Staff Picks No. 133
Watch Me Walk : Anne Gridley
Playwrights Horizons/SoHo Rep (Under the Radar)
January 15th-February 15th 2026
This play may be in Midtown, but all hail downtown legend Anne Gridley, who is always a captivating orator and stage presence. I'm excited to see how she uses autobiography as a theatrical vehicle, and multi-talented Alex Gibson is also on hand to, I'm sure, surprise and delight.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
The First Line of Dante’s Inferno : Kirk Lynn, Christian Parker, Mary Alex Daniels, Zach Blane, Lauren Helpern, Theresa Squire, Bart Fasbender, Sam Grocock, Emily Griffith, Kellie Overbey, Evan Sibley, Greg Stuhr, Shadowed Forest
La MaMa
February 5th-22nd 2026
Fun fact, my first interface with this work was a segment published in the Paris Review and I thought…how do you stage this? But so arises a work from the mind of one of the Rude Mechs (THE METHOD GUN and LIPSTICK TRACES heads, rise up), so I think this is an outing worth the jaunt to La Mama, from a new theater company and one of American playwriting’s most original craftspeople.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
Indivisible Brooklyn: Take Action : You!
the internet and in-person
Ongoing, some one-time and some repeat 2026
Coming down from making a show always comes with the rocky transition back into the world/news cycle. I’ve been feeling that extra hard this weekend. Please go see all the brilliant shows wrapping up January festival season! And while you’re waiting in a lobby or for a train, check out this list of actions/groups so you can join in the ongoing fights to protect our neighbors from ICE and fight the rollbacks in healthcare funding.
Staffer: Noa Rui-Piin Weiss
are you listening? : Noma Mirny, Ciera Miller, Isabelle Chirls
The Maker’s Space
January 21st - February 1st 2026
I really, really, really love Noma Mirny’s work. Mirny is a playwright fluent in the small languages of intimacy, meticulously capturing the most precarious of relationships in all of their tenderness and strife. A champion of lesbian theatre— they are one of the forces behind the beloved Dyke Theater Co.— Mirny has adapted Tillie Walden’s graphic novel “Are You Listening?”. As made evident from the 2024 Good Apples Collective reading of their play Among The Coats, Mirny is the rare sort of playwright whose work actually thrives in a reading context.
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
HOLE PICS: SOPHIE : Buffy, MTHR TRSA, Amygdala, Bri Joy, Cherry Jaymes, Easton Blake Payne, Essence, ETHEREALGIRL, Laurel Charleston, Maxi Hawkeye Canion, Miss Ma’am She, PUPPIES PUPPIES, PVMNT, Reina NoBuena
Judson Memorial Church
Friday January 30th 2026
HOLE PICS dedicates a night to memorializing and celebrating SOPHIE. Expect a mesmerizing procession of cutting-edge, avant garde performance. Funds raised go to Black Trans Femmes in the Arts and Black Trans Liberation. Flamer is sponsoring :)
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
without mirrors : David Greenspan, Jerry Lieblich, Third Ear Theater Co., Kate McGee, Johnny Gasper
The Brick
February 12th-28th 2026
Le sigh. Another show that I will “miss” because I will be in KS. BUT! I get to go to a rehearsal and I am SO glad. It is actually physically and spiritually painful to me to miss a David Greenspan show. I have only missed one in 22 years. If that is not enough compelling evidence that you should go to this show, Jerry is a truly unique and brilliant playwright. Did you see Barbarians?! If not, did you see it on practically every “Best Theater of 2026” list?! And then design by Kate and Johnny. A doy. This is gonna be special. Like, not-to-be-missed special.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Fashion : Amanda Horowitz, Jess Barbagallo, Lorenzo Bueno, Annie Fang, Sterling Gates, Carolyn Kettig, Linda Mancini, Anne O’Sullivan, Pete Simpson, Ned Riseley, Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and Jehan O. Young
LifeWorld (The Exponential Festival)
January 29th - February 2nd 2026
I can think of a dozen reasons to see Fashion, and they are Amanda Horowitz, Jess Barbagallo, Lorenzo Bueno, Annie Fang, Sterling Gates, Carolyn Kettig, Linda Mancini, Anne O'Sullivan, Pete Simpson, Ned Riseley, Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke, and Jehan O. Young.
Sometimes, the mind does not have the ability to read a blurb. Blurbs blur. Names I trust I like, and this one is a hearty soup.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
The Dinosaurs : Jacob Perkins, Les Waters, dots, Yuki Link, Oana Botez, Palmer Hefferan
Playwrights Horizons
February 4th-March 1st 2026
Jacob Perkins wrote the magnificent THE GOLD ROOM, which premiered at HERE a few years back, and when I heard he had another play coming up, I immediately put it on my radar. It sounds like the kind of dramatic work where time bends, where people’s lives shoot through the wind like arrows, with Les Waters helming, so a perfect match to material. Ace design team to boot (I am a dots fan through and through).
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
Anti Sound Bath : Shiloh Blue, Saarup/West, Daaniel Shinbaum, Xykels, Georges
Idiot Machine
Sunday February 1st 2026
The last show at Idiot Machine before it closes! Includes an “open improvised live score of David Lynch’s ‘The Grandmother.’” Idiot Machine will be accepting donations going directly to immigrant families in Minneapolis.
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
Tit’s Over : Joel Pipitone, Tallie Medel, Pencils of Color, Ethan Lindhout, Hannah Mitchell, Ruby Spies, Michael Oluokun, Brooke Finegold, Toula Sierros
Singers
Sunday February 1st 2026
A stand up and clown show to raise funds for Joel Pipitone’s top surgery! This lineup is both stacked and deliciously varied, so there’s something for everyone here. I’m also delighted to see so many artists I know from completely different contexts (college AND The Brick AND IG mutuals of IG mutuals) sharing the bill. This one’s a real “everybody in New York knows each other” moment for me.
Staffer: Leah Plante-Wiener
MANO A MANO: an operatic monodrama : Paul Pinto
La MaMa
February 12th-22nd 2026
One of the most incredible vocalists I know is taking on the role of medieval storytelling bard, exploring the wide world of toxic masculinity. I have a livestream ticket for the 19th since I will be in KS and I know his 5 octaves will travel through space and time and the screen to reach me. But if you can be in NY, in person, please do it. It will be stunning.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Cimino’s Defeat : Adult Film, Eric Faris, Sam Cini, Ryan Czerwonko, Tad D'Agostino, Hannah Hale, Gia Bonello, Matthew Zimmerman, Kristiana Priscantelli, Jeremy Cohen, Joey D'Amore, Trevor Clarkson, Caroline Cassidy, Joshua Matteo
The Torn Page
January 20th-February 14th 2026
I came of age in the 1990s and dig into allllll the films of the 1970s. I would sit with my friends Wyatt and Sheen on this old couch and watch VHS of all the big filmmakers. I was the BEST at the movie game. So, this Adult Film project taps into a deep part of me and I cannot wait to see it at The Torn Page, of all magical places.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister