THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Boy Santos

November 5, 2026 – November 29, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

No show November 26, Thanksgiving

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: Approx. 90-110 minutes, not including 10 min intermission.
JOHNSON THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

An older Puerto Rican man, Charlie Santos, forced to walk home after a train malfunction, encounters a dangling red door, hanging precipitously from the entrance of an abandoned building, that immediately reawakens memories of his impoverished childhood in Spanish Harlem, 1962. The memories are brought into focus by a Narrator and revolve around Charlie’s quest to discover the cause of his infant brother’s death. Tracing events that unfold about him on the stage, he relives the quaint, curious, downtrodden and sometimes tragic circumstances in which he and his older brother, Daniel, were abandoned by their heroin-addicted father, Hector, and raised by their single mother, Maria, who tried to make a decent life for them. Convinced that one particularly traumatizing incident experienced by his pregnant mother may have caused the death of his baby brother, Charlie is forced to retrace a series of events, backwards and forwards, all circumscribed by extreme poverty and dysfunction, that seem to blend innocence, guilt and crucial necessity into a fateful concoction of unavoidable reality. In the process of recovering his suppressed past, a poignant picture is painted of life in the worn-down tenements of Spanish Harlem of the early 60’s. The ways children played, the ways grownups interacted, the ways junkies insinuated themselves into every aspect of street and home life, are enacted on the stage in both general and stark detail. Charlie must come to terms with what his memories reveal and somehow make peace with a period in his life that answers old questions as it raises new ones.

CAST
Janelle Fuentes
Victoria Nieves
Charles Casano
Daniel Lugo
Inma Heredia
Christina Andrea Ramsey
Allison Patrick
Jeancarlos Aponte
Alex Burns
Lenin Alevante
Justin Rodriguez
Robert Saenz
Juan Villegas

PRODUCTION
Playwright – Juan Villegas
Director – Ian Gordon
Set Design – Lytza Colón
Scenic Artist – Mary Blanchard

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

ASTORIA

November 5, 2026 – November 22, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 90 minutes
CINO THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

During their weekly dinner conversations at his grandmother Helen’s apartment, Michael, a writer, chronicles the family history. But when Gram breaks her hip Michael must face facts: it is time to move her to a nursing home.

As Michael prepares Helen, Walter, his estranged father, shows up. They confront old issues. Otto, Helen’s bachelor neighbor, a Greek waiter, provides comic relief while Venus, Michael’s girlfriend, complicates the mix with her demands for a commitment.

ASTORIA takes place in Helen’s long-time apartment in Astoria Queens. There we also meet Mr. Kodura, her upstairs neighbor, in the midst of a mid-life crisis, and a young blind cellist who lives across the courtyard.

It’s the story of Michael’s seeking resolution to the traumas in his family’s history by shaping them into a play. Can he recreate the past with the present changing around him and demanding his intervention.

CAST
*David Leeper (Michael)
Mary Ruth Baggott (Venus/Blind Cellist)
ReW Starr (Helen)
*Steve Hauck (Walter)
Gary Ray Bugarcic (Otto/Mr. Kodura)
*AEA

PRODUCTION
Playwright: Richard Ploetz
Director: Mark Finley
Production Manager: Devorah Shubowitz
Stage Manager: Mathew Seepersad
Sound Design: Joshua J. Groth
Set Design: Mark Marcante and Lytza Colón
Light Design: Joshua J. Groth

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Getting COMPLETE

January 14, 2027 – January 31, 2027
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 2 hours, 1 intermission
CINO THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

This is the story of what happens when the bully grows up. Jo was an angry, confused prankster who mercilessly tormented classmates, especially Danny. Now as an adult, Jo wants to take responsibility to get complete with the past. But after a lifetime of trauma, is Danny willing to let that happen?

NOTE: Mature audiences (13+) – language and adult situations.

Website:
https://marabellallc.com/getting-complete

Socials
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054296149935
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/gettingcomplete/

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

THE INVISIBLES

October 8, 2026 – October 25, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 1 hour 10 minutes
CINO THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

The Invisibles is a story about how the different generations Genz, Millennials and Baby Boomers …within stereotypes…deal with their aging and their finances. Subjects that we so often tend to tread lightly on or not at all.

