NYCPlaywrights December 20, 2025
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NYCPlaywrights
Dec 20, 2025, 5:08:00 PM (4 days ago) Dec 20
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Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
MOTHER ANIMAL
by Leo Lorena Wyss
Goethe-Institut New York & Voyage Theater Company present the North American premiere as part of the PARTS UNKNOWN play reading series.
Three siblings, one hospital room, and a lifetime of fish sticks and make-believe. For years, they have weathered their mother’s absence by reenacting Titanic—a cinematic echo of their own sinking home. But as they gather at her bedside once more, the games can no longer mask the truth. In this haunting exploration of role-reversal, the children who raised themselves must finally confront the legacy of a mother who struggled to stay afloat.
Mother Animal premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on October 2, 2024, directed by Mia Constantine. It was awarded the Retzhofer Drama Prize in 2023 under the title wie von mutterhand.
February 12, 2026 · 6:30 PM EST
Goethe-Institut New York
30 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mother-animal-by-leo-lorena-wyss-tickets-1978304454879?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** WRITING INTENSIVE WITH SARAH CONGRESS ***
Start the new year off with a bit of fun at this new, interactive writing intensive with instructor Sarah Congress!
Students will dive into the fundamentals of humor writing by using their own experience sto craft a comedic scene. Expect to share laughs, gain valuable writing tips, and leave with the tools to bring humor into any writing project!
https://www.writerscenter.org/event-details/anything-can-be-funny-humor-writing-with-sarah-congress-zoom
***
A new character is featured in the Land of Sweets in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Nutcracker” this year: Green Tea Cricket, a springy, superhero-like figure meant to counter stereotypes of Chinese culture.
Tulsa Ballet, hoping to dispel outdated portrayals of Asians, is infusing its production with elements of martial arts, choreographed by a Chinese-born dancer.
And Boston Ballet is staging a new spectacle: a pas de deux inspired by traditional Chinese ribbon dancing.
“The Nutcracker,” the classic holiday ballet, is back after the long pandemic shutdown. But many dance companies are reworking the show this year partly in response to a wave of anti-Asian hate that intensified during the pandemic, and a broader reckoning over racial discrimination.
More...
https://archive.ph/xdMkY
***
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
To be totally honest here, I also think this one’s a tad overrated, but I’d be wrong to rank it low. Anyone who performs this number is a saint. I never wanted to be the sugar plum fairy because look at what she has to do. When done well, the costuming and sheer stamina of the performer make this number a standout. This dance may look effortless, but having watched weeks of a dancer rehearse this, I can tell you that is not. All the little touches and nuances take a long time to perfect. If you happen to be reading this and have done this solo, here is me officially giving you your flowers. You’re a trooper if there ever was one.
More...
https://www.47magazine.com/every-dance-from-the-nutcracker-ranked-by-an-ex-dancer
***
(A production office. PRODUCER 1 sits at a desk. Enter PRODUCER 2.)
PRODUCER 1: Take a seat. You said you have something Christmassy for me?
PRODUCER 2: Strap in, buddy. This one’s gonna be a doozy.
PRODUCER 1: Ha! Can’t wait.
PRODUCER 2: Okay, so: Curtain up. It’s Christmas Eve. A young girl named Clara is opening gifts. One happens to be from her favorite uncle, a kind of creepy mask-wearing guy named Drosselmeyer.
PRODUCER 1: Don’t love this…
PRODUCER 2: Hear me out: It’s a nutcracker.
(Pause.)
PRODUCER 1: A what?
PRODUCER 2: It’s a thing, you know, I don’t know. It cracks chestnuts.
PRODUCER 1: So Clara loves chestnuts?
PRODUCER 2: She’s never eaten them.
PRODUCER 1: So she hates the Nutcracker?
PRODUCER 2: It’s the most precious thing she’s ever gotten—because it’s also sort of a wooden hipster doll dressed up like a Russian band leader.
