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Catch Tonya Pinkins in 'A Raisin in the Sun,' David Strathairn as a Holocaust witness, Alan Cumming dancing and more
Think Broadway's busy in September? Wait until you read about all the promising productions opening beyond Broadway this month. We've rounded up a baker's dozen of intriguing offerings, including Tonya Pinkins in a revival of A Raisin in the Sun directed by Robert O'Hara, a dance-theatre collaboration by Alan Cumming and choreographer Steven Hoggett and David Strathairn in a searing solo show. For a comprehensive overview of theatre in New York City, browse the listings in TDF's Show Finder. And remember, some of our picks for August are still running!
As for COVID-19 protocols, although Broadway theatres no longer mandate masks or proof of vaccination, many of the shows listed below continue to require both. While we are doing our best to keep this article up to date, before buying tickets to any event, double-check the COVID-19 rules so you are prepared.
If you're a TDF member, be sure to log in to your account to see what we're selling as ticket inventory changes frequently.
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Oberon Theatre Ensemble: The Memory Exam - September 3
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin September 3. Opens September 10. Closes September 25.
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Talk about an unforgettable premise. Set in a not-too-distant future when memory loss can lead to termination, Steven Fechter's play finds three desperate seniors hiring a consultant so they can prep to pass the mandatory Memory Exam. A quartet of mature actors, Alfred Gingold, Gus Kaikkonen, Bekka Lindström and Vernice Miller, star in the world premiere of this unsettling show presented by the Oberon Theatre Ensemble.
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New Ohio Theatre: My Onliness - September 6
New Ohio Theatre, 154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets in the West Village
Previews begin September 6. Opens September 7. Closes September 24. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Attention fans of Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz! Okay, I realize that many folks reading have probably never heard of this avant-garde Polish playwright, painter, philosopher and photographer, who was active in the early 20th century. But Robert Lyons' reimagining of the work of Witkacy (as he was commonly known) may turn you into a devotee. Presented in American Sign Language and English simultaneously, My Onliness is a fable/cabaret/circus spectacle about a mad king's off-the-wall attempts to dazzle a mysterious petitioner. Coproduced by One-Eighth Theater, New Ohio Theatre and IRT Theater, it's ribald, absurd and musical, with Daniel Irizarry directing as well as embodying the maniacal monarch. Still don't quite know what it's about? That's the point. This is the kind of eccentric event that's meant to be experienced, not explained. At only 80 minutes and $12 for TDF members, it's worth the adventure.
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Yonder Window Theatre Company: Jasper - September 8
The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin September 8. Opens May 2. Closes October 6. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Only masks required.
How do you keep living and loving when your 8-year-old child has a devastating chronic illness? That's the question at the heart of Jasper, a new play by Grant MacDermott starring a trio of powerhouse performers best known for their TV work: Dominic Fumusa (Nurse Jackie), Abigail Hawk (Blue Bloods) and Jessica Pimentel (Orange Is the New Black). A heartfelt and heartbreaking play that brings up a lot of emotions as well as thought-provoking questions.
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Atlantic Theater Company: I'm Revolting - September 8
Atlantic Theater Company, Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Chelsea
Previews begin September 8. Opens September 28. Closes October 16. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Only masks required.
Relentless Award-winning playwright Gracie Gardner (Athena, Pussy Sludge) makes her Off-Broadway debut with I'm Revolting, a dark comedy about a group of people in a skin cancer clinic's waiting room, wondering what they'll have to give up to keep going. Knud Adams directs an ensemble cast that includes Skin of Our Teeth scene-stealer Gabby Beans, Oklahoma!'s Patrick Vaill and Off-Broadway stalwarts Portia and Laura Esterman.
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Theatre for a New Audience: Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski - September 10
Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Previews begin September 10. Opens September 15. Closes October 9. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Oscar nominee and stage vet David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck, The Heiress on Broadway) stars in the powerful one-man play Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski about the Polish World War II hero and Holocaust witness, who risked his life to deliver intel about the Warsaw ghetto to the Allied Nations. It's a role Strathairn knows well: He's been playing Karski since 2015 when he headlined the ensemble play My Report to the World, which the writers Clark Young and Derek Goldman transformed into this solo show in 2019. Since then, Strathairn has performed the piece on stage at Georgetown University (where Karski studied and taught for decades), in London, Washington, DC, Chicago and even on screen during the shutdown. Now Karski's indelible story comes to New York at Theatre for a New Audience.
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New York Theatre Workshop: american (tele)visions - September 10
New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Previews begin September 10. Opens September 29. Closes October 16.
Only masks required.
