Thinking Theater NYC

Breaking the Trust Written by Bill Rogers Directed by Gerald vanHeerden Presented by Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival, Crystal Field, Executive Director, at  Theater for the New City 155 First Avenue, Manhattan, NYC September 2-7, 2025 Jane Seaman, Wynne Anders, Shauna Bloom It’s a truism that death can bring out the worst in people, but it is no less true that death can bring out the worst about people as well. While Breaking the Trust , a play by Bill Rogers having its NYC premiere as part of the Dream Up Festival 2025 at Theater for the New City, initially seems to be an illustration of the former, by the end of this very funny play, the family has moved beyond their anger over inheritance to anger over and then reconciliation with their pasts. Siblings Norah (Wynne Anders), the eldest; Martha (Jane Seaman), the wealthiest; and Lorna (Shauna Bloom), the youngest; and their sister Donna (Deborah Unger), who stayed nearer to their childhood home than her sisters, are t...

  Dismantling Prospero Written by Tom Rowan Directed Kevin Ray Choreographed by Ai Toyoshima Produced by Marty Goldin@ TBD Capital, LLC Presented as part of the Dream Up Festival at Theater for the New City 155 First Avenue, Manhattan, NYC August 24-September 7, 2025 Andy Start and Joshua Elijah Lewis. Photo by Kevin Ray. A storm is brewing in the Midwestern University Dance Department in Tom Rowan's timely and trenchant new production, Dismantling Prospero . Set in the years immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, the play follows veteran dance professor Griffin Bates (Andy Start) as he mounts a new ballet version of The Tempest , putting wild waters into a proper roar. In a bold flourish of ego (and perhaps vaulting ambition) he casts himself as Prospero, transforming the rehearsal process into a battleground over artistry, authority, and the pressures of contemporary campus politics. In an era of bad faith questions, quick answers, and even quicker judgments, Dismantling Prospe...

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 ...

Matt, James and Ben in Lord Finnington Bus in The Positively Puzzling Case of the Purloined Pelvis: At Vicar's Gate Written by James Sweeney and Matt Tanzosh Directed and designed by James Sweeney, Matt Tanzosh, and Ben Fletcher Presented by Theater for the New City , Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, at Theater for the New City 155 First Ave., Manhattan, NYC August 25-September 2, 2024 Ben Fletcher and Matt Tanzosh. Photo courtesy of the artists. Classic British detective fiction, of the Arthur Conan Doyle/Michael Innes/Agatha Christie/Dorothy L. Sayers variety, popularized tropes that are still inescapably familiar today (think, for example, of the investigator climatically gathering everyone together in a drawing room to make a bit of a show of explaining their solution to the crime). Matt, James and Ben in Lord Finnington Bus in The Positively Puzzling Case of the Purloined Pelvis: At Vicar's Gate takes these tropes, supercharges them, gives them a hilariously NS...

The Waiting Room Written by Vel Grande Directed by Dennis Oliveira Presented by Theater for the New City , Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, at Theater for the New City 155 First Ave., Manhattan, NYC August 25-31, 2024 L to R: Heather Alzapiedi, Brett Fox, and Jake Declan. Photo by Dan Morales  To say that life is often illogical if not outright nonsensical certainly qualifies as an understatement. Making its world premiere this month, The Waiting Room , a comedic one-act from Utah-based playwright, novelist, and short story writer Vel Grande, joins the venerable tradition of theater exploring the search for meaning amidst the absurdity of existence. Expertly blending metatheatrical and existential comedy, The Waiting Room is currently part of the 2024 Dream Up Festival  at Theater for the New City (TNC). The new works festival, in its twelfth iteration this year, runs from August 25th to September 15th and is dedicated to discovering new authors and challenging, no...

Fight Over the Breeches; Gift of Louis E. Shecter, 1972, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Theater for the New City, Crystal Field (Artistic Director), FFP, and Stage Voices proudly present the Off-Off Broadway world premiere of Tongs and Bones Shakespeare , based on footnote, or,  generally, off-marquee characters, in the Bard’s plays. The theatrical quartet, by Bob Shuman, is directed by Frank Farrell and has been selected as part of Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival, August 25-September 15, 2024, curated by Michael Scott-Price and Crystal Field.  Playing at the Community Theater in the Theater for the New City complex, the one-acts, included as part of the Tempestuous Amusements, Interludes, Noises, and Drollery are The Wanton Wind , based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream ; From a Cloven Pine , a prequel to The Tempest ; and The Coxcomb’s Wedding , inspired by As You Like It . Additionally, Farrell and his actors have agreed to provide a bonus rea...