Broadway

A new restaurant and a new Broadway musical make a perfect pair. [*Maybe Happy Ending*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/41018-maybe-happy-ending-on-broadway), starring [Darren Criss](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/darren-criss) and [Helen J. Shen](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/helen-j-shen), tells the original story of Oliver (Criss) and Claire (Shen), who get an unexpected second chance on life — and a first chance at love — after the world has...

The 'Maybe Happy Ending' cast shares the best Theatre District restaurants

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Discover a new favorite bar or eatery located near Broadway theatres, and then discover why this original new musical received universal critical acclaim.

I can’t believe I made it this long without having seen [*Wicked*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/1-wicked-musical-tickets) either. I’m a 30-year-old, queer New Yorker whose friends are mostly theatre fans, and I’ve been subjected to more dance remixes of “Popular” than I care to admit.

Everything I knew about the show came through friends and cultural osmosis. I knew some songs and the general...

Inside the experience of seeing 'Wicked' on Broadway for the first time

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Just before the film adaptation releases nationwide, one New York Theatre Guide writer reports on what it's like to watch the hit musical live on Broadway.

Theatre has the power to unite people from all countries and backgrounds — millions of global tourists come to Broadway shows in New York City every year. Nearly all Broadway shows are performed in English, but even if you don't know the language, that won't stop you from enjoying the colorful sets and costumes, energetic [dance moves](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/see-these-broadway-musicals-featuring-show-stopping-dances), and thrilling music.

Those who speak English...

Guide to Broadway shows for non-English speakers

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Get answers to all your questions about translation resources available at Broadway shows, and discover recommendations for shows that defy language barriers.

Anchors aweigh! [Jinkx Monsoon](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/jinkx-monsoon) has joined the cast of [*Pirates! The Penzance Musical*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/38596-the-pirates-of-penzance) on Broadway, running at the [Todd Haimes Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/venues/todd-haimes-theatre) from April 4 to June 22, 2025. Opening night is April 24.

Monsoon is best known for winning two seasons of *RuPaul's Drag Race*, earning the nickname "The...

Jinkx Monsoon joins 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' Broadway cast

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The *RuPaul's Drag Race* star will join Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce in a  jazz and blues-infused adaptation of the classic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

Adults will listen when the cast of [*Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/40572-stephen-sondheims-old-friends-on-broadway), a heartfelt revue celebrating the late musical theatre composer of the title, perform a far-reaching selection of his songs from more than a dozen of his shows.

Led by Tony Award winners [Bernadette Peters](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/bernadette-peters), famous for originating roles in Sondheim's *Into the Woods*...

All the songs in 'Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends' on Broadway

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More than 40 showtunes by the late, award-winning composer Stephen Sondheim appear in this revue starring Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga.

Additional casting has been announced for [*Glengarry Glen Ross*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/41986-glengarry-glen-ross-on-broadway) on Broadway, opening in spring 2025 at a theatre and dates to be announced.

New additions to the *Glengarry Glen Ross* Broadway cast are Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Michael McKean (*Better Call Saul, This Is Spinal Tap, All The Way*) as George Aaronow, Donald Webber Jr. (*Our Town*, *Purlie Victorious*) as John Williamson, Howard W....

'Glengarry Glen Ross' sets additional Broadway casting

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Find out the actors joining Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr in the latest revival of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play this spring.

Theatre tickets make an ideal gift, especially right now. You don't have to wait in long lines to get them, and you can always find a ticket for a different day or show if one is sold out, unlike a popular toy or the newest tech gadget. Plus, most theatres provide e-tickets now or you can pick them up at the box office. Either way, you don't have to worry about the tickets getting lost in the mail or not arriving in time for Christmas. And you don't have to spend time and money on wrapping paper...

Theatre Gift Guide: Gift these Broadway and Off-Broadway shows this holiday season

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

<p>Check out our recommendations for the best theatre tickets to give everyone on your list this year. </p>

Call it a funny valentine! The new play [*All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/42351-all-in-comedy-about-love-by-simon-rich-on-broadway), running from December 11 to February 16 at the [Hudson Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/venues/hudson-theatre), promises to be that kind of theatrical sampler. It’s also the sort whose rotating cast is stacked with stars who are Tony Award, Emmy Award, and Pulitzer Prize winners. Who wouldn't love...