Victor I. Cazares' new high-tech memory play chronicles the journey of one undocumented Mexican family. Characters navigate an epic multiverse where time is fluid and people are refracted through literal televisions, imagined video games and endless Walmart aisles. Theater Mitu coproduces this surreal meditation on the American Dream turned nightmare, which is directed by Rubén Polendo and stars an ensemble cast.
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Cherry Lane Theatre: This Beautiful Future - September 10
Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street between Bedford and Hudson Streets in the West Village
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Previews begin September 10. Opens September 20. Closes October 30. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
After a critically acclaimed run at Theaterlab earlier this year, Rita Kalnejais' delicate and devastating romance This Beautiful Future transfers to the Cherry Lane Theatre. When two teenagers fall in love, it's rarely simple; against the backdrop of Occupied France during World War II, it's potentially deadly. But this French girl (Francesca Carpanini) and her younger Nazi soldier beau (Uly Schlesinger) only have eyes for each other, not what's going on in the world around them. The hardest working man in NYC theatre, Austin Pendleton, and Angelina Fiordellisi round out the cast.
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WP Theater: Weightless - September 17
WP Theater at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway at 76th Street on the Upper West Side
Previews begin September 17. Opens September 29. Closes October 16. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Weightless is an indie rock musical about love based on a Greek myth, but it's more Titus Andronicus than Hadestown. Written by and starring married duo The Kilbanes, the show is inspired by the ancient legend of devoted siblings Philomela and Procne from Ovid's Metamorphoses, who take the saying sisters before misters very seriously. Director Tamilla Woodard and The Kilbanes have been developing the piece for the past few years, with WP Theater giving the tuner a streaming premiere in 2021. Now this bold and bloody tale is on stage in the flesh at the company's Upper West Side home.
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The Joyce Theater: Burn by Alan Cumming and Steven Hoggett - September 20
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Begins September 20. Closes September 25.
Tony-winning performer and writer Alan Cumming and visionary choreographer Steven Hoggett celebrate the literary icon Robert Burns, colloquially known as the national poet of Scotland. Coproduced by the National Theatre of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Festival and The Joyce, this dance-theatre piece brings the 18th-century bard's words to life on stage, set to music by Anna Meredith. This one-week run is mostly sold out, so act quickly if you want to go!
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The Public Theater: Baldwin & Buckley at Cambridge - September 24
The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in the East Village
Previews begin September 24. Opens October 2. Closes October 16.
Masks required at Tuesday evening, and Saturday and Sunday matinee performances. Read more about The Public Theater's safety protocols.
Elevator Repair Service teams up with The Public Theater for a recreation of the legendary 1965 Cambridge debate between author and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin and conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr. about whether the American Dream "has been achieved at the expense of the American Negro." Greig Sargeant is Baldwin and Ben Jalosa Williams is Buckley, though they aren't doing impersonations. This isn't about history; instead, the performance is a stark reminder of how far we haven't come. The evening ends with an imagined scene between Baldwin and his real-life close friend, the late playwright Lorraine Hansberry.
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The Public Theater: A Raisin in the Sun - September 27
The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in the East Village
Previews begin September 27. Opens October 19. Closes November 6.
Masks required at Tuesday evening, and Saturday and Sunday matinee performances. Read more about The Public Theater's safety protocols.
In 2019, director Robert O'Hara, who's known for reinventing classic plays, helmed a breathtaking production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Now he's bringing his take on this landmark work to The Public Theater with Tony winner Tonya Pinkins as family matriarch Lena Younger, who wants to use her late husband's life insurance to move on up, though her son Walter Lee (Francois Battiste reprising his Williamstown performance) has others ideas. Although it was written more than a half century ago, the drama remains depressingly relevant.
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Primary Stages: peerless - September 24
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin September 24. Opens October 11. Closes November 6.
Masks and proof of full vaccination required.
Previously seen at Yale Rep, Jiehae Park's Macbeth-inspired dark comedy about competitive college admissions arrives Off Broadway courtesy of Primary Stages. When twin Asian-American siblings get shutout of the school they've been striving their whole lives to attend, there's only one way to respond: murder. Margot Bordelon directs this audacious play about how far some will go to get ahead
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Everything's Fine - September 28
DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place near Union Square Park
Previews September 28. Opens October 13. Closes January 22, 2023.
Only masks required.
Douglas McGrath is best known as a writer —his credits include his Tony-nominated book for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical as well as the films Nicholas Nickleby, Emma and Infamous, which he also directed. But in his theatrical memoir Everything's Fine, he steps into the spotlight to recount his upbringing in Midland, Texas, the courtship of his parents and the eighth-grade teacher who changed the trajectory of his life. Two-time Tony-winning actor John Lithgow directs.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.
TDF MEMBERS: Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.
Top image: David Staithairn stars in Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski at Theatre for a New Audience this month. Photo by Rich Hein.
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