Upcoming Indie Theater – August 1
Each week, we share upcoming indie theater shows and productions 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.
For more coverage of indie theater in New York, please visit New York Theatre Review.
The preview image is from FRIGID NYC, which is available for rentals.
Help us create an Edinburgh Fringe edition of this feature!
This year, we're putting together an Edinburgh Fringe edition!
If you’re an NYC artist/company/collective/production and you have a show at Edinburgh Fringe, please use the form to share your show information.
We'll share a NYC at EdFringe edition of this update on IndieSpace's website and our social media platforms - Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky.
Measure for Measure
Venue: The Makers’ Space
Date: August 1
Measure for Measure asks us to bear witness to a world where morality cannot sustain itself – it flows, flies, and falls like sand. In it, the line between the state and the individual is blurred beyond recognition, and justice turns out to be more akin to bargain than mercy. And then there’s uncleanliness. Tons of it. Here, righteousness is like a rubber band: stretch it enough and you’ll permanently deform it into a kind of perversion. Measure for Measure revolves around that elasticity, its focus is on this exercise of clinging to humanity in a world that renders the moral absurd. I mean, really ask yourself: is being good possible when you’re teetering on the razor’s edge between someone else’s destruction and your survival?
Our Name Is Mara
Venue: National Dance Institute
Date: August 1
When her father misses her spelling bee, 12-year-old Mara suspects something’s amiss. Anxious for answers, Mara interrogates her neighbor and demands answers from her family. She discovers her father’s been hospitalized then reasons her love is the only medicine he needs to get better. But when he's still not better, she's left questioning if her dad is the same man she knew.
The Betrothed
Venue: WP Theater
Date: August 1
Chosen as part of WP Theater's Space Residency Program for indie theater companies,The Betrothed by Scarlett Grace McCarthy and directed by Sarah Connolly is an absurdist comedy of love, ambition, and social expectation set in the 19th century and performed by an all-women cast. When her brother’s broken engagement disrupts Kitty’s plans to secure a suitor, she’s forced to confront the rigid expectations placed upon her and schemes to restore order and ensure everyone gets their happily ever after. As romantic entanglements unravel and betrayals come to light, The Betrothed queers the classic marriage plot.
Work Sucks: An Improv Comedy Show
Venue: Duke Comedy Theatre @ Westbeth Community Room
Date: August 1
Bad jobs, terrible bosses, co-workers from your nightmares. Bring us your worst workday stories, and watch seasoned improvisers from NYC and Hudson Valley’s top comedy theaters turn them into live, laugh-out-loud comedy right before your eyes. Free entry! Donations welcome.
Foosball
Venue: Arts On Site
Date: August 1
Caught between small-town Michigan drama and an abusive father, JJ Janson has to navigate an impossible love triangle on his 16th birthday. Foosball begs the question: Can we overcome our trauma or do we learn to live with our wounds? That's Pure Michigan, baby!
FRIZZLED: A Magic School Bus Musical Parody
Venue: Culture Lab LIC
Dates: Now through August 2
Frizzled is a wild, nostalgic coming-of-age musical blasting the kids you know and love into outrageous and very grown-up scenarios with their favorite frizzy-haired teacher. Featuring a score packed with infectious hooks about getting older, partying it up, and wanting to lesbian kiss your best friend, this show is guaranteed to make you laugh. Join the kids from Walkerville High as they take one last ride on that big yellow bus! not suitable for audiences under 18
Funeral of god
Venue: AMT Theatre
Dates: Now through August 2
Funeral of god follows four theater-makers staging a funeral for a god who may or may not be dead, with no cause of death, no body, and a script that keeps going blank. A director clings to his clipboard, a believer insists the ceremony be dignified, a cynic refuses to say anything sincere, and a clown jokes to keep from feeling anything — while a silent stagehand quietly removes their chairs, one by one. What begins as absurdist comedy about rehearsing grief turns into something harder, as each of them finally admits whose funeral they actually came to. Brian S. Brijbag's dark comedy asks what's left to do when the ritual stops working, and who's still sitting there when it ends.
THE BRIDE: A Kill Bill Ballet
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Dates: Now through August 2
The Love Show's iconic tribute to Kill Bill, The Bride returns with a vengeance, tearing into the Theater District with grit, wit, sex, and action that won't quit. From director/choreographer Angela Harriell and her prolific dance theater company, The Love Show NYC, comes an homage to Quentin Tarantino’s classic film cycle about revenge, honor, and redemption. A cult classic reimagined through evocative dance and live song, The Bride: A Kill Bill Ballet is a wildly entertaining ride. It's sexy, wacky, beautiful, and weird.
