Thinking Theater NYC

Polishing Shakespeare Written by Brian Dykstra Directed by Margarett Perry Presented by Twilight Theatre Co. in association with Kitchen Theatre Company at 59E59 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, NYC July 10-August 10, 2025 A portion of the Shakespeare industry is devoted to products rooted in the idea that the Bard is just too hard for modern audiences. The No Fear Shakespeare line of books, for instance, promises the original text side-by-side with "modern English translations," despite the fact that Shakespeare's English is already modern English, the early modern and late modern English difference being, linguistically speaking, largely confined to vocabulary. One of the characters in actor, poet, and playwright Brian Dykstra's Polishing Shakespeare is bankrolling a similar project, except focused on theatrical productions, and over a fleet, funny, and fantastic 90 minutes, the show digs into the larger cultural and political implications of such ostensible conce...

Alexander Klaus, the One-Legged Shoemaker Man Written and performed by Christian Hege Directed by Jenny Mercein Presented by Christian Hege, Epyllionard at 59E59 Theaters 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, NYC December 4-22, 2024 Christian Hege in Alexander Klaus, the One-Legged Shoemaker Man . Photo by Carol Rosegg. The opening of Alexander Klaus, the One-Legged Shoemaker Man presents an image that blends beauty and blood: apple tree petals filling the air as the eponymous character suffers a horrific leg wound during the American Civil War. That sort of duality characterizes the central feeling of this wonderfully crafted play, written and performed - in verse, no less - by Christian Hege. Hege's historical research - and an evocative visit to Lower Manhattan's Tenement Museum - heavily informed the process of creating Alexander Klaus and his story, which he relates to us from his vantage point as an older man, a tale in which loss and struggle feature prominently but in which,...

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 ...

The Bleeding Class Written by Chisa Hutchinson Directed by Cezar Williams Presented by Undiscovered Works with Executive Producers Ruth & William Isenberg and Leah S. Abrams at 59E59 Theaters 59 E 59 St., Manhattan, NYC August 13-September 1, 2024 Reginald L. Barnes and Tamar Lopez in The Bleeding Class . Photo by Jennifer Dean Even in times when there is no public health emergency, it is clear that capitalism concerns itself with human health only insofar as it affects productivity and profit; any doubts to this effect that anyone may have harbored should have been erased in the recent pandemic, amidst open discussions about the levels and demographics of acceptable sacrifices of human life to "the economy." The pandemic also rendered transparent on a national stage–if, again, anyone had any doubts–the ways in which the harmful effects of neoliberal capitalism's exploitation of life and labor fall unequally across hierarchized lines of race, class, gender, and sexual...

The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 Written by Michael Aguirre Musical arrangements by Grace Yukich and Jennifer C. Dauphinais Directed by Sarah Norris Presented by New Light Theater Project in association with Calliope Stage and NewYorkRep at 59E59 Theaters 59 E 59th St., Manhattan, NYC January 13-February 18, 2024 L to R front: Erika Rolfsrud, Kristoffer Cusick, Joél Acosta. L to R rear: Kleo Mitrokostas, Martin Ortiz, Andy Evan Cohen. Photo by Hunter Canning Late in The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 , a new play with music from playwright Michael Aguirre, one of the characters brings up the philosophical truism that a person can never step in the same river twice, an observation that applies not only to individual and collective histories but also to performing a song. Just as with live theater, each live performance of a song constitutes a discrete, transitory text (and historical moment); and in the case of folk music, the genre from which the play's titular hits are drawn, it is...

Friends with Amenities Written and performed by Ahsan Ali and Lisa Jill Anderson Directed by Sarah Norris Presented by Pendragon Theatre and New Light Theater Project at 59E59 Theaters 59 E 59th St., Manhattan, NYC September 14-30, 2023 Lisa Jill Anderson and Ahsan Ali in Friends with Amenities . Photo by Hayley Garcia Parnell At least some of you reading this have bar friends - those people, usually, for obvious reasons, other regulars at a particular establishment, whom you may have been acquainted with and chatted with for years, but never beyond the confines of your mutually preferred pub. Ali (Ahsan Ali) and Natalie (Lisa Jill Anderson) are, at the start of superb two-hander Friends with Amenities , bar friends—and more specifically, a two-person pub trivia team currently on a hot streak. But when Ali accompanies Natalie back to her apartment after their most recent trivia victory, it will have profound ramifications for their relationship to one another in this beguilingly funn...

  Playwright Roger Q. Mason Photo credit: Michael Alvarez Acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason will receive a developmental reading of their new play The Pink with Primary Stages as part of its Creative Access Grant Reading Series. The reading will take place on Friday, November 4 at 3pm at 59E59 Theaters (59 E 59th St, New York, NY 10022). The event is FREE and open to the public. For more information and to reserve your seat please visit https://primarystages.org/explore/creative-access-grants/readings . The Pink: An Intimacy Ritual is a hook-up performed in real time between two queer people of color seeking intimacy in the age of dating apps and digital sex. As these two humans, Mel and Herman, grasp for “the real” in the bedroom, their conversations, silences, and moments of touch blur the lines between affection, sex, and euphoric romance. “Smart phones, dating apps, and online porn have ruined our connections to touch and tenderne...

