the week of february 21 - 27, 2025
draculas, menageries, american girl dolls
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Morton | Editorial Support: Ryan Adelsheim
world premieres
Rajiv Joseph’s Dakar 2000 is now running Off Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club. The Senegal-set thriller about “the unlikely relationship (and secrets) between an idealistic Peace Corps volunteer and an imposing State Department operative” is directed by May Adrales.
The Lazours’ Night Side Songs starts performances February 21st at Philadelphia Theatre Company in a co-pro with A.R.T. Taibi Magar directs the new musical exploring “the intimacy of illness, mortality, and the incredible dignity of caregivers.”
John Anthony Loffredo’s Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts runs February 21 - March 30 at Boston Court Pasadena in California. The “raucous, poetic, touching, and dangerous” riff on The Glass Menagerie about “two queer siblings yearning to be understood” is directed by Zi Alikhan.
Diana Burbano’s Sapience starts performances February 23rd at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, OR. Melory Mirashrafi directs the “imaginative exploration of love, communication, and the universal desire to be understood” set in a primatology lab.
Joshua Harmon’s We Had a World starts performances February 25th Off Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club. The “recreation of thirty years of family fights, monstrous behavior, enormous cruelty, and enduring love” is directed by Trip Cullman.
Natalie Margolin’s All Nighter starts previews February 25th Off Broadway. Jaki Bradley directs the dark comedy about a “tight-knit group of college roommates pulling one last all-nighter to complete their final assignments.”
Matthew Capodicasa’s The Scenarios starts performances February 26th at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. Tiffany Nichole Greene directs the “funny and compassionate” dramedy about the tensions that ensue after an actor “lands her weirdest gig yet: improvising scenes with active-duty cops, helping to train them to respond to people in acute mental crisis.”
Ankita Raturi’s Fifty Boxes of Earth runs February 27 - March 16 at Theater Mu in Minneapolis. The “creative response to Bram Stoker's Dracula that weaves in choreography and puppetry to consider the heavy costs of leaving a home and putting down new roots” is directed by KT Shorb.
Sophie Swithinbank’s Bacon is now playing through March 30th at Rogue Machine in Los Angeles. Michael Matthews directs the “unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at power and sexuality, through the dizzying lens of youth.”
The Anthropologists’ axes, herbs and satchels tours to Arts Garage in Delray Beach, FL on February 23rd. The NYC-based, female-led, investigative theater company’s latest devised work “travels across generations with storytelling, movement, southern spirituals, and ritual [to] shine a light on the suppressed history of Black midwives, doulas, and birthing bodies.”
productions
Jennifer Friedrich & Bazuka Joe’s The Uncanny Attic: Chapters A-D runs February 20-22 as part of Steppenwolf’s LookOut performance series in Chicago. The Beautifully Gruesome production is an “absurdist dark comedy told through puppetry, clowning, dance, live music, stop motion animation and an unhealthy dose of death.”
Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens’ A Man of No Importance starts performances February 21st at Speakeasy Stage in Boston. The 1960s Dublin-set musical about “the redemptive power of theatre, love, and friendship” is directed by Paul Daigneault.
Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie runs February 21 - March 16 at The Alley Theatre in Houston, TX. Rob Melrose directs the “classic memory play following a family caught by dreams and delusion.”
Steppenwolf’s production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose starts performances February 25th on Broadway. The “epic drama about a family forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black political power and familial duty” is directed by Phylicia Rashad.
Heather Chrisler’s adapation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women runs February 25 - March 29 at Geva Theater in Rochester, NY. Rachel Alderman directs the literary classic following “the March sisters coming of age against the backdrop of the American Civil War.”
Clubbed Thumb’s production of Abe Koogler’s Deep Blue Sound starts performances February 25th Off Broadway at The Public Theater. The OBIE-winning play about “a Pacific Northwest island community gathering to address the disappearance of the local orca pod” is directed by Arin Arbus.
Romeo and Juliet runs February 25 - March 30 at Milwaukee Rep. Laura Braza directs her own adaptation of “the timeless story of two star-crossed lovers set amidst the backdrop of tight-knit Appalachian mountain communities.”
