5 Shows to See in New York This Month

1. A Ghost in Your Ear
The most traditionally frightening of the bunch is A Ghost in Your Ear, a thriller set in an audiobook studio. We watch the events of a late-night recording behind glass, and hear everything through individual headsets, allowing us to experience the horror in stereo. Written and directed by Jamie Armitage, the play stars The Pitt’s Lucas Iverson in a remarkable off-Broadway debut. You can tell he excels around a campfire, and having him whisper this quietly terrifying script directly into your ear will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention.

2. Degenerates
Else Went takes audiences inside the shadowy online world of incels (that’s “involuntarily celibate” men) in Degenerates, a challenging new drama grappling with the horrifying reality that though we’ve never been more connected through technology, many of us are lonelier than ever. Directed by Else’s spouse, Emma Rosa Went, the play features astonishing performances from Zachary Desmond and Christopher Dylan White, playing characters who are mostly ignored by the mainstream theater. The show was just extended until November 1 at Playwrights Horizons, so you’ll want to get your tickets now. I suspect this is one people will be talking about for years.

3. Fish
The internet has always been a scary place. In Fish, Melis Aker takes us back to 2016 for a story about a 17-year-old girl in the UK who develops a hobby of sending her photos to ISIS fighters, who then send travel money for her to join them in Syria, which she proceeds to spend on clothes. It’s a comedy! It benefits greatly from the leading performance of Yasmin Ranz-Lind, and especially the supporting performance of Roxanna Hope Radja in the role of her mother, an immigrant nurse and single mom trying to hold her family together. Performances are through October 25.

4. The Ask
As a student of Greek drama, I am somewhat wary of the hubris some Democrats are expressing ahead of November’s midterm election. Matthew Freeman suggests one way the blue wave could crash onto the shores of reality in The Ask. The two-person play depicts a meeting between a young nonbinary ACLU fundraiser and an older donor on the Upper West Side who has recently stopped giving. This 75-minute encounter between differing perspectives on the Left invites audiences to hear why. I loved this smoldering drama during its 2024 world premiere downtown, and I’m eager to see how a change of venue, performers (Shannon Purser and Marilu Kenner star in this midtown remount of director Jessi D. Hill’s production), and year alters the vibe of the play.

5. The Hairy Ape
Eugene O’Neill is widely considered the greatest American dramatist, and I personally think The Hairy Ape is his best play. It’s about Yank, a manual laborer toiling in the belly of a transatlantic ocean liner. He takes pride in his work and knows he is the best kind of man, but a close encounter with the daughter of the man who owns the ship shows him how the rich really see him: as a filthy animal. Sadly, that dehumanization of the working class, which O’Neill captured in this 1922 “comedy of ancient and modern life,” still exists a century later, and is on full display in the powerfully resonant revival now performing through November 15 at Irish Rep. It may actually be the most frightening of the bunch.