15+ Stage Performances to Watch Online This Weekend March 25-27
While in-person theatre is back in NYC, there are still wonderful shows to stream at home. Below are performances you can watch online this weekend, Friday, March 25 to Sunday, March 27, for free or at low cost.
Friday, March 25
New Victory Theater: Jabari Dreams of Freedom
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, NYC’s premiere family theatre, the New Victory, is presenting an in-person production of Jabari Dreams of Freedom, but you can also watch a recording at home. Nambi E. Kelley‘s play centers on Jabari, a modern-day Black teen who connects with Civil Rights greats such as Ruby Bridges and Claudette Colvin in his dreams. Rap, freedom songs, hip-hop dance and humor are threaded into this powerful piece. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, April 17.
Page 73: Man Cave
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, for the past quarter century, Page 73 has been dedicated to giving promising dramatists their NYC debuts. The company has an impressive track record—recent world premieres include Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and Zora Howard’s Pulitzer finalist Stew. Its current production, Man Cave, is playing at The Connelly Theater in the East Village, but the last two weeks of performances are also be live-streamed to at-home audiences. This ambitious, politically charged horror story by John J. Caswell centers on four struggling Mexican-American women who hole up in the fancy basement of a racist Arizona congressman, hoping to call on angry spirits to avenge their brutal circumstances. Taylor Reynolds directs this chilling exploration of the plight of the historically disenfranchised. Tickets start at $20. Closed captions are available.
Saturday, March 26
Page 73: Man Cave
On Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. ET, for the past quarter century, Page 73 has been dedicated to giving promising dramatists their NYC debuts. The company has an impressive track record—recent world premieres include Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and Zora Howard’s Pulitzer finalist Stew. Its current production, Man Cave, is playing at The Connelly Theater in the East Village, but the last two weeks of performances are also be live-streamed to at-home audiences. This ambitious, politically charged horror story by John J. Caswell centers on four struggling Mexican-American women who hole up in the fancy basement of a racist Arizona congressman, hoping to call on angry spirits to avenge their brutal circumstances. Taylor Reynolds directs this chilling exploration of the plight of the historically disenfranchised. Tickets start at $20. Closed captions are available.
Sunday, March 27
The Seth Concert Series: Lauren Patten
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, even though show-tune savant Seth Rudetsky is back doing shows in person, he hasn’t completely abandoned the virtual realm. In fact, he’s relaunched his weekly live-streamed concert series! Tonight his guest is Lauren Patten, who won a Tony Award for her song-stealing performance as cynical, lovesick teen Jo in Jagged Little Pill. Expect numbers from that musical (“You Oughta Know” has become her signature) as well as original tunes—when Patten is not on stage or screen, she’s often making music with her eponymous rock band. Tickets are $25.
Black Theatre Coalition: Building New Pathways
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, Black Theatre Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to dismantling the systemically racist and biased ideology in the theatrical job space, presents Building New Pathways, an evening spotlighting 30 fellows and apprentices making Black history right now. Enjoy performances and appearances by Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis, Alex Newell, LaChanze, Wynton Marsalis and other Black luminaries while learning about this groundbreaking organization. Register to receive the free viewing link though donations are encouraged.
All Weekend
The Kraine for Ukraine: Variety Comedy Benefit
Considering everything going on these days, we’re all in need of a few laughs. And The Kraine for Ukraine: Variety Comedy Benefit invites you to giggle for a good cause. Presented in person earlier this month at the East Village theatre, this yukfest can now be watched online. Hosted by Carole Montgomery from Funny Women of a Certain Age, this 90-minute special features comedians, clowns and variety performers such as Paul Valenti, Linette Palladino, Mariko Iwasa, Calvin Cato, AJ Silver, Jim Mendrinos and Tyler West. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and proceeds benefit the people of Ukraine via the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA).
The Builders Association: I Agree to the Terms
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 5 p.m. ET, NYU’s Skirball presents I Agree to the Terms, a created-for-Zoom show by the Obie-winning collective The Builders Association. Log in to vie for a job as an Amazon “microworker,” the employees who train the algorithms that shape our online experience. These workers earn from $1 to $100 a day in a vast, unregulated industry that is often boring and sometimes disturbing. Connect with real-life microworkers as you train alongside this invisible online labor force. Tickets are $15.