Meet the cast of 'All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich' on Broadway

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Learn more about the new play’s stars including John Mulaney, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jimmy Fallon, Aidy Bryant, Richard Kind, and more.

Thornton Wilder's classic play [*Our Town*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/24260-our-town-tickets) is back on Broadway, introducing a new generation of audiences to its simple but timeless tale of small-town New Englanders experiencing the cycle of life and death. That fictional town is Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, a place different from New York City in nearly every way.

Namely, New York has lots more options for food, drink, and recreation. And since the celebrity cast of *Our...

The 'Our Town' Broadway cast's guide to NYC

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Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, Zoey Deutch, and more shared their favorite places in town to eat, drink, relax, find entertainment, and explore.

Based on the 1992 film, the musical version of [*Death Becomes Her*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/34895-death-becomes-her-on-broadway) first came alive in Chicago this past spring. The same stars who graced the stage in the Windy City – [Megan Hilty](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/megan-hilty), [Jennifer Simard](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/jennifer-simard), [Michelle...

What makes 'Death Becomes Her' sing on Broadway

Death Becomes Her 1200 NYTG - Megan Hilty & Jennifer Simard - Credit Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman

The cult classic Meryl Streep/Goldie Hawn film from 1992 has life-and-death stakes, lending itself well to adaptation as an over-the-top, revitalized musical.

Liliana Padilla's new play [*How to Defend Yourself*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/26001-how-to-defend-yourself-tickets) has set the full cast for its world-premiere run at [New York Theatre Workshop](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/new-york-theatre-workshop). The show runs from February 22 to April 2, with opening night on March 13.

The complete cast includes Amaya Braganza, Sebastian Delascasas, Jayson Lee, Ariana Mahallati, Teagan Meredith, Gabriela Ortega, Sarah Marie Rodriguez, and Talia Ryder.

The creative team has also been set. *How to Defend Yourself* features scenic design by You-Shin Chen, costume design by Izumi Inaba, lighting design by Stacey Derosier, sound design by Mikhail Fiksel, fight direction by Rocio Mendez, intimacy coordination by Ann James, and vocal coaching by Dawn-Elin Fraser.

*How to Defend Yourself* takes place at a DIY self-defense class on a college campus, where the students discover the overlap between anger and desire, violater and violated. The production is co-directed by Padilla, [*Hadestown*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/14748-hadestown-tickets) Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin, and Steph Paul.

Check back for information on *How to Defend Yourself* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

'How to Defend Yourself' sets full Off-Broadway cast

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Off-Broadway

New York Theatre Workshop

How to Defend Yourself - NYC

Genre: Play

How to Defend Yourself

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How to Defend Yourself - NYC Product Media

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Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin collaborates with playwright Liliana Padilla and Steph Paul on *How to Defend Yourself* at New York Theatre Workshop. Get *How to Defend Yourself* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

The *How to Defend Yourself* play takes place at a college self-defense workshop, which seven girls create for themselves after their sorority sister is raped. As they learn not to be "victims" and use their bodies to attack their attackers, their training becomes an outlet for many conflicting feelings: anger, confusion, trauma, desire. *How to Defend Yourself* explores the line between violated and violater and the means we use to get what we want.

Playwright Liliana Padilla makes her Off-Broadway debut with *How to Defend Yourself* in New York. Before its premiere, the play was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and made the 2019 Kilroys List; both honors are for outstanding plays by female and non-male writers.

Padilla co-directs *How to Defend Yourself* off Broadway alongside two others: Rachel Chavkin and Steph Paul. Chavkin is best known for her Tony Award-winning direction of the Broadway musical *Hadestown*; she received an additional Tony Award nomination for *Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812*. She leads the TEAM, a Brooklyn-based theatre company whose works have played all over the world.

Paul is a director with a background in movement. She has directed shows including *The Wolves*, which earned her a Helen Hayes Award, and the world premiere of *Where the Mountain Meets the Sea*, which made its New York debut in the 2022-23 theatre season. In 2021, she was a recipient of the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists.

Please note that *How to Defend Yourself* contains discussions of sex and sexual violence. These situations are not portrayed on stage.

Get *How to Defend Yourself* play tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

How to Defend Yourself - NYC - New York Theatre Guide

Get tickets to How to Defend Yourself from the official New York Theatre Guide. See this punchy drama about defense and desire co-directed by Rachel Chavkin.

