of her daughter. From that poignant premise comes a story about loss and the power of land, as her ex, her neighbors and an East Coast developer all try to stake their claim.
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Chain Theatre, 312 West 36th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin April 11. Opens April 12. Closes April 28. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Theatre 4the People presents the world premiere of Sperm Donor Wanted by T.J. Young, about two lesbians who connect with a gay couple online when looking to start a family. As the four become involved in baby-making, the experience kicks up unexpected fears about parenthood, romance and long-buried secrets.
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Begins April 17. Closes April 24.
Two stage adaptations of Virginia Woolf's Orlando in one month? That's what happens when a book is in the public domain! Taylor Mac is starring in Sarah Ruhl's take on the groundbreaking novel over at Signature Theatre. But father and daughter Steven and Vinora Epp are behind ORLANDO: A Rhapsody, which uses Woolf's gender-bending feminist classic as a jumping-off point and then weaves in Shakespeare, philosophy, music, movement and autobiography.
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28th Street Theater, 15 West 28th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway in NoMad
Begins April 20. Closes May 11. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Since 1984, TADA! Youth Theater has been presenting original family musicals starring talented local tykes ages 8 to 18—alums include Jordan Peele, Ricki Lake and Kerry Washington. But for the first time in its history, the venerable troupe is premiering a more grown-up work aimed at adolescents and adults that explores America as a land of immigrants in crisis. Called Common Ground, it centers on Ysabella Martinez, a spirited 15 year old who moves to NYC with big plans. However, when ICE detains her family, she and her US-born friends discover that the America Dream isn't all it's cracked up to be. An excellent choice for politically aware tweens and teens.
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The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
Begins April 22. Closes May 5.
Since 1991, this annual LGBTQ festival has showcased cutting-edge queer artists with two weeks of live performances. This year's lineup includes searing solos, variety shows, comedies and even an opera.
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La MaMa's The Downstairs, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Previews begin April 25. Opens April 29. Closes May 12. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
A harrowing look at life behind bars, Lines presents vivid portraits of five different prisoners in Uganda, Palestine and the UK over five different decades. While their experiences are not interchangeable, there are connections and parallels as they grapple with loss of freedom and impossible choices. Created by Remote Theater Project with the UK-based Roots Mbili Theatre in association with Sheffield Theatres, this play has been touring the UK and the US to great acclaim.
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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 April 26. Closes May 12.
The always intriguing Untitled Theater Company No. 61 presents an immersive opera-play-Passover seder based on Exagōgē, the oldest known Jewish play written by Ezekiel the Tragedien in the second century BCE. Break matzah with the performers at this traditional 15-part seder, where an opera composer has brought home his nonpracticing Muslim girlfriend for the first time. Meanwhile, opera performers sing an adaptation of the ancient Greek interpretation of the Book of Exodus. It will certainly be an unforgettable holiday!
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her on Facebook at @Raven.Snook. Follow TDF on Facebook at @TDFNYC.
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