Thinking Theater NYC

(l to r) David Dowlett, David Michael Kirby, N. Marie Teagno. Photo by Joe Pacifico. Heather Violanti’s Short Noir Play Dark Orchid will make its world premiere as part of Block 8 at the Gene Frankel Theatre Festival, taking place from August 2-15, 2026 In 1944 Hollywood, dead dreams are a dime a dozen. After a famous novelist tries to steal one of her ideas, failed screenwriter Myrtle finally finds the courage to make her dreams come true…on her own terms. The show is directed by Jennifer Sandella and features N. Marie Teagno, David Michael Kirby, David Dowlett, and Mona Bruno. Dark Orchid plays at the Gene Frankel Theatre Festival Block 8 in Manhattan (24 Bond St., New York, NY 10012) on August 2 at 5 pm, August 8 at 7:30 pm, and August 15 at 2:30 pm. Says Violanti, “This play was inspired by the sass and style of film noir, the stream-of-consciousness writing of William Faulkner, and the long-standing discrimination experienced by women within the entertainment industry. It’s a ce...

 Twenty Somethings Productions and Riot Act will present Dirty Bird , written & directed by Whit Flint, adapted from Anthon Chekhov, at ErF Gallery from September 4-20, 2026. Tickets are available for purchase here . “Do what you love, or die trying.” Summer. A family gathers. And for no good reason, destroys one another. A forensic examination of the transcendence and violence of desire, the insatiable need to discover new forms of human expression and the brutal aches that shape us… a traverse to endure amongst the moments of neon lightening and jagged wounds. Dirty Bird is a radical new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull by writer / director Whit Flint, with a score built around artists like Bowie, the Pixies, and the Zombies. Flint is the Artistic Director of Riot Act founded in East London in 2015. With over thirty productions directed and four decades as a professional actor, based in Los Angeles, Flint received his MFA from East 15 in the UK and studied at the...

After a two-week sold-out run in January for the Exponential Festival, Real Estate returns to the Brick Theater (Williamsburg) next month, August 6 through 15 at 8 pm.  Written by Isa Spector and featuring Ari Dalbert and Sheldon Donenberg, the play follows two men through a highly physical and lowly written journey of love. David and Robert are constantly moving; moving houses, moving bodies and moving against their desires. Their push and pull dynamic spins out through dance, turning their awkward dialogue into a romantic ballet, a club dance and a cartoon chase. As the duo continues to find themselves in the wrong place, they draw closer to a fantasy beyond language, gesture and time. Playwright Isa Spector is an artist and performer based in New York. Spector creates performance between theater and dance, spinning stories of contemporary life through “genre-agnostic movement” ( Brooklyn Rai l) and “witty wordplay puzzles full of choreographic twists” ( New York  Times ). ...

piss.jpg (Working Title) Written and performed by Justin Jager and Michael Gardiner Directed by Daniel Yaiullo Presented by Diamond Mesh Inc. at the Paradise Factory 64 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC July 16-August 9, 2026 Justin Jager and Michael Gardiner. Photo courtesy of Strange Garden Productions Two brothers, one kitchen, and seventy minutes of absurdism taken to hilariously absurd lengths: the endlessly unpredictable piss.jpg (Working Title) showcases a pair of writer-performers firing on all comedic cylinders. Written by Justin Jager and Michael Gardiner and directed by Daniel Yaiullo, multi-hyphenate theater artists all, the eye-catchingly titled production is making its New York City premiere as a flagship production of Diamond Mesh Inc.'s new summer festival, The Manifestival , running from July 16th to August 9th at the Paradise Factory Theater. piss.jpg (Working Title) plucks fragments from the sort of plots and dialogue that might be found in midcentury drama, adds the...

atticwife Written by Laura Clare Browne Directed by Rebecca Wilson Presented by RnL Productions at 59E59 Theaters 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, NYC July 22-26, 2026 Jen Clark and Laura Clare Browne. Photo by Lutriz Studios. The most famous wife-locked-in-an-attic is probably Jane Eyre 's Bertha Mason, whose fatal leap from the roof after setting her husband's house on fire conveniently clears the way for her successor. Even when given a sympathetic reimagining by Jean Rhys over a century later, it's hard to see her as an aspirational figure. However, in atticwife , the debut play from actor and comedian Laura Clare Browne, the titular wife has not only been locked in an attic by her husband but assures her social media followers that this is what she wants. Currently playing as part of 59E59's 2026 East to Edinburgh Festival , which showcases New York shows headed to Edinburgh Fringe in August, atticwife furnishes a sharply observed, darkly comedic lampoon of the int...

3600 Written by Molly McQuillan Directed by AMT / Anna Marie Tobin (AMT) Presented at Chain Theatre 312 W. 36th St., 4th fl., Manhattan, NYC July 11-30, 2026 Ashley M. Cowles. Photo courtesy of Molly McQuillan. Most of us are familiar with the concept, even if it is usually metaphorical, of locking two antagonistic parties in a room together until they settle their differences. With the tautly gripping two-hander 3600 , Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based theater artist Molly McQuillan both renders such a situation very literal and gives it the highest stakes possible. The play brings us inside a featureless room where its trapped characters will die when a timer reaches zero. As the clock implacably counts down and the contours of the pair's conflict come into focus, questions of right and wrong, guilt and absolution, and responsibility and consequences become as inescapable as the room itself. Currently part of Chain Theatre's Summer One-Act Festival, running from July 9th through...