Thinking Theater NYC

Richard II Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Katie Willmorth Asst. Directed by Alexandra Haddad Presented by Smith Street Stage at The Mark O’Donnell Theater  at the Entertainment Community Fund Arts Center 160 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NYC September 11-28, 2024 Photo by StudioVic - Juan Carlos Quimper Shakespeare’s history plays might be produced less often than his tragedies and comedies, but as Smith Street Stage’s production of Richard II demonstrates, their depiction of the moral ambiguities surrounding political power and those who wield it speak remarkably well to a contemporary American audience, particularly one in the throes of a presidential election season. As the production so aptly shows, moral rectitude does not reside clearly with one or side or the other, even when one of those sides is supposed to possess divine right, but rather somewhere in the murky middle. To paraphrase the final hymn, sung in gorgeous harmonies by the entire cast, building Jeru...

Anton Goes to Heaven (?) Written by Stefan Diethelm Directed by Andy Reiff Presented by Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Director, at Theater for the New City 155 1st Ave., Manhattan, NYC September 19-October 6, 2024 Chris Cornwell. Photo by Ai Toyoshima The first act of the title character in Swiss playwright Stefan Diethelm's newest work, Anton Goes to Heaven (?) , is to crush an empty beer can on his head and toss it to the floor, where it joins a small pile of similar refuse. Anton's ( Chris Cornwell ) surroundings reflect the stagnant condition in which he currently finds himself. He has no job, no woman, as he puts it (Anton is a big believer in [hetero]normative masculinity), and nothing to occupy his days–even the television on his floor lets him down. What he does have in great supply is rage, much of it aimed at what he sees as a degenerate society (the kind of society that would fire truth-teller Tucker Carlson from FOX News), and, by his own admiss...

La MaMa is proud to present the New York premiere of Witold Gombrowicz’s The Marriage , with direction by La MaMa’s director-in-residence, Zishan Ugurlu. Written by one of the greatest Polish writers of the 20th century, The Marriage , translated by Louis Iribarne, is a play that explores themes of identity, power, and the nature of reality. Running September 26–October 6, 2024, performances take place at La MaMa’s Downstairs Theatre (66 E 4th St, Manhattan). Tickets are now on sale at www.lamama.org . Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969) was a Polish writer and playwright known for his innovative and often provocative works that explore the absurdity of human existence - most notably, the novel Ferdydurke . In his play The Marriage , we follow Henry, a young soldier who returns home from war to find his world in disarray. In a dream-like sequence, the boundaries between reality and illusion begin to blur. “Gombrowicz’s writing combines philosophical depth with the wittiest sense of humor,” ...

  The Green Room 42 presents the first New York City performance of song selections from this old haunt , a new musical with a folk-infused score that explores the ever-shifting nature of female friendship. After a decade apart, four friends reunite at their high school choir teacher’s cabin deep in the woods of Stowe, Vermont. As they slip in and out of time, they confront past losses, triumphs, and everything in between, ultimately facing the choice of whether to continue drifting apart or find a way back to each other. this old haunt has been developed at Carnegie Mellon University and Fort Salem Theatre. It has gone on to become a finalist for 2024’s Write Out Loud competition, be selected to appear in the 2023 Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance’s New Works Collaboration Catalog, have a 29-hour reading with Tisch New Theatre at NYU, be featured in the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab & Prospect Theater Company’s New Musicals Mixtape Concert at Chelsea Factory, and be selected as...

The Climate Fables: Ogallala Written by Padraig Bond Directed by Zoë Kay Presented by Torch Ensemble and FRIGID New York at UNDER St. Marks 94 St. Marks Place, Manhattan, NYC September 20-22, 2024 Demeter, the world's last surviving elephant in playwright Padraig Bond's The Climate Fables: Ogallala , shares a name with the goddess of crop growth and fertility, both of which are central concerns in this newest production in Torch Ensemble's cycle of ecological plays. Ogallala is Torch Ensemble's second production of a residency at FRIGID New York and the fourth of The Climate Fables produced so far in a planned twelve-play cycle–the standard number of chapters in epics–spanning 1,000 years. With two further plays in the cycle set for UNDER St. Marks this fall, Ogallala , boasting the longest runtime and largest cast of an individual Fable so far, picks up, among other threads, the story of Susan Kether (Penelope Deen), pregnant in a post-climate-apocalypse world in...

