Jesse Eisenberg's THE ZIEGFELD FILES Begins Performances
Performances will take place on Mondays, October 6, 20, 27, November 3, 17, 24 and December 1 at 7pm.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Oct. 06, 2025
Studio Seaview’s presentation of two-time Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning writer and actor Jesse Eisenberg’s The Ziegfeld Files, directed by Pulitzer Prize finalist Shayok Misha Chowdhury, begins tonight, October 6—kicking off seven sold-out, on-book performances (Mondays, October 6, 20, 27, November 3, 17, 24 and December 1 at 7pm). Eisenberg’s new solo play, read by the actor, is presented between performances of Jordan Tannahill’s Prince Faggot. A limited number of tickets ($65 and $95) have just been released for sale at , and a limited number of same-day rush tickets are available for $45 via the TodayTix app.
The Ziegfeld Files is built from therapy recordings of a new father struggling to connect to his baby. He talks about copying machines, early man, breastfeeding classes, failed jokes, sour oranges, and Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture. The result is something funny, uncomfortable, and unexpectedly tender—a portrait of marriage, fatherhood, and the strange performance of trying to say how you feel.
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network and Fleishman Is in Trouble actor and acclaimed theater-maker was most recently praised for his “finely tuned, melancholic and at times startlingly funny” (The New York Times) Oscar-winning film A Real Pain.
“I’m equal parts thrilled and terrified of performing my play, The Ziegfeld Files. I am so grateful to Seaview for producing it and giving me somewhere to go on Mondays!,” said Eisenberg. “I am also very happy that part of the proceeds will be going to organizations providing relief in Haiti—which makes sense when you see the show!"
Chowdhury, whose play Public Obscenities became a 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist, is experiencing yet another banner year: first with the Bushwick Starr, HERE Arts Center, and Ma-Yi Theater Company production Rheology (to be reprised at Playwrights Horizons next Spring), a collaboration with his mother Bulbul Chakraborty; with the sold-out, three-times extended production of Prince Faggot at Playwrights Horizons and its already twice-extended transfer at Studio Seaview; and now, in his collaboration with Eisenberg.
The Ziegfeld Files’ design team is Isabella Byrd (Lighting Designer) and Lee Kinney (Sound) and will be performed on the set for Prince Faggot designed by David Zinn. Production stage manager is Amanda Michaels, with production supervision by Hudson Theatrical Associates and Jonathan Whitton / Seaview serving as general manager.