Rajiv Joseph’s King James starts performances February 26th at Syracuse Stage in a co-pro with Indiana Rep. Set over a decade in Cleveland, the two-hander following “two die-hard Cavaliers fans striking up an unlikely friendship after LeBron James joins the team” is directed by Jamil Jude.
Soho Rep.’s production of Nia Akilah Robinson’s The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar) runs February 26 - March 23 at Playwrights Horizons. Evren Odcikin directs the “darkly comic play about our nation's long practice of harming Black bodies in the name of scientific progress, our responsibility to time, and the role joy plays in living with a history we cannot change.”
Sarina Freda's no no no please no god no, nevermind i’m fine starts performances February 27 at HERE Arts Center in NYC. Tom Costello directs the solo show about “Sarina surviving the most harrowing LSD trip ever, until it isn’t.”
August Wilson’s King Hedley II runs February 27 - March 23 at Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. The ninth play in Wilson’s Century Cycle chronicling a man’s determination to take control of his life after seven years of incarceration is directed by James Ijames.
festivals
Philly GRIT runs February 26 - March 9 at Theatre Exile in Philadelphia. The annual performances series includes Linnea Bond’s solo show Heart Ripped Out Twice And So Can You!, Jacinta Yelland’s solo show KOAL (directed by Trey Lyford), Cookie D’iorio’s cabaret Camp Cookie, and a one-night-only reading of Jackie Soro and Pax Ressler’s American Girl Doll™: The Musical!.
workshops & readings
SEVAN’s How to Watch an Immigrant Have a Racial Nervous Breakdown will have a reading on February 21st at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. The new work is an “audience-interactive musical solo-performance about 7 MENASA immigrants wrestling with Neither-Here-Nor-There experiences of living in the West while asking the difficult question: How can I belong?”
Not Beckett runs February 24 & 25 at Irish Rep in NYC. The staged readings of five new short plays in conversation with Beckett’s work include FELISPEAKS’ Wait, Nicola McCartney’s I Can’t Remember The, Jennifer Barclay’s Never Apologize, Olwen Fouéré’s duet, and Hannah Khalil’s The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son. (The directors are Nicola Murphy Dubey, Olwen Fouéré and Barbara Rubin.)
digital/streaming
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Alice Childress’ Trouble In Mind will be available to stream on demand February 21 – March 23 with the League of Live Stream Theater. The “cutting backstage satire” is directed by Justin Emeka.
the regional theatre game of thrones
Steve H. Broadnax III is the new artistic director of Arkansas Rep. The director (and Little Rock native) was most recently the associate artistic director at People’s Light in Malvern, PA. Interim artistic director Ken-Matt Martin will remain on staff as producing director. (Martin will also simultaneously serve as producing director at Baltimore Center Stage.)
David Saint is retiring as artistic director of George Street Playhouse at the end of this season. He has led the New Brunswick, NJ theatre for 27 years.
2025-26 season updates
Kansas City Rep announced its 2025-26 season. The line-up includes Joanie Schultz and Vanessa Severo’s adaptation of Dracula, Gloria Calderón Kellett’s One of the Good Ones, and two musicals: The Color Purple and The Wizard of Oz (the latter in collaboration with PigPen Theatre Co. and directed by Stuart Carden).
The Alley Theatre announced its 2025-26 season. The Houston company’s line-up includes Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel’s adaptation of The Da Vinci Code (directed by Rob Melrose), Josefina López’s Real Women Have Curves (directed by Lisa Portes), Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (directed by Rob Melrose), August Wilson's Fences (directed by Eileen J. Morris), William Goldman’s adaptation of Misery (directed by Brandon Weinbrenner), Sanaz Toossi’s English (directed by Evren Odcikin), Rachel Wagstaff’s adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd (directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenburg), A Christmas Carol (remount directed by Amber D. Gray), Isaac Gómez’s The Night Shift Before Christmas (directed by KJ Sanchez), and two world premieres: Katie Forgette’s The Body Snatcher (directed by Brandon Weinbrenner) and Liz Duffy Adams’ Dear Alien (directed by Shelley Butler).