Dave Piontkowski After a successful run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dave Piontkowski is bringing his groundbreaking comedy show  3 Kidneys No Colon  to Caveat on October 3rd at 7pm. Piontkowski is an NYC based stand-up comedian who performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024 with 3 Kidneys No Colon and has performed at various clubs in and around New York, including The Stand, New York Comedy Club, Comedy Village, QED and many more. He also performed improv and sketch comedy with UCB, Magnet and The PIT. Piontkowski won the UC comedy competition, appeared on the Close The Door Behind You podcast, and will be debuting on the  Story Collider podcast this December! 3 Kidneys No Colon is a show detailing the medical diaries (or rather…diarrheas) of Dave, who suffers from chronic kidney disease and ulcerative colitis. The show itself is a humorous look at life dealing with major illnesses and surgeries. In his one-man show, Dave breaks down barriers of ...

Redeemed Written by Chisa Hutchinson Directed by marcus d. harvey Presented by Contemporary American Theater Festival at 59E59 Theaters 59 E. 59th St., Manhattan, NYC September 15-October 5, 2024 Elizabeth Sun and Doug Harris in Redeemed . Photo by Carol Rosegg. Americans love a good redemption story. We are conditioned, indeed, to expect redemption, according to one of the characters in Chisa Hutchinson's tension-filled, thought-provoking two-hander Redeemed . Impactfully realized through a pair of absorbing and finely shaded performances, Redeemed approaches the possibilities of forgiveness and what it might look like or mean in a way that compellingly intersects with a nexus of personal grief and social hierarchies. The play's current NYC run is part of the second annual AMPLIFY Festival at 59E59 Theaters, which spotlights three original works by the same playwright across 59E59's three stages. This year, AMPLIFY features the NYC premieres of a trio of works from the ...

Observant Written by Pamela Weiler Grayson Directed by Shellen Lubin Presented by Red Lyric Productions in association with Adam Weinstock and Emerging Artists Theatre at  Chain Theatre 312 West 36th St., Floors 3 and 4, Manhattan, NYC September 12-28, 2024 L to R: Rebecca Hoodwin, Melissa Wolff, Arielle Beth Klein, Yair Ben-Dor, Arielle Flax, Fady Demian. Photo by Dallas Phelps, NYC. In Pamela Weiler Grayson’s timely and excellent new play, Observant , we spend shabbes (or shabbat in Hebrew, as the distinction is properly outlined during the next three scenes) in Scarsdale. In this seemingly bucolic New York village, three generations of a family – and the community and world writ large – will face the worst of what this (and last) century can issue against Jewish Americans, even in the suburbs. And yet, in order to confront the world without, this family must confront that which lies within and between the generations. Over the course of this holiday with the Gordon...

The Tempest Written by William Shakespeare Directed by John Gordon Presented by Smoking Mirror Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres 502 W 53rd St, Manhattan, NYC August 30-September 15, 2024 Cam Gray (Miranda), Nancy Rich (Prospera). Photo by Jonathan Slaff. Smoking Mirror Theatre’s production of The Tempest draws on its multitalented cast to present a joyful and moving production of Shakespeare’s last play. Set against the simplicity of a black box theater, the cast’s wide-ranging skills stand out, both in presenting the range of emotion the text demands as well as expertise in choreography and music. While the radical forgiveness movingly and convincingly offered by Prospera (Nancy Rich) allows for the play’s happy ending, the production equally reminds its audience of the challenges that remain for Milan and Naples in the form of younger brothers who do not truly repent of their machinations to overthrow their siblings and the punishment of Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano, whose tr...

Cause Célèbre Productions will present a staged reading of Someone Is Sending A Message , based on the extraordinary life story of Nick Springer, on Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 2pm at the Ethical Culture Society, 2 West 64th Street, Ceremonial Hall.  W ritten by Susan Charlotte, directed by Antony Marsellis, and starring Drama Desk Nominee and Drama League Winner Roberta Wallach, Tony Nominee Penny Fuller, and Two-Time Tony Winner James Naughton,  Someone Is Sending A Message is a staged reading based on a true story. A story that deals with persistence in the face of adversity and hope. A story that revolves around a courageous young man named Nick. It’s also the story of an artist named Sheila, a friend of Nick's who is at a crossroads with her art and her life. Suddenly she receives a phone call: “Nick! What do you mean Nick is dead?” This was the same Nick she spoke to two weeks ago; whom she had known since he was 13; who had contracted Meningitis wh...

