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PERFORMANCE DATES

November 20 - February 2

WHERE

Hayes Theater

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NOW PLAYING / HAYES THEATER

CULT OF LOVE

BY
LESLYE HEADLAND

DIRECTED BY
TRIP CULLMAN

WITH
MOLLY BERNARD, ROBERTA COLINDREZ, BARBIE FERREIRA, REBECCA HENDERSON, CHRISTOPHER LOWELL, ZACHARY QUINTO, DAVID RASCHE, CHRISTOPHER SEARS, MARE WINNINGHAM, SHAILENE WOODLEY

 

It’s the holiday season for the Dahl family! The four adult children return to their childhood home with partners in tow. The Dahl traditions include singing carols in harmony at the drop of a hat, but the gathering is anything but harmonious. Old conflicts resurface, new issues battled, and dinner is taking absolutely forever to be served. Will the love the Dahls have for each other be enough to get them through, or will this be their last Christmas together? 

Emmy® Award nominee Leslye Headland (Bachelorette, “Star Wars: The Acolyte,”) has written an equally heartwarming and heartbreaking new play about the things that bind families together... or tear them apart. 

ARE YOU A SUBSCRIBER?
PERFORMANCE DATES

May 14 - June 22

WHERE

The Pershing Square Signature Center

BEGINS FEBRUARY 12 / THE IRENE DIAMOND STAGE
THE PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER 

ON THE EVOLUTIONARY FUNCTION OF SHAME


BY

D.A. MINDELL


DIRECTED BY

JESS MCLEOD

WITH JORDAN BARBOUR, KAYLI CARTER, ELIZABETH RAMOS, IMANI RUSSELL, CODY SLOAN, RYAN JAMAAL SWAIN

In the beginning, two people got kicked out of a garden for eating fruit. Many years later, Adam—a transgender man expecting a child—meets with his twin sister, Eve, a pioneering scientist. She offers her brother prenatal services from her cutting-edge practice. But what exactly does that entail? And does Adam even want Eve’s help? 

Written by bold new talent D.A. Mindell and helmed by the refreshingly innovative director Jess McLeod, On the Evolutionary Function of Shame is a compelling exploration of identity, family, and the courage it takes to live authentically, no matter the expectations of society—or those closest to you. 

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

THE IRENE DIAMOND STAGE
THE PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER


On the Evolutionary Function of Shame
February 12th – March 9th

Inside Voices

Monday January 27 @ 7pm

You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! 
Monday February 24 @ 7pm

The Singularity Play 
Monday March 3 @ 7pm

Wipeout
Monday March 10 @ 7pm

JANUARY – MARCH / THE IRENE DIAMOND STAGE
THE PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER

2ST NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL

NEW WORKS BY D.A. MINDELL, ROSS GOLAN, KEIKO GREEN, JAY STULL, AND AURORA REAL DE ASUA

We’re thrilled to announce Second Stage Theater’s 2025 Next Stage Festival! The Festival formalizes our commitment to early-career playwrights, and creates a home for new work right here in midtown. If you’re a fan of boundary-breaking new theater, you’ll want to join us for Next Stage Festival. It all happens this winter at the The Pershing Square Signature Center.

The centerpiece of the Next Stage Festival is the Festival Production, a world premiere production of On the Evolutionary Function of Shame by D.A. Mindell. Plus, the Nancy Denovan Musical Reading and the Judith Champion Reading Series offer one-night-only readings of new works by early-career playwrights.

Second Stage members and subscribers receive priority access to the Next Stage Festival. The Nancy Denovan Musical Reading and The Judith Champion Reading Series are complimentary, though seats must be reserved in advance.

Tickets to On the Evolutionary Function of Shame and the readings will go on sale at a later date.


THE FESTIVAL PRODUCTION


In the beginning, two people got kicked out of a garden for eating fruit. Many years later, Adam—a transgender man expecting a child—meets with his twin sister, Eve, a pioneering scientist. She offers her brother prenatal services from her cutting-edge practice. But what exactly does that entail? And does Adam even want Eve’s help? 

Written by bold new talent D.A. Mindell and helmed by the refreshingly innovative director Jess McLeod, On the Evolutionary Function of Shame is a compelling exploration of identity, family, and the courage it takes to live authentically, no matter the expectations of society—or those closest to you. 


