Upcoming Indie Theater – May 29
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.
Take Me To Dollywood
Venue: La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
Dates: Now through May 31
La MaMa presents the world premiere of Take Me To Dollywood, a production by The Fool Volk. A new full-length collage of scenes and experiments with a queer southern twang. On a porch in the south, a faceless Dolly Parton haunts the stage as characters find themselves on the edge of relationships, sexuality, and reality. A woman has eaten her hand, a sexy gummy bear awaits certain death, two men meet for a hook-up, a boss rummages through his employees’ desks, and the playwright details his sex life. The playwright’s real life mom finds a way to sneak into the show.
Dragoness
Venue: Inspiration Point
Dates: May 29 - 31 and June 4 - 7
Dragoness is a high-octane, satirical commentary on race and creating art under capitalism, Dragoness interrogates the ethics of reinventing identity in order to satisfy the expectations of those in power. Presented in tandem with the play will be a gallery exhibition titled “Misalignment” at Fashion Moda Modern. The show invites artists to respond to paradoxes, splits, and contradictions. The work confronts internalized oppression, betrayal—of language, land, lineage—and the uneasy desire to pass, belong, or ascend.
An Ordinary Afternoon in 1974
Venue: Court Square Theater
Date: Now through May 31
Exploring the intersection of queer rights and women’s rights in the mid-1970s. What starts as an ordinary afternoon quickly gets out of hand when two longtime friends and neighbors revisit the past. Old stories, buried feelings, and a once-unspoken intimacy come rushing to the surface. Funny, fierce, full of joy, and reckoning. This beautiful story invites us to look at these ordinary afternoons that shape our lives.
MELTINGPLOT
Venue: Theaterlab
Dates: May 17-31
30 performances over 2 weeks provide YOU the opportunity to experience what’s next in participatory live performance. Join us for this inaugural festival May 18 -31, 2026 as 5 creators present brand new work.
Like a Good Neighbor by Jake Alexander, THIS IS NOT A CULT by Christopher Lewis Dawkins, In the shadows of her past selves by Deniz Khateri, FEEL BAD by Katy Murphy, and TENN LOVERS by Kristopher Victoria.
HardLove
Venue: SoHo PlayHouse
Date: Now through June 6
Following its sold-out 2025 run at NYC’s legendary SoHo Playhouse, the critically acclaimed dark comedy "HardLove" extends for the third time from May 1-June 6. In “HardLove,” a volatile late-night encounter fueled by booze and magnetic attraction forces two strangers to confront their fears, desires, and the fragile lines between connection and destruction. Featuring Miray Beşli and Chandler Stephenson. Directed by Jee Duman.
How to Shit in Public/It Takes a Village
Venue: Bechdel Project
Dates: May 30 and 31
Two unique durational installation performance art pieces presented as part of Greenpoint Open Studios HOW TO SHIT IN PUBLIC, (created by Nina Fry) is an audio/visual experience that takes place inside an outhouse. Weaving interviews, live recordings, written text, found text, opera and other source materials to take the audience on a journey to discover what their experience as a fetus may have been like. IT TAKES A VILLAGE, (created by Sindy Butz) is piece that employs coffee as an icebreaker to explore matrescence, the profound physiological and psychological transformation experienced by mothers.
WAKE UP
Venue: Gibney: Anges Varis Performing Arts Center
Date: May 31
WAKE UP is an evening length contemporary/experimental dance work. Transcending you to an alternate world of revolt, the piece is a rebellion against the mundane through giving in to human desire. Movement allows the body to access its memory of everyday gestures with a heightened sensibility, inviting primal physical instincts to resurface. Inspired by combining every-day activities such as playing basketball, watching TV, and walking on high heels with raw human emotions such as hunger, release, and collapse, WAKE UP is a spiritual journey where everyday memories and the awakening human cravings intersect.
Cl*t Cult
Venue: The Pit
Date: June 3
Cl*t Cult recently premiered at the NY Fringe at Wild Project April 2-10. Cl*t Cult, directed by Ryan Cunningham (Sugar Daddy by Sam Morrison) written, performed by and with music and lyrics by Star Stone (Edinburgh Fringe, RISK! Live, UCB) and Charlie O'Connor (Adults, FX). This is a true story comedy based on Star's journey to have an orgasm but "oops" she seeketh herself a little too far and accidentally ends up in the sexual wellness cult called OneTaste. OneTaste was an organization that promoted a 15 minute clitoris stroking practice claiming to result in an orgasm and its founders were recently convicted and sentenced to 9 years in prison. Cl*t Cult reveals how patriarchy and control can hide behind spiritualized intimacy and feminist branding.
The Naked Woman
Venue: Theatre 154
Dates: June 3-14
The Naked Woman is a gripping, darkly comic drama about love, morality, and blind devotion. It unfolds over a winter holiday in an Upstate New York country house, where a family of Soviet immigrants gathers to celebrate Misha (Ilia Volok), a man who has built a life on achievement, intelligence, and survival, until a single moment shatters the illusion… As the incident seeps into the house, the lively family gathering turns into a Chekhovian moral reckoning.
The IndieSpace community can get 25% off tickets using the promo code INDIESPACE.
Sugar Sugar! Performance Series
Venue: Domino Park
Dates: June 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, and 25
Returning to Domino Park for its second edition, Sugar Sugar! will transform Domino Square’s waterfront amphitheater into a festive open-air stage for free, experimental performances. The series runs June 3 to 25, 2026, presenting performances on Wednesday and Thursday evenings each week. Over the four-week run, some of the city’s most exciting artists working across dance, puppetry, clowning, theater, performance art, and music will premiere ambitious, site-responsive works—many artists presenting large-scale performance outdoors for the first time. This year’s program features new work by New York artists Amando Houser and Pussypaws Puppetry; Julia Antinozzi and Isa Spector; HOLE PICS; and Malcolm-x Betts and Kat Sotelo. Three of the four performance weeks were conceived as pairings, with each curator shaping different weeks, inviting unexpected connections or illuminating shared artistic sensibilities, alongside one week devoted to the queer art collective HOLE PICS.
Find A Good Husband
Venue: The Bernie Wohl Center Theater
Dates: June 4-6
Created by Yvonne Huatin Chow | 周化炜, Find A Good Husband is a tribute to Yvonne’s paternal grandfather, Mike Kuo-Min Chow (Yeh Yeh), inspired by a message he wrote in his final birthday card to her. Blending live narration, Hip-Hop/Street Dance, and Asian folklore, this dance theater work explores love, lineage, and cultural duty through a queer lens.
“Planet of the Grapes” - An Epic, Tabletop, Sci-Fi Adventure
Venue: The Rat
Dates: June 6 & 7
Award-winning lockdown hit “Planet of the Grapes” transports audiences to a futuristic world where talking grapes reign supreme and humans are rendered speechless. Directed by Michole Biancosino, this fast-paced comedic homage blends the charm of Victorian toy theater with the sci-fi spectacle of the 1968 classic “Planet of the Apes,” creating an interactive, immersive, all-ages adventure packed into a juicy 60 minutes. Produced by Project Y Theatre, SparkDog Productions Inc., and PM2 Entertainment.
Fear & Wonder
Venue: Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre / A.R.T. New York Theatres
Dates: June 8-27
Forced to share a room at a conservative Christian summer camp, picture-perfect Ryan and cynical rebel Jabez expect nothing but a week of forced prayers. Instead, their late-night debates spark a magnetic, dangerous attraction that threatens everything they know. When the real world crashes in, will the fear of losing it all tear them apart, or will they risk everything to make something wonderful?
The Wayfaring Strangers
Venue: The PIT Loft
Dates: June 21
Join The Wayfaring Strangers for an improvised bluegrass musical featuring brand spankin’ new lyrics to old-timey standards, played on traditional instruments like banjo, stand up bass, guitar, fiddle, washboard, egg shakers and jug. With opening acts Goat Party (April), SLOP (May) and Unheard Of (June).
¡Pueblo Harlem! Celebrating Latino Culture
Venue: The Riverside Church
Dates: June 26
Belongó invites you to the 12th annual ¡Pueblo Harlem! - Celebrating Latino Culture, a day-long music festival in Harlem that brings together community, culture, and live performance at the iconic Riverside Church in West Harlem. A whole-day affair for families and the Harlem community, Pueblo Harlem welcomes audiences of all ages to experience a vibrant celebration of music, movement, and cultural exchange.