The grandmother is in a nursing home convalescing from a hip injury, ready now to resume her well-earned .. comfortable life.

The daughter, a corporate eager beaver and gymnastic fanatic, is always running, notably to the next Designer sale. She has no sense of her own culpability in maintaining her own wealth. She has lived a life of privilege…Mommy and Daddy have always been the bank, accommodating infinite withdrawals.

The granddaughter, is her sweet beautiful self, and wants to remain young forever at any cost. She just wants some body …somebody to finance her senior trip to Hawaii, where she will be happy to Instagram all collaborating photos of the trip to her thousands and thousands of friends on Instagram.

What happens when their lives collide and someone deletes the revenue? When someone gets greedy? What is the game plan when… it’s always about me; must become it is about us?

Questions that are all answered with a TNC Halloween shocking answer!!

CAST
Liz Bove – Oma
Amy Jo Ray – Antheia
Vaishnavi Murari – Indira
Rosie Allenson – Mom

PRODUCTION
Playwright – Pat GoodSon
Director – Amy Herzberg
Light Design – Alexander Bartenieff
Electrcian – Brian Park
Set Design – Lytza Colón
Stage Manager – Mathew Seepersad

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Present Tense

September 17, 2026 – October 4, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 1 hour 15 minutes
CABARET THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

Corwin uses a time before Trump’s election to satirically mock the present. Over the course of five short plays, the playwright reaches a crescendo of caricature.

CAST
Santos Aguilar
Cole Ortiz-Mackes
Laura Zarama

PRODUCTION
Light and Sound Design: Brian Park
Set Design: Will Corwin
Music: Bobbie Johnston

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

A Part Of The Noise

A new play written by Carl Kline
Directed by Joe John Battista

October 8, 2026 – October 25, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 2 hours with intermission
JOHNSON THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

The year is 1959, and Franz’ art dealer, Sidney Janis, refuses to include Franz’ new color abstractions in an upcoming one-man show.  Sidney wants Franz to ride out the popularity of his black and white paintings that are selling for record prices.  Franz insists on including his two newest color abstractions, and Sidney threatens that if he does, this will be his last show at the prestigious Janis Gallery.

Later, at the legendary Cedar Tavern, watering hole for famous and infamous downtown artists, writers, and musicians, including Joan Mitchell, and David Amram, Franz’ interview with young writer/art critic Artie Mendelbaum starts a roller coaster ride filled with stories, surprises, intense personal history, a post-viewing party of the movie “Pull My Daisy,” integrity, physical interactions, and a cavalcade of emotions ranging from grief to laughter.

With a little help from his friends, Franz’ show at Sidney’s gallery presents a twist involving his biggest collector, a couple of disguises, and Sidney.  The scene also hints at Franz’ declining health.

This play is homage to Franz, the artists, writers, and musicians of the era.  Although it can be seen on its face as a play about art vs. commerce, it’s more about confrontation: Confrontation between artists and those who critique it, and the confrontation with the audience to witness and accept the courage of everyone who dedicates their lives to their creativity and never, ever give up.

CAST
Ryan Tramont*
Zoe Anastassiou*
Alexandra Laliberte
Skye Themeda Goss
Tony Del Bono
Mike Meth*
Alex Elmaleh*
Michael John Gross

*Actors Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association without the benefit of an equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway Production.

PRODUCTION
Production Stage Manager – Abby Fry
Stage Manager – Sayma Karim
Assistant Stage Manager – Olivia Talian
Lighting Design – Alexander Bartenieff
Set Design – Mark Marcante and Lytza Colón
Set Painter – Lola Sáenz
Lighting Board – Elijah Smith
Public Relations – Roger Gonzalez

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Obit

September 17, 2026 – October 4, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 90 minutes, no intermission
CINO THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

In this post-apocalyptic female revenge thriller, Maya Hawthorne, an “advance” obituary writer for the New York Times, arrives at aging college president Philip Stern’s house to interview him for his obituary.  President Stern is hoping this interview will yield him a great obituary in the Times. Maya Hawthorne wants answers from the man who ruined her life years earlier.