Woyzeck
Venue: Modern Sweater
Dates: Now through August 8
Adult Film will present Woyzeck by Georg Büchner, translated by the late and storied American actor, John Christopher Jones, directed by international director Seth Bockley (2666, Gilgamesh) Summer of Blood!! Woyzeck will be the inaugural production at Modern Sweater, a former sweater factory in the heart of the independent arts capital of New York, Ridgewood. Joining the Adult Film company members is Randall Jaynes, who served as a Blue Man and the Senior Artistic Director with Blue Man Group for over two decades. Woyzeck will present a site-specific exploration of class conflict and madness. A rock musical devising lyrics from 1830s Germany. A horror story through a humanist lens.
The Potluck
Venue: Soho Rep and INTAR
Dates: Now through August 9
Solidarity is just another kind of queerness. In 1979, five labor organizers were murdered at a protest in the streets of Greensboro, NC, by members of the KKK and the American Nazi Party. A year later, César James Alvarez was born into the survivor community and named for two of the victims. 37 years after that, César got a commission to write a musical about the Greensboro Massacre, but it turned into a show about ghosts… and capitalism…and how to recuperate from trauma that happened to you before you were even born. The Potluck is a new musical featuring a 12 person intergenerational cast that conjures the soft side of the revolution, and tells a story about what to do when the government is actually trying to kill you.
The Vessel
Venue: 59E59 Theaters
Dates: Now through August 23
The Vessel is inspired by the controversial honeycomb-like Hudson Yards attraction, which first opened to the public in 2019 and subsequently faced numerous closures due to fatal incidents at the site. The play follows three parks employees working together in that same timeline as the apathetic structure looms over their lives. It is written and directed, respectively, by Drama Desk nominated duo Brendan George and Peter Charney, and features Anastasia Locke, Will Ingram, and Sofonyas, each making their Off-Broadway debut.
The Infinite Wrench
Venue: Asylum NYC (123.E 24th St)
Dates: August 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 29, and 30
The Infinite Wrench is a barrage of 30 short plays the cast attempts to perform within a single hour in a race against the clock. Each play offers something different, be it funny, profound, elegant, disgusting, topical, irrelevant, terrifying, or even a dance or a song. All are truthful and tackle the here-and-now, inspired by the lived experiences of the performers. With new plays every week, The Infinite Wrench is the Neo-Futurists’ ongoing and ever-changing attempt to shift the conventions of live performance and speak to audiences, including those unreached or unmoved by traditional theater.
The Anti-Mary's Map to Motherhood Part I
Venue: The Chain Theatre - Summer of One Acts 2026
Date: August 2
As the saying goes “Man plans, God laughs...” This play tracks a chaotic, deeply personal and sometimes hilarious journey through the highs and lows of fertility, identity, and a Catholic-upbringing, culminating in a cliff-hanger of chilling implications.
Occupation: Meganne George Women's Work Short Play Festival
Venue: New Perspectives Studio
Dates: August 3-8
Named after Meganne George, who served as Resident Production Designer at NPTC for 19 years and was instrumental in creating its structure and design elements, the festival presents original short plays developed in NPTC's Women's Work LAB which takes writers from the first impulse for their play to a rehearsed and staged performance for live audiences, all within six months. There is no other program of its kind in New York City. All themes stem from the social and political discourse percolating in the U.S. at the start of a new LAB. Occupation was inspired by the presence of ICE agents in multiple cities, global conflicts and the changing realities of the job market in the U.S. As always, each writer found her own take on this theme, enabling the creation of plays that are as unique and diverse as the talented writers themselves.
Grade of Execution
Venue: Under St. Marks Theater
Date: August 4
2026 was the year Antonio Enriquez was dreading and hoping for in equal measures. He was daring to do what few figure skaters have done before him: challenge for a third consecutive Olympic gold. But as he prepares for the Olympics, Enriquez finds himself to be the poster boy for Team USA during the most targeted anti-immigration efforts in the United States. Thrust into a debate he never wanted to be a part of, it's up to Enriquez to decide: what kind of statement does he want to make?
Real Estate
Venue: The Brick
Dates: August 6-14
After a two week sold out run in January for the Exponential Festival, Real Estate returns to the Brick Theater! The play follows two men through a highly physical and lowly written journey of love. David and Robert are constantly moving; moving houses, moving bodies and moving against their desires. Their push and pull dynamic spins out through dance, turning their awkward dialogue into a romantic ballet, a club dance and a cartoon chase. As the duo continues to find themselves in the wrong place, they draw closer to a fantasy beyond language, gesture and time.
