Thinking Theater NYC

Jack's Bean Stalked Written by Robert K. Benson Directed by Madeline Wall Presented by R & R Productions at Parkside Lounge 317 E. Houston, Manhattan, NYC November 23-December 14, 2024 Gabriel Spector and Lily Ali-Oshatz. Photo by Michael Russell. For many of us, at least, this may not feel like the most joyful holiday season, given the state of, well, seemingly everything. Luckily, there's Jack's Bean Stalked , a new British-style panto in which the recovery of stolen joy is both a narrative element of the show and a byproduct of being in the audience. For those unfamiliar with panto, it is a popular Christmas-season tradition in the U.K. - alongside the ghost story, another holiday tradition which these particular Americans would love to see culturally appropriated - a form of musical comedy based on folk or fairy tales and featuring jokes on contemporary topics, a handful of prescribed character types (a Hero and Villain, a talking animal, and so on), and a bit of R...

The Sex Writer Written by Adam Szymkowicz Directed by Philip Cruise Presented by Thin Duke Productions and SparkPlug Productions  at  The Gene Frankel Theatre 24 Bond St, Manhattan, NYC October 30-November 17, 2024 Seth Gilliam, Sionne Elise. Photo by Mark Veltman. Adam Szymkowicz’s excellent new play, The Sex Writer , probes questions of loss, love, and the writer’s vocation as Jane, (sex) writer and professor at Columbia, returns to her small-town childhood home on the occasion of her father’s death by suicide. Upon her return, Jane is reunited with an old flame, Aiden, and simultaneously rekindles her relationship to her former lover, her hometown, her father, and her writing. A bed sits at center stage and will remain there throughout the play. It is flanked by a writer’s desk and pages from an undetermined source pinned to the walls, providing a perfect codex to the production: sex and writing and their interpenetration are inescapable. As the action, and Jane, ...

  Kitchen Sink Theatre Company, run by a majority of trans, nonbinary, and queer theatre makers, who strive to tell stories which speak to the experiences of our generation—specifically queer stories, or stories with major themes of social change/justice, will present the American premiere of Pillow Talk , written by playwright, actor, and theatre-maker Cory Sapienza and co-directed by Cory Sapienza and Jesse Hartley.  Pillow Talk  previously premiered at Space Liverpool in August 2023. The production is slated for a limited run at The Tank, with evening performances on November 21-22, and matinee performances on November 23-24. Pillow Talk  is a play that follows Ty, a gay trans man in his early twenties, as he embarks on a journey of sexual self-discovery and self-love. We follow Ty across four different sexual partners as he discovers not only what he likes and desires, but how he deserves to be treated and what he needs to be affirmed in who he is. “Pillow Talk f...

Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves Written by Gina Femia Directed by Scott Ebersold Presented by Boomerang Theatre Company  at A.R.T./New York Theatres 502 West 53rd Street, 3rd Floor, Manhattan, NYC November 8-24, 2024 Leah Nicole Raymond and Stacey Raymond. Photo by Isaiah Tanenbaum Gina Femia’s Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves takes Shakespeare’s most famous star-crossed adolescent lovers both as subject matter and inspiration for its own plot. Rehearsing Romeo and Juliet in their all-girls Catholic high school unexpectedly provides Ellie/Mercutio (Leah Nicole Raymond) and Britt/Romeo (Stacey Raymond), best friends and theater geeks, as well as Amber/Juliet (Rocky Vega), injured cheerleader and first-time thespian, with the venue in which to work out their feelings for each other and the implications of those feelings for their sexuality. Set against the backdrop of a phenomenal late-90s/early-2000s soundtrack, the production hearkens to a time that was simultaneou...

On Cats and Dogs and Other Family Revelations Created, directed, and performed by Ella Veres Presented as part of the 2024 Gotham Storytelling Festival with FRIGID New York at UNDER St. Marks 94 St. Marks Place, Manhattan, NYC November 10, 2024 Elle Veres and Pandele Our relationships with nonhuman animals can be revealing on not only individual but also socio-cultural levels. Solo show On Cats and Dogs and Other Family Revelations , from independent artist Ella Veres, a Harlem-based native of Transylvania, dexterously interweaves both of these levels in a fascinating hour of stories that span her personal history from childhood to the present while drawing on the particular perspective that she has acquired living in both Romania and the United States. Developed during Veres's 2023 Fountain House Gallery summer residency on Governors Island and in Adam Wade’s Magnet Theater Solo Workshop, the show debuted at the 2024 NYC Fringe Festival. Most recently, the performance of On Cats...

