Staff Picks No. 127
The Nativity : Taylor Trensch, Michael R. Jackson, Josh Sharp, Natalie Walker
St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery
December 13th-14th 2025
It's the best "musical theatre" score you'll hear all year. $30 donation, two nights only, one hour of true true fun fun. Can't stress enough.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
Edelweiss : Christopher Ford, Dakota Rose, Andrew R. Butler, Chloe Kernaghan, Chiara Johnson, Sofia Dobrushin, Derek Smith, MiMi Scardulla, Ellen Winter, Shannon Holt
SoHo Playhouse
December 13th-21st 2025
New York's greatest Christmas tradition returns, from the geniuses at On the Rocks Theatre Co. - Santa is dead, the elves are in crisis, the tunes are tuneful. Good King Wenceslas went down to the feast of Stephen or something.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
HOLE PICS x Performance Space New York's Annual Holiday Party : FASHION, ARCHANGEL, Cherry Jaymes, Miss Ma'am She, MTHR TRSA, Buffy Sierra
Performance Space New York
Friday December 12th 2025
An inspired lineup of experimental drag awaits you at Performance Space New York's Annual Holiday Party, organized this year with the MTHR TRSA-founded and Buffy Sierra-produced performance art collective HOLE PICS. I don't really think you can go wrong with buying tickets to this.
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
The Trial of Modicut : Sir Cum Sized, Ozzy Irving Gold-Shapiro, Ira Khonen Temple, Raffi Boden, Yael Horowitz
LifeWorld
Thursday December 18th 2025
THIS IS KIND OF MADE EXACTLY FOR ME? As both a Yiddish theatre obsessive, lover of live music and puppetry, hoarder of PDFs about Maud & Cutler, this is an evening I will be at! Sat! Enjoying myself with gusto and vigor! Sexy people go see the work about the Modicut Theatre! Happy Hanukkah, bitches.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
CAPTCHA Analysis : Alina Jacobs, Blake Robbins, Madeline Friedman, Mallory Baker, Drew Hubert, Donna Allen
We Like That Don't We
December 18th-20th 2025
Reasons to go see this (VERY SOLD OUT)
1. Apartment venue
2. NEW LIFE HAMLET CONSTRUCTION(Jacobs & Robbins, 2025)!!!!!!!!!!!
3. My favourite writer-director pair in New York
(YOU WILL NOT GET IN)
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
AMANDA : Mo Holmes
Bushwick Starr (Part of the Bushwick Starr reading series)
Thursday December 11th 2025
"What if you could bite your Mother? What if you could be her? Defend her? Touch her? During play time, you can." My god! I love AMANDA. I love Mo Holmes and you will too. This is work that is macabre, and sexy, and really, really fun, but also devastating, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ANXIOUSLY ATTACHED LOL. Give your Thursday night up to mommy issues and let Holmes repeatedly slug you in the gut at the Bushwick Starr Reading Series.
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
Chicken : Pei Pei Barth Wu, Jack Whitescarver, Henry Adeson, Justin Florence, Angelina Hoffman, Gwendolyn Knapp, Weston Priest
Pageant
December 11th-12th 2025
The words "WHAT IS CHICKEN: EMERGENCY ROUNDTABLE" are enough to sell me on this. What's going on? Who knows. Who cares! It's Chicken.
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
Cloud States : Jian Yi, Yuxi Ma, Yining Chi, Tuçe Yasak, Stephanie Acosta
CPR
December 11th-12th 2025
Sometimes I am drawn to reflective, gentle, atmospheric performance and installation. I do not always need to be in a splash zone of a bawdy thrill ride… I guess one of the things I love most about NY is that one can access both. My weekend suggestion would be to go experience Jian Yi’s poetic spaces and contemplative vibes and then go to something in beautiful contrast, like my previous Picks - Rawya El Chab’s Crossing the Water at The Brick or Das Besties at Box of Moonlight.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister