Sidney Fortner News

Metropolitan Playhouse presents new solo-performances drawn from oral histories of East Village residents May 18 - June 4, 2023.  Directed by Sidney Fortner and Alex Roe, performances  will be in-person at the Playhouse home at 220A E 4th Street.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse returns to in-person performance with the New York premiere of D.W. Gregory's RADIUM GIRLS, newly revised for a limited run from October 28 through November 21, 2021, in person at the Playhouse: 220 E 4th Street. Laura Livingston (State of the Union, The Jazz Singer) directs.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse presents its next free 'screened' readings, live-streamed at no charge, with talkback to follow: THE SLEEPING CAR, William Dean Howells. A silly play of repeatedly mistaken identities and misplaced infants, The Sleeping Car is another Howells probe of social norms in direct conflict with personal distress.

In its ongoing series, Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse will present a free 'screened' reading of Alice Gerstenberg's EVER YOUNG, via live stream video, with talkback to follow, on Saturday, June 6th, 2020 at 8 PM, EST.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse presents the New York premiere of D.W. Gregory's RADIUM GIRLS, newly revised for a limited run from March 19 through April 12, 2020, at the Playhouse home: 220 E 4th Street. Laura Livingston (State of the Union, The Jazz Singer) directs.

Now entering its 28th season, Obie Award-winning Metropolitan Playhouse is currently accepting submissions for its 15th presentation of East Village Chronicles, a festival of previously un-produced, one-act plays inspired by the diverse population, culture and history of Manhattan's Lower East Side. Playwrights of all races, religions, ethnicities, nationalities, gender identities, backgrounds, and political views are encouraged to submit. There is an honorarium of $100 for each script accepted for production. 

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse revives Robert Ardrey's THUNDER ROCK for a limited run from January 16 through February 9, 2020, at the Playhouse home: 220 E 4th Street. Artistic Director Alex Roe directs.

All New Plays Premiere in EAST SIDE STORIES, BACK AGAIN. Four diverse plays celebrate the life and lore of the East Village.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse revives Dion Boucicault's THE POOR OF NEW YORK, with music from the era. The limited run from April 19 through May 19, 2019, plays at the Playhouse home at 220 E 4th Street. Artistic Director Alex Roe directs.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse revives Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse's witty and apposite Pulitzer Winner, STATE OF THE UNION.  The limited run from February 8 through March 10, 2019, will be at the Playhouse home at 220 E 4th Street.

Race and Reckonings on a journey from South Africa  to South Side to South Bronx, January 10 - 13, 2019

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse brings Robert Ardrey's documentary play to the stage for its first New York revival.  The limited run, closing December 9, 2018, plays at the Playhouse home at 220 E 4th Street.  Alex Roe directs.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse brings Robert Ardrey's documentary play to the stage for its first New York revival.  The limited run from November 9 to December 9, 2018, will be at the Playhouse home at 220 E 4th Street.  Alex Roe directs.

Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt were leading intellectuals of the twentieth century. In the 1920's, they had a passionate affair. In the 1930's, Heidegger became an ardent Nazi while Arendt became an ardent Zionist. Nevertheless, after the war, they still continued to correspond and to meet. Douglas Lackey dramatizes their relationship in 'Arendt-Heidegger: A Love Story,' a five-character play to be presented by Theater for the New City from September 27 to October 14. Its dialogue and action go beyond known facts, but everything in the play is consistent with them. Alexander Harrington directs.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse brings Philip Barry's first Broadway play, 'You and I' to the stage for its first New York revival in 95 years.   The limited run from September 7 to October 7, 2018, will be at the Playhouse home at 220 E 4th Street.

On Monday, July 23, 2018, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the organization who for the past 14 years has been dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announced the 2018 nominees at its annual event, The IT Party. Celebrating fourteen years and thousands of nominees at le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleeker Street.

The Obie Award winning Metropolitan Playhouse (220 E. 4th Street) current production of Jacob Gordin's The Jewish King Lear, one of the foundational works of the "Golden Age of American Yiddish theater," closes on Sunday, May 27.   

Obie Award winning Metropolitan Playhouse (220 E. 4th Street) presents Jacob Gordin's The Jewish King Lear, one of the foundational works of the "Golden Age" of American Yiddish theater, in a new English translation by Ruth Gay, from April 27 through May 27, 2018. The play, which had its Lower East Side debut in 1892 and was written as a star vehicle for Jacob Adler, one of the greatest actors of the New York's Yiddish stage. Metropolitan Playhouse welcomes back director Ed Chemaly (The Easiest Way, The Spirit House) to helm the production.

Metropolitan Playhouse (220 E. 4th Street) welcomes back Victorian impresario Augustin Daly with A Marriage Contract now on stage through Sunday, March 18. This riotous 1892 comedy of a marriage caught between the big city and a small town, makes a triumphant return to the New York stage for the first time since its premiere.

Obie Award winning Metropolitan Playhouse revives A Marriage Contract, Augustin Daly's uproarious and poignant commentary on marriage, family, and the contrast between county and city life. Staged by Artistic Director Alex Roe at Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 E. 4th Street, New York City. This production marks, to our knowledge, the first time the play is being presented since 1892 premiere. It is worth noting that the script only exists in manuscript form and was never published.