How to Defend Yourself Tickets | The Official NY Theatre Guide

Brace yourself for Liliana Padilla's punchy new drama. In a self-defense class, college students channel their emotions into fighting and discover the violator and violated within them. Get tickets to this production co-directed by Padilla, Steph Paul, and Tony winner Rachel Chavkin.

__Please note that *How to Defend Yourself* discusses, but does not depict, sexual violence.__

Brace yourself for Liliana Padilla's new play *How to Defend Yourself*, making its world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop. Get *How to Defend Yourself* tickets on TodayTix.

The *How to Defend Yourself* play is set mainly at a self-defense workshop, which a group of college students create after their sorority sister is assaulted. They're determined to learn how to fight back, how to avoid being a victim, how to stand up for themselves. Self-defense becomes an outlet for all types of emotions, but it also forces them to examine the line between violator and violated in each of them.

Padilla is doing double duty, as she also co-directs *How to Defend Yourself* off Broadway. Alongside her are Rachel Chavkin, the Tony Award-winning director of *Hadestown* and *Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812*, and Steph Paul, a veteran director at regional theatres all across the U.S.

Get *How to Defend Yourself* tickets now.

## What to Watch For

- *How to Defend Yourself* in New York marks Padilla's Off-Broadway debut as both a writer and director.
- Chavkin is having a busy season. In addition to co-directing *How to Defend Yourself* off Broadway, she's directing *The Thanksgiving Play* on Broadway. Her *Hadestown* has also been on Broadway since 2019, and she'll stage the new musical *Gatsby* in Massachusetts next year.
- New York Theatre Workshop hosts free self-defense workshops before select performances.
- *How to Defend Yourself* won the Yale Drama Series Prize in 2019.

How to Defend Yourself - NYC - TT

Liliana Padilla's *How to Defend Yourself* has its moments of strength. An early sequence sees five college girls in a nondescript workout room, throwing punches to the beat of Ginuwine's "Pony." The scene is meticulously choreographed, but it doesn't feel like a performance. They're tapping into something bigger.

These girls are here, in a makeshift self-defense workshop, to learn to protect themselves from would-be assaulters — something a now-hospitalized peer couldn't do. Their rhythmic movements give way to more free-flowing jabs as they release aggression and force and pain, some of it previously unknown to them. Maybe they're not even learning to fight back in this moment. Maybe they're just learning to fight.

They each have their reasons to, beyond avoiding their classmate's fate. Outspoken Diana (Gabriela Ortega) simply loves a good confrontation. Timid Nikki (Amaya Braganza) wants to be bolder. Insecure Mojdeh (Ariana Mahallati) wants to join the sorority led by the workshop's creators, Kara (Sarah Marie Rodriguez) and Brandi (Talia Ryder).

The pair know the unseen victim and want to protect themselves, protect everyone, from further harm. (That includes two guys, played by Sebastian Delascasas and Jayson Lee, who are frat brothers with the girl's attackers.) Or maybe they're just trying to absolve their guilt.

Putting all these personalities in an intimate environment where fears and fists are high is a setup ripe for drama. But both Padilla's script and her uneven co-direction with Rachel Chavkin and Steph Paul pull their punches. 

All the predictable twists happen: Nikki finds her strength, two girls get into a fistfight, and the guys are complicit. But almost never does *How to Defend Yourself* dare to plunge into murkier moral territory. The play also never lets any character truly teeter on the edge, for better or worse, of connecting with their inner aggressor. 

The closest it gets to probing any thorny questions is a gripping scene in which Kara and Brandi spar (verbally) over the "correct" way to sexually desire. Brandi teaches the girls to use their voices and dictate what they want; Kara argues her preference for being silently objectified is also valid, because it's what she likes.

But in this moment and others, when we think a character will break or a true shift will occur as revelations come to light, the moment abruptly ends. Like a weak punch, there's plenty of momentum but no follow-through.

This theme extends to the play's end. In her desperation to show the girls — and convince herself — they can protect themselves from anything, Brandi forgets to teach them the most important rule: Run away if you can. Only engage when you have to. Nikki's newfound bravado sends her looking for a fight, and when that goes south, Brandi's mythology of invincibility comes crashing down.

Ultimately, at this moment, so does *How to Defend Yourself*. The girls re-confront the reality that safety isn't guaranteed, but this time they're not emboldened to take control. Instead, they walk away.

