From daring new plays to a new bio-musical, here are just a few highlights of the Off-Broadway shows opening in March 2019.
March 1: The Wooster Group’s production of The B-Side: “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons,” A Record Album Interpretation returns for an engagement at St. Ann’s Warehouse. The show is an original performance based on a 1965 LP of work songs, blues, and spirituals recorded by inmates in Texas’ segregated agricultural prison farms. The LP is played live onstage and channeled by co-creator Eric Berryman. The B-Side, directed by Kate Valk with design by Elizabeth LeCompte, runs through March 24.
March 3: WP Theatre teams up with Colt Coeur for the world premiere of Hatefuck by Rehana Lew Mirza. The play follows the collision—and attraction—between Layla, a literature professor, and Imran, a novelist accused of trading in anti-Muslim stereotypes. Adrienne Campbell-Holt directs, for a run scheduled through March 31 at WP Theater.
March 11: Thomas Bradshaw revisits his 2008 play Southern Promises at The Flea Theater in a new production helmed by artistic director Niegel Smith. On his deathbed, a plantation owner vows to set his slaves free, but his wife rejects the request and chaos erupts on the plantation. Performances continue through April 14.
March 12: The Public brings Jordan E. Cooper’s satirical odyssey Ain’t No Mo’ to the mainstage, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. The play depicts a kaleidoscope of scenes related to the great exodus of Black Americans. Performances continue through April 21.
March 16: Andréa Burns stars as Judy Holliday in Willy Holtzman’s Smart Blonde, charting her experiences from Greenwich Village to Broadway and beyond. Directed by Peter Flynn, the show opens March 26 at 59E59 Theaters.
March 22: Following a premiere at London’s National Theatre, the Sam Mendes–directed The Lehman Trilogy debuts in New York at the Park Avenue Armory. The Stefano Massini play, featuring an English-language script by Ben Power, follows the 163-year saga that begins with a young man in Bavaria dreaming of a new life and ends with one of the world’s largest financial crises. Performances continue through April 20.
March 28: Winner of Best Book at the 2016 NYMF, Aya Aziz’s Eh Dah? Questions for My Father is a musical detailing one family’s journey from Egypt to the United States and back again, across oceans, dreams, and generations. The musical weaves rap, Egyptian folk music, pop, and jazz with direction by Arpita Mukherjee. Performances continue through April 14 at Next Door at NYTW.
March 29: Playwright Halley Feiffer stars in the world premiere of her play The Pain of My Belligerence. Told over an eight-year timeline, Feiffer’s comedy sheds light on how we perpetuate a patriarchal culture while offering the promise of a new paradigm. Trip Cullman directs the world premiere at Playwright Horizons through May 12.
All dates are subject to change.
