-
Built & Operated by InterAct Theatre Company
Theatre’s @ The Drake is in it’s 12 Season as a dual performing arts space for small and large companies in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia.
New artists sign on everyday! To never miss a show, check this site on a regular bases or call InterAct at 215-568-8079 for updates.
-
LADY LAUGHS COMEDY FESTIVAL
LADY LAUGHS COMEDY PHL Aug. 17-23, 2026
At Lady Laughs Philly, we believe that laughter, creativity, and community should be accessible to everyone. In an industry that has traditionally sidelined women and queer comics, we’re committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and respectful environment that reflects the diverse communities of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.
While we intentionally center women and queer comics, our open mic is open to everyone.
Through humor, connection, and courage, we work to break down barriers, amplify underrepresented perspectives, and make our stage a place where everyone belongs. We believe: Black lives matter, trans people exist, abortion is healthcare, women’s rights are human rights, and no one is illegal on stolen land.
Performances — $15+
BOX OFFICE: https://www.ladylaughsphilly.com/festival Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
STOOP BITCH
by Daniel Neer
THE LAB—> *PHILLY FRINGE FEST! September 8–13, 2026
She’s the eyes of the street – all knowing, all seeing. Don’t dare get on her bad side.
Taking stock of the world on her block in South Philly, Dolores Finnegan tells it like it is and takes no prisoners. Yep, she’s the STOOP BITCH, native to many a neighborhood block and a downright Philly institution. You seen her, you fear her, you trust her – and face it, you know she’s right.
But, what don’t you know? There are ghosts from her past, unfulfilled dreams, battles to be won, and much more to her than meets the eye.
World Premiere – Written by Daniel Neer; Directed by Ted Gorodetzky; Performed by Lois Sach* (*appearing courtesy AEA)"
more on The LAB at http://thisisthelab.com
Performances — $25 – General admission; additional PWYW options and discounted tickets available
BOX OFFICE: https://fringearts.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0SUO00000KgwMd2AJ
BOX OFFICE: 215-413-1318 Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
EAT MY SHORTS
THE LAB—> *PHILLY FRINGE FEST! September 9-10, 2026
Welcome to The LAB’s incubator! New work is bubbling up and the chemistry is cooking...
In the EAT MY SHORTS laboratory, four versatile performers tag team multiple scripts and characters in a showcase of staged readings – everything from short one-acts to experimental ideas to snippets of plays in development. A beaker of this, a test tube of that, throw in a few drops of whatever, and the stage is set for your front row seat in the operating theatre of what’s in the works. (*protective goggles and hazmat gear optional)
New works by The LAB’s Co-Artistic Directors, Daniel Neer and Ted Gorodetzky – featuring Neena Boyle, Ted Gorodetzky*, William R. McHattie, and Daniel Neer* (*appearing courtesy AEA
more on The LAB at http://thisisthelab.com
Performances — $20 – General admission; additional PWYW options and discounted tickets available
BOX OFFICE: https://fringearts.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0SUO00000KgwL42AJ
BOX OFFICE: 215-413-1318 Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Julia Masli—> *PHILLY FRINGE FEST! Sept. 10-13, 2026
The blurb is: hahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha hihihi hahahahahahaha hoho hahahahahaha hehe hahahahahahahahahaha. hahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha hihihi hahahahahahahaha hoho hahahahahahaha hehe hahahahahahahahahaha.
The absurd ha ha ha ha ha ha ha has become a major sensation during its tour of the US and UK. Performer Julia Masli creates a hilarious, yet moving and unpredictable live experience at the intersection of comedy and performance. What begins as playful improvisation evolves into a collective ritual of care, vulnerability, and unexpected humor. Masli explores the subtle boundary between a laugh and a tear, proving that one lies very close to the other.
The Guardian says ha ha ha ha ha ha ha is “a great unexpected carnival of mutual care, ring-led with a featherlight touch by a clown whose mischief is matched only by her compassion.”
Utterly unlike anything else onstage, this is a completely different experience every night that keeps audiences coming back again and again.
