GOD'S SPIES, STARSTUFF, and More Lead 59E59 Theaters' Fall 2026 Season
Val Day and Brian Beirne lead a season exploring family, memory, and identity across three stages.
59E59 Theaters has announced its Fall 2026 season, featuring a robust collection of new plays and musicals from Red Bull Theater, No.11 Productions, The Goodwill Theatre, Primary Stages, and Penguin Rep Theatre across 59E59's three stages.
“Across this season, we're welcoming artists and companies with very different theatrical voices, but whose work asks compelling questions about what we inherit, what we hold onto and what we choose to make our own,” said Val Day, artistic director of 59E59 Theaters. “From intimate family stories, to bold imaginative theatrical worlds, these productions reflect the range of artists and ideas we're proud to champion here at 59E59. We're excited to give these artists a New York home, where they can take creative risks, and connect with audiences.”
The newly announced productions include the world premiere of Red Bull Theater's God's Spies by Bill Cain, directed by Nathan Winkelstein. Set during the plague of 1603, when London's theaters have closed, the play imagines William Shakespeare quarantined with a young Puritan lawyer and a streetwise prostitute as he confronts questions of life, death, and what he will write next. Following the disappointment of Timon of Athens, Shakespeare finds himself on the brink of creating what may become his masterpiece: King Lear.
“All of us at Red Bull Theater are thrilled to bring the world premiere of Bill Cain's God's Spies to life in collaboration with 59E59. It's a beautiful home for this play, and we couldn't be happier partnering with the wonderful team there. We can't wait to welcome audiences to this inspiring, funny, and thrilling new play about the writing of Shakespeare's King Lear,” said Founder and Producing Artistic Director Jesse Berger.
Also joining the season is Penguin Rep Theatre's presentation of The Steel Man, written by Cary Gitter and directed by Joe Brancato, the team behind Gene & Gilda and The Sabbath Girl. Inspired by a true story, this drama follows Jake Gellert as he struggles to forge his own identity in the shadow of his larger-than-life father, Leo, a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor consumed by the past. No.11 Productions will present the world premiere of Starstuff, directed by Ryan Emmons, a highly visual, expressionist production following a young woman on a cosmic quest for self-discovery, while The Goodwill Theatre presents the world premiere of Tim and Scrooge, with music by Neil Berg, book and lyrics by Nick Meglin, and direction by Nick Corley, an imaginative musical radio play that picks up 12 years after Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation in A Christmas Carol.
These shows join the previously announced Primary Stages productions Fantasma by Benjamin Benne, directed by Laurie Woolery and presented by Primary Stages and Lucille Lortel Theatre, in association with Jan McAdoo; Aasif Mandvi: A Work in Progress, written by and starring Aasif Mandvi and directed by Kimberly Senior; and Baby Shower Katie by Beth Hyland, directed by Jaki Bradley. Together, the productions explore questions of family, memory, identity, parenthood, and the stories we inherit and tell about ourselves.
59E59 Theaters' model allows participating theater companies to focus more of their resources on creating and presenting their work by eliminating weekly theater rental costs. Supported by a $10 million gift from the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation, the model is designed to make producing in New York more sustainable while supporting ambitious new work on 59E59's stages.
Full casting and creative teams for select productions will be announced at a later date. More information about the shows can be found below. For details regarding tickets and performance schedules, visit www.59E59.org.
About 59E59 Theaters
59E59 Theaters was established by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation in 2004 to grant professional space and expertise to non-profit theater companies premiering their work in New York City. Under the leadership of Val Day, Artistic Director, and Brian Beirne, Managing Director, 59E59 Theaters presents a year-round curated program of Off-Broadway plays and musicals that are nurtured and supported by providing performance spaces and equipment as well as production, ticketing, FOH, marketing, and press support. These theater companies receive 80% or more of the ticket revenue and pay no weekly rent to 59E59.
About the Shows
- November 7 - December 20
- Primary Stages and Lucille Lortel Theatre
- in association with Jan McAdoo
Fantasma
Directed by Laurie Woolery
On Christmas Eve, three generations of women gather in Rosie's newly renovated kitchen to make chuchitos – a traditional Guatemalan recipe passed down by heart, touch, and intuition.
While her granddaughters attempt to document the dish step-by-step, they discover that what's being preserved isn't just food, and that recording and remembering are entirely different things. Spanning nearly two decades, Fantasma is a bittersweet exploration of what we keep, what we lose, and the impossibility of ever capturing it exactly right.
