Thinking Theater NYC

FEARfest 2023 Plays: A Year to Grieve , by Deirdre Girard & directed by Sydney Burtner; Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed , by Vince Gatton & directed by Marie Elèna O'Brien; The Big Bad D Word , by Jennifer Downes & directed by Claire Shiell; Practice , by Caitland Winsett & directed by Lucy Roberts; Hysterical , by John Peña Griswold & directed by Maura Kelley; The Bowl , by R. A. Pauli & directed by David Adam Gill; and The Right One , by William Oliver Watkins & directed by Emily Hartford Presented by New Ambassadors Theatre Company at The Hudson Guild Theater 441 W. 26th Street, Manhattan, NYC October 25-29, 2023 Nicolas DiPierro and Marie Elèna O'Brien. Photo courtesy of New Ambassadors As we rapidly approach the uncontested best holiday of the year (Halloween, if that wasn't clear), New Ambassadors Theatre Company has played the Victor Frankenstein to another great slate of new short plays, assembling these parts into the 2023 incarn

Mina Adapted by Richard Width from Bram Stoker's Dracula Directed by Karen Eterovich Presented by First Flight Theatre Company at UNDER St. Marks 94 St. Marks Place, Manhattan, NYC October 23-November 2, 2023 Reilly Hacker. Photo courtesy of Emily Owens PR A solitary woman enters and unpacks some vampire-hunting paraphernalia - a crucifix, a stake, and so on - laying the items on one of two small tables, the other bearing a number of documents - telegrams, journals, letters. That woman is Wilhelmina Murray Harker (Reilly Hacker), who will shortly take the lectern to deliver an account of her and her companions' encounter with and (spoiler) ultimate victory over the undead Count Dracula. Bram Stoker's 1897 tale of the repulsion of this foreign, vampiric threat to England has been adapted over and over across more than a century and numerous forms of media, but First Flight Theatre Company's Mina , adapted from Stoker's novel by Richard Width and performed entirely b

New Ambassadors Theatre Company - a playwright-forward company that facilitates a radically inclusive, intersectional, and safe environment in which both the inexperienced writer and seasoned playwright finds encouragement, constructive criticism, and camaraderie throughout the development process, from conception to production, of an original work - will present its third and final short play festival of the year, FEARfest 2023. FEARfest 2023 begins on Wednesday, October 25th for a limited engagement through Sunday, October 29th. FEARfest 2023 features seven of the best in new, original horror and sci-fi themed short plays, with a regular schedule of Wednesday–Friday at 7:30 pm; and Saturday and Sunday 2 pm. Performances are at the Hudson Guild Theater (441 West 46th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues).  This year's lineup features sci-fi, horror, and laugh-out-loud dark comedy. It includes:  A YEAR TO GRIEVE, by Deirdre Girard Best-Selling author Heather is excited that she’s f

Moon School Written and composed by Victor Jones Directed and developed by Alysia Homminga Presented by Moon School Productions and Sean M. Bogue in association with The Tank 312 W 36th St. 1st Fl., Manhattan, NYC October 2-10, 2023 Al Groppi. Photo b y Arielle Domantay Putting the past behind oneself can be easier said than done; those traumatic events and persons better left buried by the passage of time, sometimes they come back. The unquiet past certainly haunts the characters in playwright and composer Victor Jones's wonderful Moon Schoo l, inspired by their real-life boarding-school experiences and currently making its world premiere at The Tank. Under the adroit directorial hand of Alysia Homminga, Moon School spins a captivating tale in which hard emotional truths and searching self-examination meet sinister school staff and high-stakes board gaming in a setting where (giant) scorpion safety is as important as fire drills. Alyssa Simon.  Photo b y Arielle Domantay Located

Twisted Written by Joel Greenhouse Directed by Joe John Battista Music by Peter W. Dizzoza and Joe John Battista Lyrics by Joel Greenhouse Presented by Theater for the New City Executive Director Crystal Field at Theater for the New City 115 1st Ave., Manhattan, NYC September 28-October 15, 2023 Andrew Ryan Perry, Xue Yun Zhang, Tony Del Bono, Christine Weiss Beidel, Brian Belovitch, Robert Z Grant, Penny Balfour, Larry Fleischman, Evan Laurence, Maude Lardner Burke, Sevin Ceviker, JC Augustine. Photo: Hillary Wyatt. In a fog-drenched opening scene featuring sex workers in peril, Twisted , a new play with songs, wastes no time in establishing the existence of an ancient cult that worships a pre-Christian reptilian god. Prior to this beginning, the show projects film-style opening credits full of thunder and lightning and atmospheric bayous, further evoking the exploitation movies to which it pays comedic homage–particularly those of the 1960s, although one might equally be put in mind