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Elizabeth McGovern as Ava Gardner in Ava: The Secret Conversations, which begins performances Off Broadway this month. Photo by Jeff Lorch.
Catch Elizabeth McGovern's Ava Gardner bio play, an over-the-top parody of The Parent Trap, two new solo comedies directed by Tony winner Sam Pinkleton and more
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No summer vacation for NYC theatre! July openings include Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern as Ava Gardner in a new play, recent Tony winner Sam Pinkleton directing comedic solo shows by Josh Sharp and Morgan Bassichis, a revival of Conor McPherson's The Weir and a campy Parent Trap spoof. These are just some of the promising productions opening Off Broadway in July. We couldn't include everything, so be sure to browse the listings in TDF's Show Finder to see what else is playing. And remember, many of our picks for June are still running!
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The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Avenue near Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Begins July 3. Closes July 12.
A breakout hit at the Exponential Festival in January, this wonderfully weird parody of a nightmarish children's TV show returns for a two-week engagement at experimental theatre hub The Brick. The brainchild of gender-bending artists Sir Cum Sized, Excess Materials and Vape Kid Jr., Vape Kids Cool Zone: The Lost Episode features scary oversize puppets, guns, police brutality and extreme right-wing propaganda. Leave the kids at home!
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Begins July 5. Closes July 27.
Up-and-coming playwright Daniel Holzman has attracted quite the cast for his world premiere Berlindia! about the search for a place to call home... especially after mama moves across an ocean unexpectedly. Off-Broadway stalwarts Pete Simpson (Is This A Room, Infinite Life, Elevator Repair Service), Rita Wolf (NAATCO) and Mike Iveson (What the Constitution Means to Me) are just some of the actors along for this couch-, club- and city-hopping adventure about finding family.
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Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street near Seventh Avenue South in the West Village
Previews begin July 7. Opens July 21. Closes August 23. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
An outré humorist best known as the cocreator and costar of Dicks: The Musical (look it up, Nathan Lane is in it!), Josh Sharp goes solo for his new comedy ta-da!, which doubles as a 2,000-slide PowerPoint presentation. Newly minted Tony winner Sam Pinkleton (Oh, Mary!) directs this smorgasbord of smart, sick and stupid stories—Sharp tends to have zero boundaries.
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WP Theater at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway at 76th Street on the Upper West Side
Previews begin July 8. Opens July 12. Closes July 27. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Following an acclaimed run in 2019 (the Times gave it a critic's pick!), Crystal Skillman's one-woman play Open returns for an encore engagement. Megan Hill reprises her lauded performance as Kirsten, an aspiring writer and amateur magician trying to save the life of her lover Jenny through a variety of tricks. Jessi D. Hill directs this touching exploration of how romance opens you up and leaves you both stronger and more vulnerable.
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Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea
Previews begin July 9. Opens July 17. Closes August 31. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Irish Rep first mounted Conor McPherson's 1997 masterpiece The Weir a dozen years ago, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly and starring Dan Butler, Sean Gormley and John Keating. That team reunited for a 2021 virtual run during the pandemic shutdown. Now they're returning once again to this haunting drama about a quartet of Irishmen sharing ghost stories at a pub in order to impress a comely lass (troupe regular Sarah Street, a new addition to the cast).
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Orpheum Theatre, 126 Second Avenue at 8th Street in the East Village
Previews begin July 10. Opens July 24. Closes October 26. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
A campy parody of The Parent Trap (specifically the 1998 remake starring Lindsay Lohan), this over-the-top comedy centers on redheaded twins separated as tots who bump into each other at sleepaway camp and decide to reunite their estranged parents. Two hilariously mismatched actors, Russell Daniels (Titanique!) and Freestyle Love Supreme standout Aneesa Folds, star in this 80-minute romp, written and directed by Kevin Zak, whose other spoofs include A Kidman Carol, A Gay Dementia on Australian Dames and Little Fucking Women.
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Begins July 10. Closes August 10.
