With the 2019 Off-Broadway winter season now in full swing, it's easy to miss some of the shows with more limited runs. Here are six new works playing through April and May, in order of appearance.
International art collective J.U.S.T. Toys Productions bring Marius von Mayenburg’s Kafkaesque, dystopian love story The Dog, The Night, and The Knife to the Irondale Theater in Brooklyn. Re-envisioned by director Yuri Kordonsky, the play follows M, trapped in a nightmarish world full of blood-thirsty strangers that are both human and canine. In this town, the desire to love becomes a desire to possess, and a lover quickly becomes prey. The cast—an ensemble of three who play over 10 roles—is made up of Julia Ubrankovics, Tunde Skovran, and Dieterich Gray; performances began March 15 and continue through April 6.
Unfolding is a contemporary fairy tale exploring female wisdom and empowerment. Conceived and directed by Margarita Blush, the puppet theatre production weaves handcrafted puppets (designed by Dimitar Dimitrov and Petia Dimitrova), shadow imagery, and original live music. Performances kick off March 29 at The Tank and continue through April 7 only. The cast is made up of Emily Batsford, Monica Lerch, and Kāli Therrien; music is performed by Lena Gabrielle.
Kim Katzberg brings her multimedia, semi-autobiographical solo play Dad in a Box to the HERE Arts Center for a limited run March 29–April 13. The story traces Katzberg’s efforts, from enrolling in an improv class, to facing and confronting her father’s emotional hold on her.
From a biblical rooftop to a warped John Hughes Biology lab and beyond, April Ranger's Bathsheba's Psalms, or, A Woman of Unusual Beauty Taking a Bath is a raucous retelling of the Old Testament’s David and Bathsheba myth, all the while disrupting tropes on gender and power. Christina Roussos directs a cast made up of Tanyamaria, Elizabeth Kenny, TL Thompson, C. Bain, and Marisela Grajeda Gonzalez. Performances will run April 4–21 at The Tank.
Sea Dog Theater presents the world premiere of The Rare Biosphere by Chris Cragin-Day. The story of Sophie, a Dreamer with plans to study molecular genetics and microbiology, the new play sees the young woman come home one day and discover that her parents have been deported. Natalia Plaza stars as the Hondurian-American teenager alongside Zac Owens. The Rare Biosphere, directed by Christopher Domig, will play a limited run at Calvary St. George's April 25–May 19.
And, in cast you missed it: the world premiere of Nick Lehane’s Chimpanzee, originally scheduled to run March 7–17 at HERE, has been extended due to popular demand through May 5. In this non-verbal puppet play based on true events, bleak reality bleeds to vivid memory as an aging, isolated chimpanzee pieces together fragments of memories from her childhood in a human family.