"Genius.” | ★★★★★ | The Guardian
“Transcendent.” | The New York Times
Performances — $35
BOX OFFICE: https://phillyfringe.org/events/ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha/ Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
returned, iridescent
by Rose Farrell
THEATRE BY DEVELOPMENT —> *PHILLY FRINGE FEST! Sept. 18-27, 2026
Elio and Luna are lovers bound by the stars, a sun and moon destined to meet every dusk and every dawn, rise and fall, come together and drift apart, across a lifetime. With each reunion a loss, and with each departure a gain. Trans bodies shift and age, both weathered and bolstered by time, only realized through radical transformation, yet still able see the truths in one another. Elio and Luna will follow each other through the stars, and back again.
Rose Farrell's returned, iridescent is a new play and trans love story about leaving and returning, transformation, and the perpetual act of becoming. A poetic sensory experience, journey through a life long romance, and a reminder that there is still more time.
TBD has been workshopping the piece with Rose since Clippings 2025 and cannot wait to share this world premier.
Performances — Pay What You Decide with a suggested price of $30.
BOX OFFICE: https://phillyfringe.org/events/returned-iridescent/
Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
DON(NA) GIOVANNI
ART CITY OPERA Sept. 24-27, 2026
A remorseless womanizer who will stop at nothing to pursue her conquests. Victims determined to find justice or, at least, revenge. A murdered parent. An interrupted assault. A sinister masquerade. A fatal feast. But don’t worry. It’s a comedy.
Don(na) Giovanni is Mozart’s masterpiece as you’ve never seen or heard it, completely reimagined and set against the backdrop of modern-day Philly. Our all-femme cast transforms this tale to center the relationships among queer woman, and explores how gender identities color how we perceive and respond to abuse. Yet despite the changes, this opera still wrestles with a central question that is as relevant today as it was in the 18th century: how do we punish abusers in a culture that is prepared to shield them?
Art City Opera is a woman-founded, queer-led, Philadelphia-based opera company. Our mission is to bring exciting new works and reimagined classics to audiences comprised both of current and future opera lovers. We hope specifically to welcome new and historically underserved communities into our audiences, and in particular to target young audiences and audiences of color. Additionally we seek to nurture a diverse array of young, developing talent in the greater Philadelphia area, both through our staged performances and through more our casual read-through series.
Performances — $10-$35
BOX OFFICE:
Email: production@artcityopera.org
artcityopera.org Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
HELEN KELLER WASN'T REAL
Becky Bondurant —> *PHILLY FRINGE FEST! Sept. 17-20, 2026
What happens when the people you love slip into a different feed?
In this solo show, Becky Bondurant, a “virtuoso writer and performer” (DC Theater Arts), explores how shared reality can begin to fracture even among people who care about each other.
Bondurant’s mother is a liberal, retired English teacher living in Trump country. As a hereditary eye disease narrows her vision, her Facebook presence has somewhat expanded. Her posts are political, angry, and pointed in ways that make more than one family member uneasy.
Bondurant teaches high school English. In her classroom, she encounters a different kind of distortion. A viral meme has convinced her students that Helen Keller was a fraud. When she tries to push back, she finds herself defending a historical figure whose story she suddenly realizes she does not fully understand either.
As she looks more closely, the version of Keller she has learned unravels, revealing a stranger, more radical, and controversial figure than any of them had expected.
Bondurant weaves these threads together as she moves between her family and her classroom, exploring what happens when people who care about each other can no longer agree on what is true.
By turns wry, irreverent, and deeply personal, this solo performance examines what it means to stay connected when shared reality breaks down. It asks how long you can remain in the conversation when you are not sure you are having the same conversation at all, and what it takes to keep listening anyway.
Performances — $20
BOX OFFICE: 215-413-1318 / thebeckybondurant@gmail.com
Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
#CHARLOTTESVILLE
Co-Produced by Azuka Theatre and Simpatico Theatre Oct. 15-Nov. 1, 2026
written & performed by Priyanka Shetty
directed by Yury Urnov
A tour-de-force solo performance about the power of witnessing, chronicling the tragic events of August 11th and 12th, 2017, when white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia for the deadly “Unite the Right” rally on the pretext of protesting the removal of the Confederate monument of Robert E. Lee, leading to violent clashes with counter-protesters. Constructed verbatim from over one hundred firsthand interviews with Charlottesville residents, court transcripts, and news reports, the play embodies a community in crisis—activists, students, and residents—as well as lawyers, key figures from the far right, and political leaders, exposing the systems and ideologies that sustain white supremacist movements. An urgent political work that examines race, identity, and the machinery of extremism in modern-day America, while drawing resonant parallels to the global rise of nationalism and racial division.
