Edinburgh Fringe's SHELL to Make U.S. Premiere at SoHo Playhouse

The U.S. premiere of Shell, written, co-created and performed by Ana Evans, and co-created and directed by Linnea Scott, will run May 29 - June 7, 2026 in a limited engagement at SoHo Playhouse's intimate Huron Room, located at 15 Vandam Street in New York City.

Fresh off a five-star run at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Shell is a solo show that cracks open questions about gender, anatomy, and desire, with the help of a sex-ed-obsessed hockey player and a powerful, otherworldly Peanut. Bold, strange and funny, Shell is equal parts interactive workshop, theatrical spectacle, and spiritual release. It's drag. It's clown. It's queer sex education like you've never seen before.

We meet Andy: a lovable, cringe and camp “hockey bro” who is starting a sex education club on his college campus to B(reak) R(eproductive) O(ppression). He's passionate, confused, and believes he can “CHANGE YOUR LIFE!” Peanut is full of power, pleasure and a slightly terrifying hunger for desire. Told through an interactive sex ed class, which involves audience members participating in activities and lessons, they dare you to name your desires, to feel your body, to awaken your spirit.

Written and performed by Ana Evans and co-created and directed by Linnea Scott, Shell is inspired by the lens of “parts work” therapy. Through surreal comedy and intimate audience participation, Andy expands our understanding of Reproductive Oppression, while Peanut deconstructs binaries and begs to know what you really want. By embodying these two aspects of identity, Evans explores an evolving relationship with the body, attempting to break open the constraints placed upon it in search of the spirit beneath.

In this unapologetic queer celebration, which is full of surprise and transformation, Shell invites us to examine our relationship to the physical body, our understanding of it in a literal way, and then dare to dream of who we are outside the confines of our physical form.

Produced by Lilach Orenstein, Acadia Barrengos and Sam Theobald. The production team includes Lola Basiliere (Sound Design), Lee Lillis (Light Design), Xavier / Luckiii (Animator), and Luca Evans and Myer Rosenblum (Technical Directors).

Performances are Friday, May 29 at 7pm, Saturday, May 30 at 8pm, Sunday, May 31 at 5pm, Friday, June 5 at 7pm, Saturday, June 6 at 6pm and Sunday, June 7 at 5pm. Run time is 60 minutes. Tickets available from $24.50 - $34.50 (includes fees).

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Sound Design - Top 3

1. Adam Fisher - The Lost Boys

36.9% of votes

2. Tony Gayle - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

11.2% of votes

3. John Shivers - Chess

7.3% of votes

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