November 3 - December 13
Penguin Rep Theatre presents
The Steel Man
By Cary Gitter
Directed by Joe Brancato
With Amanda Kristin Nichols, Sam Guncler, and Leighton Samuels
Inspired by a true story, The Steel Man follows Jake Gellert as he struggles to escape from the shadow of his larger-than-life father, Leo, a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor. While Leo remains consumed by the past and a desire to avenge the family he lost, Jake searches for a way to forge his own identity and help his father find peace.
From the team behind hit shows Gene & Gilda and The Sabbath Girl, this play is a powerful drama that delves into themes of legacy, identity, and the complex bond between father and son.
October 28 - November 14
No.11 Productions presents
Starstuff
Created by No. 11 Productions
Directed by Ryan Emmons
With Julie Congress, Steven Conroy, and Aubrey Lace Taylor
Through a series of spectacular falls, a young woman named Star plunges into a cosmic quest for self discovery. This highly visual, expressionist production freefalls from the top of a mountain to the depths of the DMV in a playful exploration of our shared humanity.
Told with No.11 Productions' (Sugarcraft) signature whimsy and theatrical magic, this luminous new myth invites us to look up, turn inward, and rediscover our connection to one another and everything around us.
December 16 - 27
The Goodwill Theatre presents
Tim and Scrooge
Music by Neil Berg
Book and Lyrics by Nick Meglin
Directed by Nick Corley
This is not the sequel to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol — it's Act II.
Twelve years after Ebenezer Scrooge found a new outlook on life, he's left everything to Tim (who's not so “tiny” anymore). But the business world isn't as easy as it looks, and soon Scrooge has to risk an eternity in purgatory in order to save the entire Cratchit family from ruin.
From the editor of Mad Magazine and the composer of How My Grandparents Fell in Love comes a new musical radio play that's fun for the whole family!
January 19 - February 14
Red Bull Theater presents
God's Spies
The Making of King Lear
By Bill Cain
Directed by Nathan Winkelstein
What do you write after you have written the world's greatest play?
Hopefully, not another Timon of Athens. Fortunately for Shakespeare, he is caught in the middle of the pandemic of 1603 and theaters are closed for a year. The plague opens his eyes to the mysteries of life and death when he is quarantined with a young Puritan lawyer and a mature streetwise prostitute.
Will Shakespeare thrive creatively? Will his follow up play be as disappointing as his last? Or will he write his masterpiece?
January 9 - February 6
Primary Stages presents
Aasif Mandvi: A Work in Progress
Written by and Starring Aasif Mandvi
Directed by Kimberly Senior
A funny, furious, and deeply personal solo show about the stories we tell ourselves, how long they hold, and what's left when they finally don't. Part immigrant epic, part celebrity confession, part 3am parental spiral, Aasif Mandvi traces the journey of the immigrant boy who crossed an ocean to chase the American dream, mastered every room he was never supposed to be in, and perfected the art of making the right people comfortable, only to realize that all along, the joke was on him.
Part of the inaugural Primary Stages Studio Series
The Studio Series offers artists a professional space to test their boldest ideas. Here audiences are invited into the living process of making theater, witnessing work evolve across a limited run where no two nights will be the same.
February 27 - April 11
Primary Stages presents
Baby Shower Katie
By Beth Hyland
Directed by Jaki Bradley
Best friends Rebecca and Hannah are at a crossroads: Rebecca desperately wants a child, while Hannah can't imagine anything worse.
Across four baby showers (thrown for three different women named Katie), Rebecca and Hannah are forced to confront their divergent dreams, the absurd expectations placed on mothers, and the terror and uncertainty that can surround pregnancy. Beth Hyland's irreverent new comedy asks what happens when the life we have been told to want no longer fits the person we are becoming.
|
13 The Musical Griffin Theatre (8/14-8/23) PHOTOS |
|
LA CASA DE BERNARDA ALBA Repertorio (11/15-12/31) |
|
LA GRINGA Repertorio (2/08-12/31) |
|
A Baby For Me? No Thank You, Please! Soho Playhouse (9/18-9/19) |
|
Bailey Swilley's Gimme A Sign! Soho Playhouse (9/17-9/17) |
|
Bailey Swilley's Gimme A Sign! Soho Playhouse (9/20-9/20) |
|
EN EL TIEMPO DE LAS MARIPOSAS Repertorio (1/07-12/31) |