Thinking Theater NYC

A Baby For Me? No Thank You, Please! , written and performed by Bailey Swilley and directed by Desmond Thorne, will be presented as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at The Rat NYC (68-117 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY 11201) with performances on Fri April 3 at 8:10pm, Mon April 6 at 6:30pm, Tue April 14 at 9:50pm & Thu April 16 at 9:50pm.  When everyone in her life pressured Bailey to have a baby, she spent a lot of time questioning, researching, and agonizing over what was wrong with her—until she found the answer, inside her guts—at the gyno’s office. This solo comedy explores what it means to sift through the gunk and finally trust your inner voice! Swilley is a writer and comedian based in Brooklyn, whose stories have been featured on RISK! , Story Collider , Love Hurts ,   and more. She is a Moth StorySLAM winner and her solo shows, Gimme a Sign! and Don’t Tell Our Bosses , were both critically acclaimed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Swil...

Revenge of the Soy Boy , written and performed by Justin Avery Smith and directed by Jacob Musgrove, will be presented as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009) with performances on Sat April 4 at 2pm, Mon April 6 at 6:30pm, Sun April 12 at 7pm, Mon April 13 at 9:50pm & Sun April 19 at 5:20pm. After being heavily mocked online by Star Wars fans in 2025, Justin now uses Star Wars as an intersection for personal comedic stories that also provide personal and social commentary about the galaxy far, far away, our own world, and discovering what his place is in all that. Nerds, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, film buffs/cinephiles (especially Star Wars fans), anyone who can appreciate pop culture, and anyone who has struggled in the past ten years with their place in the world amid both political and digital unrest will enjoy this show. Justin Avery Smith (he/him) is a writer, comedian and performer based in Ce...

The Antigone Project will present Thoughts & Prayers , written by Ibsen Santos, Aaron Michael Zook, Maddy Kelly, Prather Rehnquist, Ioanna Katsarou, Jon-Mykul Bowen, Cato Crumbley, Paige Hapeman, Ruth Łchav'aya K'isen Miller, Barbara Moreno, and Dustin Bussman, and directed by Ibsen Santos, as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at the Chain Theatre Mainstage (312 W 36th St, FL 3 & 4, New York, NY 10018) with performances on Thu April 2 at 6pm, Mon April 6 at 6pm, Mon April 13 at 6pm & Sat April 18 at 7pm.  In a society benumbed by senseless tragedy, survivors of an act of mass violence struggle with the ritualized return to normalcy. Thoughts & Prayers , developed and written collaboratively by The Antigone Project, is a theatrical experience that confronts teen isolation, sexual abuse, and gun violence wrapped in a red, white, and blue veneer. The cast will feature Clarita De Gennaro, Maddy Kelly, Aaron Michael Zook, Ioanna Kats...

Apoloholics , written by Mary Corigliano and directed by Nora Alexander, will be presented as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at the Chain Theatre Mainstage (312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018) with performances on Wed April 1 at 6pm, Wed April 8 at 7:40pm, Sat April 11 at 10:20pm & Mon April 13 at 7:40pm.  Apoloholics is a heartfelt and humorous exploration of people who have spent their lives apologizing for simply existing. What happens when they try to reclaim their voices? Through a series of witty, poignant, and relatable stories inspired by real-life experiences, the play confronts the hidden cost of self-doubt while celebrating the journey toward self-acceptance. Perfect for anyone who's ever said "I'm sorry" a few too many times. Written by life-long apoloholic, Mary Corigliano. The cast will feature Mary Corigliano, Marguerite A. Boone, Gabby Franco Ferro, Blair Tate, and Zack Watson. The creative team inclu...

