Indie Theater Thursday – October 4
It’s Indie Theater Thursday!
We share upcoming indie theater shows/productions happening in New York City. These are submitted by members of the IndieSpace community.
Do you have an upcoming show to share? Use the Show/Production Sharing Form to share the details of your show/production with IndieSpace so that we can share with the community.
Our preview image is of the Chain Theatre, which is available for rentals.
(un)conditional
Location: Soho Playhouse
Dates: Now through October 26
Fantasies are harmless, right? But what happens when your spouse wants to take a dark fantasy from the realm of imagination firmly into your bedroom? For two couples, the boundaries of compromise, communication, and unconditional love are tested to their breaking point, and seven-year-old Mia is getting caught in the crossfire.
Bites by Kay Adshead: A Tasting Workshop
Location: Theaterlab
Dates: October 4 and 5
Bites by Kay Adshead is a theatrical banquet — a poetic feast of cruelty, resilience, and survival. This October workshop will explore two of its seven “courses” through improvisation, physical action, and ensemble work. The aim is not to present a finished performance, but to invite audiences into a shared theatrical ritual where fragility and imagination become tools of resistance.
This October process aims to explore how the poetic writing — more lyrical and elusive than narrative — can open up to multiple interpretations. In this phase, all geographic references will be removed, shifting the focus away from a specific place or time toward a more universal condition. Situations change, contexts shift, yet dynamics of power, violence, and the denial of human rights repeat themselves: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change” (Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard).
The goal is not to present a finished performance but to undertake a shared process in which actors, through structured improvisations, physical action studies, and ensemble work, can discover their own voice and creativity and place it in service of something higher and more universal. For this to happen, I believe it is necessary to set aside our small self, to make space for fragility and vulnerability — conditio sine qua non, in my view — to become vessels of an art that offers political thought, in the etymological sense of the word: a reflection on the polis, on community. In this way, the group creates a theatrical ritual where imagination becomes a tool of resistance
The Cherry Orchard
Location: Rutgers Presbyterian Church
Dates: Now through October 12
This is not your Granny's Chekhov. It's a fast paced sex comedy inspired by the films of Fellini, David Lynch, and Baz Luhrmann, the music of Madonna, Franz Ferdinand, and Italodisco. This multimedia version of the play blends theatre, film, music, dance - and finds itself not in an orchard or a nursery, but on a dancefloor - a ballroom of the mind.
The Infinite Wrench
Location: The Second City
Dates: Saturdays and Sundays in October
Use code HOT20 for $5 off General Admission
The Infinite Wrench is the NY Neo-Futurists' ever-changing attempt to perform 30 original plays in about an hour. Over 1,000 weeks and 7,500 plays and counting!
The NY Neo-Futurists continue to craft new & vibrant work in The Infinite Wrench at The Second City. Dive into a bold and unpredictable fusion of theater, storytelling, and sport with the New York Neo-Futurists every Friday and Saturday. For each show, the Neos take on the challenge of performing 30 original plays in roughly an hour. Through their unconventional storytelling, they deliver quick, powerful slices of life—crafted from the ensemble's own experiences—at times funny, profound, elegant, gross, topical, irrelevant, or even downright absurd. Every show is different, and with new plays every week, they have created over 7,500 new plays!
Bestie Island
Location: Court Square Theater - Long Island City
Dates: October 2-5 and 9-11
Use indie10 for 10% off!
Off-off Broadway WORLD PREMIERE of an original pop musical - just a 15-minute subway ride from Times Square! Limited run October 2nd - 11th, 2025.
A missing reality TV contestant. A desperate single mom. Crimes messier than spilled rosé.
BESTIE ISLAND THE MUSICAL serves up your biggest reality obsessions - “The Bachelor,” “Love Island” and “Real Housewives” - set to pop earworms. Follow our heroine Jamie through tropical chaos, messy drama, and crimes she never saw coming. The show is Carly Rae Jepsen meets Little Shop of Horrors meets your the darkest corners of your FYP*. Don't miss out - there will be only seven performances this October at LIC's Court Square theater!