PRODUCER 1: … Which she likes?
PRODUCER 2: Loves.
PRODUCER 1: What happens next?
PRODUCER 2: Enter the mice.
PRODUCER 1: Mice?
PRODUCER 2: They’re everywhere!
PRODUCER 1: Who plays the mice?
PRODUCER 2: Little kids who can’t dance at all.
PRODUCER 1: So wait, there’s dancing?
PRODUCER 2: Almost the whole thing is dancing.
PRODUCER 1: But nobody can dance?
PRODUCER 2: Some can, some can’t. Clara can dance. Drosselmeyer’s not bad. You know who’s really good? This random guy visiting from a major company who has no effect on the plot. He’s great. He dances more than anyone.
PRODUCER 1: What happens with the mice?
PRODUCER 2: They have to witness the death of their sovereign.
PRODUCER 1: By who? Clara? Does she crack him like a nut?
PRODUCER 2: No, the Nutcracker does it. He sorta comes to life and fights the Mouse King.
PRODUCER 1: I have to tell ya, pal, this is pretty terrible.
PRODUCER 2: Stay with me. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King dance, and then they dance some more, and then the Nutcracker kills the Mouse King with—
More...
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-producer-attempts-to-pitch-the-nutcracker
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
MOTHER ANIMAL
by Leo Lorena Wyss
Goethe-Institut New York & Voyage Theater Company present the North American premiere as part of the PARTS UNKNOWN play reading series.
Three siblings, one hospital room, and a lifetime of fish sticks and make-believe. For years, they have weathered their mother’s absence by reenacting Titanic—a cinematic echo of their own sinking home. But as they gather at her bedside once more, the games can no longer mask the truth. In this haunting exploration of role-reversal, the children who raised themselves must finally confront the legacy of a mother who struggled to stay afloat.
Mother Animal premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on October 2, 2024, directed by Mia Constantine. It was awarded the Retzhofer Drama Prize in 2023 under the title wie von mutterhand.
February 12, 2026 · 6:30 PM EST
Goethe-Institut New York
30 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mother-animal-by-leo-lorena-wyss-tickets-1978304454879?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** WRITING INTENSIVE WITH SARAH CONGRESS ***
Start the new year off with a bit of fun at this new, interactive writing intensive with instructor Sarah Congress!
Students will dive into the fundamentals of humor writing by using their own experience sto craft a comedic scene. Expect to share laughs, gain valuable writing tips, and leave with the tools to bring humor into any writing project!
https://www.writerscenter.org/event-details/anything-can-be-funny-humor-writing-with-sarah-congress-zoom
Sunday, January 4
12 – 2pm ET
Class will take place remotely on Zoom
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
NOVA Lab 2026: Open Call for Scripts
Two selected works will receive creative support throughout the year. The playwrights will participate in an internal workshop and a public script reading workshop in the first half of the year to gather early general feedback. In the Fall, we will present a curated full production series showcasing works developed through the program.
***
The New Works Initiative is seeking unpublished Full-length plays, of any genre, to receive a mainstage production at Good Luck Macbeth Theatre in the 2026-27 season. One play will be selected for full production and two plays will be selected to receive staged readings.
***
The 46 Minutes Writers Group is a seasonal cohort of playwrights helping develop each other’s new work. Led by Gabby Kimbrough and Cha Mangan, our playwrights can receive feedback on their new work, get to hear their new work said out loud, and be held accountable for getting new pages and edits out. The Spring 2025 cohort program will be 10 weeks long, with each writer presenting their work every other week. We'll be meeting in-person at the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch from 11am-2pm every Sunday morning, February 22nd to April 26th.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
12 – 2pm ET
Class will take place remotely on Zoom
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
NOVA Lab 2026: Open Call for Scripts
Two selected works will receive creative support throughout the year. The playwrights will participate in an internal workshop and a public script reading workshop in the first half of the year to gather early general feedback. In the Fall, we will present a curated full production series showcasing works developed through the program.
