Gruesome Playground Injuries Revival
90 Minutes
Gruesome Playground Injuries - 2025 Off-Broadway History , Info & More
Lucille Lortel Theatre
121 Christopher St (between Hudson & Bleeker Sts) New York, NY 10014
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries will return to the New York stage in a new production starring three-time Emmy Award nominee Nicholas Braun and two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young, and directed by Tony Award Nominee Neil Pepe. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.
Gruesome Playground Injuries - 2025 - Off-Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Gruesome Playground Injuries
Gruesome Playground Injuries: Not All Wounds Are On the Outside
8 / 10
Braun, who acquits himself well, may be a stage novice, but he’s smart enough to know that the way to raise his game is by going toe-to-toe with one of the best in the business: back-to-back Tony winner (Purpose, Purlie Victorious) and consecutive four-year nominee Kara Young. Playing Kayleen at age 8, bouncing on the bed in her pigtails and school uniform, sighing overdramatically, swinging her feet, calling Doug ‘stupid’ and telling him to ‘shut up’—basic 8-year-old things—she wins our hearts immediately.
‘Gruesome Playground Injuries’ Review: Does It Hurt?
6 / 10
But while Young, one of New York’s most fascinating stage actors, is enrapturing in the first scene, that is by far the high point of this tantalizingly tricky play. Braun, seeming subdued and less than comfortable in the role, does not match her, and the show overall is too often curiously flat. Neither its sometimes pitch-black sense of humor nor its characters’ bond and brokenness are fully realized. The synergy isn’t there, at least not yet; that might come with time.
Category
by Bruce Glikas - November 25, 2025
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries is back on the New York stage, and recently celebrated its gala opening for its off-Broadway run. Check out photos from the opening night here!
by Stephi Wild - November 24, 2025
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries is back on the New York stage in a new production starring three-time Emmy Award nominee Nicholas Braun and two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young. Read the reviews here!
by Joey Mervis - November 22, 2025
In this video, watch as two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young walks us through the aisles of the Drama Book Shop to tell us all about the plays that made her the artist she is today. Can you guess which classics she most adores?
by Josh Sharpe - November 6, 2025
Two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young and Succession star Nicholas Braun stopped by TODAY on Thursday to talk about their roles in the off-Broadway revival of the play Gruesome Playground Injuries. Watch the interview now.
by Nicole Rosky - October 20, 2025
Check out photos of Nicholas Braun and Kara Young in the upcoming production of Gruesome Playground Injuries, starting November 7 in NYC.
by Joey Mervis - October 15, 2025
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries will return to the New York stage in a new production starring three-time Emmy Award nominee Nicholas Braun and two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young. Watch in this video as the whole team explains what the play is all about!
by Bruce Glikas - October 14, 2025
Gruesome Playground Injuries will return to the New York stage in a new production starring Nicholas Braun and Kara Young, and directed by Tony Award Nominee Neil Pepe. See photos of the cast meeting the press here!
by Nicole Rosky - September 25, 2025
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries will return to the New York stage in a new production starring three-time Emmy Award nominee Nicholas Braun (“Succession”) and two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young.
Gruesome Playground Injuries History
Other Productions of Gruesome Playground Injuries
| 2011 | Off-Broadway |
Second Stage Theatre Production Off-Broadway |
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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