The world premiere of “The Balusters,” written by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, will open on Broadway in spring 2026 at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. MTC has also added a newly imagined version of “Queens,” by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, to its off-Broadway season. Directed by Trip Cullman, the production will open at New York City Center - Stage I this coming fall.
Lindsay-Abaire’s previous work at MTC has included the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rabbit Hole,” the Tony Award-nominated “Good People,” “Ripcord,” “Wonder of the World,” “Fuddy Meers” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” which he later adapted with Jeanine Tesori into the Tony Award-winning musical. Majok returns to MTC following the Broadway premiere of her Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Cost of Living,” which was also Tony-nominated for Best Play in 2023.
“The Balusters” is a raucous, wild ride through a small community with big feelings. The Vernon Point Neighborhood Association is a passionate bunch, whether squabbling over historically inaccurate porch railings or debating trash can protocol. Still, no one is prepared for the neighbor-versus-neighbor battle royale that ensues when a newcomer to the board suggests the unthinkable: installing a stop sign on the corner of the enclave’s prettiest block.
“Queens” is an epic drama about hunting for the American Dream, finding family and facing the ghosts you left behind. In an illegal basement apartment in Queens, multiple generations of immigrant women fight to launch a new life. But when a young Ukrainian woman comes searching for the mother who abandoned her years ago, she forces a reckoning with the impossible choices the women made to survive.
As previously announced, MTC’s 2025-26 season will include the Broadway premiere of James Graham’s “Punch,” and the world premiere of “The Monsters,” written and directed by Ngozi Anyanwu.
This article previously appeared on Broadway.com.