Azhar-Bande Ali, a New York–based comedian whose work has been compared to Hasan Minhaj and Mike Birbiglia by critics, will present Desi SNL , written, directed, and produced by Azhar Bande-Ali in partnership with Shreya Thakur and media host and storyteller Sandalina Sattar as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at wild project (195 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009) with performances on Fri April 3 at 6pm, Mon April 6 at 7:40pm, Mon April 13 at 6pm & Sat April 18 at 8:40pm.  Desi SNL  is an ensemble cast-driven sketch comedy show reimagining the SNL format with monologues, the Weekend Update segment, and original skits rooted in South Asian culture— delivering sharp satire, bold performances, and unapologetically relatable takes on identity and diaspora life with an ensemble cast of TBA South Asian talent. Lead writer, director, and co-producer Bande-Ali has won multiple Moth StorySLAMs and earned Best Comedy awards for his specials Curr...

 Chaturbox Productions will present The Third Choice written, directed and performedby Tahir “Tai” Chatur as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at The Rat NYC (68-117 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY 11201), with performances on Thu April 2 at 6:30pm, Fri April 3 at 6:30pm, Mon April 13 at 8:10pm & Sat April 18 at 10:20pm. The Third Choice chronicles therapist-comedian Tahir “Tai” Chatur’s journey through identity and belonging, shaped by a lifelong reluctance to choose. From rural Kenya to even more rural Canada, this solo show blends stand-up, storytelling, and therapy, walking with you through culture, faith, and the exhausting life of a chronic yes-man. The Third Choice is a show that lets you be your complicated and multiple identity selves. From Muslims that celebrate Christmas to the New Yorkers that listen to country music this family-friendly show is a welcome home. From viral therapy-sketch storyteller to the Fringe stage, Tahir “Tai” Chatur mak...

Rachel Lin in Dear John at Brick Aux, 2023. Directed by Nana Dakin. Photo by Marcus Middleton. Dear John , written by and starring Rachel Lin ( Law & Order: Organized Crime , NYTW 2050 Fellow) will run March 6–19, 2026 in the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE Arts Center. Dear John is directed by Tara Elliott, produced by Emily Kleypas and Kelly Letourneau, and co-produced by Ben Natan and AJ Liu with Small Boat Productions. It’s 2011, and a recent college graduate is trying to move out of her mom’s house (with little hope and no prospects) when she receives a message from a mysterious stranger named John on Facebook. Dear John is a solo show based on a true story about what happens when a long-absent father finds his not-quite-adult daughter through a social networking website. Weaving together Facebook DMs, recorded interviews, and anecdotes of growing up undocumented in New York’s Chinatown, Dear John is a coming-of-age story delightfully told by writer and performer Rachel ...

  Loose End Productions, an independent Australian theatre and screen production company founded by playwright and actor Rose Treloar, will present Watch Me Sleep written by Treloar and directed by Talia Benatar as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009), with performances on Tue April 14 at 7pm, Thu April 16 at 6:30pm, Thu April 16 at 9:50pm, Sat April 18 at 5:20pm; and Sun April 19 at 2pm.  Fresh from two sold-out Australian seasons, Watch Me Sleep is a fiercely intimate one-act play bringing a love story from down under to NYC. Ava and Emmett invite the audience into the private anatomy of their relationship – its humor, heat, fractures and scars, beginning and ending in the present day with the belly of the play a series of flashbacks into their relationship’s highs and lows. Using direct address, the audience becomes a silent third character in the play, a mutual friend to the couple acti...

Hope Brannon Slut Liturgy , written and performed by Hope Brannon, and directed by Max Kantor, will be presented as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at the Chain Theatre Mainstage (312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018) with performances on Tuesday, April 7th at 9:20 PM, Saturday, April 11th at 12:20 PM, Wednesday April 15th at 7:40 PM, Thursday, April 16th at 9:20 PM, and Sunday, April 19th at 7:00 PM.  Slut Liturgy is a one-hour solo show that follows Hope’s time both in an intensive outpatient program and with religious bipolar mania. Crude and genuine, funny, and chaotic, Slut Liturgy invites you to crash out with the manic Antichrist, smoke cigarettes with she-god, and do whatever else Hope’s delusions want. Playwright and performer Brannon is a writer and comedian based in Chicago and an alum of, has written multiple plays for, and performs regularly at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. Yes, she almost became a nun. Yes, she prefers...

