Thinking Theater NYC

Syringe Written and directed by Francis Bogan Assistant Directors: Lauren Presley and Gabby Laurendine Producer: Eliza Spinna Presented at Chain Theatre 312 W. 36th St., 4th fl., Manhattan, NYC July 11-30, 2026 Art by Ryan Prehara. IG: @seminalspider  While most horror media ends with the survival–or not–of its protagonist(s), some, such as parts of the Scream franchise or Grady Hendrix's 2021 novel The Final Girl Support Group , considers what happens after that moment of survival. The one-act Syringe , from Brooklyn-based playwright Francis Bogan, joins this less typical strand of horror narrative with its darkly comic look at a group of friends who undergo a Saw -style ordeal. Deftly satirizing our era of true-crime proliferation and internet-driven self-commodification while asking what friendship should look like, Syringe is currently making its premiere at Chain Theatre's Summer One-Act Festival, running from July 9th through August 1st. Syringe is part of Block 18 in ...

Waiting for Gadot Written by Annabel McConnachie Directed by Hannah Marie Pederson Presented at Chain Theatre 312 West 36 Street, Floor 3, Manhattan, NYC February 6-21, 2026 L to R: Ellie Lauther, Gabi Schwartz, Nicole Lado, Kaia Parnell, Spencer Hazen, Isabel Criado. Photo by Callee Egan. Most of us have at some point in our lives done something in imitation of a celebrity whom we admire. Maybe that was taking up an instrument. Maybe it was purchasing something (makeup? clothing? cryptocurrency?) because of an endorsement. Maybe, as in Waiting for Gadot , it was eating oily muffins out of a trash bag. Who can say? The characters in Waiting for Gadot , which made its debut at the Chain Theatre's Winter One-Act Festival this February, are focused on the anticipated arrival not of the ambiguous figure of the Samuel Beckett play on which it riffs but the quite specific, real-life actor Gal Gadot. With Waiting for Gadot , playwright Annabel McConnachie–whose Archive of My Own and...

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...

Layover at Reagan National Written and directed by Kate Katcher Catch Written by Jeryl Brunner Directed by Sara Thigpen Presented by Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Strout, and Barbara Toy Banshee Written by John Patrick Shanley Directed by David Zayas Jr. Hangmen Written by Kyle C. Mumford Directed by Matt Giroveanu Soured Milk Written and directed by Annie Raczko Presented by Chain Theatre 312 West 36th St., Floors 3 and 4, Manhattan, NYC August 8-September 1, 2024 The Chain Theatre's summer 2024 One-Act Festival gathers a wealth of short-form theater, offering 14 separate programs each comprising two to five plays, with a livestream option available for select dates. In four of the five plays that make up Program 14 in the festival, characters confront mortality, to different degrees and in different ways, in several cases through chance encounters, while the fifth presents a life-changing revelation in a slightly different vein. In scenarios and settings ranging from the everyday to th...

Forty-Second Street Forever Written and directed by Peter Rowan Pastiche Written and directed by Kayla Hense Over My Dead Body Written and directed by Esther Caporale Presented by Chain Theatre 312 West 36th St., Floors 3 and 4, Manhattan, NYC August 8-September 1, 2024 The Chain Theatre's summer 2024 One-Act Festival gathers a wealth of short-form theater, offering 14 separate programs each comprising two to five plays, with a livestream option available for select dates. Program 12 presents a trio of plays that find characters confronting, resisting, or pursuing change. From Forty-Second Street Forever 's considerations of personal, familial, and neighborhood histories to the funny but probing philosophical musings of Pastiche and the dark family comedy of Over My Dead Body , this set of one-act shows takes us through a series of entertaining liminalities. Forty-Second Street Forever , written and directed by Peter Rowan and played on a bare stage, finds architect Sean (Tom...

The Heat Written by Andrew Donnelly-Yunga Directed by Giovanna DiSanto Power 1996 Written by Rishi Chowdhary Directed by Tyler Riley Memoryville Written and directed by Philip Cioffari The New Year Written and directed by Max Rosenblum Closed Opening Written and directed by Robert Cantillon Presented by Chain Theatre 312 W. 36th St., Floors 3 & 4, Manhattan, NYC August 8-September 1, 2024 Chain Theatre's summer 2024 One-Act Festival , which features more than 50 new plays and runs through September 1st, brought Program 2, composed of five short plays, to its feet last Sunday, a welcome respite from the muggy summer heat. In fact, the first play of the 5 PM program was entitled The Hea t, written by Andrew Donnelly-Yunga. Director Giovanna DiSanto stages a restaurant shift-break conversation between newbie chef Martin (Ethan Alexander Horbury) and Dante (Sam Sinnott), the old-hand chef. Horbury plays his role vulnerably and with a palpable innocence, until his secret isn't ...