After earning rave reviews at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this satire about the state of the arts returns stateside. Written by the prolific Brian Dykstra, Polishing Shakespeare is a comedy about a billionaire bully (Dykstra) donating a huge sum to a struggling regional theatre to commission easy-to-parse translations of the Bard's plays. Written in iambic pentameter, this comedy asks provocative questions about the financial, ethical and aesthetic challenges of making theatre when artists don't hold the purse strings. Based on a true story!
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New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin July 10. Opens July 24. Closes September 7. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
This jukebox musical from Australia uses the hits of the late 1960s/early 1970s, including "Born to Be Wild," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Gimme Shelter," "Magic Carpet Ride," "The Letter," "All Along the Watchtower" and "Help Me Make it Through the Night," to conjure that tumultuous era, as some young Americans were sent to fight in Vietnam while others protested against the war back home. Praised on tour, this show shares the stories and songs that defined the baby boomer generation.
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New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin July 20. Opens August 13. Closes November 2.
After successful runs in multiple cities including London, British magician Jamie Allan brings his act to NYC. Full of wonder and nostalgia and set in a replica of his childhood home, Amaze showcases Allan's backstory, including touching tales about his late parents, along with his tricks, which range from grand illusions to close-up sleight of hand to his signature "digital art" piece. Come prepared to participate—there are multiple interactive bits.
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La MaMa's The Club, 74A East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins July 23. Closes July 25.
In the 1990s, Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues made original host Steve Burns a star beloved by preschoolers and parents alike. But after he left the series in 2002 to pursue other opportunities, misinformation about his fate spread online, terrible tales of accidents, ODs and violence—all lies. In this solo show co-written by Matthew Freeman (The Ask), Burns reclaims his own narrative as he explores who he truly is versus who the public perceived him to be. For grown-ups only!
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Begins July 23. Closes September 7.
Following well-received runs upstate and in New Jersey, this play chronicling the tragic romance between Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner comes to NYC. Jonathan Randell Silver and Jordan Kai Burnett reprise their lauded performances as the married comic legends in this rom-com-dram by Cary Gitter (The Sabbath Girl), produced by Penguin Rep Theatre.
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Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho
Previews begin July 24. Opens August 4. Closes September 13. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
After a sold-out run at La MaMa last year, writer-performer Morgan Bassichis brings back their solo show Can I Be Frank? for an encore run. Directed by the very busy Sam Pinkleton, who's also helming Josh Sharp's ta-da this month, this one-person play serves as a tribute to the late comedian Frank Maya, one of the first openly gay stand-ups on network TV, as well as a search for LGBTQ+ elders in entertainment when so many died of AIDS.
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Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Previews begin July 29. Opens August 7. Closes August 29.
This dissection of the myth of the American Dream may mark Bubba Weiler's professional playwriting debut, but he's assembled quite the team of collaborators, including Obie-winning director Jack Serio (Grangeville, Danger and Opportunity), and an ensemble featuring Tony nominee Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Doubt), the thrilling Emily Davis (Is This A Room), Constance Shulman (Orange Is the New Black) and Michael Chernus (Severance). Set in a rural Midwestern town, this nonlinear play centers on a woman whose life and community are disintegrating around her.
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New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Midtown West
Begins July 30. Opens August 7. Closes September 13.
Stage and screen actor Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey, Time and the Conways) plays Hollywood icon Ava Gardner in this two-hander, written by McGovern herself. Based on the book The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans & Ava Gardner, which was published after the movie star's death, the play chronicles her incredible life and career, including her many marriages (Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra) and indelible performances in Show Boat, Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, The Night of the Iguana and dozens of other films. Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God) directs, just as he did when the show was in Los Angeles a few years back.
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Claire Mack wrote and stars in Girls Will Be Girls, a world premiere about a trio of college girls who "violently reclaim their virginity" (shades of Tennessee Williams' Camino Real!). Director Atticus Orsborn previously worked with Mack and costar Charlie B. Foster (Jodie's son) on the über-indie flick Soy Boy, and Anora actress Luna Sofia Miranda is also in the cast. Details are intentionally vague, but we expect it will be fierce, feminist and funny.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her on Facebook at @Raven.Snook. Follow TDF on Facebook at @TDFNYC.
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