Work by Colman Domingo & More Set for New York Theatre Workshop 2024/25 Season

New York Theatre Workshop has revealed its 2024/25 Season.
 
In the 2024/25 season, NYTW is uplifting the work of powerful artists who are confronting the world we live in and guiding us into the future. Their work is muscular and intimate, brimming with delight and searing questions. 
 
The 2024/25 season begins in Fall 2024 with We Live in Cairo, featuring a book, music & lyrics by NYTW Usual Suspects The Lazours (Night Side Songs), and directed by Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Taibi Magar (The Half-God of Rainfall). The season continues in Winter 2025 with A Knock on the Roof, a new play written by and starring Khawla Ibraheem (London-Jenin) and directed and developed by Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Oliver Butler (What the Constitution Means to Me). In Spring 2025, NYTW will present Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, written by Tony and Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin) and NYTW Artistic Director and Usual Suspect Patricia McGregor (The Refuge Plays). Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole will feature direction by McGregor and star Emmy Award nominee Dulé Hill (After Midnight) and Tony Award nominee Daniel J. Watts (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical). A fourth production will be announced at a later date.
 
About the upcoming season, Artistic Director Patricia McGregor said: “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 their 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 diverse and powerful storytelling through these productions and welcoming you to East 4th Street, where you may come for the show, but we hope you’ll stay for the conversation.”
 
Details regarding the 2024/25 season are as follows:
 
FALL 2024
 

WE LIVE IN CAIRO

Book, Music & Lyrics by NYTW Usual Suspects Daniel & Patrick Lazour
Directed by Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Taibi Magar
 
Inspired by the young Egyptians who took to the streets amidst the throes of the Arab Spring, We Live in Cairo follows six student activists using their street art, photography and song to overthrow a regime older than they are. Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater, this soaring new musical from Jonathan Larson Grant winners and NYTW Usual Suspects Daniel & Patrick Lazour journeys from the jubilation of the Tahrir Square protests through the aftermath of the years that followed. As escalating division and violence lead to a military crackdown, the young revolutionaries of Cairo must weigh the cost of how—or even whether—to keep their dreams of change alive. Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Taibi Magar (The Half-God of Rainfall) directs.
 
We Live in Cairo is produced by special arrangement with Madison Wells Live. 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

Written by and Starring Khawla Ibraheem
Directed and Developed by Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Oliver Butler
 
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).
 
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).
 
 
SPRING 2025
 

LIGHTS OUT: NAT “KING” COLE

Written by Tony and Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo and NYTW Artistic Director and Usual Suspect Patricia McGregor
Directed by Patricia McGregor
Starring Emmy Award nominee Dulé Hill and Tony Award nominee Daniel J. Watts
Despite being the voice that built Capitol Records, Nat “King” Cole’s groundbreaking NBC variety show faced cancellation as they could not find a sponsor. Now, on the night of his final broadcast, Nat must decide whether to quietly step out of the spotlight, or, as his friend Sammy Davis Jr. urges, “go out with a bang.” Tony and Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin) 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 Award 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.”

Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole was originally commissioned and produced by People’s Light, Malvern, PA (Abigail Adams, Artistic Director/CEO; Ellen Anderson, General Manager/CFO; Zak Berkman, Producing Director). The original development and premiere of Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole was supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and produced by Geffen Playhouse (Matt Shakman, Artistic Director; Gil Cates, Jr., Executive Director).
 
A fourth production will be announced at a later date.
 
Performance schedules, casting and full creative teams will be announced at a later date.
 
A variety of 2024/25 Season membership packages are now on sale at NYTW.org or by calling 212-460-5475 (Monday 1-6PM, Tuesday-Friday 1PM-curtain, Saturday-Sunday 12pm-curtain).