The Coronation of Queen Jaguar Created and performed by Christine Stoddard and Aaron Gold Featuring Adriana Ascencio, Jada Bennett, Nate Brown, Jeffrey Copeland, Andie Fuentes, Dylan Manning, Rob Penty, and Michal Serpe A Quail Bell production presented by Theater for the New City , Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, at Theater for the New City 155 First Ave., Manhattan, NYC September 6-14, 2024 Christine Stoddard and Aaron Gold Have you ever wanted to witness a coronation, but without standing in line for hours in the rain like our friends across the Atlantic have recently done? If so, then you're in luck: Christine Stoddard and Aaron Gold's deftly comedic The Coronation of Queen Jaguar positions audience members as titled guests at the eponymous investiture, using the ceremony as an umbrella under which to stage a series of improvisation-and-interaction-heavy segments that meld character-based satire and audience participation into a gratifyingly distinctive expe...

Hurricane Season Written and directed by Sawyer Estes Presented by Vernal & Sere Theatre at  Theatre Row 410 W 42nd St, Manhattan, NYC August 23-September 7, 2024 L to R: Sam R Ross, Pascal Portney, Erin Boswell, Melissa Rainey. Photo by Richard Termine A storm is coming and there will be no shelter – no one will find quarter in Sawyer Estes’s visionary play Hurricane Season . This surrealist two-act marvel sees four lost souls drawn together by the digital drudgery of internet pornography only to collide in the corporeal: a journey from the Carolinas to Los Angeles/Amsterdam and then home again to what ultimately remains of the Carolinas. Though the titular hurricane would ostensibly hug the Gulf and Atlantic costs, the gyre widens, entropy inescapable, blowing across the globe. Tom (Sam R Ross) and Anne (Melissa Rainey) are a middle-aged couple in the doldrums of a loveless marriage surrounded by a world of crises and tumult. He seemingly fills his time occupied with du...

Kendyl Ito. Production photo from SOUND BITES XI Theatre Now  is accepting submissions for SOUND BITES XII, the 12th Annual Festival of 10-Minute Musicals, through January 3rd, 2025. 10 finalists will be selected for presentation on Monday, May 5, 2025 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center. There is no fee to submit, and there are no required fees for artist participation in the event. For more information and to submit a show, go to  www.tnny.org/soundbitessubmissions . SOUND BITES offers an opportunity for talented musical theatre creators to present their fully-staged work in front of audiences and industry professionals. Any 10-minute piece that can be performed live, has a story arc, and includes music qualifies. Theatre Now has produced over 80 short musicals and is looking for diverse pieces that are current, test the musical form, and communicate a well-crafted story. All styles and genres are accepted including foreign language and/or bilingual scripts. Submissions f...

Brooklyn Art Haus will present the world premiere of  Snow Bird , written by Melina Nakos and directed by Em Hausmann, for a limited workshop run, with evening performances on September 21st and 22nd. Net proceeds from this production are being donated to the Indigenous Environmental Network. Snow Bird is a new play set in 2009 that follows the lives of five men living in an outpost in the Arctic Circle. Inspired by real-life scientists working at Station Nord in Greenland, Snow Bird ’s characters study the effects of global warming on the Arctic Sea ice by flying planes—affectionately nicknamed “snowbirds”—outfitted with measuring devices close to the Arctic ice. Led by a cast of trans-identifying actors, Snow Bird explores themes of masculinity, queerness, isolation, and duplicity through the framework of scientific discovery. What happens when a group of only men are locked in an ice box for 9 months straight? “ Snow Bird is an environmental play that desperately tries to esca...

roller rink death kink sex cult Written and directed by Skylar J. Beirne Assistant direction by Ryan Honey Presented by Theater for the New City , Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, in association with SeaTrain STudios at Theater for the New City 155 First Ave., Manhattan, NYC August 31-September 15, 2024 L-R: Daniel Oakley and Allie Donnelly. Photo by Dennis Beirne. "No kink shaming" has become a widely accepted maxim, but what if the fetish in question is, say, killing and eating someone? The "levels" of the titular cult in Skylar J. Beirne's roller rink death kink sex cult –handily enumerated on a square of paper placed on each audience member's seat before the show–do not explicitly include cannibalism, but neither do they rule it out. And the cult's leader claims that, with consent, even murder can be not only acceptable but transcendently beautiful. Sometimes funny, sometimes discomfiting, occasionally gloriously surreal, this penetrating ...