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Drag History Hour, one of 20 cutting-edge shows in the annual Queerly Festival. Photo by Bertha Vanayshun.
Catch new plays, queer celebrations and avant-garde experiments at low ticket prices
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During the summer, NYC's Off-Off Broadway scene is all about innovative and inexpensive theatre festivals. Catch LGBTQ+ shows at Queerly, PrideFest and the Criminal Queerness Festival; Scotland-bound offerings at 59E59's East to Edinburgh and female-forward works at Women in Theater, SheNYC Arts and LimeFest. At these events, ambitions are high while prices are low. In fact, TDF members can snag tickets as cheap as $11 to some shows, so you can afford to take a chance. Not a TDF member? Consider joining our Go Off-Off and Beyond program, which gives you access to discount tickets to indie theatre for a one-time fee of five bucks.
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Ars Nova, 511 West 54th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 3-18.
Ars Nova is known for showcasing some of the most thrilling up-and-comers in town—this is where Lin-Manuel Miranda and The Great Comet started! This year's edition of its annual ANT (All New Talent) Fest includes Area D (June 11), about a spirited Palestinian pop group competing at Eurovision; the anything-goes variety revue Showgasm (June 12); The Monkeypox Gospel (June 16) from The New Yorker podcaster Ngofeen Mputubwele; and a folk song cycle inspired by Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya (June 18). Tickets are pay-what-you-wish starting at $15. Can't go in person? Ars Nova also offers a live-streaming platform for $15 a month.
See the full ANT Fest 2025 lineup.
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Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 11-28.
While it may seem odd that this fest takes place mostly in Midtown, downtown is truly a state of mind. Founded in 2001 as the Downtown Urban Theater Festival, this annual event has evolved into a multidisciplinary showcase of performances and panels by BIPOC artists. The centerpiece is America, Who Hurt You?, a searing solo show about the sorry state of our country by chameleonic Tony winner Sarah Jones, which runs June 13 and 14 at Joe's Pub. The rest of the programming, all at Theatre Row, includes a series of one-acts by emerging playwrights about timely topics such as racism in policing, intersectionality and the end of the world, plus the subway-set musical The Train Stoppers (June 26).
See the full Downtown Urban Arts Festival lineup.
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HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue at Dominick Street in Soho
Runs June 11-28.
Founded in 2019, National Queer Theater's Obie-winning Criminal Queerness Festival moves to HERE this year with a trio of works by artists from countries where being LGBTQ+ can get you jailed or killed. Jedidiah Mugarura's Tomorrow Never Came (June 11-22) centers on a closeted soldier in 1987 Uganda. What Are You to Me (June 13-22) by Dena Igusti explores two generations of Indonesian lesbians impacted by the 1998 Jakarta riots. Finally, the bilingual musical frikiNation (June 24-28) uses songs from the Cuban band EsKoria to conjure the 1990s punk scene on the isle.
See the full Criminal Queerness Festival 2025 lineup.
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Under St. Marks, 94 St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village
Runs June 12-July 3. At press time, several Queerly shows were available. Log in and search for Queerly.
Put on your lavender-colored glasses for FRIGID New York's 11th annual Queerly Festival, a grab bag of LGBTQ+ culture. This year's theme is queer resilience and revolution and highlights include the trans-punk Frankenstein riff Mary & The Shelleys (June 13 and 28); Seerat Jhajj's solo comedy The Gay Social Network (June 18); a Harlem Renaissance-themed Drag History Hour (June 20); the romantic comedy Gay Cowboys (June 26-27); and the bawdy burlesque Glitter Uprising: A Deliciously Disobedient Queer Revue (June 30). Tickets are sliding scale and many performances are also being live-streamed to at-home audiences.
See the full Queerly Festival lineup.
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A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 West 53rd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 13-29. At press time, several Women in Theater shows were available. Log in and search for Women in Theater.
The first of three fests this summer showcasing works by women and nonbinary artists, Project Y Theatre's Women in Theater Festival features a trio of full-fledged productions alongside readings, workshops and networking events. Dorothy's Dictionary (June 13-29) explores the unlikely friendship between a volatile teen and a dying librarian; in David and Katie Get Re-Married (June 20-28), indie theatre cutups David Carl and Katie Hartman play on-again, off-again spouses sharing their misguided romantic advice in song; and the comedy Powersuits (June 26-28) skewers gender norms and corporate culture.
See the full Women in Theater lineup.
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Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 14-22.
One of NYC's leading Asian-American theatre companies, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, presents this annual showcase of experimental works by AAPI artists. There are four programs featuring two shows each, including Your Movie Guide to Life (June 14 and 19), an autobiographical solo show from Gran Torino star Bee Vang; Kotsu-Kotsu (June 15 and 20) about a manga artist grappling with breast cancer; Howard Ho's Where I'm From (June 17 and 21) about growing up in the San Gabriel Valley; and Katsuto Sakogashira's one-man play What Oppenheimer (2023) Did Not Show You (June 18 and 22) examining the impact of the atomic bomb on one Hiroshima family.
