Thinking Theater NYC

After critically acclaimed engagements Off-Broadway (you can read our review of the show's winters/spring 2023 run at AMT here .) and at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe, Jacob Storms’s  Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams will return to New York for a limited engagement. This solo play written and performed by Jacob Storms and originally directed for the stage by Alan Cumming will run January 19 - February 2 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. What led Tennessee Williams to become the most groundbreaking and unique playwright of the twentieth century? Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams explores the formative six-year period from 1939-1945 in which an unknown writer named Tom metamorphosizes into the acclaimed playwright known as Tennessee. The solo play brings these unknown years center stage as the audience becomes friend and confidant to young Williams as he experiences the unexpected highs and devastating lows of his early career, wherein his most iconic charac

Before The Drugs Kick In Written and directed by Mike Lemme Presented by Mike Lemme at UNDER St. Marks 94 St. Marks Place, Manhattan, NYC December 8-22, 2023 Maria DeCotis. Photo by Arin Sang-urai. Why should a person be defined by her lowest, most vulnerable point? Why should such a point dictate the course of her life? Such questions pervade comedian and playwright Mike Lemme's Before The Drugs Kick In , currently making its New York debut in the fittingly intimate space of UNDER St. Marks. Before The Drugs Kick In made its world premiere at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, collecting not only critical praise but also nominations for the BBC Writersroom Popcorn Award for Best New Writing and the Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award . Inspired by personal experience, Before The Drugs Kick In invites us inside the mind of one woman for a riveting, empathetic, and darkly funny exploration of mental health and its (mis)treatments and stigmas, especially where women are concerne

This January, Playful Substance will present Canary , by Donald Wollner, its first full production since Raphael Perahia’s oddly prophetic Shelter in Place in the fall of 2019. “After nearly four years of focusing on development work, community events, and side projects, we are excited to open our return season with a world premiere from such a skilled playwright,” says Playful Substance’s Artistic Director, Bree O’Connor; “Don’s work embodies Playful Substance’s highest aspirations; to tell the truth with a quick wit and embrace discomfort as part of the fun.” In Canary , we are in the previous century, and Cassie wants to be the best copywriter in advertising history. She’s young, inexperienced, and a woman in a deeply sexist world. But she and her art director turn out extremely creative work. It gets noticed, and soon they are locked in a room grinding out their agency’s coveted “mystery” campaign. Can they get Americans to swallow the biggest chunk of bullshit this country has eve

An Axemas Story Music, etc. by Anthony De Angelis Lyrics, etc. by Patrick Spencer Book, etc. by Charlie O'Leary Music direction by Sara Linger Associate conducting by Buck McDaniel Direction and choreography by Mackenna Goodrich Presented by Cartwheels Theatrical at The Players Theatre 115 MacDougal St, Manhattan, NYC November 30-December 17, 2023 Isabel Julazadeh and John Jeffords. Photo by EJ DeCoske When An Axemas Story calls itself a "sappy" musical, it refers not to holiday schmaltz, which the show actively satirizes, but rather to the spilling of vital fluids as the non-deciduous residents of Tree Town meet their fates at the edge of a blade. This 1980s-slasher-inspired story of sentient trees on a Christmas tree farm is perfect for the kind of person who seeks out appropriately themed horror films for major holidays, enjoys self-aware wordplay ( Axemas Story features a veritable forest of tree-related puns), or just likes a wildly entertaining time at the theater