Primary Stages is an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and sharing the art of playwriting. We operate on the strongly held belief that the future of American theater relies on nurturing playwrights and giving them the artistic support needed to create new work. Since our founding in 1984, we have produced more than 130 new plays, including In Transit by James Allen-Ford, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth (on Broadway this season); Horton Foote’s The Roads to Home, The Day Emily Married, Harrison, TX, and Dividing the Estate (two 2009 Tony Award nominations); David Ives’ All in the Timing (original 1993 production and 2013 revival) and Lives of the Saints; Donald Margulies’ The Model Apartment (1995 premiere and 2013 revival); Billy Porter’s While I Yet Live; Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Informed Consent; Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist and Olive and the Bitter Herbs; Ike Holter’s Exit Strategy; A.R. Gurney’s Black Tie; Daisy Foote’s When They Speak of Rita and Him; Theresa Rebeck’s Poor Behavior; Tanya Barfield’s The Call; Brooke Berman’s Hunting and Gathering; Terrence McNally’s Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams and The Stendhal Syndrome; Dan O’Brien’s The Body of an American; Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter’s In the Continuum (which went on to tour the U.S., Africa, and Scotland); and Conor McPherson’s St. Nicholas (which marked the playwright’s U.S. debut).
Our productions and artists have received critical acclaim, including numerous Tony, Obie, Lortel, Off-Broadway Alliance, AUDELCO, Outer Critics’ Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk awards and nominations. Primary Stages supports playwrights and develops new works through commissions, workshops, readings, and our education, access, and training programs: The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, the Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), the Fordham/Primary Stages MFA in Playwriting, Teenwrights, the Free Student Matinee Program, the Internship Program, TixTeen, PS35, and the newly launched Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project. Through these programs, Primary Stages advocates for our artists, helping them make important—and often transformative—connections within the theater community.
