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Anthony Michael Stokes' The Scarecrow, one of many innovative shows in La MaMa's Puppet Festival. Photo courtesy of the production.
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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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Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Avenue near 5th Street in Long Island City, Queens
Previews begin October 3. Opens October 10. Closes October 27.
Riley Elton McCarthy's intriguing new play centers on a gender-fluid geologist addicted to eating weird things whose road trip and life are derailed by the one-year anniversary of their mother's death. Queer performer Kai Justice Rosales stars.
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Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin October 4. Opens October 10. Closes November 3. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $21 tickets.
Urban Stages presents People of the Book, a searing psychological thriller by Egyptian-American playwright Yussef El Guindi about Jason, an American soldier whose stint in the Iraq war leads to a best-selling memoir and a new Iraqi wife. But his childhood frenemy Amir thinks Jason's white savior narrative may be obscuring darker truths. John Langs, who helmed the play's 2019 world premiere at Seattle's ACT Contemporary Theatre, once again directs.
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Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin October 9. Opens October 17. Closes November 3.
When your parent is a Founding Father you can't help but have daddy issues! Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh (The Far Country, The Chinese Lady) penned Franklinland, a comedy about the deliriously dysfunctional relationship between Benjamin Franklin and his son, William. As his father invents things, including a new country, William tries to forge his own revolutionary path, even if that means staying loyal to the British. The invaluable character actor Thomas Jay Ryan (An Enemy of the People, Dance Nation) plays bigger-than-life Ben.
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Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets in the East Village
Begins October 10. Closes October 27. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $11 tickets.
Media is driving Alfie so mad, all he can think about is environmental apocalypse. As he takes an imaginary journey to the end of times, he's accompanied by a snarky guide and lots of puppets! A bonkers, genre-defying dark comedy from Toby Armour.
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La MaMa's The Downstairs, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins October 10. Closes October 20. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
The creation of Israel disrupts the close friendship between a Palestinian boy and his rabbi neighbor in this world premiere by Hanna Eady and Edward Mast, which explores the personal impact of political decisions. Originally set to run in February but postponed until this month, this drama about the importance of connection and the tragedy of hatred is, sadly, as relevant as ever.
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The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Avenue near Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Begins October 11. Closes October 27. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $12 tickets.
Ukrainian writer Yevgenia Belorusets penned a series of evocative vignettes that capture the surreality of life in her homeland since the Russian invasion. An expressionistic score accompanies each poetic and powerful tale. Can't make it in person? The Sunday, October 20 performance will be live-streamed.
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Triad Theater, 158 West 72nd Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues on the Upper West Side
Begins October 13. Closes November 2. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Brisbane, Australia-based company Theatreroo makes its New York debut with Honeyland, about a group of recent college grads trying to navigate the tumultuous and transformative 1960s. While there have been a few musical revues that use hits of the era to stoke nostalgia (Trip of Love, A Sign of the Times), this show boasts an original score in the style of the times. Groovy.
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The Bushwick Starr, 419 Eldert Street between Covert and Halsey Streets in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Previews begin October 15. Opens October 19. Closes November 3.
Over the past few years, many women and nonbinary playwrights have reimagined classics by Arthur Miller through a feminist lens, usually The Crucible or Death of a Salesman. Now Julia May Jonas riffs on Miller's All My Sons as part of her cycle of response plays to America's male-dominated theatre canon. Here the tragic hero is a woman fighting against deadly family lies. Coproduced with New Georges, this is the inaugural production in The Bushwick Starr's new Brooklyn home.
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The Flea, 20 Thomas Street between Broadway and Church Street in Tribeca
Previews begin October 16. Opens October 19. Closes November 2.
Clay McLeod Chapman's gleefully dark comedy is about a taxidermy competition where four alcohol-soaked contestants try to one-up each other the night before their big day. But could there be deadly consequences? Pete Boisvert directs this world premiere.
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Under St. Marks Theater, 94 St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village
Begins October 17. Closes November 2. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account and search for Days of the Dead Festival to purchase $12 tickets to select performances.
Celebrate Halloween and Día de los Muertos at Frigid New York's augural Days of the Dead festival. Ghost stories, murderous musicals and Edgar Allan Poe adaptations are just some of the fearsome fun in store. Can't make it in person? Most shows are also available to live-stream.
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Begins October 17. Closes November 10.
This kooky new musical comedy by Ethan Crystal and Garrett Poladian centers on Golem, Lord of the Smoothies, whose independent beverage shop is threatened by evil CEO Smeegle. Golem and his wacky staff have a week to try to save his shop. A corporate satire with a decidedly nerdy edge.
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin October 18. Opens October 24. Closes November 10.
Jenny Lyn Bader's new play zooms in on the early life of German-American historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt. It's 1933, long before her controversial "banality of evil" quote. With martial law in effect, her activism is considered a crime. Arendt, a young, promising graduate student, is arrested and interrogated by a Nazi officer. Does she love her homeland or is she a threat? This history-inspired work is directed by Ari Laura Kreith.
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Chain Theatre, 312 West 36th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin October 23. Opens October 25. Closes November 23. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $18 tickets.
Robyne Parrish wrote and directs Tin Church, a Southern Gothic fantasia about three sisters and their mother grappling with inherited trauma in unhealthy ways. The line between reality and fantasy blurs in this meditation on secrets, lies and the ties that bind.
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A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 West 53rd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Begins October 24. Closes November 3. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Brazilian psychoanalyst turned writer Betty Milan is behind this heady drama that's clearly autobiographical. Milan, like the main character, is a Brazilian woman of Lebanese descent who underwent intense analysis with controversial psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. In this exploration of the unconscious, Lacan and his patient confront their darkest emotions and each other.
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La MaMa's multiple venues on East 4th Street in the East Village
Begins October 24. Closes November 17.
La MaMa's biannual Puppet Festival turns 20 this year with a lineup of eye-popping and cutting-edge puppet productions. Highlights include Anthony Michael Stokes' The Scarecrow (October 31-November 3), seemingly a Wizard of Oz riff about a scarecrow who becomes a hero; Petit Mondrian (October 26-27), a dance-theatre piece for kids about a young boy discovering the magic of art; Secrets History Remembers (October 31-November 3) featuring a seven-foot-tall doll; and a Puppet Slam (November 12-14) curated by legendary puppeteer Jane Catherine Shaw.
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Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street between Lafayette Street and Bowery in Noho
Begins October 30. Closes November 17. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.
Adam Szymkowicz's world-premiere play delves into death and desire as an erotica writer returns to her hometown to deal with the aftermath of her famous novelist father's suicide. Considering Szymkowicz's work, which includes the dark comedy Clown Bar and the feminist musical Marian or the True Tale of Robin Hood, the Musical, we're sure this won't be the usual tale of trauma.
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