DOWN ONCE MORE to Have Limited Workshop Performances at New York Theatre Festival
Down Once More bridges cinematic suspense, dramatic lyricism, and culturally specific magical realism.
Down Once More - a new melodramatic and haunting psychological thriller will premiere in workshop performances as part of the New York Theater Festival's 25th Season, December 2025.
Down Once More is created by Marlon Wallace and ?sim Ali Naqvi, and directed by Frank Williams. Performances will take place December 15 at 6:15 PM, December 19 at 9:00 PM, December 21 at 3:30 PM.
NAQVI, WALLACE, and WILLIAMS have developed "Down Once More" (initially a screenplay) into a work that bridges cinematic suspense, dramatic lyricism, and culturally specific magical realism. The piece carries Wallace's genre sensibilities, Naqvi's textured spiritual motifs,and a natural sense for dialogue which seamlessly blends the sacred with the erotic, and Williams's visually and sonically dynamic direction. Set primarily in New York City, with a pivotal sequence in Philadelphia's Bike Stop, the play follows Rohan (NaFis), a queer, nonbinary South Asian American Muslim therapist stalked by Miraj (Khanna), a presence that is seductive, destabilizing, and (possibly) not human. Through themes of intimacy ethics, mental healthcare, and the supernatural, Down Once More offers a world where confronting one's own abandoned belief systems becomes a haunting of its own. The creative team is committed to presenting characters with full psychological, spiritual, and emotional complexity, eschewing reductive archetypes in favor of deeply human, contradictory, and richly layered identities onstage.
The production features an ensemble including NaFis, a Bangladeshi American actor and singer celebrated for their Drama Desk-winning work in SoHo Rep's Public Obscenities, who brings rare vulnerability and emotional clarity to the role. They are joined by Anchal Dhir, whose training at the William Esper Studio and recent international and Off-Broadway credits lend her work a resonant precision. Also featured is Karan Khanna, an Indian-Canadian actor-writer-comedian who was drawn to the project for its nuanced and morally complex characters. Also featured is Yves Allen, a storyteller whose practice centers the intersections of Blackness and queerness, shaping performances that confront erasure and expand the emotional landscape of the piece. Together, these artists form an ensemble that is generously fearless.
Rounding out the rest of the ensemble are Amar Bains, Jacobi, Michael Pichardo, Taik Dkriy, and Derek Fox, amongst others.
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