***
The New Works Initiative is seeking unpublished Full-length plays, of any genre, to receive a mainstage production at Good Luck Macbeth Theatre in the 2026-27 season. One play will be selected for full production and two plays will be selected to receive staged readings.
***
The 46 Minutes Writers Group is a seasonal cohort of playwrights helping develop each other’s new work. Led by Gabby Kimbrough and Cha Mangan, our playwrights can receive feedback on their new work, get to hear their new work said out loud, and be held accountable for getting new pages and edits out. The Spring 2025 cohort program will be 10 weeks long, with each writer presenting their work every other week. We'll be meeting in-person at the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch from 11am-2pm every Sunday morning, February 22nd to April 26th.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** NUTCRACKER VARIATIONS ***
The first performance of the Christmas ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky’s last opera, Iolanta, around the Christmas holiday season on December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1892, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is generally agreed that Lev Ivanov, Second Balletmaster to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, worked closely with Marius Petipa, Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres and widely regarded as the Father of Russian Ballet, to create the holiday ballet. It was conducted by Riccardo Drigo, with Antoinetta Dell-Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as her Prince, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara/Masha, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker Prince, and Timofei Stukolkin as Uncle Drosselmeyer.
More...
https://nutcracker.com/history-of-nutcracker/
The first performance of the Christmas ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky’s last opera, Iolanta, around the Christmas holiday season on December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1892, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is generally agreed that Lev Ivanov, Second Balletmaster to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, worked closely with Marius Petipa, Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres and widely regarded as the Father of Russian Ballet, to create the holiday ballet. It was conducted by Riccardo Drigo, with Antoinetta Dell-Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as her Prince, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara/Masha, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker Prince, and Timofei Stukolkin as Uncle Drosselmeyer.
More...
https://nutcracker.com/history-of-nutcracker/
***
When I began my professional career at San Francisco Ballet in 2000, I performed in a Nutcracker by Lew Christensen, one of the famed Christensen brothers who founded San Francisco Ballet in 1940, the first ballet company in America. That company produced the first ever full-length Nutcracker in America in 1944, which was the beginning of the Nutcracker craze. (The Nutcracker does not enjoy anywhere near the same popularity in Europe as it does in America.) Every season that I worked at San Francisco Ballet, we performed Nutcracker about 30-45 times, even on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. In 2004, San Francisco Ballet director Helgi Tomasson choreographed a new version in which I danced in the opening night cast as the Nutcracker doll and the Act 2 Russian dance, which was later filmed for a PBS broadcast and DVD release. I performed these roles (and others) every single season until my retirement from the stage in 2018.
More...
https://grballet.com/how-the-nutcracker-became-my-holiday-tradition/
***
By the time Duke Ellington recorded his holiday LP The Nutcracker Suite for the Columbia label in the summer of 1960, he had already led a four-decade career as a peerless innovator and leader of an orchestra of legendary virtuosity.
Though his fame had somewhat waned by the bebop era of the early 1950s, Ellington enjoyed a well-deserved career resurgence with the overwhelming reaction to his 1956 live date Ellington at Newport, and this renewed vitality seemed to expand his horizons still further to encompass ever more ambitious large-scale works, his concerts of sacred music, soundtrack composing, collaboration with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, etc.
The Nutcracker Suite was Ellington’s first album-length project devoted to the work of another composer, but it’s not the only thing that makes this recording a standout in his discography. A cursory glance at the album cover immediately draws attention for its central image that features both Ellington and his longtime musical partner, composer, and arranger Billy Strayhorn — the first time Strayhorn’s image graced an Ellington cover — and for the listing of three surnames as the creators of the work: Ellington, Strayhorn, and Tchaikovsky. This equality of billing makes complete sense in retrospect — Strayhorn had the idea for the project in the first place and reimagined the suite to best suit the Ellington Orchestra — but to openly suggest that Duke Ellington was not the singular architect of his own work was an unprecedented (and overdue) acknowledgment of Strayhorn’s talent and his importance as a major figure in jazz in his own right.
