DECEMBER 18 TO JANUARY 4
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"THE STORY OF SAL B. AND BARBRANN: A MOB FANTASIA (CYRANO REDUX)"
The Great American Play Series performs the premiere of "The Story of Sal B. and Barbranne: A Mob Fantasia (Cyrano Redux)," written and directed by Stephan Morrow. The play, which was workshopped in TNC's Dream Up Festival this summer, re-imagines "Cyrano de Bergerac" as a high-stakes mob story. It imagines a time 100 years in the future, after World War III, when organized crime has merged with the military and struggles with Eastern enemies over Middle East oil. With mob intrigue, romance, and absurdist action, Edmond Rostand's classic story of eloquence, unspoken love, and heroism is transformed into a chaotic, modern, and often surreal fantasia, preserving the essence of Cyrano’s wit, heart, and valor.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Sal-Barbrann.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xaqij6B2fiHySyKXA

DECEMBER 26 TO JANUARY 11
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANUKKAH, MERRY KWANZAA, HAPPY RAMADAN" WITH CZECH MARIONETTES
Theater for the New City will ring out the old year with a joyful burst of multicultural mischief as Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre returns with its beloved holiday mashup, "A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan," a Dickens remix adapted, directed and reinvented by Vit Horejs. It features over 30 exquisitely carved puppets by Milos Kasal including a quartet of Rockettes in Slovak, Moravian and Ruthenian folk costumes and holiday songs in Czech, English, Hebrew, Slovak, Spanish and Swahili.
 
Families looking for an imaginative holiday outing will find it here. The production made its live TNC debut in 2019 and was offered virtually 2021.  Now playing again for live audiences, the show will be updated to contemporary sensibilities and restaged for this new TNC production. 

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Vit_Carol.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7eaYStdviUi2FL9S8

JANUARY 8 TO 26
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
TWO OPERAS BY LEONARD J. LEHRMAN: "SIMA" AND "E.G."
From January 8 to 25, Theater for the New City (TNC), 155 First Ave., will present two operas by Leonard J. Lehrman, "Sima" and "E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman." "Sima" is a story of the attempted adoption of a poor Jewish girl orphaned by a pogrom in 1905 Ukraine. "E.G." is a music-theater biography of Emma Goldman, dramatizing her life as an anarchist, activist, and revolutionary thinker from her youth through her deportation in 1919 and brief return to the United States in 1934. Presented on alternating dates: "Sima" plays Jan. 8, 11, 16, 17, 22 and 25. "E.G."plays Jan. 9, 10, 15, 18, 23 and 24.

The pairing of these works provides a continuum of the Jewish and Immigrant Experience, with "Sima" offering a tale of a child uprooted by antisemitic terror and "E.G." tracing the path from Old World oppression to New World radicalism, showing how in the 20th century, trauma and resistance seeded lifelong political action in people who fought oppressive systems rather than merely surviving them.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Sima-EG.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oNLaHeTk4UVjMLbq8

JANUARY 30 TO FEBRUARY 8
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS POW WOW AND DANCE CONCERT
A Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. Traditionally a gathering and sharing of events, Pow-Wows have come to include spectacular dance competitions, exhibitions, and enjoyment of traditional foods. There will be dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. The event has become a treasured New York tradition for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans. TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for Native American students. Throughout the performance, all elements are explained in depth through detailed introductions by the troupe's Director and Emcee Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago). An educator, Mofsie plays an important part in the event by his ability to present a comprehensive view of native culture.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Pow-Wow2026.htm
RECENT YEARS' PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/tcrxbtPYtF2hdvhV6 and https://goo.gl/photos/SLr4PXEHJrsq34j9A
HISTORICAL PHOTOS of Pow-Wows from 2004 to 2015 are available for download at: https://goo.gl/photos/wUcenp6ZcPDcBCYD7

FEBRUARY 17
THE PLAYERS, 15 GRAMERCY PARK SOUTH
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY'S "LOVE 'N COURAGE" GALA
Theater for the New City will celebrate fearless artistry and bold new voices at its 23rd annual Love ’n Courage gala on February 17 at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South. Proceeds will benefit TNC’s nationally respected Emerging Playwrights Program, one of the most prolific incubators of new American theater. The evening will honor Estelle Parsons, the award-winning actress, stage director, social activist, artistic director, and leader in diversity whose career reflects precisely the spirit of strength and hope that Love ’N Courage seeks to celebrate.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/love_courage.htm

MAY 22 TO JUNE 28
WP THEATRE, 2162 BROADWAY
WOODIE KING, JR.'S NEW FEDERAL THEATRE PRESENTS
"BLOOMING IN DRY SEASON" BY ELJON WARDALLY
"Blooming in Dry Season" by Eljon Wardally is a Caribbean tale set in a rum shop in Grenada. The plot centers on Rose, an oppressed housewife who has put her dreams on hold for her husband and daughter. She is forced to make a decision about her own future when a life-changing opportunity presents itself for her daughter. The play features a Calypso-infused score composed by jazz musician Etienne Charles. In 2024, it won the International Black Theatre Festival—Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award. 

Eljon Wardally is an award-winning Grenadian Italian-American playwright and screenwriter. Her work focuses on amplifying underrepresented voices with authentic, socially relevant stories, often with a dark comedic twist.

VIDEO ON DEMAND

"USED AND BORROWED TIME" BY SOPHIA ROMMA
"Used and Borrowed Time," written and directed by Sophia Romma, is now available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Roku and the Vyre Network. This experimental avant-garde film, a psychological drama phantasma, has amassed over 45 festival awards and 26 festival film selections. An interracial couple's idyllic love rises above the hatred of a vengeful white supremacist family in segregationist Alabama during the 1960s. The film pays homage to the French New Wave films of Goddard, Truffaut and Agnès Varda. It has been translated from its original English into Greek, Spanish and Italian.

COMPLETE INFO: www.usedandborrowedtime.com

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY & NEW YIDDISH REP PRODUCTION OF "THE DYBBUK"
"The Dybbuk" is arguably the most well-known play in the Yiddish theater lexicon. It was premiered on December 9, 1920 by the Vilna Troupe at the Eizeum theater in Warsaw. Its success catapulted that company onto the International stage. It has since been translated into 27 languages and performed worldwide. From December 9-13, New Yiddish Rep celebrated the play's 100th birthday with a live performance streamed from Theater For The New City. A recording of the production has now been released for the general public to view on Vimeo.

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Dybbuk.htm

"Feathers of Fire" is the most elaborate shadow theater experience ever created, and this recording, captured on an actual theater stage, transforms it into a video-on-demand production for all ages. The story is adapted from Shahnameh (the Persian Book of Kings) and tells the action-packed tale of two star-crossed lovers of old Persia. Zaul, an outcast albino boy, is brought up by a bird-goddess and grows up into a wise ruler. He enters into a forbidden love with Rudabeh, a princess who is the granddaughter of the dreaded Serpent King. Their young, impetuous romance survives many precarious adventures before they finally receive blessings for their union. When they ultimately have a child, it is Rostam, "the Hercules of Iran." Aspects of the story are reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet," "Rapunzel," "The Firebird" and "Jungle Book."

The piece is created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist living in Brooklyn. It is endorsed by Francis Ford Coppola, who called the production "Fantastic! One of the greatest epics of all time and my favorite Shahnameh brought to life in a spectacular fashion by Hamid Rahmanian with shadow puppets design and cinematic wizardry."

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/feathers.htm