Café Utopia featuring Julia Atwood, Al Piper, and Louis Reyes McWilliams Photo credit: John Keon Notch Theatre Company , which creates community-responsive cultural work to drive change around the pressing issues of our time, will host a series of community engagement and talkback events as part of their World Premiere of Café Utopia by Gwen Kingston ( New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and Oprah Daily ’s 'Most Anticipated Books of 2024' for Did I Ever Tell You?: A Memoir ), directed by Ashley Olive Teague (Founder and Artistic Director of Notch Theatre Company), November 2-23 at the Hudson Guild Theater (441 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001).  What is  Café Utopia all   about?  Café Utopia seems like the perfect place to work: flexible hours, great benefits, free juice! But when mysterious pamphlets begin to appear, and key equipment breaks down, the staff start to question whether the renowned health food chain is truly all it seems. Preparing for a visit fr...

Hari Bhaskar and Mark J. Quiles. Photo by Steven Pisano. The new play Oud Player on the Tel , by Tom Block, invites audiences to reflect on the absurdity and humanity behind one of the world’s most enduring conflicts. The World Premiere production will be presented at HERE Arts Center in SoHo, November 8 - 24. Opening night is slated for November 8. The limited engagement is directed by Jesica Garrou with an original score written and performed live on the oud by Rachid Halihal . Oud Player on the Tel is presented by the International Human Rights Arts Movement, a not-for-profit committed to amplifying critical voices from artists around the world. Set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Oud Player on the Tel follows the story of Amir, a Palestinian olive farmer, who befriends Melke, the patriarch of a newly arrived Jewish refugee family in 1947. As the founding of Israel unfolds, the two families become entangled in friendship, rivalry, and love, highlighting t...

  Due to the recent closure of The Connelly Theater, The Hearth will move their planned World Premiere of RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR , by Kallan Dana (2023-2024 Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers' Group), directed by Sarah Blush ( Coach Coach at Clubbed Thumb Summerworks 2024; Redemption Story with The Associates Theater Ensemble; EVENTS at The Brick) to the Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019). The production will run as originally scheduled, from December 6-22, 2024. “The Connelly Theater announced last week that it would cease operations immediately due to a change in leadership at the Catholic Church, which led us scrambling to find a new venue on incredibly short notice,” said The Hearth’s Producing Artistic Director Julia Greer. “It is heartbreaking to lose such a valuable space to censorship and bigotry, but we were bowled over by the generosity and support of theaters big and small and are thrilled to be able to do our production...

Emily Sullivan in Loneliness Was a Pandemic . Photo credit: Danny Bristoll KOPCORP (Artistic Director Alex Kopnick, Co-Producer Kelsey Ballard) will host a series of talkback events alongside their World Premiere of Loneliness Was a Pandemic , a new science fiction drama by Olivia Haller which examines the loneliness epidemic in this country through the lens of AI (you can read our review here ). These post-show panel discussions aim to help audiences engage with the show in an enriching way and to bridge the gap between the show's narrative and the real-world implications of AI usage, especially in the arts. Saturday, November 9 at 3pm Guests for this post-show discussion include Dr. Cynthia Steinhardt, a postdoc research fellow at Columbia University, where she uses AI in her research of cochlear implants, Steve Klein, an Angel Investor, with an AI focus, Richard Rothenberg, the President of Global Algorithmic Institute, which utilizes AI for national policy and UN relief plannin...