Birmingham Rep: The Play What I Wrote
Marvel baddie and Tony nominee Tom Hiddleston is the special guest star in Birmingham Rep‘s laugh-out-loud mounting of The Play What I Wrote about two performing pals who have different ideas about what belongs on stage. Thom has written an epic set in the French Revolution called A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple. Dennis thinks they should do a tribute to a beloved British comedy duo. But first, Dennis needs to persuade someone famous to appear in Thom’s play. Guess who’s the lucky target? Dennis Herdman, Thom Tuck and Mitesh Soni round out the cast of this production, which was recorded last December. Tickets start at £10, approximately $13, and the recording is available until Monday, April 4. Captions and audio description are available.
The Cherry Arts: The Wetsuitman
On Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, Ithaca, NY’s innovative The Cherry Arts is currently presenting The Wetsuitman in person, but it’s also being streamed to at-home audiences. A modern-day mystery about a Norwegian architect who discovers a wetsuit on a beach with a human bone protruding from the leg hole, this genre-defying play is a mystery-turned-meditation on identity and migration. Tickets start at $20.
Bard at the Gate: Passing
During the shutdown, Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Paula Vogel launched Bard at the Gate, a play reading series showcasing timely, under-the-radar scripts. The initiative is now being presented by New Jersey’s lauded McCarter Theatre Center and this weekend you can catch Dipika Guha‘s Passing, about an indigenous child kidnapped by British parents who grows up to be a visual artist reckoning with a brutal history. Nicole A. Watson directs a cast that includes K.K. Moggie, Max Gordon Moore and Kelley Curran. Tickets are $12.
Court Theatre: The Lady From the Sea
Court Theatre, the professional company of the University of Chicago, presents Richard Nelson‘s new translation of Ibsen’s The Lady From the Sea, about a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who’s torn between her landlocked marriage and the sailor she once loved. Lauded director Shana Cooper helms the production, which was filmed live on stage. Tickets start at $15 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, April 10.
American Repertory Theater: Ocean Filibuster
Last chance! Massachusetts’ acclaimed American Repertory Theater recently presented the world premiere of Ocean Filibuster, but you can stream a recording of the eye-popping piece at home. Obie winner Jennifer Kidwell stars as both an advocate for and enemy of the ocean, which is being threatened by (who else?) humans. Welcome to the Senate chamber of a global governing body, where Mr. Majority introduces an “End of Ocean Bill” designed to shrink the Earth’s oceans into a more marketable collection of inland seas. When the floor is opened for debate, the Ocean arrives to speak in its own defense. Katie Pearl directs this multimedia, music-and-myth-filled epic, which was created by the Brooklyn-based duo PearlDamour and features music by Sxip Shirey. Tickets start at $25 and the recording is available until Sunday.
The New Group: i need space
Playwright Donja R. Love, whose drama one in two was a critically acclaimed hit for The New Group, is behind this new digital series called i need space. An eye-opening examination of isolation, loss and loneliness, it centers on a queer Black man named Marcus whose only contact with the world outside his childhood bedroom comes through Zooming. Sound familiar? Expect a real and raw dissection of disconnection. Watch the first seven episodes for free on Broadstream.
The Huntington: The Bluest Eye
Boston’s The Huntington is currently presenting an in-person theatricalization of Toni Morrison‘s celebrated debut novel The Bluest Eye, but you can also stream a recording of the production online. Adapted for the stage by award-winning dramatist Lydia Diamond, the play centers on Pecola, a young Black girl who believes the world would be wonderful if she could have blue eyes. Awoye Timpo directs. Tickets start at $20 and the recording is viewable until Saturday, April 9.
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Top image: Two-time Tony winner Andrea Martin, one of a slew of celebrities participating in Stars in the House‘s 10-hour telethon for Ukraine. Photo by Don Dixon.
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