More...
https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/articles/on-the-record-duke-ellington-the-nutcracker-suite/
***
A nursemaid in drag is only one of Morris’ glorious subversions of the traditional American Nutcracker. In his send-ups of the suburban family, the military, the aristocracy, and the classical ballet world, he leans hard into democracy, embracing inclusiveness. Since the Mark Morris Dance Group premiered The Hard Nut in Brussels in 1991, the dance world has more or less caught up to Morris' progressive innovations. But no other production that I’ve seen conjures the same wacky thrills as this Nut's Snow scene in which men and women in sparkly abbreviated tutus, crop tops and Italian meringue headdresses gallop on and off stage in intricate patterns, flinging handfuls of fake snow on precise counts with a gleeful vehemence bordering on wrath.
More...
https://bachtrack.com/review-the-hard-nut-mark-morris-bam-new-york-december-2024
When I began my professional career at San Francisco Ballet in 2000, I performed in a Nutcracker by Lew Christensen, one of the famed Christensen brothers who founded San Francisco Ballet in 1940, the first ballet company in America. That company produced the first ever full-length Nutcracker in America in 1944, which was the beginning of the Nutcracker craze. (The Nutcracker does not enjoy anywhere near the same popularity in Europe as it does in America.) Every season that I worked at San Francisco Ballet, we performed Nutcracker about 30-45 times, even on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. In 2004, San Francisco Ballet director Helgi Tomasson choreographed a new version in which I danced in the opening night cast as the Nutcracker doll and the Act 2 Russian dance, which was later filmed for a PBS broadcast and DVD release. I performed these roles (and others) every single season until my retirement from the stage in 2018.
More...
https://grballet.com/how-the-nutcracker-became-my-holiday-tradition/
***
By the time Duke Ellington recorded his holiday LP The Nutcracker Suite for the Columbia label in the summer of 1960, he had already led a four-decade career as a peerless innovator and leader of an orchestra of legendary virtuosity.
Though his fame had somewhat waned by the bebop era of the early 1950s, Ellington enjoyed a well-deserved career resurgence with the overwhelming reaction to his 1956 live date Ellington at Newport, and this renewed vitality seemed to expand his horizons still further to encompass ever more ambitious large-scale works, his concerts of sacred music, soundtrack composing, collaboration with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, etc.
The Nutcracker Suite was Ellington’s first album-length project devoted to the work of another composer, but it’s not the only thing that makes this recording a standout in his discography. A cursory glance at the album cover immediately draws attention for its central image that features both Ellington and his longtime musical partner, composer, and arranger Billy Strayhorn — the first time Strayhorn’s image graced an Ellington cover — and for the listing of three surnames as the creators of the work: Ellington, Strayhorn, and Tchaikovsky. This equality of billing makes complete sense in retrospect — Strayhorn had the idea for the project in the first place and reimagined the suite to best suit the Ellington Orchestra — but to openly suggest that Duke Ellington was not the singular architect of his own work was an unprecedented (and overdue) acknowledgment of Strayhorn’s talent and his importance as a major figure in jazz in his own right.
More...
https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/articles/on-the-record-duke-ellington-the-nutcracker-suite/
***
A nursemaid in drag is only one of Morris’ glorious subversions of the traditional American Nutcracker. In his send-ups of the suburban family, the military, the aristocracy, and the classical ballet world, he leans hard into democracy, embracing inclusiveness. Since the Mark Morris Dance Group premiered The Hard Nut in Brussels in 1991, the dance world has more or less caught up to Morris' progressive innovations. But no other production that I’ve seen conjures the same wacky thrills as this Nut's Snow scene in which men and women in sparkly abbreviated tutus, crop tops and Italian meringue headdresses gallop on and off stage in intricate patterns, flinging handfuls of fake snow on precise counts with a gleeful vehemence bordering on wrath.
