10 Great Shows to See For $40 or Less This February

Catch eye-popping puppets, innovative indie musicals and other Off-Off Broadway picks

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Adventurous audiences know that some of New York City’s biggest theatrical thrills—and lowest tickets prices—are found on the smallest stages. But with dozens of shows running Off-Off Broadway every day, it’s tough to figure out what’s worth your time and money. That’s why we’ve rounded up 10 promising indie theatre productions opening in February, all offering tickets starting at $40 or less. Even better, TDF Members can see some of these shows for as little as $15! Not a TDF member? Consider joining our Go Off-Off and Beyond program, which gives you access to discount tickets to Off-Off Broadway shows for a one-time fee of five bucks.

If you’re a TDF Member, log in to your account daily to see what we’re selling as ticket inventory changes frequently.

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La MaMa: Mia M.I.A. begins February 2

La MaMa’s The Club, 74A East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Begins February 2. Closes February 15. Tickets are $30 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.

Fantastical puppet master Charlotte Lily Gaspard is behind this sci-fi musical featuring eye-popping shadow play. Follow an Earthling named Ella as she journeys to another dimension in search of her lost love Mia. A meditation on grief and healing, Mia M.I.A. features evocative visuals paired with hip-hop and folk opera songs.

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The Bushwick Starr: Gooey’s Toxic Aquatic Adventure – begins February 4

The Bushwick Starr, 419 Eldert Street between Covert and Halsey Streets in Bushwick, Brooklyn

Previews begin February 4. Opens February 7. Closes February 21. Tickets start at $27.85.

Another loopy puppet musical: La Daniella cowrote and stars in Gooey’s Toxic Aquatic Adventure at The Bushwick Starr, about a solitary sea creature living in Newtown Creek who discovers her traumatic origin story thanks to a shrewd rodent, sentient sludge, a severed limb and some mobsters. An adult scary tale about hypergentrification in NYC, the show counts Sweet Charity, Pee Wee’s Playhouse and ’80s horror as influences. Coproduced by the ¡Oye! Group.

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I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical – begins February 6

Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho

Begins February 6. Closes February 28. Tickets are $40 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.

The brainchild of Alexander S. Bermange, who wrote the songs and also serves as pianist and promoter (he was handing out flyers at BroadwayCon!), this UK Fringe festival favorite comes to this side of the pond as part of Soho Playhouse’s annual International Fringe Encore Series. In this raucous revue, four performers croon clever tunes about the highs and lows of being a musical theatre performer, the callbacks, the setbacks, the backstage drama. A comedic love letter to an industry that breaks many hearts.

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Hold on to Your Butts – begins February 7

Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho

Begins February 7. Closes March 15. Tickets are $40 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.

Inventive low-tech comedy troupe Recent Cutbacks specializes in quick and clever movie spoofs, including Kevin!!!!! (Home Alone) and Fly, You Fools (The Lord of the Rings). For Soho Playhouse’s International Fringe Encore Series, the pop-culture parodists make like the cinematic paleontologists of Jurassic Park. Two actors and a Foley artist recreate the Steven Spielberg classic in just one hour with no special effects beyond their zany creativity.

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The Brick: without mirrors – begins February 12

The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Avenue near Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Begins February 12. Closes February 28. Tickets start at $27.25.

The inimitable David Greenspan is known for his tour-de-force solo performances—playwrights often pen one-person shows just for him, like last season’s I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan. Now writer-director Jerry Lieblich is using Greenspan’s virtuosic talents in his world premiere without mirrors, a lyrical musing on isolation and identity delivered from the void. The Brick and Third Ear Theater Co. coproduce.

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Lincoln Center Theater: Night Side Songs – begins February 14

Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, 150 West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue in Lincoln Square

Previews begin February 14. Opens March 2. Closes March 29. Tickets start at $38.50.

Songwriting siblings Patrick and Daniel Lazour are attracted to ambitious subjects. Their last musical, We Live in Cairo at New York Theatre Workshop, was about young Egyptians participating in the Arab Spring uprising. Their new musical, Night Side Songs at Lincoln Center Theater’s innovative incubator LCT3, chronicles the harrowing journey of a breast cancer patient (Brooke Ishibashi) and the caring folks she connects with along the way. The Lazours’ frequent collaborator Taibi Magar directs an ensemble cast that includes Tony nominees Mary Testa and Robin de Jesús.

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thingNY: MANO A MANO: an operatic monodrama – begins February 12

La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Previews begin February 12. Closes February 22. Tickets are $35 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.

Acclaimed indie opera artist Paul Pinto composed, wrote and stars in the experimental solo work MANO A MANO. Developed with director Kristin Marting, who helped cofound the cutting-edge opera festival Prototype, this operatic monodrama is performed in the round as Pinto uses his five-octave range to explore toxic masculinity through “chants, rants and songs” about two legendary heroes fighting over slaying the same dragon.

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INTAR: Spread – begins February 21

INTAR, 500 West 52nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues

Previews begin February 21. Opens March 2. Closes March 22. Tickets are $15-35.

Playwright Jesús I. Valles grew up as a queer Mexican immigrant in Texas. So his new play Spread, about four ninth-grade boys bonding and bickering in their Austin school lunchroom, is bound to have incredible authenticity. Tatyana-Marie Carlo directed this world premiere for the celebrated Latine theatre company INTAR, which turns 50 this year.

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The Tank: THE MALL THE MALL THE MALL – begins February 26

The Tank, 312 West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West

Begins February 26. Closes March 22. Tickets are $28-$53.

Philip Kenner’s whimsical tribute to mid-2000s pop culture centers on a group of Buffy the Vampire Slayer-loving teens who must save their beloved mall from evil forces as they battle valiantly in outposts of Hot Topic and Build-A-Bear. A celebration of nerdery and chain stores, THE MALL THE MALL THE MALL is a comedy about coming of age just before the screens took over.

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Footnotes – begins February 27

La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Previews begin February 27. Opens March 1. Closes March 15. Tickets are $35.

Theodora Skipitares‘ puppet epics are frequently mounted at La MaMa. Her latest, Footnotes, about the power of walking, invites audiences to get on their feet and interact with puppet installations in various parts of the theatre. Along the way, theatregoers will encounter iconic walkers from history, including Aristotle, Henry Thoreau, Virginia Woolf and Mahatma Gandhi.

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