Café Utopia Written by Gwen Kingston Directed by Ashley Olive Teague Presented by Notch Theatre Company at Hudson Guild Theater 441 W 26th St, Manhattan, NYC November 2-23, 2024 Café Utopia featuring Julia Atwood, Al Piper, and Louis Reyes McWilliams. Photo by John Keon. Recently, there have been some high-profile strike actions by unions in the United States, from the Writers Guild of America and Boeing to, currently, tech workers at The New York Times . Nevertheless, union membership has been greatly diminished in this nation since its peak in the 1950s, and unions and the labor movement will undoubtedly face increasing assaults under the incoming administration. Café Utopia , from playwright Gwen Kingston, approaches union organizing in our contemporary climate of stark inequality and neoliberal exploitation by spending time with the staff of one NYC location of a chain of stores selling juice and snacks with sides of self-improvement and self-affirmation. Interspersing voices fro...

Cabaret: A Night with the Dead Presented by FRIGID New York , Something from Abroad , and Quemoción  at UNDER St. Marks 94 St Marks Pl, Manhattan, NYC November 2, 2024 Tonight at Cabaret A Night with the Dead , a celebration of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, or Dia De Los Muertos, we spend the evening in warmth and companionship, honoring the memory of our departed loved ones in this deeply immersive and interactive cabaret variety show. Skits, stories, songs, poems, dance, and burlesque are offered in respect and loving tribute to these souls joining us on St. Marks Place this November evening. The theatre space is beautifully appointed for the occasion, with papel picado , or traditional paper banners, adorning the room. A guitar player plays a gentle meandering melody as the audience members find their seats and the festivities begin. At the center of the stage is the ofrenda , a beautiful altar to the departed, adorned with photographs of lost loved ones and the objects t...

Loneliness Was a Pandemic Written by Olivia Haller Directed by Alex Kopnick Presented by Kopcorp at Theaterlab 357 W 36th St, 3rd floor, Manhattan, NYC November 1-24, 2024 Andrew Moorhead (Robot 1) and Emily Sullivan (Human 1). Photo by Danny Bristoll (@dannybristollphoto). From cave walls to food, human beings demonstrate a deep need to aestheticize their experiences. We categorize at least a subset of such acts under that slipperiest of terms, art. But what drives this need? And what qualifies as authentic art, or even authentic feeling? Olivia Haller's new play, Loneliness Was a Pandemic , currently making its world premiere at Theaterlab as part of its TLab Shares program, explores these and other questions through a sci-fi dystopia in which humanoid robots have thrown off their subservience and killed off most of humanity. In this exploration, Loneliness Was a Pandemic holds up an absorbing mirror to a world increasingly dominated by the illusion of connection, digital simul...

Feejee Mermaid Written by Clay McLeod Chapman Directed by Pete Boisvert Presented by Drops in the Vase at  The Flea 20 Thomas St, New York, NY 10007 October 19-November 2, 2024 Morgan Zipf-Meister & Niccolò Walsh. Photo by Kent Meister Under the auspices of the eve of the 19th Annual International Taxidermy Championships, Clay McLeod Chapman's new play, Feejee Mermaid , renders a Milwaukee hotel room a liquor-fueled crucible, taking the audience on an unlikely journey into the dark heart of competition, creativity, violence and taboo. Feejee Mermaid is a rare work, a resounding success: as poignant as it is funny, as heartfelt as it is unflinchingly brutal. The action is centered around one night in this hotel room, with the full weight of the previous year’s competition, and the interpersonal consequences therein, fueling the tension-soaked 75 minutes to come. The play opens in the hotel room, rendered perfectly anodyne and anonymous (emanating the essence of what is means to...

Tin Church Written and directed by Robyne Parrish Presented by off the WALL productions at Chain Theatre 312 West 36th St., Floor 3, Manhattan, NYC October 23-November 23, 2024 Lilly Tobin, Virginia Wall Gruenert, Christina Perry, Marguerite Stimpson.  Tin Church opens the doors into its Southern Gothic world with a gradual drawing down of the lights to the atmospheric strains of musician Adia Victoria 's " Where the Shadow Meets the Water ," finally leaving the set in shadowy relief, with a seated woman silhouetted behind a scrim. This woman, we will learn, is mother of three Mildred (Virginia Wall Gruenert), one node in the matrix of intergenerational trauma movingly traced by Tin Church , the first commissioned play and first full-length world premiere from actor, director, and playwright Robyne Parrish. Snatches of Victoria's song will recur, acting as one aural motif, with another a tap tap tap that, in addition to signaling other thematically significant link...