2ST NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL

NEW WORKS BY D.A. MINDELL, ROSS GOLAN, KEIKO GREEN, JAY STULL, AND AURORA REAL DE ASUA

We’re thrilled to announce Second Stage Theater’s 2025 Next Stage Festival! The Festival formalizes our commitment to early-career playwrights, and creates a home for new work right here in midtown. If you’re a fan of boundary-breaking new theater, you’ll want to join us for Next Stage Festival. It all happens this winter at the The Pershing Square Signature Center.

The centerpiece of the Next Stage Festival is the Festival Production, a world premiere production of On the Evolutionary Function of Shame by D.A. Mindell. Plus, the Nancy Denovan Musical Reading and the Judith Champion Reading Series offer one-night-only readings of new works by early-career playwrights.

Second Stage members and subscribers receive priority access to the Next Stage Festival. The Nancy Denovan Musical Reading and The Judith Champion Reading Series are complimentary, though seats must be reserved in advance.

THE FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

FEBRUARY 12 – MARCH 9, 2025

ON THE EVOLUTIONARY FUNCTION OF SHAME

BY D.A. MINDELL 

DIRECTED BY JESS MCLEOD

TICKETS

In the beginning, two people got kicked out of a garden for eating fruit. Many years later, Adam—a transgender man expecting a child—meets with his twin sister, Eve, a pioneering scientist. She offers her brother prenatal services from her cutting-edge practice. But what exactly does that entail? And does Adam even want Eve’s help? 

Written by bold new talent D.A. Mindell and helmed by the refreshingly innovative director Jess McLeod, On the Evolutionary Function of Shame is a compelling exploration of identity, family, and the courage it takes to live authentically, no matter the expectations of society—or those closest to you. 

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025

NANCY DENOVAN MUSICAL READING

INSIDE VOICES

MUSIC, LYRICS, BOOK BY ROSS GOLAN

CO-BOOK BY DANIELLE KOENIG

DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MAYER

In 1828 Germany, a 16-year-old boy mysteriously appears in Nuremberg’s town square. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. Is he a thief? Is he a freak? From societal outcast to the most famous prodigy in Europe, Inside Voices tells the heart-pounding and epic tale of Kasper Hauser's controversial rise and harrowing fall. By multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ross Golan, Inside Voices is a New Alt Rock musical based on true events about the strength of survival, the power of love, the cost of fame, and the legacy we leave behind.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2025

JUDITH CHAMPION READING SERIES

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE END OF THE WORLD!

BY KEIKO GREEN

DIRECTED BY ZHAILON LEVINGSTON

Since Greg’s terminal diagnosis, he’s felt a deep connection to the Earth. To save himself, he’ll need to save the planet. His wife, Viv, desperately wants to savor every last minute with her husband. Meanwhile M, our emcee, searches desperately to find meaning in the chaos of the final year with their Dad. You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! is a heartfelt theatrical spectacle and a story as magical and strange as the world itself.

MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2025

THE SINGULARITY PLAY

BY JAY STULL

DIRECTED BY KEENAN TYLER OLIPHANT

At a tech company in Manhattan, a troupe of downtown theater actors and a director gather to develop and rehearse a play written by an advanced AI named "Denise." But how does one perform a reality born of experience when the playwright has not experienced reality? What even IS reality? The Singularity Play is a new workplace comedy about the last living generation of human beings.

MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2025

WIPEOUT

BY AURORA REAL DE ASUA

Three 70-year-old women who have never surfed. One 19-year-old hotrod instructor. The currents of the Pacific Ocean. What could possibly go wrong? A new play about friendship, grief, and the unpredictable tides of life, Wipeout is a septuagenarian surf comedy about what it takes to hang ten.

Date: January 27 – March 10, 2025

Location: Signature Theatre Company

The Irene Diamond Stage

The Pershing Square Signature Center

480 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036

Click here for more Information