Shadowboxing in Blue
Location: HAVEN Boxing (Brooklyn)
Date: October 4, 11, 18, and 25
HAVEN Boxing and local dance company Danse Theatre Surreality present October performances of Shadowboxing in Blue, on Saturday, October 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2025 at HAVEN Boxing (65 Scholes Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11206).
The performance on the 18th will be a Spanish-English bilingual show. Tickets are $10 and are available at https://bit.ly/shadowboxing_october.
Lauren Hlubny and Kyra Hauck, Artistic Directors of Danse Theatre Surreality (DTS), active in NYC and Paris, invite audiences to experience the World Premiere of Shadowboxing in Blue. This innovative work, conceived and directed by Hlubny, takes place in a boxing gym and merges dance, theater, and live music with the intensity of combat training to explore the inner struggles we all face. Paired with a boxing therapy workshop, Shadowboxing is more than just a performance-it’s a resource for the community.
Shadowboxing in Blue is an innovative, multidimensional project weaving dance, music, and boxing. This collaboration between dancers, boxers, and musicians explores an individual facing inner adversaries at different life stages. With the goal of fostering diversity, both in casting and artistic expression, the project seeks to deliver a powerful message that challenges norms and redefines the intersection of art, sports, and self-healing. Don't forget to wear clothes you feel comfortable moving in for the workshop!
This is an accessible event. All shows will have ASL interpretation and braille programs.
Gesture Theater + Krista Jansen
Location: Arts on Site
Date: October 5
Krista Jansen plays with a dance that floats and curls around a seesaw. As Nina Simone musically sets up a structure and then absolutely tears it down to play all over it, and buttoned shirts multiply, Annie Wang has described “Seeing a person wholly realized through movement, revealed in the whirlwind.” Gesture Theater presents a dance-theater-clown piece complete with masks, linguistics, and big suits. In a testament to queer futurity, we “admit that … ‘transsexual is not identity but desire is to admit just how much of transition takes place in the waiting room of wanting things.” (Andrea Long Chu).
Photos by Robin Michals and Eric Bandiero.
My Dinner with Morgan at Remedy Diner: Chapter 39
Location: Theaterlab
Date: October 10
The beloved figure of the downtown community, dramaturg Morgan Jenness was scheduled to be on stage as part of Christmas in Nickyland, an annual holiday celebration hosted by Nicky Paraiso at LaMaMa on December 21 and 22, 2024. However, Jenness – who nurtured the work of countless playwrights – passed away suddenly in November. In a touching personal tribute to her, Yoshiko Chuma staged Chapter 39 in the form of a dramatized production from the headquarters of the School of Hard Knocks.
A Little Unwell
Location: Brooklyn Art Haus
Dates: October 10 & 11
In honor of World Mental Health Day, A Little UnWell is a dynamic circus aerial variety featuring some of NYC's best circus artists who will perform acts inspired by a mental health challenge and how art has been a powerful tool in their healing.
A portion of the proceeds will go to NAMI-NYC, a leading mental illness non profit.
"Show Up, Kids!"
Location: The Rat
Dates: October 11, 18, 25
Save 50% with code: CHICKEN
This acclaimed, long-running, interactive musical show for kids 3-10 years old puts a wildly comedic twist on the traditional kids’ show. When the main attraction doesn’t show up, the host enlists the help of the kids (and their grownups) to control everything from plot to props, characters to costumes, and settings to sound in a one-of-a-kind, 45-minute laughfest.
FIRST DATE
Location: The Secret Theatre
Dates: October 16, 22, 25, 31
In the not distant future, dating becomes even weirder, and so does sleeping.
Jean invites Riley to their first date at a Pro Sleep League event, where athletes compete to see who can sleep the deepest. In a data-driven society, can you find LOVE when everything is filtered through profiles and analytics?