So what's the takeaway? That self-defense isn't worthwhile? That we should pity these girls for giving up just as they're finding their strength? That we should feel sorry they sought strength at all because whether they use it or don't, it's never enough?

To be honest, none of these feel quite right. The one certain message is that an unsafe world awaits them all — us all — and always has. Padilla settles on that rather boilerplate point with a montage, in reverse, of the girls growing up and facing handsy boys at every school dance, frat party, and basement couch.

All this is something we women already know. So show us some new moves. Interrogate some new possibilities for how we as women can move, fight, and f--- our way through the world. Even if they're not righteous possibilities, at least they might pack a punch.

[*How to Defend Yourself* is at New York Theatre Workshop through April 2. Get *How to Defend Yourself* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/26001-how-to-defend-yourself-tickets)

*Photo credit: Ariana Mahallati, Sarah Marie Rodriguez, Talia Ryder, Gabriela Ortega, and Amaya Braganza in How to Defend Yourself. (Photo by Joan Marcus)*

'How to Defend Yourself' review — play about self-defense pulls its punches

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Read our review of Liliana Padilla's *How to Defend Yourself* — directed by Padilla, Rachel Chavkin, and Steph Paul — at New York Theatre Workshop until April 2.

New York Theatre Workshop, situated in the heart of the vibrant East Village in New York city, is renowned for its compelling productions and development of fundamentally new work. For over three decades, this iconic venue has played a vital role in the world of theatre, having nurtured numerous powerhouse talents and launching seminal works that have transferred to Broadway and beyond. Notable productions include 'RENT,' 'Once,' and 'Hadestown'. The edifice itself is extraordinarily intimate, accommodating just 199 seats, thereby creating an aura of distinct connection between audiences and performers. The theatre retains the charm of a historical 19th-century building but is equipped with cutting-edge technology to accommodate transformative sets. The workshop offers an imaginative array of programs to reach as diverse an audience as possible, making it a beloved cultural destination. **How to get to the venue**: New York Theatre Workshop is located at 79 E. 4th Street, between Cooper Square & 2nd Avenue in the East Village. It is accessible by subway using the F train to 2nd Avenue, the 6 train to Bleecker Street, the B/D/F/M train to Broadway-Lafayette Street and the R train to 8th Street-NYU. If travelling by bus, use the M8 bus line. Local parking garages can be found at E 9th St. and E 11th St.

New York Theatre Workshop - NYC

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Founded in 1979 by Stephen Graham, New York Theatre Workshop is one of the leading producing theatres of new work in the United States. The company’s first production was *A Day in the Life of the Czar*, written by Frank O’Hara and V.R. Lang and directed by Peter Sellars. In 1992, NYTW moved into its current home, a 199-seat capacity theatre in the East Village area of Manhattan.

NYTW's inaugural production at 79 East 4th St. was Leo Bassi’s *C. Colombo Inc.*, which opened in October 1992. The company has produced a number of landmark shows over the years including new works from Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Tony Kushner, Doug Wright, and more.

One of NYTW's most well-known productions is Jonathan Larson’s musical *Rent*, which the compaany developed over two years before a premiere in January 1996. *Rent* transferred to Broadway’s [Nederlander Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/nederlander-theatre) and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical.

In 2005, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development granted NYTW a vacant building at 72 East 4th Street. After extensive renovations, the building officially opened in September 2011 as NYTW’s scenery, costume, and production shop.

## How to get to New York Theatre Workshop off Broadway

New York Theatre Workshop is closest to the 2nd Ave. subway stop on the F line. The closest bus stop is 2 Av./East 3 St. on the M15 line and Bowery/E 3 St. on the M103 line.

[Read a complete guide to New York Theatre Workshop's history, famous and upcoming productions, and nearby attractions and restaurants.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/new-york-theatre-workshop-guide-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-east-village)

New York Theatre Workshop - New York Theatre Guide

New York Theatre Workshop, established in 1979, is known for producing new works in U.S. theatre. Notable productions include Pulitzer prize-winning musical, Rent.

new your theatre workshop seat plan - nyc

New York Theatre Workshop, a historic yet modern venue in East Village, is renowned for developing innovative works often transferred to Broadway and beyond.

'How to Defend Yourself' sets full Off-Broadway cast

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