10 Summer Theatre Festivals to Try in NYC
After a two-year hiatus due to you-know-what, many of NYC’s most exciting summer theatre festivals are set to return. Admittedly, we lost a few along the way: RIP New York Musical Festival and FringeNYC. However, many innovative favorites are back, including the LGBTQ-focused Queerly and HOT! Festivals, The Fire This Time Festival, which showcases up-and-coming Black playwrights, and New Ohio’s eclectic Ice Factory. At these events, ambitions are high while prices are low. In fact, TDF members can snag $11 tickets to some offerings, so you can afford to take a chance. Not a TDF member? Consider joining our Go Off-Off and Beyond program, which gives you access to discount tickets to indie theatre for a one-time fee of five bucks.
In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, all of these productions require audiences to provide proof of full vaccination and wear masks unless otherwise indicated. Note that health and safety rules vary by venue, so double-check the protocols before purchasing tickets so you arrive prepared.
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FRIGID New York: Queerly Festival
The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Runs June 15-July 3. At press time, several Queerly shows were available. Log in and search for Queerly.
Put on your lavender-colored glasses for FRIGID New York’s eighth annual Queerly Festival, a grab bag of solo shows, stand-up, improv, drag, even a ditty called Big Gay Love Story, the Musical. A broad spectrum of queer artists, including Last Comic Standing finalist Michele Balan, performance artist Jackson Sturkey and a Sylvia Rivera bio-play, are part of this diverse celebration of all things LGBTQIA2S+. Can’t make it in person? Most performances are also being live-streamed.
See the full Queerly Festival lineup.
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Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues
Runs June 24-26.
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Pan Asian Repertory Theatre: NuWorks 2022
Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 28-July 3.
One of NYC’s leading Asian-American theatre companies, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, presents this annual showcase of experimental works by AAPI artists. Highlights include the rom-com Five Star First Date, the unlikely superhero story Highlighter Girl and the identity meditation Expect-Asian.
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New Ohio Theatre, 154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets in the West Village
Runs July 6-August 20. At press time, several Ice Factory shows were available. Log in and search for Ice Factory.
Attention avant-garde theatre lovers: New Ohio Theatre’s 29th annual, Obie-winning fest is all about emerging artists taking risks. Ice Factory invites cutting-edge NYC companies to present their latest works in progress over four days. The subjects are timely and the offerings diverse, and the second performance of each show will also be available to live-stream at home, with a recording available through the last day of the festival. Highlights include ISLA, a devised piece using actors and shadow puppetry to tell the true story of one family’s escape from Cuba, the surreal, Spanish-language immigration meditation Acheron: The River of Tragedy and the operatic monologue Salt about one woman’s dead-end life.
See the full Ice Factory lineup.
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The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Runs July 7-10. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets to The Fire This Time Festival.
See the full The Fire This Time Festival lineup.
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Red Bull Theater: Short New Play Festival
Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker Street between Mott and Elizabeth Streets in Noho
Runs Monday, July 11.
See the full Short New Play Festival lineup.
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59E59 Theaters: East to Edinburgh
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Runs July 12-31.
The largest performance festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, takes place in August. But the month before, 59E59 Theaters’ East to Edinburgh fest gives NYC audiences a sneak peek at some of the participating shows. The offerings include Fringe master Brian Parks’ The Golfer, Joey Rinaldi’s hilarious and harrowing solo show about his near-death penis injury, Mary Goggins’ intriguingly titled Runaway Princess: A Hopeful Tale of Heroin, Hooking and Happiness and a supernatural play about the first woman who ran for US President more than a century before Hillary.
See the full East to Edinburgh lineup.
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SheNYC Arts Summer Theater Festival
The Connelly Theater, 220 East Fourth Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
Runs July 25-August 7.
Despite its binary title, SheNYC has expanded its mission to showcase work by gender-marginalized creators, essentially anyone who doesn’t identify as a cisgender man. This edition features seven new plays and two new musicals, including Jordyn Stoessel’s Hack about our nation’s fixation on diet culture, Kristy Thomas’ Gray, a Rashomon-like examination of how a crime impacts folks of different backgrounds, and Alara Magritte and Daniel Rosen’s folk-rock musical Safe Hands about reproductive rights pre-Roe v. Wade.
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Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey Streets on the Lower East Side
Runs July 7-July 30.
June may be Pride Month, but the celebration continues in July at Dixon Place’s annual queer culture fest, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Theatre, dance, music, readings, puppetry and comedy are all on tap as more than 100 LGBTQ+ artists take over the venue’s multiple stages. This year’s edition is being co-curated by The Illustrious Blacks, aka multidisciplinary artists Manchildblack and Monstah Black, a pair of self-described NeoAfroFuturisticPsychedelicSurrealisticHippys, so there’s a diverse array of cutting-edge queer creativity, including beloved performance artist Marga Gomez, Jay Délise and conscious Club Kid J’royce Jata.
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Theater for the New City: Dream Up Festival
Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets in the East Village
Runs August 28-September 18.
Founded by indie performance mecca Theater for the New City in 2010, this annual fest showcases work by artists from across the country. Two dozen or so productions will be performed on the venue’s multiple stages. A great way to check out the breadth of programming at this downtown landmark, which feels like stepping into the East Village’s funky past.
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Top image: ISLA, one of the seven shows performing at New Ohio Theatre’s Ice Factory festival. Photo by Marzio Fulfaro.
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