“Obit” was developed through the NYU/Tisch Graduate Acting Alumni Association Writers Group and had a staged reading at the Studio Tisch Festival, NYU/Tisch Grad Acting in 2023. It was a runner-up in the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival Playwriting Contest in 2025.

Rebecca Chace writes, “I am so grateful for Crystal Field’s longtime support of my work. My first play, ‘Colette,’ was produced by Theater for the New City back in the 1990s. Having the opportunity to premiere ‘Obit’ at TNC feels like coming home. In an era when nonprofit theaters are hard hit by funding cuts and curtailing their commitment to new work, Crystal Field and Theater for the New City remain a beacon on the horizon in the New York theater scene.”

CAST
Richard Topol
Carolyn Holding

PRODUCTION
Production Stage Manager – Abby Fry
Lighting Design – Dante Olivia Smith
Set and Costume Design – Anna Grigo
Sound Designer – Brian Hickey
Consulting Producer – Amy Fritz

Theater for the New City

Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Dream Up Festival, Special Engagement Reading:

The Unforgiving Apology

Written and Directed by Chima Chikazunga

Part of TNC’s New City, New Blood Reading Series at Dream Up Festival 2026!

Saturday September 12, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Run Time: 90 minutes, No intermission
COMMUNITY SPACE

FREE

$5 Suggested Donation

Reservations can be made at tncdreamup@gmail.com

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

The Unforgiving Apology

After 7 years of being incarcerated, a former All-American returns home to reconnect with the woman responsible for wrongfully accusing him. While guilt and anger fuel their conversation, they struggle to confront their inner demons to say words neither wants to, and find closure he needs from his traumatic past.

Cast
DANICA- Stephanie Miller
MALIK- Chima Chikazunga
INMATE, 1,3,2- Omar Mendoza
VOICE OF REASON- Christine Komei Luo
STAGE DIRECTIONS- Eljon Wardally

BIO
CHIMA CHIKAZUNGA FSU alumni.  His audio play “An Icons Belief in Fallen Soldiers” was commissioned by The Classical Theatre of Harlem.  “Echoes of a Lost Son” won the 2019  Public Access Television Award and featured in Resilience New Play Festival. Published work in Best Women’s and Men’s Monologues 2022, and Best American Short Plays 2018-2019, and Best Women’s Monologues 2025. His plays NOT JUST YOU and 1 Letter Shy of Coincidence, both received a micro-grants from National Black Theatre to workshop. 1 Letter Shy of Coincidence ( SEMI-FINALIST 46th Annual BAPF,) SAFEHOUSE: Axial Playwright Series.  FOLDING DANICA is featured in American Blues Theatre’s Ripped Festival. Assassination of a Dream Deferred- (Semifinalist ) 3rd Annual Black Motherhood & Parenting New Play Festival. Other plays presented in NYC by AND Theatre Company, TFNC, DUAF, and The Players Theatre. Most recently NOT JUST YOU received a developmental reading at United Palace Theatre, featuring Dan Lauria.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Artistic Director, Crystal Field

Presents

TILTED AXES: NECESSARY MUSIC ONLY

Movements for Electric Guitars

September 17, 2026 – October 4, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets – $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run time: 75 minutes
JOHNSON THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

Theater for the New City presents the return of Tilted Axes with Necessary Music Only, an original work of music theater created by composer Patrick Grant that combines mobile electric guitars, live percussion, choreography, lighting, and visual media into a singular theatrical experience.

Returning to Theater for the New City following last season’s production, Tilted Axes: Necessary Music Only transforms the stage into a constantly evolving landscape of sound and movement. Musicians perform while walking through choreographed formations, creating shifting musical textures that blur the boundaries between concert, dance, and theater.

Produced by: Peppergreen Media
Music by: Patrick Grant and Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars composers
Choreography & Lighting by: Christopher Caines
Performed by: Gene Ardor, Lori Bingel, John Ferrari, Grace Goss, Patrick Grant, John Halo, Igor Icaza, James Lee, Jeremy Nesse, James Schoen, and Dmitri Shapira
Photo & video credits: Jocelyn Gonzales and Jack Wang

More information: www.tiltedaxes.com • @tiltedaxes • #tiltedaxes

Created by composer and artistic director Patrick Grant, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is an ensemble of electric guitarists and percussionists that transforms streets, parks, galleries, museums, and theaters into immersive musical environments. Performing untethered with battery-powered amplifiers, the musicians invite audiences into an experience where music is living, physical, and shared. Moving continuously through the performance space, they create an environment that is at once ritual, procession, and music theater.