Infinite Monkey Theater Company will present did you charge your phone for the end of the world? written and directed by Fletcher Michael.  The year is 2034. A city-demolishing asteroid is heading for Brooklyn. The government refuses to alert the public of the impending catastrophe until a boutique advertising agency can come up with a positive rebrand for the calamitous asteroid. The production will be presented as part of the 2026 New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York at wild project (195 E. 3rd Street, New York, NY 10009) with performances on Sat April 4 at 8:40pm, Mon April 6 at 6pm, Sat April 18 at 3:40pm & Sun April 19 at 5:20pm. The performance will run approximately 60 minutes, and the cast will feature Fletcher Michael, Lucy Boisvert, and Collin Dennis. Tickets ($15) are available for advance purchase at  www.frigid.nyc .  Fletcher Michael (Playwright/Director) is the founder of Infinite Monkey Theater Co., through which they write, direct, prod...

Officer Scott , the cult favorite comedy with music, returns to Brooklyn Art Haus for a string of shows confirmed for spring. Created and performed by Sloan Brettholtz and co-written and directed by Bailey Nassetta, the outrageous solo show blends absurd humor, audience participation, and raw vulnerability into a wildly original theatrical experience. Officer Scott follows a deeply committed NYPD officer who is offered the one thing he has always wanted: a sanctioned partner. The catch is that he must successfully deliver a D.A.R.E presentation to an auditorium full of fourth graders. When the presentation spirals out of control and Scott falls for a substitute teacher, his faith in the system begins to fracture. Rejected by his precinct and abandoned by the institution he devoted his life to, Scott is forced to confront who he is beyond the badge. Guided by a giant butterfly conjured from his rage, Scott embarks on a surreal, drug induced Christmas Carol- style journey where Jesus, h...

David Copperfield. Photo by Steve Gregson 59E59 Theaters (Artistic Director Val Day and Managing Director Brian Beirne) has announced the return of Brits Off Broadway, its acclaimed annual festival celebrating the breadth and vitality of independent British theater. The 2026 festival will feature eight productions and run April 14 through June 28, presented across all three of 59E59 Theaters’ stages. This year’s lineup showcases work from a dynamic range of UK writers, performers and producing companies, spanning genres from new musicals and solo storytelling to classic literary adaptations and contemporary dramas. “59E59 Theaters remains a home for artists from across the Atlantic to share bold work with New York audiences,” said Val Day, Artistic Director of 59E59 Theaters. “Every production in Brits Off Broadway reflects the curiosity and creative risk-taking that defines independent UK theater. We are proud to provide a space where artists can collaborate and present work that cha...

The Ladder Written by Isaac Byrne Directed by Haley Rice Presented by Haley Rice in association with Messy Stars Productions at IRT Theater 154 West Christopher St., 3B, Manhattan, NYC January 31-February 15, 2026 James Jelkin and Ken Orman. Photo by Mikhail Lipyanskiy  @lipyanskiy_photo Isaac Byrne's The Ladder begins in darkness, with the voice of Theseus (James Jelkin), as yet unseen, offering a story from somewhere down the theater aisle. If the dark here evokes the Labyrinth in which Theseus describes having been lost, it also recurs throughout the production both as as aesthetic–part of David Aab 's potently atmospheric lighting design, which also at times bathes the stage in color, reveals the play's Minotaur (Ken Orman) in lightning-quick flashes, or denaturalizes the action with strobe lighting–and a thematic motif, pointing to obscured truth(s), the murkiness of life paths and narratives, and the ethical darkness of choices made by presumptive heroes. As a hero, T...

