2ST NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL

NEW WORKS BY D.A. MINDELL, ROSS GOLAN, KEIKO GREEN, JAY STULL, AND AURORA REAL DE ASUA

We’re thrilled to announce Second Stage Theater’s 2025 Next Stage Festival! The Festival formalizes our commitment to early-career playwrights, and creates a home for new work right here in midtown. If you’re a fan of boundary-breaking new theater, you’ll want to join us for Next Stage Festival. It all happens this winter at the The Pershing Square Signature Center.

The centerpiece of the Next Stage Festival is the Festival Production, a world premiere production of On the Evolutionary Function of Shame by D.A. Mindell. Plus, the Nancy Denovan Musical Reading and the Judith Champion Reading Series offer one-night-only readings of new works by early-career playwrights.

Second Stage members and subscribers receive priority access to the Next Stage Festival. The Nancy Denovan Musical Reading and The Judith Champion Reading Series are complimentary, though seats must be reserved in advance.

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025

NANCY DENOVAN MUSICAL READING

INSIDE VOICES

MUSIC, LYRICS, BOOK BY ROSS GOLAN

CO-BOOK BY DANIELLE KOENIG

DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MAYER

In 1828 Germany, a 16-year-old boy mysteriously appears in Nuremberg’s town square. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. Is he a thief? Is he a freak? From societal outcast to the most famous prodigy in Europe, Inside Voices tells the heart-pounding and epic tale of Kasper Hauser's controversial rise and harrowing fall. By multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ross Golan, Inside Voices is a New Alt Rock musical based on true events about the strength of survival, the power of love, the cost of fame, and the legacy we leave behind.

Date: January 27 – March 10, 2025