‘Guac’
Manuel Oliver has performed this play, about his son who died in the 2018 Parkland shooting, at the Public Theater downtown. Now he inaugurates a new Upper Manhattan space with a bilingual version of the show, in English and Spanish. (Through Oct. 10, the People’s Theater)
‘Soon’
A 20-something woman shuts out the world as she waits for its end in this indie-pop musical by Nick Blaemire (“Safety Not Guaranteed”). Will Blum directs for Out of the Box Theatrics. (Through Nov. 8, the Loft at St. Luke’s Theater)
‘Toc Toc’
Laurent Baffie’s French comedy about a group of psychiatric patients is performed in Spanish (sans English translation), using Julián Quintanilla’s adaptation. Rafa Sánchez directs. (Oct. 1-April 11, Repertorio Español)
‘Unveiling’
The price of comfort is merely the sacrifice of one’s moral principles in this dark comedy by the Czech dissident playwright Vaclav Havel, directed by Edward Einhorn for Untitled Theater Company No. 61. (Oct. 1-17, Torn Page)
‘Puppet Up!’
The Jim Henson puppets in this show by his son Brian Henson have a certain Muppety look about them, but here they’re doing improv and sketch comedy for adults. (Oct. 2-3, BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center)
‘I’m Not Even Half’
The actor Layla Khoshnoudi becomes a playwright-performer with this solo show, in which a woman in Brooklyn is hit by a car while watching an Iranian uprising on her phone. Machel Ross directs. (Oct. 6-24, the Bushwick Starr)
‘King of the Yees’
Lauren Yee’s “Mother Russia” was a boisterous hit last season. Now here’s an earlier, more personal play of hers — about family and heritage, through a surreal comic lens. The Tony Award winner Francis Jue plays her dad, Larry. (Oct. 6-Nov. 15, Signature Theater)
‘Machine Learning’
Emma Ramos, Douglas Smith, Delaney Rowe and Michele Selene Ang star in Kate Vozella’s dark comedy about intimacy and technology. Colm Summers directs for Little Engine Theater. (Oct. 6-30, Manhattan Neighborhood Network)
‘The Nicest Body Ever Seen Around These Parts’
A small-town murder forces a reckoning in this solo work by the Catalan playwright Josep Maria Miró, starring Rachel Crowl and directed by Mei Ann Teo for the Play Company. (Oct. 7-Nov. 7, 2nd Floor Theater at 122CC)
‘School Pictures’ and ‘Two Girls’
The still-experimenting management of this venerable playhouse borrows a model from art-house cinemas: two shows a night, one early (Milo Cramer’s tuneful “School Pictures”), one late (Eliya Smith’s provocative “Two Girls”), each ticketed separately. (Oct. 7-Nov. 8, Cherry Lane Theater)
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Andrew Durand, who made such an uncanny corpse in “Dead Outlaw,” plays the title role in Jethro Compton and Darren Clark’s musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story of a man aging backward. (Oct. 8-Dec. 6, Public Theater)
‘The Heart’
The race to transplant a heart into the person who needs it is the pulse of this musical by Kait Kerrigan, Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath. Christopher Ashley directs for Roundabout Theater Company. (Oct. 8-Dec. 6, Laura Pels Theater)
‘Tom at the Farm’
The Brazilian director Rodrigo Portella stages Michel Marc Bouchard’s play, in which a man discovers that his dead boyfriend’s gayness was a secret from his family. In Portuguese with English captioning. (Oct. 8-10, NYU Skirball)
‘Triumph’
This new work by Caryl Churchill, master of the micro-play, clocks in at 20 minutes. Annaleigh Ashford stars as Iris, press secretary to Roman emperors, opposite Joe Tapper as Marcus. Tickets are free. Saheem Ali directs. (Oct. 8-18, Public Theater)
‘Crave’
Sarah Kane’s spare, anguished one-act gets a close-quarters revival from Hoi Polloi. Alec Duffy directs. (Oct. 9-24, East Village Basement)
‘Prelude’
Anne Bogart directs this free outdoor production from En Garde Arts, using excerpts from 10 plays by Charles L. Mee, with songs by the Lazours and costumes by Machine Dazzle. Part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave festival. (Oct. 13-15, the plaza at 300 Ashland)
‘Rope’
Two Princeton grad students, a fresh corpse, a dinner party: Gordon Greenberg adapts Patrick Hamilton’s classic play. Scott Elliott directs for the New Group. (Oct. 13-Dec. 6, Theater at St. Clement’s)
‘The 4th Witch’
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” echoes through this Manual Cinema production, which uses live actors and musicians, shadow puppets and overhead projectors to create a handcrafted movie about a war orphan and the witch who takes her in. (Oct. 15-17, NYU Skirball)
‘Kojiki de Creation’
Gods, myths and fantastical creatures mingle with ancient history in this new piece of puppet theater by Maiko Kikuchi. (Oct. 15-18, Japan Society)
‘Show Trial’
Laura Zlatos based this political satire in part on transcripts of the Czech dissident Milada Horakova’s trial for treason in 1950. Tom Costello (“And Then the Rodeo Burned Down”) directs the world premiere. (Oct. 15-Nov. 8, the Tank)
‘I Became We’
Taking advantage of the rich acoustics of Atlantic Theater Company’s main stage, a 16-person choir voices a woman’s monologue in this new play by Mona Pirnot, with music by Jack D. Coen and lyrics by Pirnot and Coen. Sarah Benson directs. (Oct. 16-Nov. 15, Linda Gross Theater)
‘Sea Wall’
The playwright Simon Stephens wrote this intimate, eviscerating 2008 monologue about a sun-kissed life for Andrew Scott, who has performed it onstage and onscreen. Here he does both: Tina Satter’s staging is being shot for a film. (Oct. 16-30, Studio Seaview)
‘Aftermath’
A young journalist recovers after his kidnapping by the Taliban in this play by David Zax. Colton Pometta directs a cast that includes Steven Skybell. (Oct. 19-Nov. 8, A.R.T./New York Theaters)
‘Four Walls and a Roof’
Bertolt Brecht’s testimony in 1947 before the House Un-American Activities Committee was the raw material for this theater piece by the Lebanese artists Rabih Mroué and Lina Majdalanie, whose own experience as exiles became an element of the show. (Oct. 22-24, NYU Skirball)
‘Greef’
How to go on after the death of the person who was your partner in performance and in life? The clown artist Christina Gelsone made this physical theater piece about grief and wove humor into it. (Oct. 22-24, Baryshnikov Arts Center)
‘In the Heights’
David Mendizábal (“Mexodus”) directs this revival of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s musical, starring Matte Martinez as Usnavi and Natalie Venetia Belcon, a Tony winner for “Buena Vista Social Club,” as his Abuela Claudia. (Oct. 28-Nov. 15, New York City Center)
‘The Executrix’
A new play by the very funny Emma Horwitz (“Mary Gets Hers” and “Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods”). Sarah Blush directs for the company Two Sisters. (Oct. 29-Nov. 14, the Doxsee Theater)
The post 28 Off Broadway Shows to See in a Bursting October appeared first on New York Times.
