HISTORY & MISSION

At Second Stage, we create and champion plays and musicals solely from living American writers. On our mainstage Broadway theater, the Hayes, and in our Off Broadway theaters over the past 46 years, we have developed and presented over 200 daring and provocative theatrical experiences by working with countless artists who have contributed their talents to our award-winning productions. As the only Broadway company exclusively devoted to living American writers Second Stage is dedicated to introducing the world to bold and diverse voices of American creativity.  

HISTORY

Second Stage Theater was founded in 1979 to produce “second stagings” of contemporary American plays that deserved to reach a wider audience. We soon expanded this mission to produce new plays by our developing corps of writers. Over time, our dedication to telling essential American stories in their most exciting forms has come to include genre-bending solo performances, cutting-edge theatrical events, explosive new musicals, and world and New York premieres by America’s most esteemed playwrights. 

Second Stage is committed to supporting both established and emerging artists. Commissions and artist residencies nurture playwrights, directors, designers, and actors in the creation of work that speaks to our contemporary moment. The Next Stage Festival launches the hottest young talents with productions, readings and developmental support.  

For more than four decades, Second Stage Theater productions have launched the successful careers of numerous directors, actors, playwrights and artists, many of whom regularly return to work at Second Stage. Second Stage Theater produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America’s best contemporary theater, Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Jar the Floor by Cheryl L. West; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants by Ricky Jay; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; and Tiny Alice by Edward Albee. 

The company’s more than 180 citations include three 2024 Tony Awards for Appropriate (Best Revival of a Play; Best Actress in a Play, Sarah Paulson; Best Lighting Design, Jane Cox), two 2022 Tony Awards for Take Me Out (Best Revival of a Play; Best Featured Actor in a Play, Jesse Tyler Ferguson), six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, 11 Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Clarence Derwent Awards, 20 Drama Desk Awards, 11 Theatre World Awards, one Dorothy Loudon Award, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards. 

In 2015, Second Stage purchased the historic Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway. With this new home, Second Stage is the only theater company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to developing and producing works by living American playwrights.