Now in its sixteenth season, Tilted Axes continues to bring contemporary music into public life through movement, community, and shared experience.

Theater for the New City

Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Dream Up Festival, Special Engagement Reading:

A DREAM BEYOND THIS PAIN

Written by Jonathon Ward
Directed by Lori Kee

Part of TNC’s New City, New Blood Reading Series at Dream Up Festival 2026!

Sunday September 13, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Run Time: 90 minutes, No intermission
CABARET THEATER

FREE

$5 Suggested Donation

Reservations can be made at tncdreamup@gmail.com

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

A DREAM BEYOND THIS PAIN

A drama of three generations of a middle-class family living the American Dream on Long Island taking care of life’s pains with prescribed medications and recreational substances.  When the grandson’s dream falls apart as a result of opioid addiction and the grandfather has to leave his home because he’s mixing up his medications, and the father refuses to take his prescribed SSRI, each generation’s aspirations for the family come unraveled.  They must find a way to rediscover a shared dream that will sustain them as a family and as individuals living in a new American Reality.

Cast
Kira Janine Bennett
Kimmarie Bowens
Ken Kliban
Laura Nieves
Jonathan Tarpy
Kevin J. Kelly
Courtney Torres

Actors Bios
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:a0081fbe-0725-45fd-a437-7bdd6160f995

Bios:

JONATHON WARD (producing playwright) is a New Yorker who creates theatre for the delightful hell of it.  He’s had the pleasure to create, publish and develop new theatre in USA and Canada in FringeNYC, ATHE New Play Development Workshop 2022, New Circle Theatre Company, Chelsea Rep/The Acting Studio, Eventide Theatre (winning the Kaplan Playwriting Competition, 2022), Indie Theater Now, Secret Theatre, Theatre Conspiracy, Birdhouse Theatre, Manhattan Repertory, Itinerant Theatre, Plays and Pizza, Little Funky Theatre, William Inge Festival (twice), Metropolitan Playhouse (three times), Barter Theater, InspiraTO, Abrons Arts Center, Applause Books (Best One-Act Plays 2014-15), Huntington Arts Council, Cooperstown Art Museum, Little Victory Players, Pulse Ensemble, Community Free Theatre, NYU Studio Tisch, Urban Youth Theatre, University of Chicago and others.  He has received five NYSCA commissions, as well as grants from New York University, and private foundations.  During his thirty years as an arts administrator, he was the Director of the Theater Program at the Henry Street Settlement Abrons Arts Center and Department Administrator of the NYU Graduate Acting Program.  He has written and had produced over 20 plays and produced and presented over 200 shows of other artists.  Some of his plays can be found on the New Play Exchange at: https://newplayexchange.org/users/10146/jonathon-ward

LORI KEE (director) is an award-winning director & experienced collaborator on new work. Recent: Japanese Porno by John Patrick Shanley.  Upcoming: Zeph and Violet by Krystle N. Adams (Oct 27), 5 One Acts by John Patrick Shanley at the Actors Studio (Nov).  She directed the premiere of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright John Patrick Shanley’s play Candlelight.  Projects: The Listening Room/with I. Dumeng (Michela Jeffrey), The Chaplin Plays (Don Nigro), Luft Gangster (off Bway, Assoc Dir w/Austin Pendleton), The Big Funk (John Patrick Shanley), Paper Dragon (Alisha Silver),  over 60 one acts & other new work including by: John Patrick Shanley (The Lost Years, Brooklyn Laundry, Tennessee, French Waitress, &  Japanese Porno), Lyle Kessler, Craig muMs Grant, Webb Wilcoxen, Kristina Poe, Florencia Lozano, Maggie Diaz Bofill, Melissa Skirboll,  James McLindon, Arlene Hutton.

Associate SDC, Actors Studio PDU. Resident Director/Member of Nylon Fusion for over a decade. She is an Associate Professor of Theatre at CUNY BMCC. www.lorikee.com   @thelorikee