14 Shows to See Off Broadway This April

Catch Corey Stoll and Cecily Strong in a quirky rom-com, a new play by John Patrick Shanley, the new musical Cable Street and more

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A new play by Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley starring Rebecca De Mornay. A rom-dram featuring Corey Stoll and SNL alum Cecily Strong. Lauded imports from London including the searing solo Kenrex, and a pair of critically acclaimed Brooklyn productions cross the bridge to Manhattan. These are just some of the promising productions that begin performances in April. We couldn’t include everything, so be sure to browse the listings in TDF’s Show Finder to see what else is playing. And remember, most of our picks for March are still running!

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St. Ann’s Warehouse: Scorched Earth – begins April 3

St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water Street near New Dock Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn

Begins April 3. Closes April 19.

Irish multihyphenate Luke Murphy conceived, choreographed and stars in Scorched Earth, a dance-theatre work inspired by John B. Keane’s 1965 play The Field about a fatal battle over a plot of land—a powerful metaphor for Ireland’s struggle for independence. In this evocative riff, the cold murder case is reopened and sparks a fantastical rumination on land ownership. St. Ann’s Warehouse presents this hit from last year’s Galway International Arts Festival.

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Chain Theatre: The Pushover – begins April 3

Chain Theatre, 312 West 36th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West

Previews begin April 3. Opens April 6. Closes April 26. If you’re a TDF Member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

John Patrick Shanley (Proof, Moonstruck) has a Tony, an Oscar and a Pulitzer. Yet in recent years, the Bronx-born playwright has chosen to present his new work on smaller stages. In addition to a playlet he penned for Theater Breaking Through Barriers’ evening of shorts, his full-length The Pushover starring ’80s screen siren Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business) is having its world premiere at the Chain Theatre. Centering on a trio of kick-ass women who decide to team up for an unknown end, the production is helmed by the theatre’s artistic director Kirk Gostkowski.

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Irish Repertory Theatre: The Approach – begins April 3

Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea

Previews begin April 3. Opens April 12. Closes May 10.

Irish Rep presents Mark O’Rowe’s enigmatic play about a trio of former pals whose three-way friendship fractured due to the men in their lives. As these women share their respective sides of their interconnected stories, a portrait of abuse and survival slowly comes into focus. Conor Bagley directs the US premiere of this conversation starter.

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Playwrights Horizons: Rheology – begins April 14

Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West

Begins April 14. Closes May 16.

Following a celebrated, Obie-winning run at The Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn last year, Playwrights Horizons remounts Rheology Off Broadway. Pulitzer finalist Shayok Misha Chowdhury (Public Obscenities) collaborated on this profoundly personal piece with his mother, famed physicist Bulbul Chakraborty, who’s an expert in rheology, a science that examines the flow of matter. In a series of experiments and scenes, they put their relationship under a microscope as they explore their palpable bond. Singular yet relatable for anyone who loves their mom!

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Audible Theater: What Happened Was – begins April 14

Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane between Sixth Avenue and MacDougal Street in the West Village

Begins April 14. Closes June 14

Last year, Hugh Jackman and Sonia Friedman’s TOGETHER partnered with Audible Theater to present starry, stripped-down plays at affordable prices. This bold endeavor returns this spring with an encore engagement of Hannah Moscovitch’s Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes featuring Jackman and Ella Beatty (through April 30) in repertory with a revival of Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was. Corey Stoll and SNL alum Cecily Strong star as lonely coworkers on a first date in this bittersweet two-hander. At every performance, 25% of the seats will be sold for just $35 day of show.

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Kenrex – begins April 15

Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street between Bleecker and Hudson Streets in the West Village

Previews begin April 15. Opens April 26. Closes June 27.

After earning rave reviews in London, this true crime solo show transfers stateside. Cowritten by Ed Stambollouian and Jack Holden, who delivers a tour-de-force turn as dozens of characters, Kenrex chronicles the real-life saga of a small-town Missouri bully and criminal, Ken Rex McElroy, who was gunned down in 1981 by some fed-up neighbors… yet no one would fess up. A compelling tale of vigilante justice.

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Second Stage Theater: The Receptionist – begins April 15

The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West

Previews begin April 15. Opens May 7. Closes May 24.