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 20-29.
Indie theatre hub The Tank presents its annual PrideFest, an eclectic lineup of genre-defying queer culture. There are 30 shows packed into 10 days, including Retro(aid): a musical sankofa offering (June 22), which conjures a Black queer church environment; a cabaret from drag chanteuse Lena Horné (June 23); Let Us Be Glad, Let Us Be Grateful (June 23) about a nonbinary performer auditioning for the part of Glinda in Broadway's Wicked; The Puritans (June 26) centering on a modern-day queer man whose parents are 17th century pilgrims; and Miss Woman's live lip sync of a season 1 Sex and the City episode (June 27).
See the full PrideFest lineup.
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Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey Streets on the Lower East Side
Runs July 7-July 26.
June may be Pride Month, but the celebration continues in July at Dixon Place's HOT! Festival, one of the oldest queer culture fests in NYC (since 1992!). Theatre, dance, music, readings, puppetry and comedy are all on tap as dozens of LGBTQ+ artists take over the venue's two stages. This year's edition includes evenings of comedy (July 10) and dance (July 11); Shelton Whimsy’s fabulous retrospective Minor History of Major Homosexuals (July 15); Don’t Cry For Me – My Yeshiva (July 15) about Joe Fox straight-passing while making a doc about gay marriage; and Rachel Saruski's The Anecdotes of a Lesbian Princess (July 21).
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Runs July 8-27.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest performance festival in the world, takes place in August. But the month before, 59E59 Theaters' East to Edinburgh series gives NYC audiences a sneak peek at some of the homegrown shows heading to Scotland. This year's edition consists of 15 intriguing offerings, including a play about LGBTQ activist Edie Windsor (July 8-12); a docudrama about the racist 2017 Charlottesville rally (July 11-13); a bio show about MGM musical star Ann Miller (July 15-19); Saloon Girls (July 16-19) about 19th-century brothel workers; a trio of rarely seen one-act plays by Lanford Wilson (July 17-19); and Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh (July 25-27), a journey through the talented, tortured mind of the artist.
See the full East to Edinburgh lineup.
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Chain Theatre, 312 West 36th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs July 10-August 2.
The Chain Theatre presents more than 90 (!) short plays by both emerging and established playwrights on the venue's two stages. Highlights include a pair of one-acts by busy screen actor Paul Calderón; the dark comedy What Happened Was starring three-time Daytime Emmy winner Cady McClain and directed by Austin Pendleton; and a Dungeons & Dragons-style adventure from one of the folks behind that brand's long-running interactive Off-Broadway show. Each performance features two to five playlets and programs 7 through 25 will also be available to live-stream.
See the full Chain Summer One-Act Festival lineup.
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Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues in the East Village
Runs July 15-27.
Despite its binary title, SheNYC has expanded its mission to showcase work by all gender-marginalized creators, essentially anyone who doesn't identify as a cisgender man. This edition features eight new productions, including the musicals The Garden Bridge about an Austrian Jewish family that flees to Shanghai during in World War; (July 23 and 26) and Wilderness! (July 24 and 26) about teens in a rural therapy program; and the plays Goatman (July 16-17) about a romantic getaway ruined by the sudden death of a parent and The Word of the Day (July 19-20) about a twentysomething obsessed with linguistics.
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AMT Theater, 354 West 45th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs July 24-August 17.
Founded in 2017, this aspirational fest (so far, none of its alums have made it to Broadway) returns after a three-year hiatus. The four-week event showcases four new musicals, including one about Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, another about two financial bros turned gigolos; and eight eclectic new plays.
See the full Broadway Bound lineup.
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Under St. Marks Theater, 94 St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village
Runs July 31-August 17.
Zhuzh up your Shakespeare at FRIGID's fifth annual fest featuring gender-expansive takes on the Bard's canon. This year's theme is "Not Your English Teacher's Shakespeare" and there are many inventive riffs, including the over-the-top Hamlet: La Telenovela; Two Households, a queer reinvention of Romeo and Juliet; UNSEX’d, about two young men vying to originate the role of Lady Macbeth; and the merry mash-up As You Wish It or The Bride Princess or What You Will.
See the full Little Shakespeare Festival lineup.
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The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs August 4-24.
The Tank's annual fest showcases new works by marginalized gender artists, i.e. non-cis-dudes. The theatre's innovative artistic director, Meghan Finn, curates. Once the lineup's finalized, you'll find it here.
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Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets in the East Village
Runs August 24-September 14.
Founded by indie performance mecca Theater for the New City in 2010, this annual fest showcases work by artists from across the country. Two dozen or so productions will be performed on the venue's multiple stages. A great way to check out the breadth of programming at this downtown landmark, which feels like stepping into the East Village's funky past. Once the lineup's finalized, you'll find it here.
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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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