Celebrating Primary Stages
40th Anniversary!

We are thrilled to celebrate our 40th Anniversary of inspiring, supporting, producing, and sharing the art of playwriting with a full year of productions, new play development initiatives, and engagement opportunities to connect our community of artists and audiences. Join us at the theater, in the classroom, or at one of our many special events, including our Gala and our Primary Stages Variety Show directed by BD Wong!

“Since its inception, Primary Stages has been driven by a singular mission: to advance the art of playwriting. Throughout our history, visionary leaders have identified challenges in the field and met them head-on with innovative programs. From our founder Casey Childs, who recognized the need for a theater that could take risks and give new plays their first production; to Sue Breger, who understood the transformative power of theater for NYC Public Schools Students; to the legacy of Annie and Marvin Einhorn, whose mentorship led to The Einhorn School of Performing Arts; and Andrew Leynse, who created The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group to provide playwrights with a supportive community – each program has opened doors for new artists and audiences, enriching Off-Broadway. Through it all, our community of artists and patrons have steadfastly supported us across the evolving theater landscape, and as we reflect on four decades Off-Broadway, we are grateful for those who brought us here and those who will guide us into the future.”

–Erin Daley, Artistic Director

Honoring Our History and Looking Ahead to the Next 40 Years

Primary Stages is proud to be a cornerstone of the Off-Broadway community - a community that’s a dynamic and influential crucible where bold ideas and diverse voices come together to shape the cultural landscape. Through our distinctive platform, we empower artists to tell expansive stories within an intimate setting, making universal themes feel both immediate and personal. Off-Broadway’s unique atmosphere invites our audiences to be active participants—daring to experience something untested, discovering work ahead of the curve, and engaging with world-class talent.

As part of the vibrant Off-Broadway ecosystem, Primary Stages is a vital starting point where small ideas ignite, connecting artists and audiences to inspire cultural shifts that resonate far beyond the stage. Over the past 40 years, we've championed visionary artists from their earliest works—artists who have gone on to shape not only the theater, but the world. Looking ahead to the next 40 years, we're energized to continue nurturing groundbreaking voices, launching innovative ideas into the world, and building the next cohort of great American playwrights.

Whether it’s an early-career playwright debuting their first major work, an established artist taking bold creative risks, or a patron eager for fresh, innovative theater, Primary Stages is a haven for those with a passion for discovery. It’s a place where both artists and audiences converge, fueled by a shared desire to venture into uncharted territory.

Together let’s build the next cohort of great American playwrights.

Our 40th Anniversary Mainstage Productions

From the writer behind Primary Stages’ hit productions of Pride and Prejudice and Little Women comes a new play by Kate Hamill, opening at 59E59 this November. At the height of the Italian Renaissance, Artemisia Gentileschi wants to become one of the great painters...but women are not thought capable of true artistry. Told through her piercing point of view, The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi) weaves a magnetic and empowering tapestry of art, ambition, rage, and resilience.

And this Spring, join us for Chisa Hutchinson’s new play Amerikin, developed as part of our Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group and featured in our 2018 Fresh Ink Reading Series. Both bitterly funny and deeply compassionate, Amerikin explores the lengths we go to protect our own, the lies we tell ourselves, and the cost of division on us all.

Part of the AMPLIFY Festival: celebrating the work of Chisa Hutchinson at 59E59 Theaters.

COLLABORATION WITH TODAYTIX

Celebrating Primary Stages’ founding in 1984 with a discount ticketing initiative!

We are thrilled to announce a year-long discount ticketing initiative in collaboration with TodayTix. For our 40th anniversary season of plays, TodayTix will offer $19.84 lottery tickets for every performance in honor of our founding in 1984, celebrating the many patrons and artists that make up our history and our future.

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Cheers to 40 Years!

Let’s party like it’s 1984 and celebrate our amazing history and exciting future! We are proud to honor Board President Marla Persky with the Einhorn Mentorship Award and The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation with the Andrew Leynse Commitment to New Plays Award. Performers include Jay Armstrong Johnson (Parade, On the Town), Jen Cody (Ibsen's Ghost, Shrek the Musical), Judy Gold (Yes, I Can Say That!; The Judy Show! My Life as a Sitcom), Deidre Goodwin (Chicago, A Chorus Line), Julia Murney (Wicked, The Wild Party), Brad Oscar (The Producers, Something Rotten) Jonathan Raviv (On That Day in Amsterdam, The Band's Visit), Ryan Vasquez (The Notebook, Hamilton), Joy Woods (The Notebook, Six), and more to be announced!

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Primary Stages Variety Show

Coming in Spring 2025! A Primary Stages Variety Show directed by BD Wong, a cabaret-style evening of songs and scenes that celebrates Primary Stages’ long history and the artists we’ve supported along the way.

LIFF LAB

We’re proud to announce the launch of The Liff Lab, an innovative new play development program named by The Sulzberger Rolfe Foundation in memory of Samuel “Biff” Liff, a legendary theater agent who helped hundreds of artists in their careers and, with Marvin and Anne Einhorn, played a vital part in the history and mission of Primary Stages. This annual program will provide an exceptional early to mid-career playwright with a 29-hour developmental workshop of an unproduced new work. Primary Stages is thrilled to welcome playwright Alex Lin as the inaugural Liff Lab recipient, helping develop her play Laowang, a caustic and imaginative spin on King Lear in which an aging matriarch defends her Chinatown restaurant against developers as she battles her own fading and erratic memory.

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Primary Stages 40th Anniversary will also include a plethora of other events and engagement opportunities to connect our community of artists and audiences, including engagement events at our upcoming shows for Primary Stages members, artists, and alumni, in addition to our existing programming such as the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, Echoes Writers Group, Free Student Matinee Program, and the Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). Primary Stages will also be introducing a new cohort of writers for the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, which has been fostering the creation of new works by emerging playwrights for 29 years, and for the Echoes Writers Group, a year-long educational program focused on finding, nurturing, and amplifying the voices of women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming artists.