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
My play 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
I am incredibly honored to share that I have been selected as one of the nine artistic commission recipients for the second year of The Democracy Cycle.
This program, a partnership between the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) and the Civis Foundation, supports artists in creating new live performance works that explore the "nature, practice, and experience of democracy."
The Project: Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened
My commissioned work, Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened, refracts a fictional 1970s sitcom set in Minneapolis through an Afro-surreal prism.
The story centers on Barrington “Barry” Greene, a charismatic Black news anchor hired by a Minneapolis affiliate who relocates his family to provide mainstream audiences with a palatable story of racial integration. However, as the cameras stop rolling, the "soundstage" begins to warp. The play exposes the daily brutality and racial housing covenants masked by a "Minnesota Nice" veneer, exploring where democracy fractures once the laugh track stops.
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.
I am thrilled to share that I have been selected as a 2026 Space Grant Recipient with HI-ARTS.
Returning to Brooklyn, a place that has long fueled my creative spirit, to join this incredible cohort feels like a homecoming in more ways than one. As HI-ARTS celebrates its 25th anniversary and establishes its new home in Downtown Brooklyn, I am honored to be part of a season that prioritizes process, experimentation, and the voices of the Global Majority.
The Project: Untitled Afro-Surreal Project
During my time at HI-ARTS, I will be focused on the development of a new, interdisciplinary work currently titled the Untitled Afro-Surreal Project.
This piece is deeply rooted in Afro-surrealism, a genre that allows me to bridge the gap between our lived realities and the expansive, often mystical interior lives we carry. I’ll be using the Hi-ARTS rehearsal spaces to experiment with:
Narrative and Sound: How do memory and oral history shift when layered with surreal sonic landscapes?
Movement and Visual Symbolism: Exploring the "porous boundary" between what is real and what is imagined through embodied experimentation.
As a writer who moves between the worlds of theater, television (like Sesame Street), and audio drama (Live from Mount Olympus), I often find that the most profound breakthroughs happen when you have the physical space to "be messy."
The HI-ARTS Space Grant is unique because it removes the pressure of an immediate "final product." It offers me the freedom to use studio time for drafting, improvisation, and trial-and-error. My goal is to generate the core material that will shape the future of this project, exploring the depths of Black interiority without boundaries.