Hold on to Your Butts Created by Recent Cutbacks Directed by Kristin McCarthy Parker Performed by Nick Abeel , Kerry Ipema , and Natalie Rich (cast performing in rotation) Foley by Blair Busbee and Kelly Robinson Presented at  SoHo Playhouse as part of the International Fringe Encore Series 15 Vandam Street, Manhattan, NYC February 7–March 15, 2026 Natalie Rich and Nick Abeel. Photo by JT Anderson. Few contemporary films (or film franchises) are as synonymous with spectacle as 1993’s Jurassic Park , the legacy of which (perhaps ironically) rests on the promise that maximum technology, budget, and scale are how we fill cinemas, VOD streaming queues, and a couple of strategically-located theme parks. This is how we entertain the masses. Hold on to Your Butts , now playing at SoHo Playhouse, takes that premise and promise seriously, only to invert it. What emerges is not a simple skewering of bloated budget blockbuster culture, but something warmer and more revealing, a reminder th...

Theater of the Apes , an East Harlem-based company dedicated to presenting original, affordable, comic work, has announced casting for its remount of Greg Kotis ’ pandemic-clobbered original guitar musical I Am Nobody . Original cast members Emilio Cuesta (“Nathaniel) and Ayun Halliday (“Miriam") will be joined by Greg Kotis (“Mr. Charles”), Madeline Glave (“Naomi), and Eric May Liu (“Lucas”). The creative team includes Avery Rose Pedell (Director), Stephen Anthony Elkins (Music Director), Piatt Pund (Assistant Music Director) and Katie Walenta (Producer). From Tony Award-winner Greg Kotis ( Urinetown , The End of All Flesh ) comes a tuneful 21st-century parable about the myriad technological devices holding us prisoner that feels even timelier now than it did in March of 2020. In I Am Nobody , Lucas’ phone has seized control of his mind. It gives him no peace!!! His only recourse is to abscond with a batch of super-charged microchips, intent on unleashing a powerful cyber vi...

Closed for the Holiday . Photo by Azzurra Primavera The New York City-based Kairos Italy Theater along with Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU and the Italy-based KIT Italia will present the 13th season of the In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, New York City’s premiere festival of Italian theater, taking place in all five boroughs of NYC, from May 5-19, 2026. Admission to all shows and events in the festival is completely FREE. All shows will be performed in Italian with English supertitles, unless otherwise noted. Participating venues and the full schedule of performances will be announced at a later date. Each year In Scena! showcases some of the best Italian theater from Italy, in New York City. The festival features productions that have already toured in Italy as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, mentorships, and exchanges between Italian and International artists. The goal is to promote greater awareness of Italian theater and Italian artists among New York C...

Betterfly Productions, Leviathan Lab, and JACK, in association with The Hearth Supported Productions and The Sống Collective, will present ExtraO1dinary Aliens!,  by playwright Carolina Đỗ, directed by Vas Eli, at JACK (20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn) from March 7- 14, 2026. Tickets ($45) are available for purchase at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/extrao1dinary-aliens . ExtraO1dinary Aliens! features an immigrant/first-generation cast and creative team. Corneliu is an immigrant from Romania who is in love with Kay, a U.S. Citizen. Linh is Kay's best friend who might have let her student visa lapse?! David has dreams of opening his restaurant with his cousin Enoc. This play is a love story centered on immigrants and the ones who love them. How can love defy the dehumanizing machinations of the US Immigration system? What makes someone leave everything they've ever known to journey to a foreign land? What makes someone stay despite the hostile env...

The First Line of Dante's Inferno Written by Kirk Lynn Directed by Christian Parker Presented by La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club at La MaMa's The Downstairs Theatre 66 East 4th Street, Manhattan, NYC February 5-22, 2026 The First Line of Dante’s Inferno,  featuring Kelli Overbey and Evan Sibley. Photo by Marina Levitskaya Inferno , the first of the three parts that make up Dante Alighieri's narrative poem The Divine Comedy (c. 1321), famously begins with its narrator's declaration that he has, in midlife, departed from "the straight road" to awaken lost in "a dark wood," in the words of the translation employed in the exceptional new experimental play The First Line of Dante's Inferno . The First Line of Dante's Inferno , written by Kirk Lynn, a playwright, novelist, screenwriter, educator, and one of the artistic directors of Austin, Texas, theater collective the Rude Mechs , finds multiple people, one specifically at that midpoint in l...