January Theatre Festivals with Ambitious and Inexpensive Offerings
Catch innovative performances at Under the Radar, The Exponential Festival, Prototype and more
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The Exponential Festival
Multiple venues in Brooklyn
January 2-February 2. At press time, a few Exponential Festival shows were available to TDF members. Log in and search for The Exponential Festival.
Founded in 2016, The Exponential Festival is, like its home borough of Brooklyn, eclectic and eye-opening. With 19 genre-defying offerings at six brick-and-mortar venues as well as on YouTube, this cornucopia of quirk has an anything-goes vibe that ranges from highbrow—Susannah Yugler’s CASSANDRA (January 9-11 at The Brick), a phantasmagorical reimagining of Euripides’ The Trojan Women; Ella Lee Davidson’s Afro-futurist satire Sapphire (January 15-18 at The Brick)—to whoa-brow—Matthew Antoci and Meaghan Robichaud’s MEOW! (January 10-17 at Loading Dock), a dark cabaret riff on the doc Grey Gardens; the bonkers political puppet show Cool Zone: The Lost Episode (January 16-18 at Brick Aux).
See the full Exponential Festival lineup.
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Soho Playhouse: International Fringe Encore Theatre Series 2025
Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho
January 2-March 2. At press time, several International Fringe Encore Theatre Series shows were available to TDF members. Log in and search for International Fringe Encore Theatre Series.
The cozy Soho Playhouse has been importing Fringe Festival favorites from around the world for years. This edition features 13 shows, including the ripped-from-the-headlines romp Gwyneth Goes Skiing (January 20-26); the alcohol-infused In Pour Taste: A Comedy Wine Tasting Experience (January 29-February 9); Gil Scott-Heron Bluesology (February 3-23), a celebration of the spoken word pioneer spearheaded by his talented daughter; and the self-explanatory Juliet: A Revenge Comedy (February 19-March 1).
See the full International Fringe Encore Theatre Series lineup.
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Under the Radar
Multiple venues in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens
January 4-19. At press time, a few Under the Radar shows were available to TDF members. Log in and search for Under the Radar.
See the full Under the Radar Festival lineup.
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Out-FRONT! Festival
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South at Thompson Street in the West Village
BAM Fisher Hillman Studio, 321 Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Hanson Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
January 7-13.
Pioneers Go East Collective curates this queer dance, film and performance festival at Judson Memorial Church and BAM. The live offerings include the NYC debut of Joan (January 11 at BAM Fisher Hillman Studio) from Kyle Marshall Choreography and a performance by the Brooklyn-based Miranda Brown + Noa Rui-Piin Weiss (January 7 and 10 at Judson Memorial Church). Tickets are available on a sliding scale.
See the full Out-FRONT! Festival lineup.
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PhysFestNYC
January 9-19.
Produced by the venerable Broken Box Mime Theater, this festival spotlights physical theatre, an underappreciated genre that encompasses mime, clown, dance, performance art, circus and puppetry. The 11-day event includes workshops and panels along with more than a dozen shows, all just $20 per ticket. Best bets include Move It! (January 10), a new circus revue from Parallel Exit, led by Big Apple Circus vets; Koal (January 10-11), a clown show about the end of the world; Chalk (January 12), a celebration of imagination; the tantalizingly titled The Fluxus Brothers Present: Good Art Bad Art (January 14); and an evening of highlights from Broken Box Mine’s repertoire (January 17).
See the full PhysFestNYC lineup.
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Prototype
Four Manhattan venues
January 9-19. At press time, a few Prototype shows were available to TDF members. Log in and search for Prototype.
For its 12th edition, Prototype, which is co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects and HERE, presents five new in-person operas plus a virtual one, none of which you’d catch at the Met, though two previous titles, Angel’s Bone and Prism, did snag the Pulitzer Prize for Music. The themes, musical styles and short-attention-span lengths are decidedly contemporary and push the boundaries of the genre. Highlights include Eat the Document (January 9-17 at HERE) based on Dana Spiotta’s novel of the same name about different generations of activists; In a Grove (January 16-19 at La MaMa), inspired by a tale by Rashomon author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa; and Positive Vibration Nation (January 10-14 at HERE), a time-traveling journey led by the pioneers of the New Miami Sound.
See the full Prototype lineup.
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The Fire This Time Festival
The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
January 23-February 2. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Since its 2009 founding, this annual event has helped launch the careers of a slew of superb Black playwrights, including Dominique Morisseau, Jocelyn Bioh, Antoinette Nwandu, Roger Q. Mason, C.A. Johnson, Charly Evon Simpson and Marcus Gardley. The fest’s name is a nod to James Baldwin’s seminal book The Fire Next Time, and its goal is to support the next generation of Black dramatists as they explore their ever-evolving culture. Its signature event is the 10-Minute Play program featuring six different shorts tackling more hot-button topics than your social feeds, including what it means to be Black and queer, the challenges of caregiving and unionizing, and a meditation on mental health as seen through Billie Holiday’s eyes. Kimille Howard directs the playlets.
See the full Fire This Time Festival lineup.
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