Performances — Pay What You Decide
BOX OFFICE: (215) 563-1100 boxoffice@azukatheatre.org
https://www.azukatheatre.org/charlottesville
https://ci.ovationtix.com/35093/production/1274015 Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
THIS MUCH I KNOW
by Jonathan Spector (Tony Award Winning Author of Eureka Day)
INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY Oct. 30-Nov. 22, 2026
A psychology professor 's search for his missing wife launches us on a time-hopping fugue, weaving together the stories of Stalin's daughter defecting to America and the son of a white supremacist growing to doubt his beliefs. An explosively theatrical interrogation of how we make decisions, how we change our minds, and how much responsibility we bear for the things we do not control.
BOX OFFICE: ( 215-568-8079 ) Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
ONE MAN NUTCRACKER
by Chris Davis Date: TBD
You know the Nutcracker the ballet, but what if the ballet was performed by only one man? If the daughter Marie, little boy Fritz, creepy uncle Drosselmeyer, the mice, the Sugar Plum fairy, were all channeled through one actor. Chris Davis is proud to bring you One-Man Nutcracker, a re-telling of the original E.T.A. Hoffmann Nutcracker Story and the Ballet. Back for its 4th year at the Drake Theater!
Recommended for ages 7+ and family-friendly! Audiences of all ages have come and enjoyed the show.
BOX OFFICE: https://www.realchrisdavis.com/oneman-nutcracker11
-
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Presented by InterAct Theatre Company
NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE Screening Dec. 4 @ 2pm & 7pm
by Christopher Hampton
Olivier and Tony® Award winner Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) joins Aidan Turner (Rivals) in a striking new staging of Christopher Hampton’s celebrated adaptation of the classic novel, where among the glittering salons of the super-rich, one misstep can mean ruin.
Marquise de Merteuil is a master in the art of survival. Alongside the magnetic Vicomte de Valmont, they turn seduction into strategy and weaponise desire. But when their alliance collapses into rivalry, the battle between them threatens to destroy everyone in their path.
Filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, Marianne Elliott (Angels in America) directs this thrilling game of love, lies, and social warfare.
Performances — $18 General Admission / $16 for InterAct Subscribers
BOX OFFICE: boxoffice@interacttheatre.org 215-568-8079 Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
THE CONTRACT
by James Webb
INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY Feb. 5-28, 2027
A married couple and co-pastors of a Black megachurch in Alabama have negotiated an arrangement to satisfy the husband’ s sexual desire for men: they have hired a graduate student for discreet monthly liaisons in an upscale New York City hotel. But when feelings intensify, the parameters of the contract are in danger of collapsing, along with the lies people have been telling themselves. An exploration of internalized homophobia in the Black church and what it means to be responsible to your flock.
BOX OFFICE: ( 215-568-8079 ) Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
THE FOUNDRY New Play Festival
March 12-14, 2027
The Foundry at PlayPenn, Philadelphia’s preeminent playwright collective, launches its inaugural festival in 2027, spotlighting new work by the next generation of theater artists, produced in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company.
The Foundry New Play Festival will feature readings of new work by Lulu Duffy-Tumasz, Aly Gonzalez, and August Hakvaag. The Foundry at PlayPenn is a tuition-free three-year playwrights’ workshop for emerging/early career Philadelphia-based writers, guided by lead artists L M Feldman and R. Eric Thomas. Writers meet regularly to share work, exchange feedback, and engage in meaningful artistic dialogue within a supportive and rigorous creative community.
Its alumni include Chris Davis, Emma Goidel, Sarah Mantell, MJ Kaufman, R. Eric Thomas, Erlina Ortiz, MK Tuomanen, Iraisa Ann Reilly, Chaz T. Martin, Lex Thammavong, and Zahra Patterson along with the more than 60 playwrights who have participated in the program since 2012.
