5 Shows to See in New York This Month

1. Liberation
Last week I was astounded by the Roundabout Theatre Company world premiere of Bess Wohl’s Liberation, which was recently extended through April 6. Our narrator looks back on the women’s group her mother founded in 1970s Ohio and what became of their aspirations for freedom and equality. The play will feel painfully resonant for anyone who has participated in a social justice movement and has lived to be disappointed by it. The excellent ensemble cast includes Susannah Flood, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Betsy Aidem—all delivering gut-punch performances as women whose lives frequently make a mockery of their lofty ideals. But if that isn’t the case for you, aren’t your ideals too low?

2. Purpose
Playwright Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins made his long-awaited Broadway debut last season with Appropriate, the gasp-inducing family drama for which he won the Tony Award for Best Revival. He’s back again at the Hayes with his newest play, Purpose, about an elite Black American political family and the cracks beneath their scrupulously airbrushed public image. Few playwrights are as talented as Jacobs-Jenkins when it comes to demolishing cherished myths with magnificent style. Buckle up for this one, which is deliciously directed by Clair Huxtable herself, Phylicia Rashad.

3. We Had a World
Joshua Harmon has electrified audiences with his plays Bad Jews, Admissions, and Prayer for the French Republic. His latest, We Had a World, is about a dying woman who asks her grandson to write a new play about their family and “make it as bitter and vitriolic as possible”—quite a dangerous request for a master of invective like Harmon. The cast features Andrew Barth Feldman, Joanna Gleason, and Jeanine Serralles, so you can be sure there will be some barn-burning performances. Sit back and enjoy the heat.

4. Wine in the Wilderness
Playwright Alice Childress made her posthumous Broadway debut in 2021 with Trouble in Mind, which starred Tony winner LaChanze. Now LaChanze is making her New York directorial debut at Classic Stage Company with another Childress play, Wine in the Wilderness, which stars Grantham Coleman and Olivia Washington as an artist and his muse working through a hot summer night in Harlem as a riot rages outside. Childress is clearly a special dramatic talent who has been mostly overlooked by the American theater. It’s thrilling to see her work being rediscovered on our stages.

5. The Picture of Dorian Gray
Speaking of rediscovery, I’ve been rereading one of my very favorite novels, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s one of those books that offers new insights with each read, and I’m hoping that Kip Williams’s stage adaptation, starring Sarah Snook (Siobhan “Shiv” Roy from HBO’s Succession) in every role, is a similarly revealing experience. The tale of a beautiful young Englishman whose looks never fade, even as his portrait takes on the wrinkles and marks of every sin, it’s a perfect horror story for the age Botox, Ozempic, and general moral decline. And what better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than with Ireland’s wittiest writer?