Upcoming!
March 21–April 6, 2025 | More Info & Tickets
PRIME Productions is proud to present the world premiere of Abuelita, a heartfelt and magical new play by Nathan Yungerberg.
Set in Spanish Harlem, Abuelita follows Davia, a spirited Midwestern grandmother, as she brings her mixed-race grandson to New York City in search of connection, culture, and healing. What begins as a family trip quickly transforms into a journey of self-discovery — for both grandmother and grandson — as they’re embraced by a vibrant community: three wise and warm Latina women over 50, a sharp-tongued young girl, and a charismatic gay man who helps Davia rediscover her joy, power, and sexuality through dance.
“Abuelita is deeply personal for Nathan,” says PRIME co-founder Shelli Place. “It reflects his own experiences with family, identity, and rediscovery.” Originally discovered in an online reading during the pandemic and developed through a workshop at the Playwrights’ Center, this production is the result of years of artistic commitment and support, including funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
This premiere marks a major milestone for PRIME — technically, emotionally, and artistically. As co-founder Alison Edwards puts it, “We’re a small theater with big ideas, and this season, we’re acting on them. Abuelita is exactly the kind of bold, heartfelt story we were founded to tell.” Join us.
June 1–7, 2026 | More Info & Tickets
Black River was accepted into New Plays for Young Audiences (NPYA). NPYA is a play development series devoted to the work of the Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) playwright and the development of TYA plays, while also providing NYU students the opportunity to study and experience the process first-hand. Housed in the historic Provincetown Playhouse and supported by NYU Steinhardt’s Program in Educational Theatre, NPYA was founded in 1998 by Lowell and Nancy Swortzell as a supportive space to nurture and evaluate new TYA scripts.
Black River is an Afro-surreal family adventure where ten-year-old Jonas, grieving his father’s death, is swept into a mythical canoe journey down Wisconsin’s Black River. Guided by imagination and strange beings, he navigates love, loss, and the search for closure.
Nathan Yungerberg is a Brooklyn-based Afro-surrealist playwright and storyteller. He is head writer for the Webby-nominated podcast Live from Mount Olympus and has written for Sesame Street. His plays have been developed by National Black Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Joe’s Pub, The Apollo, and others. Directed by TBA.
Two free staged readings will be held at the historic Provincetown Playhouse:
Saturday, June 6 at 7:00 PM and Sunday, June 7 at 2:00 PM.
Click here for more information (eventually) and here to reserve free tickets for the June 6 at 7pm and June 7 at 2pm readings at the Provincetown Playhouse. Best enjoyed by ages 9–14 and their families.
New Work Commissioned: PAC NYC and The Democracy Cycle
Nathan Yungerberg was awarded an artistic commission as one of nine recipients in the second year of The Democracy Cycle, a program presented by the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) in partnership with the Civis Foundation.
The Democracy Cycle supports artists creating new live performance works that explore the nature, practice, and experience of democracy.
Commissioned Project:
Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened
The commissioned work refracts a fictional 1970s sitcom set in Minneapolis through an Afro-surreal lens. The play centers on Barrington “Barry” Greene, a Black news anchor hired by a Minneapolis affiliate who relocates his family to present a narrative of racial integration for mainstream audiences. As the structure of the sitcom begins to break down, the work examines the racial housing covenants and systemic inequities beneath the veneer of “Minnesota Nice,” interrogating where democratic ideals fracture once the performance ends.
Barry will be developed in Minneapolis through the spring of 2027.
For a full list of this year's recipients and to learn more about the initiative, visit the PAC NYC website.
Nathan Yungerberg has been selected as a 2026 HI-ARTS Space Grant Recipient, joining a cohort of artists supported through the organization’s commitment to process-driven, experimental work.
Returning to Brooklyn — a place that has long informed his creative practice — Yungerberg joins HI-ARTS at a pivotal moment, as the organization celebrates its 25th anniversary and establishes its new home in Downtown Brooklyn. The Space Grant prioritizes artistic exploration, experimentation, and the voices of the Global Majority, offering artists the time and space to develop work without the pressure of immediate production.
Project: Untitled Afro-Surreal Project
During his residency at HI-ARTS, Yungerberg will focus on the development of a new interdisciplinary work currently titled Untitled Afro-Surreal Project. Grounded in Afro-surrealism, the project explores the space between lived reality and the expansive interior worlds shaped by memory, history, and imagination.
Using the HI-ARTS rehearsal studios, Yungerberg will experiment with:
Narrative and Sound, examining how memory and oral history shift when layered with surreal sonic environments.
Movement and Visual Symbolism, investigating the porous boundary between the real and the imagined through embodied exploration.
Working across theater, television, and audio storytelling, Yungerberg’s practice often finds its most generative moments through physical experimentation and iterative process. The HI-ARTS Space Grant supports this approach by removing the expectation of a finished product, allowing time for drafting, improvisation, and discovery.
The residency will generate foundational material to shape the future life of the project, centering Black interiority and creative freedom without prescribed boundaries.