Shayok Misha Chowdhury's Rheology Transferring to Playwrights Horizons

Shayok Misha Chowdhury's Rheology Transferring to Playwrights Horizons

Chowdhury directs and stars in the production alongside his real-life mother, physicist Bulbul Chakraborty.

March 19, 2026 By Meg Masseron

Shayok Misha Chowdhury's Rheology will transfer to Off-Broadway this spring, following its acclaimed run at Bushwick Starr. Presented by The Bushwick Starr, HERE Arts Center, and Ma-Yi Theater Company, the work will bow at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater April 14-May 16.

Chowdhury, a Pulitzer finalist and the playwright of Public Obscenities, also stars in the work, alongside his real-life mother, theoretical physicist Bulbul Chakraborty. Her performance in the Bushwick Starr staging earned her an Obie Award.

In the play, Chakraborty is obsessed with the mystery of sand: how it flows like a liquid, but then jams into a solid, while Misha is obsessed with his mother—but they’re running out of time. In a boundary-pushing collaboration, an artist son and his scientist mother challenge each other to a high-stakes experiment.

“I grew up feeling like my mom loved doing physics in a way that was full of wonder, and playful, and endlessly interesting—even if I couldn’t access it. I wanted to make a piece of theatre that allowed people to witness how physics really functions for my mom, to get inside her brain and witness her enthusiasm,” said Chowdhury in a statement.

The production will include scenic design by Krit Robinson, video design by Kameron Neal, lighting design by Masha Tsimring and Mextly Couzin, sound design by Tei Blow, costume design by Enver Chakartash, dramaturgy by Sarah Lunnie, music direction and cello by George Crotty, directing consultation by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell, associate direction by Kedian Keohan, and associate direction and additional dramaturgy by Lindsay Tanner.

For tickets and more information, visit PlaywrightsHorizons.org.