BOX OFFICE: Tel. 267-807-8234 / mail@playpenn.org
-
THE BEAUTIFUL FUTURE IS COMING
by Flora Wilson Brown
Directed by KC MacMillan From England Inis Nua Theatre Company
March 17 - Apr. 4, 2027
In 1854 New York, Eunice fights to be recognized for a trailblazing environmental discovery. In near-future London, Clare begins an irresistible flirtation with a coworker at her climate nonprofit. In 2100 Svalbard, Ana tries to grow seeds (and a baby) while a months-long storm rages outside her lab. With wild inventiveness and humor, this “elegant and exciting” play “shrewdly questions how we can actively cultivate hope, even as we feel overwhelmed by despair” (The Stage) — confronting our time’s greatest challenge with a dazzling intellect and a beating human heart.
BOX OFFICE: 215.454.9776
https://www.inisnuatheatre.org/
Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
THE SCRIBE
by Jesse Bernstein
THEATRE ARIEL March 18-28, 2027
Back by popular demand! Everyone knows the Bible, but most don't know how "in the beginning" actually came to be... until now. Join the irreverent and reluctant scribe who puts it all together while navigating dueling agendas, loss of faith, and his longing for the good-old-days in exile. This one-person play is a humorous, clever, and moving exploration into the origins of one of the most confusing, contradictory, misunderstood, and important works in all of history. Whether you're a well-versed Torah scholar or don't know your Genesis from your Deutoronomy, this show will have you thinking about the Bible -- and all that sprang from it -- in a whole new way.
Performances — $18-$36
BOX OFFICE: Box Office: 610.667.9230
Email: info@theatreariel.org
https://theatreariel.vbotickets.com/event/THE_SCRIBE/192510 Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
(UNTITLED)
by L M Feldman
INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY Apr. 16-May 9, 2027
World Premiere, commissioned as part of the Philly Cycle!
The third and final play of The Philly Cycle will illuminate the world of nurses here in Philadelphia, focusing on those working in reproductive health and gender-affirming care. How do local nurses manage the intimate needs of patients within an unforgiving national health system? How do committed caregivers in a city that is proudly pro-choice and LGBTQ-friendly navigate the challenging times and new legislations we are living within? And who will care for the caregivers?
BOX OFFICE: ( 215-568-8079 ) Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
Play On!
Co-Produced by Azuka Theatre and Simpatico Theatre April 22-May 9, 2027
by Quinn D. Eli
In a future full of mystery and magic, where technology has replaced music as the "food of love," a Black musician and his formidable wife battle a white chanteuse attempting to steal his legacy. Their struggle intensifies when Cambridge, a manipulative A.I., infiltrates their home, inciting racial mischief and marital strife that forces a reckoning between man and machine.
Performances — Pay What You Decide
BOX OFFICE: (215) 563-1100 boxoffice@azukatheatre.org
https://www.azukatheatre.org/play-on
Location: The Louis Bluver Theatre @ The Drake
-
IRISHTOWN
by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth
Directed by KC MacMillan From Ireland Inis Nua Theatre Company
June 2 - 20, 2027
The Irishtown Players in Dublin are on the verge of bringing their newest play across the pond to Broadway. But the up-and-coming playwright has delivered a script that just doesn’t feel…“Irish” enough? Everyone’s alive, no one’s drunk, and there’s not a fairy to be seen! So they do the only sensible thing: they make up their own Irish Play, inadvertently and hilariously sending up the Irish dramatic canon. This “rip-roaring…laugh til-you-cry” (Exeunt) comedy sharply satirizes what we demand from Irish stories — and the knots artists tie themselves in to deliver.
BOX OFFICE: 215.454.9776
https://www.inisnuatheatre.org/
Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake
-
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
Presented by InterAct Theatre Company
NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE Screening June 25 @ 2pm & 7pm
by Oscar Wilde
Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who; Sex Education) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy.
While assuming the role of a dutiful guardian in the country, Jack lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy adopts a similar facade. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate.
Max Webster (Life of Pi) directs this hilarious story of identity, impersonation and romance, filmed live from the National Theatre in London.
Performances — $18 General Admission / $16 for InterAct Subscribers
BOX OFFICE: boxoffice@interacttheatre.org 215-568-8079 Location: The Proscenium Theatre @ The Drake