The Elephant in the Room Written and performed by Priyanka Shetty Directed by Theresa M. Davis Presented by A Passion for Language at at 59E59 Theaters 59 E. 59th St., Manhattan, NYC July 15-24, 2022 Priyanka Shetty, Image courtesy A Passion for Language. At one point in The Elephant in the Room , the one-woman show from Philadelphia-based actor, playwright, and director Priyanka Shetty, she says that she feels like someone gets her when she listens to metal (an experience that certainly resonates with some of us, even if we haven't been to Wacken). The struggle to be gotten, to define and carve a place for herself as a woman, an immigrant, and an artist, is at the beating, expansive heart of Shetty's autobiographical Elephant . The play is the second in a triptych: the first, #Charlottesville , which uses interviews with Charlottesville, Virginia, residents to probe the 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally and its aftermath, was presented virtually as part of 2021'...

East to Edinburgh Goes Virtual Presented by 59E59 Theaters via  https://59e59.org/ July 15-25, 2021 Cori Hundt, Jessica Giannone, Desireé Rodriguez, Doron JéPaul Mitchell, & Biko Eisen-Martin in Testament . Photo credit: Jessica Bennett The East to Edinburgh festival comes to 59E59 Theaters this summer in virtual form, as East to Edinburgh Goes Virtual. The lineup of nine shows has been curated by 59E59 Associate Curator Jessica Hart to celebrate the diversity of the Edinburgh Fringe, even if this year's productions won't be physically performed there. The festival's limited run extends from July 15 through July 25, with one $20 festival pass ($18 for 59E59 Members) giving access to all nine shows for on-demand streaming through the 59E59 website. Yesterday, we discussed #Charlottesville and Black Women Dating White Men , a pair of plays constructed verbatim from interviews. Today, in our second of two pieces on the festival, we look at two plays that take a more tra...

East to Edinburgh Goes Virtual Presented by 59E59 Theaters via  https://59e59.org/ July 15-25, 2021 (top, l-r) Christelle Belinga, Clara Emanuel, Risha Silvera, (bottom, l-r) Arianne Carless, and Merryl Ansah in BLACK WOMEN DATING WHITE MEN The East to Edinburgh festival comes to 59E59 Theaters this summer in virtual form, as East to Edinburgh Goes Virtual. The lineup of nine shows has been curated by 59E59 Associate Curator Jessica Hart to celebrate the diversity of the Edinburgh Fringe, even if this year's productions won't be physically performed there. The festival's limited run extends from July 15 through July 25, with one $20 festival pass ($18 for 59E59 Members) giving access to all nine shows for on-demand streaming through the 59E59 website . In the first of two pieces on the festival, we look at #Charlottesville and Black Women Dating White Men , a pair of plays constructed verbatim from interviews. While the focus of the latter might seem in some ways much bro...

Photo by Helen Maybanks Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus, 59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) has announced that the 2020 Brits Off Broadway festival has been canceled. The 15th annual season of new British theater was scheduled to begin on April 14. The 59E59 Theaters Box Office will be in touch with ticket holders directly. In lieu of a refund, 59E59 encourages patrons who can afford it to donate the value of their tickets to 59E59 Theaters to help offset the financial losses they are incurring due to the pandemic. 59E59 remains committed to these artists and is already in discussions about reprogramming most of the previously announced shows into its Brits season in 2021. Additionally, 59E59’s Board of Directors has pledged to continue to pay 59E59’s staff through the end of June. On a cheerier note, audiences can view two productions from this season’s lineup from the comfort and safety of home. Breach’s production...

Mr. Toole Written by Vivian Neuwirth Directed by Cat Parker Presented by Articulate Theatre Company in association with Lagniappe Productions at 59E59 Theaters 59 E. 59th St., Manhattan, NYC February 28-March 15, 2020 Ryan Spahn. Photo by Ken Howard When we first saw Vivian Neuwirth's Mr. Toole , which revolves around the personal and literary struggles—if one can separate the two—of A Confederacy of Dunces author John Kennedy Toole, it was as a short play in the 2014 EstroGenius festival, when we called it a powerful piece and said that it would be easy to imagine as a full-length production . Now, that full-length production has arrived, with a greatly expanded Mr. Toole making its debut at 59E59 Theaters on the fortieth anniversary of the posthumous publication of Toole's Pulitzer Prize-winning comic novel of New Orleans. Mr. Toole explores the messy intersections of loss and preservation, resilience and despair, through the fight for a literary legacy. N...

How to Load a Musket Written by Talene Monahan Directed by Jaki Bradley Presented by Less Than Rent Theatre at 59E59 Theaters 59 E 59th St., Manhattan, NYC January 11-26, 2020 Company, Adam Chanler-Berat in HOW TO LOAD A MUSKET at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Russ Rowland One might expect a play about a niche hobby that falls somewhere between LARPing and the hardcore end of the cosplay spectrum to be an amusing diversion, and How to Load a Musket does have its fair share of lightness and laughs, but it also uses the words of the hobbyists whom it portrays in artfully interwoven snapshots as a way into some of the thorniest issues in the sociopolitical landscape of America today. Playwright Telene Monahan has fashioned How to Load a Musket using, verbatim, material from interviews that she conducted with Revolutionary and Civil War reenactors. The play covers 2015 to 2019, including a perspective-inverting meta section, but if there is one thing that this probing piece pr...