Rattlestick Theater has announced the lineup of programming for its 2024-2025 "On the Road" season, which marks the company's 30th anniversary. 

The Pride Plays festival, launched by Michael Urie, Doug Nevin, and Nick Mayo in partnership with Rattlestick, will return beginning in summer 2024. Under the new leadership of Sam Gravitte and Sammy Lopez, the festival celebrating LGBTQIA+ experiences through live theatre will kick off with three plays at Rattlestick June 24. 

The season will kick off in fall 2024 with the world premiere of Obie winner Ethan Lipton's We Are Your Robots. Directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman, the musical features a book and lyrics by Lipton, with music by Lipton and his bandmates, Vito Dieterle on saxophone, Eben Levy on guitar, and Ian Riggs on bass. " We Are Your Robots is co-produced with Theatre for a New Audience at Brooklyn's Polonsky Shakespeare Center. 

In spring 2025, Rattlestick will team up with New Georges to present Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods. The work is written by and stars Emma Horwitz and Bailey Williams, with direction by Tara Elliott. 

Rattlestick’s new season will also introduce the Waverly Performance Studio. The program will develop new works through commissioning support, multi-year development, and week-long Production Incubator workshops with the entire creative team, building toward an eventual Off-Broadway premiere. 

The Waverly Performance Studio will begin in October 2024 with actor and writer Arturo Luíz Soria, whose solo show, Ni Mi Madre, premiered at Rattlestick and won an Obie Award for Best Performance. Soria and director Danilo Gambini will develop Sin Padre, a companion piece to Ni Mi Madre.

Artistic Director Will Davis will also develop a new dance-theatre piece centering on the rise and fall of a lesbian bar in early 2025. 

Rattlestick's public presentations will also include the 6th annual Global Forms, a theatre festival in June 2025 showcasing the work of immigrant theatre artists. Additionally, Rattlestick will continue its fellowship programs, including the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator Fellowship, the Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, and its directing fellowship. Mellon Playwright-in-Residence Basil Kreimendahl will continue his residency and development of his new play, Sadie Rivers Drag Ball on the Lawn.

“Rattlestick’s 30 year legacy of championing new work that sits outside the mold of traditional theatremaking has made an indelible mark on the American theatre,” Davis said in a statement. “Our 2024-2025 season, my first, builds on this foundation as we move towards holistic commitments to our artists, making space for them to develop their work on their own terms. Rattlestick is committed to championing theatrically expansive artists who create in inventive and unexpected ways. As we begin our ‘On the Road’ season, we are thrilled to partner with Theatre for a New Audience and New Georges to present innovative work by Ethan Lipton, Emma Horwitz, and Bailey Williams. In addition, I’m excited to launch our bespoke development program, Waverly Performance Studio which will include new work by Arturo Luíz Soria and Danilo Gambini, and myself. Simultaneously, as our beloved West Village home undergoes a transformation, our fellowship programs will continue to provide invaluable resources and creative space to ambitious theatremakers."

The “On the Road” season enables Rattlestick to begin reimagining its home in the West Village. First built in 1854 and occupied by Rattlestick since 1999, the venue will undergo a renovation that enhances accessibility with the installation of an elevator and new bathrooms.

Visit Rattlestick.org for more information.