Two-time Tony winner Katie Finneran (Noises Off, Promises, Promises) has a tremendous gift for comedy, both physical and verbal. So we expect she’ll be a hoot in Second Stage’s revival of Adam Bock’s pitch-black romp The Receptionist, about a cheery office drone whose generic workplace is more nefarious than it initially seems. Sarah Benson directs this play, which was a hit Off Broadway two decades ago.

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BAM: Hamlet – begins April 19

BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street between Ashland and Rockwell Places in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Begins April 19. Closes May 17.

Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi on Broadway) stars as the vengeful title prince in this modern-day take on Shakespeare’s masterpiece, which kicks off a new partnership between BAM and London’s National Theatre. After a well-received run across the pond, director Robert Hastie (Operation Mincemeat) brings his unusually humorous interpretation of the Bard’s tragedy to Brooklyn.

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Bedlam: Othello – begins April 19

West End Theatre at St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church, 263 West 86th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue on the Upper West Side

Begins April 19. Opens May 10. Closes May 31.

Bedlam is known for its daring reinventions of classics (The Crucible, Sense & Sensibility, Pygmalion, to name just a few). This four-person adaptation of Shakespeare’s racially charged Othello continues that trend, with Ryan Quinn as the title general who’s manipulated by the jealous Iago, played by the theatre’s cofounder Eric Tucker, who also directs.

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Cable Street – begins April 26

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

Begins April 26. Closes May 24.

After receiving positive notices across the pond, Cable Street arrives in NYC as part of Brits Off Broadway. An interfaith romance between an Irish Catholic and a British Jew in 1936 London is polarizing for their families and community. Then Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists storms into town, prompting disparate groups to unite in the face of hate. Toggling between a 2024 London walking tour and the Battle of Cable Street, Tim Gilvin and Alex Kanefsky’s history-inspired epic tells its powerful story through an eclectic score, including Irish ballads, classic show tunes and hip-hop.

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73 Seconds – begins April 29

Lower Eastside Girls Club, 402 East 8th Street between Avenues C and D in the East Village

Previews begin April 29. Opens May 4. Closes May 18.

A little-known planetarium tucked inside the Lower Eastside Girls Club becomes the stage for writer-performer Jared Mezzocchi’s solo show exploring his family’s hidden past, particularly his mother’s employment at NASA. A digital theatre leader during the pandemic, Mezzocchi uses old-school tech such as overhead projectors and VHS camcorders to delve into everything he didn’t know about his parents, and how selective stories shape one’s legacy. Aya Ogawa directs this world premiere.

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Classic Stage Company: The Emporium – begins April 30

Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues in the East Village

Previews begin April 30. Opens May 18. Closes June 7.

Classic Stage Company presents the New York premiere of this unfinished Thornton Wilder play, which has been completed and adapted by Kirk Lynn. The Kafkaesque tale centers on an orphan trying to make his way in the big city who becomes obsessed with a mysterious department store called the Emporium. But gaining entry isn’t easy. The audience participates in this fantastical saga which recalls Wilder’s other avant-garde works. Rob Melrose directs.

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Studio Seaview: Well, I’ll Let You Go – begins April 30

Studio Seaview, 305 West 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West

Previews begin April 30. Opens May 14. Closes June 30.

Following a lauded world premiere at Irondale in Brooklyn, Bubba Weiler’s poignant play transfers Off Broadway. Obie-winning director Jack Serio (Grangeville, Danger and Opportunity) directs a stunning ensemble led by Tony nominee Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Doubt) as a newly widowed woman questioning the life she shared with her late husband in a series of two-person scenes that keep shifting what she thinks she knows. A deeply moving experience.

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Atlantic Theater Company: Indian Princesses – begins April 30

Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Chelsea

Previews begin April 30. Opens May 19. Closes June 17.

Eliana Theologides Rodriguez makes her Off-Broadway debut with this new play inspired by her own experiences in a bonding program for white fathers and their non-white daughters. As the girls start to ask uncomfortable questions, no one at camp can answer—not the counselors and definitely not their dads. Miranda Cornell directs an ensemble cast that includes Tony winner Frank Wood and stage stalwarts Greg Keller and Pete Simpson.

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