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MATCHBOOK FEST 2026, the brand-new five-week summer festival, will feature five new works this week, including Rosie: the Musical, it’s like an amazing time to be alive right now (!), or The Crypto Play and more.
MATCHBOOK FEST 2026 was created to celebrate the creative process, the festival provides artists with the opportunity to develop, test, and share ideas in front of a live audience at one of New York’s most iconic Off-Broadway venues, Greenwich House Theater.
August 4, 7:00 PM – Rosie: the Musical
Music & Lyrics by Jake Landau
Book & Additional Lyrics by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton
Book by Sara Gottlieb
Directed by Nemuna Ceesay
Featuring Michelle Pauker, Taylor Iman Jones, Pamela Bob, Ginna Claire Mason, Indira Mahajan, Mikayla White, Aaron James McKenzie, Joseph Pyfferoen, Sam Pottinger, and Max Samuels
Rosie, an out-of-the-box Brooklynite in 1942, must reckon her slogan-centric ideals of feminism with a world more real, diverse, and complex than she ever imagined. ROSIE the musical gets the iconic riveter jumping off the page in this hilarious, original story that will make the 40’s feel more contemporary than ever.
August 5, 7:00 PM – it’s like an amazing time to be alive right now (!), or The Crypto Play
By Charlie Oh
Featuring Cricket Brown, Patrick Foley, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, and Omar Shafiuzzaman
“these parties, man! best nights of my life, like crazy, like makes you forget the world’s ending. ha ha. but seriously, these tech guys know how to throw down, like so cool, such generous hosts. i think one of them also, like, carries a katana around? like he could hurt someone? like is it real? let’s do a shot. i hear [REDACTED] was here last night and paid some girl 50k in bitcoin to do lines off her. which is problematic. but she paid off her student loans, so. do you ever worry that nerds ruined the world? like technology was going to make things better, but everything is just decaying, just rotting, like some fall of rome shit? i dunno what i’m saying, i’m pretty blitzed right now, don’t listen to me… it’s like, an amazing time to be alive right now.”
August 6, 7:00 PM – Matchbook Spark Vol. 2: What Would Meryl Do x Bi
What Would Meryl Do
Written and Performed by Neal Lerner
Directed by Colin Hanlon
Neal Lerner is a lovable but desperate man in a small upstate town who decides to teach a class on how to live like Meryl Streep — because why not? Playing every character, he delivers a wildly funny, slightly unhinged story that’s part masterclass, part meltdown, and entirely heartfelt. Based on a true story (except for the parts that are completely made up), this sharp and surprising comedy explores identity, survival, and the courage to take center stage in your own life.
Bi
Written and Performed by Jetta Juriansz
“Bi” – a one woman comedy about being biracial, bisexual, and bipolar. (Like being in every diversity category at once and still feeling like you’re getting the paperwork wrong.) Blending stand-up, storytelling, character work, multimedia, and music, Jetta Juriansz unpacks identity, mental health, queerness, race, and the lifelong confusion of trying to fit a whole person into one tiny, checkable box.
August 7, 7:00 PM – The Situation is Getting Worse Reading
By Philip Kenner
Directed by Rory McGregor
Featuring Cher Alvarez, Rachel Hilson, and more casting to be announced
The three Boeden sisters and their little brother live on a struggling corn farm with their parents. When their corn starts turning purple and their parents are microwaved in an accident at the Nuclearcoalpowerminefactoryplant, the now-orphaned Boeden siblings must keep a happy home by themselves. With a decaying earth, suicidal livestock, and no goddamn peace and quiet, the Boeden family must fight, perhaps in vain, to keep their heads above water.
Photo credit: Rebecca J. Michelson
