March ushers in a new wave of Off-Broadway productions beginning previews across the city, from intimate musicals and politically charged dramas to Shakespearean bloodbaths and experimental ensemble pieces.
This month’s arrivals highlight the breadth and creative energy of the Off-Broadway landscape.
Night Side Songs: Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3 program presents a new folk-inflected musical by sibling duo The Lazours that traces the bedside conversations, uneasy humor, and fragile connections that emerge when illness draws family members, caregivers, and strangers into shared orbit. Through March 29 at Claire Tow Theater, lct.org.
About Time: Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire debut a new revue intended as the final installment of a trilogy that began with the intimate revues “Starting Here, Starting Now” and “Closer Than Ever,” both filled with exquisitely crafted songs about modern relationships and the passage of time. In previews at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, abouttimemusical.com.
This Is Real: Target Margin Theater’s new work draws from the writings of the experimental French playwright Jean Genet (“The Balcony”) to explore power, sex, and revolution through a contemporary lens. In previews at The Doxsee in Sunset Park, targetmargin.org.
Trash: A comedy performed almost entirely in ASL, with accessibility built into the staging, it observes a fight between two Deaf roommates over taking out the garbage that escalates into an exploration of what it means to be Deaf. Previews begin March 7 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, pacnyc.org.
Jesa: Ma-Yi Theater Company continues its residency at the Public Theater with Jeena Yi’s drama about four estranged Korean American sisters who gather for their father’s jesa — a traditional ritual honoring the dead. Begins previews March 10 at the Public Theater, publictheater.org.
Monte Cristo: Adapted from the classic adventure novel “The Count of Monte Cristo,” the musical reimagines the tale of wrongful imprisonment with a cast of Broadway veterans, including Sierra Boggess, Adam Jacobs, Norm Lewis, and Karen Ziemba. Begins previews March 12 at Theatre at St. Jean’s, yorktheatre.org.
Public Charge: Written by former U.S. Ambassador Julissa Reynoso and playwright Michael J. Chepiga and based on true events, the play follows Reynoso’s journey from immigrating to the U.S. as a seven-year-old girl to later supervising Caribbean and Central American Affairs for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Begins previews March 12 at the Public Theater, publictheater.org.
Titus Andronicus: Patrick Page takes on the title role in Red Bull Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s notoriously bloody thriller in which hands are severed, a tongue is cut out, and naughty brothers are baked into a pie. Begins March 17 at Pershing Square Signature Center, redbulltheater.org.
No Singing in the Navy: This three-actor, one-piano satire of classic Broadway musicals and American mythology depicts three sailors on 24-hour leave before getting shipped off to war. Begins performances March 18 at Playwrights Horizons, playwrightshorizons.org.
Seagull: True Story: Eli Rarey’s play, previously produced at La MaMa and in London, retells Russian director Alexander Molochnikov’s attempt to stage Chekhov’s “The Seagull” while exploring displacement, censorship, and artistic freedom. Begins performances March 22 at the Public Theater, publictheater.org.
The Adding Machine: The New Group begins its residency at the Theater at St. Clement’s with a revisionist revival of Elmer Rice’s 1923 expressionistic drama about a lowly accountant who goes on a wild journey after being replaced by a machine. Begins performances March 24 at the Theater at St. Clement’s, thenewgroup.org.
Hamlet: Theatre for a New Audience presents Teatro La Plaza’s production of the Shakespeare tragedy, which is performed in Spanish with English supertitles and stars eight actors with Down syndrome. Begins performances March 25 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, tfana.org.
