The Gene Frankel Theatre Winter Festival Lineup Announced

Following a successful inaugural festival this summer, the Gene Frankel Theatre Festival returns this December with The Gene Frankel Theatre Winter Festival. Eighteen new short plays and one-acts will make their New York Premiere and be presented across seven performance blocks.

Running December 8-22 at the historic Gene Frankel Theatre in NoHo, the festival will feature approximately 100 artists showcasing a diverse range of voices and stories, from an impending asteroid collision to a heaven designed exclusively for Mormons, to three bank robbers hiding out in an unsuspecting librarian's sanctuary.

Audiences can expect an eclectic mix of characters, including an AI therapist, a 1950s nuclear family, a Cupid who can't feel love, and Mrs. Claus spending Christmas Eve alone. Each production offers a distinctive theatrical experience that celebrates innovative new works.

Performances take place nightly and on weekends at the iconic Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond Street, NYC). All featured plays are New York premieres, with many also making their world debuts.

Tickets are $25 for students and seniors, and $35 general admission.

The winter festival lineup was curated by Gene Frankel Theatre Artistic Director Thomas R. Gordon and award-winning actress Francesca Ravera. The 18 plays were selected from over 100 submissions. The upcoming winter edition will culminate in a Gala and Awards Night on December 22 where Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Script, and Best Play will be awarded in both the short play and one-act categories.

FESTIVAL LINEUP

BLOCK 1

Performances: Tuesday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, December 13 at 2:30 p.m., and Thursday, December 18 at 7:30 p.m.

PIE IN THE SKY

Written by Abigail Jensen

Reeling from a devastating breakup, a thirty-something man meets a twenty-something woman. He's hoping for romance. She's only in it for the meat pie.

20 QUESTIONS BEFORE THE END OF THE WORLD

Written by Jay Moser

Facing imminent destruction from an incoming asteroid, former lovers Jordan, a laid-back ex-journalist, and Charlie, a conflicted painter, reunite on their old apartment rooftop. Over wine, cigarettes, and a game of "20 Questions," they confront regrets, unspoken truths, and the love they never fully let go.

HOUSELIVES

Written by Margot Krauss

In a 1950s nuclear family, a pill-popping mother, a lovesick son, and an absent father live in constant high-stakes drama. Their world is turned upside down when a cameraman arrives to make the first unscripted movie, a precursor to reality television.

BLOCK 2

Performances: Wednesday, December 10 at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, December 18 at 5:30 p.m.

CUPID

Written by Gwen Hawdon

Cupid knows love in theory but cannot feel it. Cursed with immortality, he disguises himself as a college student in the late '90s, navigating friendship, heartbreak, and a peer's suicide. With arrows in hand, Cupid bends reality to his will and confronts what he feels, where he belongs, and if he truly understands love.

BLOCK 3

Performances: Thursday, December 11 7:30 p.m., Sunday, December 14 at 5 p.m., and Saturday, December 20 at 2:30 p.m.

WHEN THE HURLY-BURLY'S DONE

Written by Cristina Noelle

A comedic reinterpretation of the three Fates from Greek mythology, set in a Scottish Highlands context, where they bicker and prepare for a ritual while referencing Shakespeare's witches.

HOW TO DECIDE WHEN YOU'RE DECIDING

Written by Carolyn Bacon

A New Yorker meets her Best Friend, a new mom, on their favorite park bench to decide what to do about a surprise positive pregnancy test. How long can a 30-something kick the can down the road to motherhood?

JACK MORMON

Written by McKelvey Courtney Collins

After a freak accident involving a nail gun and a stepladder, college professor Jack Davis wakes up in a heaven made for Mormons, a shock for a self-described "bad Catholic." As he tangles with a college ex and a missionary, amidst a bout of divine hijinks, Jack must figure out how he got there and convince his staunchly atheist wife, Heather, to join him in the afterlife.

BLOCK 4

Performances: Friday, December 12 at 6 p.m., Sunday, December 14 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, December 20 at 5 p.m.

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

Written by Phoebe Eileen Grech

Stuck in a dead-end tech job, one man tests an experimental AI therapist. What begins as harmless self-improvement soon spirals into something far more dangerous.

MISSING PIECES

Written by Matthew Fay

Two home furnishing store employees recount the story of their failed relationship and the one piece of furniture they could never assemble.

OUT OF TIME

Written by Joseph Sexton

Felicia Hicks takes a wrong turn and ends up in a mysterious afterlife, where she finds a faceless being. By naming him "Angelo," she inadvertently becomes his mother, raising him in a world suspended between life and death. When Angelo escapes, the story shifts to another reality where a famous singer meets a stranger who believes she was his mother in a previous life.

CHANGELING

Written by McKelvey Courtney Collins

Still reeling from their recent breakup, Peter and Natalie attempt to prove that they can still be friends as they embark on a trip to the mountains. Vacationing with your ex is easier said than done, and the strange sounds outside their cabin aren't helping.

BLOCK 5

Performances: Friday, December 12 at 8:30 p.m., Monday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, December 20 at 7:30 p.m.

THE RIVER (A GHOST STORY)

Written by Joseph Sexton

Jim, a grief-stricken man, is haunted by the ghosts of his past in his decaying home. His teenage daughter Alice, who died years ago, appears as if still alive, eager for a picnic and unaware of her own death. As the house fills with the presence of two ancient river spirits, the boundary between life and death begins to dissolve, and Jim must confront his guilt before it consumes him.

MALPRACTICE

Written by Victor Cuenca

Dr. Tomas, a New York City therapist, becomes embroiled in a wicked double blackmail with his former patient Gore. Marsha, a grieving sister coping with the loss of her brother, becomes his saving grace.

BLOCK 6

Performances: Saturday, December 13 at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 21 at 2:30 p.m.

THE LIBRARY LAM

Written by Robert Cantillon

Emmy is a librarian who has always longed for a taste of the dangerous life. When three bank robbers seek refuge from the law in her library one night as she is preparing to close, she may finally get the chance to fulfill that dream.

SEARCH FOR WHAT I LEFT

Written by Bryce Gastelum

Two scientists and their subjects navigate a lab and a dreamlike landscape of fragmented memories. As the scientists search for the root of memory, the subjects struggle to piece together their own lives as events surge and blur.

BLOCK 7

Performances: Saturday, December 13 at 5 p.m., Friday, December 19 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, December 21 at 5 p.m.

MRS. CLAUS BARES ALL

Written by Amy Losli

It's Christmas Eve and Mrs. Claus is home alone, being interviewed live on television. She has a lot to say, revealing more than the Interviewer expects, including the reason Christmas toys say, "batteries not included."

JUMPIN' JIM

Written by Maggie Fern

During the 2008 financial crisis, a cash-strapped entrepreneur and father struggles with mounting debt and the pressure to sell his failing business. While his two young daughters build an ambitious backyard fort, he alternates between flights of fantasy, as a boxing champion, an F-16 pilot, and a rock drummer, and the harsh reality of liens, losses, and a buyer circling with a "handout."

CUSTOM OPTIONS

Written by Matthew Gilleece