Higher Than a Body
Venue: wild project
Dates: August 7 & 8
Performance art meets supernatural satire in a special work-in-progress presentation of Higher Than A Body, a new solo performance written, composed, and performed by multidisciplinary artist Neil Totton. Developed in residence at wild project, this showing invites audiences into a memory set to music, packed with humor, sass, and deep introspection.
Welcome to Mountport
Venue: 145 W 28th Street, 3rd Floor
Dates: August 7 & 14
Welcome to Mountport is a fully staged version of Dropout's Game Changer episode, "Official Cast Recording." Originally the setting of a fully improvised musical on a game show, the town of Mountport will soon be just a train ride away in NYC. Join Alexa, a baseball-playing girl, as she explores a mountain-seaside town full of music and small-town charm but sadly lacking in tuna fish. Can Alexa prove herself before the maybe-evil Tina and her sidekick, Pinocchio, tear her down?
ISLA
Venue: WP Theater
Dates: August 8-29
ISLA, a new full-length work from the acclaimed theater company Hit The Lights!, is a Latin American coming-of-age story, featuring a full original songbook and a live Latin jazz-influenced score. Cinematic projections, recorded interviews and an extended cast of handmade shadow puppets illustrate the exquisite craft of HTL’s technical team. ISLA’s immersive set is a kinetic picture book in a state of continuous transformation that reveals the magic possibilities of one immigrant family's journey.
Wild is the Witch
Venue: Arts on Site
Date: August 9
“Wild is the Witch” includes two pieces that explore themes of feminine power, healing, and connectivity. “When I die, put me in the earth” is inspired by a desire to decompose after death and return to the ecosystem, rather than being preserved or cremated. “A Spell of Breaking” portrays a coven as they rebuild and reclaim their power after a tragedy. We invite you to come own your power, feel the magic, and remember that endings are also beginnings.
Lunaticus
Venue: The Tank
Date: August 10
When sudden spells of aphasia and mysterious blackout episodes lead to a life-changing neurological diagnosis, Danielle is left to navigate an escalating disability while sorting through her relationships, confronting her mortality, and reckoning with an unexpectedly fractured sense of self. LUNATICUS is a quirky, nuanced, deeply personal take on one of humanity’s most ancient and most misunderstood afflictions. This brand-new solo show dives deep into a real-life story of epilepsy, a condition that's been remarkably underexplored in the American theatre. Despite affecting humans for thousands of years, the experience of epilepsy remains shrouded in mystery and marred by misunderstanding. Danielle Allen’s autobiographical tale of the adult-onset epilepsy that upended her life aims to shed light on the diversity of epileptic experiences while reminding us of the power that comes with speaking our stories out loud.
Replaced!
Venue: The Tank
Date: August 12
Replaced! is a surrealist sci-fi tragicomedy following a young woman identified only as a Daughter who returns to her hometown to find that everyone in it has been replaced by aliens. Hailed as “an invigoratingly surreal body-snatching narrative” by Thinking Theater and “a smart and earnest piece” with “a lot of fun physical absurdity” by Hi! Drama, Replaced! is back for one night only at The Tank on August 12th at 9:30pm. Come out and join us. We’ll get you in the end anyway.
Your Queen Presents: PETRUS
Venue: United Palace
Date: August 14
YOUR QUEEN PRESENTS: PETRUS is a darkly comic solo performance blending drag, clown, and magical theatricality to uncover the true story behind Beauty and the Beast. Queen Catherine de’ Medici attempts to summon the life of Petrus Gonsalvus, a Canary Islander with hypertrichosis who was taken to the French court in the 16th century and transformed into a spectacle. Created and performed by fellow Canary Islander Edu Díaz, the piece combines historical material and absurdity to explore power, displacement, and the manufacture of monsters. This new iteration will be presented at the United Palace in New York before traveling to Cannonball at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Party Girl
Venue: The Tank
Dates: August 20 & 22
Party Girl is the one woman show of your dreams! This girl just wants to have fun and be sexy! And never think about the economy. Or death. After years of losing love, scraping by at minimum wage, and smoking weak-ass weed, she's determined to have the most fabulous night ever, at any cost. Even blood.
Half World
Venue: The Chain
Dates: August 20-23
Through the twisty rhizomes of online chatter and Discord servers, internet friends Bianca and Izzy lament the loss of their pop-culture tether, before the internet pushes them in different and unexpected directions.
Dirty Bird
Venue: ErF Gallery
Dates: September 4-20
Summer. A family gathers. And for no good reason, destroys one another. A forensic examination of the transcendence and violence of desire, the insatiable need to discover new forms of human expression and the brutal aches that shape us… a traverse to endure amongst the moments of neon lightening and jagged wounds. Dirty Bird is a radical new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull by writer / director Whit Flint, with a score built around artists like Bowie, the Pixies, and the Zombies.