Announcing our 2024/25 Season!

In the 2024/25 season, we’re championing the work of powerful artists who are confronting the world we live in and guiding us into the future. Our work is muscular and intimate, brimming with delight and searing questions.

“Our season opener, We Live in Cairo, began development with NYTW nearly a decade ago and this new version is the culmination of years of head and heart work by Daniel & Patrick Lazour, director Taibi Magar and our team of collaborators who are wrestling with how to embody the spirit of dreaming and revolution.

Around the same time, my core collaborator Colman Domingo and I were invited to NYTW to dream up projects that could land on East 4th Street. All these years later, we’re reuniting with our musical, Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole—an exploration of an icon that speaks to our current souls.

More recently, in 2022, NYTW Usual Suspect Oliver Butler introduced us to multi-hyphenate artist Khawla Ibraheem and her stunning piece, A Knock on the Roof. I was floored by the journey of a mother’s Olympic dedication to caring for her family in a time of war. Over the past year, we’ve had the good fortune to collaborate with both piece by piece productions and Under the Radar as we prepared the work for production.

Our yet-to-be-announced final show will be a vivid complement to these three offerings—expanding the theatrical range and provocations offered. We look forward to sharing the diverse and powerful storytelling through these productions on East 4th Street, where you may come for the show, but we hope you’ll stay for the conversation.”

—Patricia McGregor

Details regarding next season are as follows:

FALL 2024:
WE LIVE IN CAIRO

The 2024/25 season begins with We Live in Cairo, featuring a book, music & lyrics by NYTW Usual Suspects Daniel & Patrick Lazour (Night Side Songs), and directed by Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Taibi Magar (The Half-God of Rainfall).

Inspired by the young Egyptians who took to the streets in 2011 to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak, this soaring new musical from Jonathan Larson Grant winners and NYTW Usual Suspects Daniel & Patrick Lazour follows six student activists as they come of age in contemporary Cairo, using their graffiti, photography and song to protest a regime older than they are. Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater, We Live in Cairo moves from the jubilation of Tahrir Square through the tumultuous years that followed. As escalating division and violence lead to a military crackdown, the young revolutionaries of Tahrir must weigh the cost of holding onto their principles and their dreams. Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Taibi Magar (The Half-God of Rainfall) directs.

The world premiere of We Live in Cairo was produced by the American Repertory Theater (Diane Paulus, Artistic Director; Diane Borger, Executive Producer).

WINTER 2025:
A KNOCK ON THE ROOF

The season continues with A Knock on the Roof, a new play written by and starring Khawla Ibraheem (London-Jenin) and directed by Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Oliver Butler (What the Constitution Means to Me). A Knock on the Roof is a co-production with piece by piece productions and is presented in partnership with the 20th edition of Under the Radar; Mark Russell, Festival Director & ArKtype, Festival Producer.

Set the timer. The everyday existence of a mother during a sweltering summer vacation: prepare meals, pack the bag, run the drill, repeat. With a dry wit and the determination of an Olympian, Mariam meticulously practices for the run of her life—the dreaded knock on the roof. Written by and starring Khawla Ibraheem, this unforgettable new play about obsession, survival and everyday life in Gaza is directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Obie Award winner Oliver Butler (What the Constitution Means to Me).

SPRING 2025:
BECOMING EVE

A week before the High Holidays, three rabbis find themselves in a room fighting to save a family by building a bridge between orthodoxy and modernity. One of these rabbis is Chava, the child of a dynastic Hasidic rabbinical family and destined to become a leader of the next generation before the revelation of her trans identity clashed explosively with the strictly gendered world in which she was raised. As we jump through memory—and wrestle with theology—truths and secrets emerge that ensure no one will read the old stories the same way again.

Based on the critically acclaimed memoir by Abby Chava Stein, Becoming Eve is a remarkable playwriting debut from Emil Weinstein with direction by Tyne Rafaeli.

SPRING 2025:
LIGHTS OUT: NAT “KING” COLE

On December 17th, 1957, it was LIGHTS OUT on “The Nat ‘King’ Cole Show.”

Despite being the voice that built Capitol Records, Nat “King” Cole’s groundbreaking television show was rejected by Madison Avenue, unwilling to sponsor America’s first black television host. Now, on the night of his final broadcast, Nat must grapple with the complexities of his psyche, personified by his best friend and alter-ego, Sammy Davis Jr., and decide whether to quietly step out of the spotlight or go out with a bang.

Tony and Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin, Sing Sing) and NYTW Usual Suspect and Artistic Director Patricia McGregor (The Refuge Plays) bring us this electrifying exploration of the soul of an American icon who fought to break through America’s color barrier in the early days of television. Starring Emmy Award nominee Dulé Hill (“The West Wing,” “Psych”) as Nat “King” Cole and Tony nominee Daniel J. Watts (The Refuge Plays, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as Sammy Davis Jr., LIGHTS OUT features Nat’s hit songs, like “Nature Boy,” “It’s a Good Day,” “Smile” and “Unforgettable” with music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by John McDaniel.

Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole was produced by the People’s Light & Theater in Philadelphia and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

JOIN NOW!

Performance schedules, casting and full creative teams will be announced at a later date.

A variety of 2024/25 Season membership packages are on sale now! Want help picking the best package? Contact Justin at JustinJ@nytw.org or 646-793-3215.

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Categories: 2024/25 Season. Tags: A Knock on the Roof, Colman Domingo, Daniel J. Watts, Daniel Lazour, Dulé Hill, Khawla Ibraheem, Light Out, Oliver Butler, Patricia McGregor, Patrick Lazour, Taibi Magar, The Lazours, and We Live in Cairo.