Staff Picks No. 118
Oh, Honey! : Jeana Scotti, Carsen Joenk, Carmen Berkeley, Maia Karo, Dee Pelletier, Jamie Ragusa, and Mara Stephens, Brian McCarthy, Lucas Papaelis, Jesse Pennington, and Ean Sheehy, Sarah Jones, Therese Marie Rigor, Attilio Rigotti, Iliana Paris, Ugly Face Theatre, & Thalia Sablon
Little Egg
October 16th-November 7th 2025
Tomato soup, site-specific theater, and a Sara Holdren-vetted show. Lots to chew on here, and not just the included food: this is a show about mothers whose sons have committed a certain spotlit crime. Time for some grey areas, red soup, and golden honey.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
One of my big regretful misses of last season, now back for my (personal, tomato soup flavored) redemption. A lot about this work excites me - the immersive setting, the subject matter and themes, and importantly directed by the great Carsen Joenk, so this will be a miss-it-and-weep rec from me, team!
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
Not to be a big ol bandwagon guy, but I cannot let it stop me that two other Staff Pickers picked this show. I want to go to this, too, dammit! I like soup! I like site specific stuff that feels special! I like clever artists making unique projects!
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Dambudzo : nora chipaumire
BAM
October 8th-9th 2025
This show, and its clear sense of joy, neighborhood vibes, and free beer, offered a playground for audiences to roam (and sweat through, depending on your soccer and dancing appetite) for 90 cell-reorienting minutes. I chatted more about this in The Brooklyn Rail. Go, go, go.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
Gwyneth Goes Skiing : Linus Karp, Joseph Martin, Leland, Darren Criss, Cat Cohen, Trixie Mattel
SoHo Playhouse
October 10th-November 16th 2025
I think we need MORE sendups of celebrities being fucking fools, actually. That's it, that's the pitch.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
Amusements (Special Taping) : Ikechukwu Ufomadu
LifeWorld
October 8th-9th
If you know Ike, you are already going to this. If you do not know Ike, go to this. And subscribe to his substack, 5 Boring Observations. And see him in Tartuffe very soon at NYTW. Etc etc go to all the stuff Ike does. Even if you think you have seen it before. It is always magical.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
The Mutables : Kat Mustatea, Rocky Duval, Marie Lloyd Paspe, Felix Bryan, Lo Poppy, Jonathan Colafrancesco
HERE Arts
October 8th-11th 2025
Intrigue and wild strangeness at HERE this week, only four shows, two are sold out, grab tix now! In Kat Mustatea’s piece, performers use custom-built tech to create spoken language one syllable at a time through gesture and movement sequences. Drawing from Balkan folklore, the trope of feminine curse-giver, and critique of totalitarianism, this work looks so uncanny and potent. Come through!
Staffer: Joshua Dumas
Jewish Plot : Torrey Townsend, Sarah Hughes
The Brick Theater
October 16th-November 1st 2025
I really can’t explain much about why you should see this except I think this will be a very unexpected, strange evening with a powerhouse team behind it. But go forth! Perhaps thou art soothed by the thought of explosive melodramatic persuasions? Or astounded by the thought of a work from the playwright behind THE WORKSHOP? Go on a blind date for yourself, trust me! I’ll be there 10/17 if you want a pal.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
CASSANDRA : Lesia Ukrainka, Artemis Wheelock, Jacob Anderson, Mari Blake, E Mani Cadet, Dominika Handzlik, Isis Henderson, Melinda Nanovsky, Jerilyn Sackler, and Thomas Shuman
Teatro LATEA
October 9th-19th 2025
Lesia Ukrainka! The secret master doyenne of Ukrainian drama who you should know about, whose work should be in our classics classes, is getting a rare production in NYC as part of the Ukrainian Cultural Festival. We may not get a chance like this again soon! But hopefully I am wrong, because we all kind of need a beautiful revival of THE FOREST SONG somewhere big and expensive but for now, go see CASSANDRA
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
The Angel That Troubled The Waters : Eno River Players, Leo Egger
Target Margin Theater
October 10th-12th 2025
Oooo, a very rare treat indeed to see some Thornton Wilder that never gets performed and seeing what was going on in the mind of a writer I think was one of the formally radical of his time! You know OUR TOWN, you know THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, but this is a weirder, still bighearted Wilder that needs to be seen.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer