Upcoming Indie Theater – October 9
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 coverge of indie theater in New York, please visit New York Theatre Review.
The preview image is from FRIGID New York, which is available for rentals.
sweet prince
Venue: Culture Lab LIC
Dates: October 9
Learn more and get tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/sweet-prince
The murderous uncle? The beguiled queen? A hired friend? Who will you choose? sweet prince is an interactive, one-woman Hamlet that invites the audience to step in as the missing characters. Ready to be?
Inter-grant Festival
Venue: Arts On Site
Dates: Now through October 10
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.artsonsite.org/tickets
The Inter-grant Festival is a three-night celebration highlighting the vibrant work of Inter-grant artists through visual art, live performance, film, and dialogue. Every evening offers a fully dynamic experience; starting with a pre-show art sale, continuing into live performances and docuseries film screenings, and closing with an artist-led post-show discussion.
A Part Of The Noise
Venue: THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY/ Johnson Theatre
Dates: October 8-25
Learn more and get tickets: https://theaterforthenewcity.net/shows/a-part-of-the-noise/
The year is 1959, and Franz’ art dealer, Sidney Janis, refuses to include Franz’ new color abstractions in an upcoming one-man show. Sidney wants Franz to ride out the popularity of his black and white paintings that are selling for record prices. Franz insists on including his two newest color abstractions, and Sidney threatens that if he does, this will be his last show at the prestigious Janis Gallery.
The Invisibles
Venue: Theater For The New City
Dates: Now through October 25
Learn more and get tickets: https://theaterforthenewcity.net/shows/the-invisibles/
The Invisibles is a story about how the different generations Gen Z, Millennials and Baby Boomers …within stereotypes…deal with their aging and their finances. Subjects that we so often tend to tread lightly on or not at all. The grandmother is in a nursing home convalescing from a hip injury, ready now to resume her well-earned .. comfortable life.
LBJ: The Play
Venue: Paradise Factory
Dates: Now through October 30
Learn more and get tickets: www.lbjtheplay.com
A 5th grade teacher hires local performer Sunny Zimmerman to give a simple historical presentation as LBJ. The only problem? Sunny’s gone method. They’ve been living and breathing as LBJ, and LBJ has decided that this is his one chance to salvage his legacy – with an ambitious theatrical production. As his vision doesn't go according to plan, the boundaries between actor and role become increasingly blurred.
The Infinite Wrench
Venue: Asylum NYC (123.E 24th St)
Dates: October 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, & 31
Learn more and get tickets: nynf.org/tiw
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 Oldest Profession
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Dates: October 9 & 17, November 6 & 7, December 18
Learn more and get tickets: https://theoldestprofession.org/upcoming-shows/
The Oldest Profession is a mad dash through 10,000 years of history from a sex worker’s perspective. Kaytlin Bailey is reframing the story of western civilization from a mesmerizing new angle. Weaving history, stand-up comedy, and lived experience in a fast-paced and profoundly moving hour-long solo show. The performance is punctuated by a projected art history slideshow.
Astoria New Play Festival: Short Play Reading Series
Venue: Our House Queens
Date: October 10
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/astorianewplayfestival/2390211
In its second year, The Astoria New Play Festival presents its first ever short play reading series this October 8th and 10th at 8pm! The short plays will be read at Our House Queens, a community and co-working space located just off the Astoria Blvd. N/W train. All playwrights are current or former residents of Astoria, Queens.
Brother Country
Venue: Cloud City
Date: October 10
Learn more and get tickets: https://pools.events/event/Qeu8aZto/brother-country/
A high octane great American adventure told through clown. Two train robbing brothers embark on a quixotic adventure across America robbing trains, play baseball with hotdogs, and do whatever it takes to save everything they ever thought about loving. How far would you go to pay your mothers medical bills?
Persephone: A Garden Between Worlds
Venue: Newtown Creek Nature Walk Phase 3
Dates: October 10 & 11
Learn more and get tickets: https://linktr.ee/persephoneimmersive
Journey into the underworld via our immersive reimagining of the Persephone myth. Pulling on the aesthetic traditions of "Viola’s Room" and "Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy", attendees will wander through a fantastical outdoor location in Greenpoint during this intimate adventure. As Homer narrates the tale of Persephone’s kidnapping by the Queen of the Underworld, dancers and large-scale installations bring the myth to life.
Intended
Venue: Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum & Garden
Dates: October 10-18
Learn more and get tickets: redmonkeytheatergroup.wordpress.com
Samuel Treadwell Pell, a newly minted captain of the Continental Army, cannot wait to get home to Pelham to see his fiancée (and cousin), Mary. However, when Mary’s family hosts British officers for dinner, she and Samuel have to decide if their future marriage can withstand a political divide. Frey examines the impact of bipartisan politics on family dynamics during the birth of the United States of America.
Show Up, Kids!
Venue: The Rat
Dates: October 10, 17, 24 and November 7, 21, & 28
Learn more and get tickets: https://showup-theshow.com/
This interactive show for kids 3-10 years old puts a wildly comedic twist on the traditional kids’ show. When the main attraction is a no-show, hapless host Bebe gets the kids (and their grownups) to help create a comedy show on the spot by choosing plot, props, characters, costumes, and settings - resulting in a wildly unpredictable, one-of-a-kind, 45-minute laughfest. Now in its 8th year!
Tap Dance Central: Faculty Choreography Spotlight
Venue: Arts On Site
Date: October 11
Learn more and get tickets:
4:30 showing: https://www.artsonsite.org/events-1/tap-dance-central-faculty-choreography-spotlight-2
6:30 showing: https://www.artsonsite.org/events-1/tap-dance-central-faculty-choreography-spotlight
Tap Dance Central spotlights the artistry, individuality, and creativity of its faculty featuring choreography by Maria Clara Laet, Kaleena Miller, Johannah Rickman, Tamii Sakurai, Lisa LaTouche, Susan Hebach, Jessee Leigh Robinson and Lucas Santos. The program brings together a diverse range of voices and approaches to tap dance, and invite audiences into their creative process, highlighting the musicality, storytelling, and creativity at the heart of their work. Joining them on stage are TDC faculty Emma Butensky and guests Michael J. Love, Isabella Serricella, along with the TDC Ensemble Dancers Ellis Greenberg, Poppy Lee Slovin, Jacob Schwartzfeld, and Sebastian Sinclair
The Wayfaring Strangers
Venue: The Pit
Dates: October 11, November 15, and December 13
Learn more and get tickets: https://tinyurl.com/waystrangeape
Join The Wayfaring Strangers at The PIT on October 11 at 7pm for an improvised bluegrass musical, featuring brand spankin’ new lyrics to old-timey standards, played on traditional instruments like banjo, guitar, stand up bass, washboard, triangle and jug.
THE LOVE SHOW
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Date: October 16
Learn more and get tickets: loveshow.eventbrite.com
The Hidden Jewel Box's cheeky in-house theater dance show returns for a heartfelt and tittilating night of dance, burlesque, song & theater! Laugh, cry, and experience an unforgettable evening of intimate whimsy unlike any other in the "Paris" Authority. The Love Show NYC, a globe trotting theater dance company of 20+ years invites you into our little home.
She Kills Monsters
Venue: The Secret Theatre
Dates: October 16-25
Learn more and get tickets: www.citygateproductions.org
She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, however, she finds herself catapulted into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was her sister’s refuge. In this high-octane dramatic comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and 90s pop culture, acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.
Brownstone Steps Play Festival
Venue: South Oxford Space
Dates: October 17 & 18
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.ticketsignup.io/TicketEvent/BFest2026
BFest presents its first ever complete lineup of women playwrights, for 5 plays of timely stories by, for or about women and the families we hold dear. Join us
Fertile Ground
Venue: Green Space
Date: October 18
Learn more and get tickets: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/QrJDGlVYM4BFePmqHWmNxg
Welcome to our 2026-2027 Season of Fertile Ground! Fertile Ground is a monthly new works series for emerging choreographers and experimenting, established professionals. Six artists present a work-in-progress and receive audience-driven feedback in a post-performance discussion (with wine!) moderated by Artistic Director, Valerie Green. With your constructive input you can help artists cultivate and grow their work!
Suffragists From The Stage
Venue: New Perspectives Studio
Date: October 19
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/suffragists-from-the-stage-a-concert-reading-slide-show-tickets-1998990672914
Join us for a 75-year journey exploring the Women's Suffrage Movement and the role that theatre women played in winning the vote! This special presentation is being offered for free as part of CULTURE CRAWL, a week-long series of events from the Hudson Yards/Hell's Kitchen Arts Alliance.
International Party Girl
Venue: Brooklyn Art Haus
Date: October 20
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-party-girl-tickets-2002179228971
A dark comedy and immersive theatrical experience that dives into loneliness, club culture, and the isolating search for connection. At its center is IPG, the ultimate party girl, trapped in the smoking section of a nightclub and teetering between the DJ booth and a breakdown. Through live music, 2000s celebrity-addict interviews featuring some of pop culture’s most infamous party girls, and an internal monologue that reveals the lonely girl beneath the persona, IPG invites the audience deep into her world.
"User Agreement"
Venue: The Makers’ Space
Dates: October 22 - November 8
Learn more and get tickets: https://makersensemble.org/useragreement
The Makers’ Ensemble presents the NYC premiere of O’Neill Finalist Ben Holbrook's "User Agreement," directed by Dante Green. Set in the near future, potential soulmates Sy and Theo navigate their bond in a world enhanced by the wonders of technology, AI, and the occasional talking octopus. Building a relationship based on good music, deep conversation, and strong boundaries feels natural to them. But their beautiful bond finds itself struggling against a world turned upside-down by the demons of human nature and the need for capital - causing them to wonder if it’s possible for two simple souls to truly connect in a society designed to be more complex than ever.
Women Who Eat
Venue: Atelier @ Theaterlab
Dates: October 22 - November 8
Learn more and get tickets: https://theaterlabnyc.com/atelier-theaterlab-women-who-eat/
In this absurd dark comedy, six women recovering from eating disorders on a remote island are stranded when the electricity is cut to their residential facility during a hurricane. After running out of food, the inhabitants are forced to grapple with whether or not they want to survive, and if they can accept the women they become. It’s a dog-eat-dog world- and these are some hungry bitches.
The O Commons Immigrant Artists Mutual Aid
Venue: The People's Forum & via Zoom
Date: October 23
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-o-commons-immigrant-artists-mutual-aid-tickets-2000485054650
The O Commons is a new mutual aid network for migrant artists and cultural workers. We are coming together to share knowledge, resources, experiences, and creative practices around the realities of making art and building a life in the United States.
HAUNTED at The Hidden Jewel Box
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Dates: October 23 & 24
Learn more and get tickets: jewelbox.eventbrite.com
This October, in the most unsuspected place, bring your charms, and your heart, and enter the doll house for a night you will never forget. In the heart of Midtown manhattan there is a home to all the dolls who have resided for the last hundreds of years. Come into our home and be part of our ceremony where we all become young again. A uniquely New York evening of live music, dance, story telling, and burlesque. Join the cult of The Love Show.
Lightkeeper: A New Play by Julia Labusch
Venue: The Rat NYC
Dates: October 28 & 29
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.theratnyc.com/event-list
Lighthouse keeper Deán Dreck has been all alone for four years. The war has just ended, and the world outside is finally quiet. Faced with the answer to a question he has refused to ask, Deán chooses instead to play a game of pretend. But soon his imagination gets the better of him as faces from his past attempt to guide him toward an impossible decision: To finally leave the lighthouse.
Play Without Ceasing
Venue: Bechdel Project
Date: November 7
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/play-without-ceasing-tickets-2001402444588
Play Without Ceasing is a queer, campy, witchy theatrical reckoning with evangelical Christianity, religious trauma, and the rise of Christian nationalism. Written and performed by Wren Phoenix and directed by Ash Marinaccio, this part-docudrama, part-revival, part-queer exorcism turns sermons into performance, testimony into ritual, and religious wreckage into something unruly, funny, furious, and liberating. Come to church. Bring your baggage. Leave with your glitter.
Refrigerator Stories: A Search for Home
Venue: Scholes Street Studio (Brooklyn)
Date: November 8
Learn more and get tickets: https://refrigerator-stories.josdirkx.com
Ever feel like you're almost home, never quite? Come spend an evening with people who feel it, too. On Sunday 8 November at 8:00pm, Jos Dirkx brings a workshop performance of her solo show with music, Refrigerator Stories: A Search for Home, to Scholes Street Studio in Brooklyn. An intimate evening of real life stories and original songs about belonging and where to find home after a life lived across many countries, with music by Emmy-winning composer Sacha Hoedemaker. The show is performed in English.
First and Last
Venue: ARTX
Dates: November 10-22
Learn more and get tickets: https://www.openvariationstheater.com/first-and-last
2003, Washington Heights. Morris, a cash-strapped real estate agent, is showing a decrepit rental to Maeve, an artist’s assistant desperate for a place to live. Amid broken elevators, feuding neighbors, and the ghost of a dead kitten, a routine apartment showing becomes more than they both bargained for. Offbeat and heartfelt, FIRST AND LAST is about the people who enter our lives, if only for a chapter, and the strange way memory edits life down to its most vivid arrivals and departures.
Lucie Pohl: Old as Mold
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Date: November 12
Learn more and get tickets: oldasmold.eventbrite.com
Comedian Lucie Pohl tapes her first comedy special presented by the New York Comedy Festival! Old As Mold is a new solo comedy hour diving into the chaos and wisdom of life as a woman over 40 but somehow still under 5”5.
A Night With Mr. Wonderful
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Date: November 13
Learn more and get tickets: mrwonderful.eventbrite.com
Experience the unforgettable journey of Sammy Davis Jr. in A Night With Mr. Wonderful, a dynamic variety show capturing the icon at the height of his global fame. Set against the vibrant 1960s and 1970s, this production fuses spectacular live performances of hits like Mr. Bojangles with the gripping story of Davis’s evolution from superstar to a fierce activist fighting racial inequality. Beyond the glamour, it reveals the intense personal and professional struggles he faced navigating a white-dominated industry. Driven by themes of resilience and the unifying power of music, this vibrant celebration is a must-see for anyone who loves history, legendary songs, and stellar live theater.
Pearl Necklace
Venue: The Hidden Jewel Box Theater
Date: November 14
Learn more and get tickets: pearlnecklace.eventbrite.com
Pearl Necklace is a dirty comedy dripping in burlesque glamour, vintage decadence, and a touch of film noir. Telling stories from her glamorous—and not-so-glamorous—life, Natalie Perlin brings a comedy that’s sharp and wicked, yet unexpectedly sweet and melancholy, finding humor in the timeless, titillating absurdity of being a woman in the modern world. Definitely not for pearl clutchers. After all, Pearl Necklace is more than just jewelry.