Thinking Theater NYC

As part of The Tank’s PrideFest 2026, The Late Night Radio Fest invites you to two listening parties of highly acclaimed radio plays with decidedly queer subplots. Friday is a night of suspense: Drew Pisarra’s The Strange Case of Nick M. concerns a podcaster  who stumbles upon recordings of some questionable medical experiments conducted on a concert pianist with a memory disorder. Saturday night is pure comedy as Pisarra’s Price in Purgatory follows the late, great, camp horror icon Vincent Price as he goes on a Dantesque journey with a lookalike spirit guide. Both shows are pre-recorded. Strictly audio. Eye masks provided. Oregon ArtsWatch said of The Strange Case of Nick M. : "Pisarra & company keep things playful, speculative, entertaining, tickling the audience around the edges of consciousness." And  Arts Independent  said of Price in Purgatory : "The play is both hysterically funny and intensely thought-provoking...." ...

Foosball , by playwright Sean Czarnecki and directed by Claire Siebers, will play at Arts On Site (12 St Marks Pl New York, NY 10003) from July 16 through August 1. Previews begin July 16 for a July 18th opening, and tickets ($30) are available for purchase here . Caught between small-town Michigan drama and an abusive father, JJ Janson has to navigate an impossible love triangle on his 16th birthday. Foosball begs the question: Can we overcome our trauma or do we learn to live with our wounds? The cast includes Will Ehren, Alice Jokela, Gideon Klapow, Anthony ‘Ant’ LoGrande, Forrest Malloy, Mia Vallet. Playwright Sean Czarnecki is based in New York. As a journalist, he covers leveraged finance. Foosball , his debut play, was a quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition 2024, advanced to the second round of the 2025 Austin Film Festival in the Stage Play category, and won the Scriptwriters & Co International Festival 2025’s best full-length play award. Foosball ...

Metal Soul Mercy Written by Maci Zakarin Directed by Hana Lauer Ensemble Choreography by K-A Nassoura Duet Choreography by Maci Zakarin Fools Rush In Choreography by Mariama Condé Presented at The Slipper Room 1167 Orchard St., Manhattan, NYC June 2, 2026 Before Metal Soul Mercy reveals its showgirls to be machines, it gives the audience a chance to fall in love with them. In its one-night-only production at The Slipper Room, that proves enough. The evening begins with Olive (Mariama Condé) peeking through the curtain, unable to resist the gathering gaze. It is a small gesture, playful and inviting, but it encompasses the entire production in miniature. The Ladybugs want to be seen; they need to be seen. And soon enough, we meet the girls – performers who have only ever known life under the spotlight, “born in fishnets and a bustier.” Maci Zakarin’s Carolina jokes that she was born addicted to applause, and the line lands as comedy, but it also announces the play's central concer...

Julius Caesar Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Jonathan Hopkins Assistant Director: Sundiata Fotso-Chinjé Presented by Smith Street Stage at Carroll Park President St., Brooklyn, NYC May 16-June 7, 2026 Photography by Sam Sulam Summer means Shakespeare in NYC, and of all of the productions to choose from, Smith Street Stage’s annual offerings in Carroll Park, Brooklyn are always a must-see. Even on an unseasonably cool and damp night, this year’s offering, Julius Caesar , has the power to captivate not only those who came to see it intentionally but also dog walkers and other passersby. If Shakespeare’s time seems remote from our own, the Romans who feature in this play were four times as removed from Elizabethan England as Elizabethan England from today. And yet, as Shakespeare made Julius Caesar speak to its contemporaries, so does Smith Street Stage for us today. Featuring both Smith Street Stage veterans and newcomers, the cast is extraordinarily versatile. Save fo...

Trovata una sega! Livorno, Modigliani, and the Legendary Prank of Summer ’84 ( Trovata una sega! Racconto su Livorno, Modigliani e lo “scherzo del Secolo” dell’Estate ’84 ) Written and performed by Antonello Taurino May 17, 2026, at The Rat NYC , 68-117 Jay St., Brooklyn, NYC May 18, 2026, at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU , 24 W 12 St., Manhattan, NYC   Antonello Taurino in Trovata una Sega! Courtesy Teatro della Cooperativa. Research has shown that people will rate the exact same wine more highly if they believe it to be more expensive. The market, in other words, does not so much reflect as create value and prestige. Trovata una sega! Livorno, Modigliani, and the Legendary Prank of Summer ’84 ( Trovata una sega! Racconto su Livorno, Modigliani e lo “scherzo del Secolo” dell’Estate ’84 ), a solo show from actor, comedian, author, and theater researcher Antonello Taurino, suggests that similar dynamics obtain in the art world. Winner of the Tramedautore Festival Selection...

White Noise: Confessions of an Unsuspected Serial Killer with a Background Hiss ( Rumore Bianco – Confessioni di un insospettabile serial killer con fruscio di sottofondo ) Written by and with Danilo Napoli Directed by Yari Gugliucci Presented by Vitruvio Entertainment May 14, 2026, at WOW Café , 59-61 E 4th St., 4th Fl., Manhattan, NYC May 15, 2026, at BAAD - Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance , 2474 Westchester Ave., Bronx, NYC Danilo Napoli in  White Noise . Photo courtesy of Vitruvio Entertainment. If the pressing relevance of the critique by solo show White Noise: Confessions of an Unsuspected Serial Killer with a Background Hiss ( Rumore Bianco – Confessioni di un insospettabile serial killer con fruscio di sottofondo ) of transphobia and homophobia weren't already obvious, we read about the murder of transwoman Juniper Blessing, a University of Washington student, on our way to the performance. The brutal killing of Blessing belongs to a long and ongoing history of violence...