NANCY DENOVAN MUSICAL READING

 
MONDAY, JANUARY 27

INSIDE VOICES

MUSIC, LYRICS, BOOK BY ROSS GOLAN
CO-BOOK BY DANIELLE KOENIG
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MAYER


In 1828 Germany, a 16-year-old boy mysteriously appears in Nuremberg’s town square. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. Is he a thief? Is he a freak? From societal outcast to the most famous prodigy in Europe, Inside Voices tells the heart-pounding and epic tale of Kasper Hauser's controversial rise and harrowing fall. By multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ross Golan, Inside Voices is a New Alt Rock musical based on true events about the strength of survival, the power of love, the cost of fame, and the legacy we leave behind.


JUDITH CHAMPION READING SERIES

 
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE END OF THE WORLD!

BY KEIKO GREEN
DIRECTED BY ZHAILON LEVINGSTON


Since Greg’s terminal diagnosis, he’s felt a deep connection to the Earth. To save himself, he’ll need to save the planet. His wife, Viv, desperately wants to savor every last minute with her husband. Meanwhile M, our emcee, searches desperately to find meaning in the chaos of the final year with their Dad. You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! is a heartfelt theatrical spectacle and a story as magical and strange as the world itself.


MONDAY, MARCH 3

THE SINGULARITY PLAY

BY JAY STULL
DIRECTED BY KEENAN TYLER OLIPHANT


At a tech company in Manhattan, a troupe of downtown theater actors and a director gather to develop and rehearse a play written by an advanced AI named "Denise." But how does one perform a reality born of experience when the playwright has not experienced reality? What even IS reality? The Singularity Play is a new workplace comedy about the last living generation of human beings.


MONDAY, MARCH 10

WIPEOUT

BY AURORA REAL DE ASUA


Three 70-year-old women who have never surfed. One 19-year-old hotrod instructor. The currents of the Pacific Ocean. What could possibly go wrong? A new play about friendship, grief, and the unpredictable tides of life, Wipeout is a septuagenarian surf comedy about what it takes to hang ten.

 

THE NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL is made possible in part by the New American Voices Fund, which was established in 2016 by a lead gift from David Stone.

The Judith Champion Reading Series is funded by a grant from the Judith Champion Charitable Fund and Mel Litoff.

The Nancy Denovan Musical Reading is funded by a grant from Christopher and David R. Murray.

New Play Development at Second Stage is supported by a grant from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. Second Stage Theater’s programs are made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This season is supported by a grant from the Howard Gilman Foundation.

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

PERFORMANCE DATES

Begins February 2025

WHERE

Hayes Theater

TICKET PACKAGES

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BEGINS FEBRUARY 2025 / HAYES THEATER
 
THE STEPPENWOLF PRODUCTION OF

PURPOSE

BY

BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS

DIRECTED BY

PHYLICIA RASHAD 

WITH
ALANA ARENAS, GLENN DAVIS, JON MICHAEL HILL, LaTANYA RICHARDSON JACKSON, HARRY LENNIX, KARA YOUNG

 

From the Tony Award-winning playwright of Appropriate and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad comes Purpose. 

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black political power and familial duty. Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama from one of the country’s most celebrated voices.


PERFORMANCE DATES

May 14 - June 22

WHERE

The Pershing Square Signature Center

BEGINS MAY 14 / THE PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER

LUNAR ECLIPSE

BY

DONALD MARGULIES

DIRECTED BY

KATE WHORISKEY

WITH
REED BIRNEY, LISA EMERY


“Maybe forgetting yourself once in a while is a good thing.”

From Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies (Dinner with Friends, Collected Stories) comes a stirring new play about the fragility of memory and the passage of time.

Late on a summer night, in a field on their Kentucky farm, a long-married couple, George and Em, have come to watch a lunar eclipse. As the seven stages of the celestial phenomenon unfold, the two sip bourbon and reflect on land and legacy, children and dogs. But as more and more is revealed, they realize they are as much a mystery to each other as the heavens above. Lunar Eclipse is a funny, moving, universal story of a couple reckoning with the time they’ve spent on earth and the time they have left.

 
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FALL 2024
WALDEN
CULT OF LOVE

SPRING 2025
THE NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL PRODUCTION
PURPOSE (SPECIAL EVENT)
LUNAR ECLIPSE