More...
https://bachtrack.com/review-the-hard-nut-mark-morris-bam-new-york-december-2024
***
A new character is featured in the Land of Sweets in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Nutcracker” this year: Green Tea Cricket, a springy, superhero-like figure meant to counter stereotypes of Chinese culture.
Tulsa Ballet, hoping to dispel outdated portrayals of Asians, is infusing its production with elements of martial arts, choreographed by a Chinese-born dancer.
And Boston Ballet is staging a new spectacle: a pas de deux inspired by traditional Chinese ribbon dancing.
“The Nutcracker,” the classic holiday ballet, is back after the long pandemic shutdown. But many dance companies are reworking the show this year partly in response to a wave of anti-Asian hate that intensified during the pandemic, and a broader reckoning over racial discrimination.
More...
https://archive.ph/xdMkY
***
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
To be totally honest here, I also think this one’s a tad overrated, but I’d be wrong to rank it low. Anyone who performs this number is a saint. I never wanted to be the sugar plum fairy because look at what she has to do. When done well, the costuming and sheer stamina of the performer make this number a standout. This dance may look effortless, but having watched weeks of a dancer rehearse this, I can tell you that is not. All the little touches and nuances take a long time to perfect. If you happen to be reading this and have done this solo, here is me officially giving you your flowers. You’re a trooper if there ever was one.
More...
https://www.47magazine.com/every-dance-from-the-nutcracker-ranked-by-an-ex-dancer
***
(A production office. PRODUCER 1 sits at a desk. Enter PRODUCER 2.)
PRODUCER 1: Take a seat. You said you have something Christmassy for me?
PRODUCER 2: Strap in, buddy. This one’s gonna be a doozy.
PRODUCER 1: Ha! Can’t wait.
PRODUCER 2: Okay, so: Curtain up. It’s Christmas Eve. A young girl named Clara is opening gifts. One happens to be from her favorite uncle, a kind of creepy mask-wearing guy named Drosselmeyer.
PRODUCER 1: Don’t love this…
PRODUCER 2: Hear me out: It’s a nutcracker.
(Pause.)
PRODUCER 1: A what?
PRODUCER 2: It’s a thing, you know, I don’t know. It cracks chestnuts.
PRODUCER 1: So Clara loves chestnuts?
PRODUCER 2: She’s never eaten them.
PRODUCER 1: So she hates the Nutcracker?
PRODUCER 2: It’s the most precious thing she’s ever gotten—because it’s also sort of a wooden hipster doll dressed up like a Russian band leader.
PRODUCER 1: … Which she likes?
PRODUCER 2: Loves.
PRODUCER 1: What happens next?
PRODUCER 2: Enter the mice.
PRODUCER 1: Mice?
PRODUCER 2: They’re everywhere!
PRODUCER 1: Who plays the mice?
PRODUCER 2: Little kids who can’t dance at all.
PRODUCER 1: So wait, there’s dancing?
PRODUCER 2: Almost the whole thing is dancing.
PRODUCER 1: But nobody can dance?
PRODUCER 2: Some can, some can’t. Clara can dance. Drosselmeyer’s not bad. You know who’s really good? This random guy visiting from a major company who has no effect on the plot. He’s great. He dances more than anyone.
PRODUCER 1: What happens with the mice?
PRODUCER 2: They have to witness the death of their sovereign.
PRODUCER 1: By who? Clara? Does she crack him like a nut?
PRODUCER 2: No, the Nutcracker does it. He sorta comes to life and fights the Mouse King.
PRODUCER 1: I have to tell ya, pal, this is pretty terrible.
PRODUCER 2: Stay with me. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King dance, and then they dance some more, and then the Nutcracker kills the Mouse King with—
More...
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-producer-attempts-to-pitch-the-nutcracker
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