Brownstone Steps Play Festival
Location: Commons Theatre
Dates: October 18 and 19
BFEST 2025 brings you a slate of new plays performed by local artists from NYC's theater scene. No AI, this is live on stage, full of peace love and theater!
Introducing the works of 5 local playwrights, performed with veteran and emerging theater artists for dramatic tales with comedic beats. Presenting:
THE RHYTHM OF BLU by Alicia Foxworth
When the opportunity to become a music star finally presents itself to Jay Oliver, it appears he is not the one being courted after all, turning his career, his relationships and his world upside down.
HEY YOU by Justine J. Hall/Ryan Sett
Exploring love and addiction. Meeting your soulmate. You get married and everything is wonderful, and then BAM addiction walks in. A drama with poetry, and self-expression minimalist dancing.
THE DRUMS OF FREEDOM by Christopher Bello
Isaiah and Samuel wrestle with joining the Army.
MY MOMENT by Malissa Dean
A man processes the life-changing news in the midst of busy foot traffic at a local supermarket.
JUST the 3 of US from the play, Ghost Writer by Alicia Foxworth
A very funny love triangle will emerge when young Madison gets up the nerve to ask out Sandra Gayle, only to have her longtime friend Auguste, emerge from the shadows.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Location: Brooklyn Art Haus
Dates: October 23 – November 2
FRANKIEFAN ($10 off)
Kitchen Sink Theatre Company and Brooklyn Art Haus present the most tantalizing experience of The Rocky Horror Picture Show you've ever encountered! Step into the film with 360-degree projection mapping, a LIVE shadow cast, re-imagined costumes and choreography, all in our immersive Transylvaian oasis at Brooklyn Art Haus! Whether you're a veteran or a virgin of the LIVE Rocky Horror experience, this one promises to be perhaps the greatest pleasure you'll ever experience...
Radio Violence
Location: YA Mystery podcast (online)
Dates: October 31 through December 5
A missing pop star with a penchant for hidden messages. A 12 y/o superfan (+ Dad) follow the tracks. A 6-part YA mystery beginning Halloween, with 25 min episodes releasing weekly wherever you podcast and an accompanying EP with clues. Recorded live to bring the energy of live theatre to the audio drama world.
L’Alliance New York Announces By Heart in association with BAM 2025 Crossing The Line Festival
Location: L'Alliance New York
Dates: November 3 and 4
Returning to Crossing The Line after his directorial work on last year’s Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, Tiago Rodrigues presents another internationally acclaimed performance—only this time, he’s directing his audience. Ten audience members come together onstage for an act of collective memorization, learning a Shakespearean sonnet by heart. The results are, according to a New York Times Critic’s Pick review, “miraculous … [a] communal act of translation,” performed while Rodrigues offers direction and commentary on the transformative personal and political dimensions of memorization.
Now & Then
Location: Reverie Room
Date: November 7
Beloved opera, musical theatre, & pop songs with personal stories along the way
Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard
Location: United Solo Festival at Theatre Row
Date: November 8
When a complacent retail guard is called in on his day off and abruptly reassigned to an undesirable position under the hostile supervision of a feared manager, he must confront not only the absurdity of corporate life but also his own untapped strength. Through a fast-paced mix of comedy, drama, and richly drawn characters, Harris delivers a performance that captures the hidden battles faced by countless workers in retail and service industries.
Directed with simplicity to keep the spotlight on storytelling and character work, Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard invites audiences to laugh, reflect, and maybe even see a little of themselves in the struggles onstage.
Presented at the United Solo Theatre Festival last Spring, this play offers a rare, authentic glimpse into the gritty, often hilarious world behind the cash registers and security doors.
Actor and Playwright: Ken Harris
Producer: Angela Grout of “BAM productions”
Director: Michael Buster McMahon of “Are you Going To Finish Those Fries Productions”
Mick Gorley – Technical Director
Running Time: 65 minutes