10 Great Shows to See for $40 or Less This May

Catch a new play from the acclaimed Clubbed Thumb, an immersive musical in a Brooklyn home, an indie opera about a con woman and more

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Adventurous audiences know that some of New York City’s biggest theatrical thrills—and lowest ticket 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 May, 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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HardLove – begins May 1

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

Begins May 1. Closes June 6. Tickets are $34.50 but if you’re a TDF Member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.

Watch a drunken hookup go hilariously awry in HardLove, an English-language adaptation of Anil Can Beydilli’s Turkish black comedy about a long one-night stand’s journey into day. Using rock music, raw movement and electric dialogue, this play explores the dark side of desire as two strangers attempt to truly connect—at least for a moment. After a well-received run last fall, this steamy two-hander is back for an encore engagement.

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Canciones – begins May 2

Presented at a private home in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Previews begin May 2. Opens May 7. Closes May 24. Tickets are $38.

A site-specific piece performed in a Flatbush home, Canciones immerses you in the drama of the marvelously musical Guerrero family as three generations gather for a reunion. Wander through the house to see the action unfold in the kitchen, on the patio and at the dinner table, where you share a family-style meal with these kin as they bicker, bond and uncover long-held secrets. Loosely inspired by Linda Ronstadt’s album Canciones de mi Padre, this song-filled celebration is coproduced by Radical Evolution, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Sol Project and Boundless Theatre Company, and was cowritten by Rebecca Martínez and Julián Mesri, the talented team behind the recent musical adaptations of The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing for The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit.

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Axis Theatre Company: Specimen – begins May 6

Axis Theatre Company, 1 Sheridan Square at Washington Place in the West Village

Previews begin May 6. Opens May 9. Closes June 6. Tickets are $40 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $21.50 tickets.

Axis Theatre Company’s artistic director Randall Sharp is behind this ambitious allegory about immigration. A dejected crew hurtles home after a failed space expedition that wrecked much of the ship. But when a mysterious lifeform unexpectedly comes aboard, they wonder if they can salvage their mission… depending on the alien’s designation. Sharp also collaborated on the impressive set design of this sci-fi drama.

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Experiments in Opera: Constance: A Confession – begins May 13

HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue at Dominick Street in Soho

Previews begin May 13. Opens May 14. Closes May 22. Tickets are $39 though select performances offer $10.50 seats.

Indie opera incubator Experiments in Opera presents this musical romp about a con woman who scams her way through life, eventually becoming a cult leader. Cowritten by four composers and a quartet of librettists, Constance: A Confession is performed in English by a cast of four accompanied by the experimental ensemble Hypercube.

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This Is Not About Me – begins May 13

59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East

Begins May 13. Closes June 7. Tickets are $32.

A hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in London, Hannah Caplan’s This Is Not About Me arrives stateside courtesy of the annual Brits Off Broadway festival. This nonlinear two-hander deconstructs the relationship between longtime friends with benefits as one attempts to write a play chronicling their messy intermingling. The original stars, Amaia Naima Aguinaga and Francis Nunnery, reprise their well-received performances.

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Clubbed Thumb Summerworks: Titans – begins May 14

Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village

Begins May 14. Closes May 26. Tickets are $35.

Clubbed Thumb‘s annual Summerworks fest has birthed a slew of acclaimed plays, including Men on Boats, Cold War Choir Practice and the Tony-nominated and Pulitzer-shortlisted What the Constitution Means to Me. Its 29th edition kicks off with Jesse Jae Hoon’s Titans, a mash-up of modern-day politics and superhero stories as the residents of an unnamed American City assemble to fight the tyranny of an ICE-like entity. Tara Elliott directs an impressive cast, including Liberation‘s Irene Sofia Lucio and Yellow Face‘s Shannon Tyo.

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La MaMa: Take Me to Dollywood – begins May 14

La MaMa’s The Downstairs, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Previews begin May 14. Opens May 16. Closes May 31. Tickets are $35 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase $15 tickets.

The experimental theatre collective The Fool Volk is behind this genre-exploding work, an NC-17 rated hodgepodge of tales with a queer Southern bent that unfold in front of a faceless Dolly Parton. Hookups, romance, sex and TMI abound in this performance piece that’s better experienced than explained.

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The Brick: Die Cute – begins May 21

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

Begins May 21. Closes May 31. Tickets are $27.25.

Korean-born multidisciplinary artist Yiseul LeMieux is the writer, director, sound designer and star of Die Cute, an interactive solo show set at her mock funeral as she taps into the power of cuteness to confront the things that scare us most. A genre-defying meditation on mortality.

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Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre: Torched – The Concert – begins May 28

Pregones, 575 Walton Avenue between East 149th and East 150th Streets in the South Bronx

Begins May 28. Closes June 7. Tickets are $37.50.

Acclaimed Latine troupe Pregones / Puerto Rican Traveling Theater presents a concert staging of Torched!, a history-inspired musical about the infamous era when the Bronx was burning and how the borough is being revitalized today. Directed and cowritten by the company’s artistic director, Rosalba Rolón, it’s a salsa-and-disco-filled exploration of the arson-for-profit scourge that impacted so many residents, workers and firefighters. Performed in English and Spanish with supertitles.

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The Tank: I Wanttt a Unicorn Frappe!!! – begins May 28

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

Previews begin May 28. Opens May 30. Closes June 21.

Catherine Weingarten’s send-up of over-the-top wedding culture centers on a woman who recently got engaged, but her betrothed doesn’t seem to show much interest… in the ceremony or in her! Perhaps that Prince riding a unicorn is a better romantic prospect? The kind of kooky romp you tend to find at indie theatre mecca The Tank.

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