SARAH GANCHER
PLAYWRIGHT
Current
>> The Wind and the Rain: a Story about Sunny's Bar
nominated for a 2025 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience
>> Music from Eugene Onegin (concert)
at Little Island this summer
July 30—31, 2025
The Glade
directed by Rachel Chavkin
New York Times Announcement
>> Full Production of Eugene Onegin announced
Theatre Squared Spring 2026
directed by Rachel Chavkin
>> First Reading of Human Development
directed by Kip Fagan
with Diane Davis, Will Rogers, and Pete Simpson
at Primary Stages's Fresh Ink Festival
April 10 at 3 pm, 59 E59th St Theater
Developed in Primary Stages' Dorothy Streslin New American Writers' Group
>> The Wind and the Rain makes Vulture's Best Theater of 2024 list!
Read the rave reviews:
"Exquisite... Gancher sends a plumb line down through history and a flare up into the future...[the show] fill[s] the here and now, as the spark illuminates the filament with a glowing, pulsing sense of the infinite present. For Gancher, the theatrical moment stretches to encompass all moments past and to come, vibrating with beauty, urgency, and potential."
Vulture, Sarah Holdren
"In a city swarming with so many ideas about how to shake things up at the theater with immersive or site-specific productions, The Wind and the Rain hits the mark, holding a trust in their audience that allows everyone to step into the story for a night rather than just sitting in a dark theater watching it."
Theatermania, Meg Masserson
"It's a show about the frailties and the strengths and the triumphs and the failures of all our human institutions–family and place and community and city–and, on the grandest scale, the way we as humans live on our fragile planet and the way we make peace with the inevitable losses. Sarah Gancher’s script shuttles from the very particular to the almost absurdly epic, from idiosyncratic individual tales of love and betrayal to the celebration of tiny bureaucratic triumphs to a run through the history of New York from dinosaurs right up to gentrification."
Exeunt, Loren Novek
"This is a magical site-specific play, in a historical setting, that will leave you smarter than when you walked in and with more understanding and respect for lives lived that have gone on before you. Highly, highly recommended."
The Front Row Center, David Walters
"The Wind and the Rain is some of the best historical interpretation I have ever seen. At turns, the show is charming, funny, and heartbreaking…The Wind and the Rain is magnificent. Through the years Sunny’s has been repeatedly characterized as the edge of the world. Go to the edge of the world, then keep going to the barge. See this show, and lurch on shifting time just as the barge lurches under you. The emotional payoff is beautiful, grabbing you and holding you in the many many stories that make up neighborhoods and institutions like Red Hook and Sunny’s. I simply cannot think of a better way to spend an evening."
No Proscenium, Penelope Ray
>> Premiere of The Wind and The Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
produced by En Garde Arts in association with The Vineyard
site-specific at the Waterfront Barge Museum and at Sunny's Bar
Directed by Jared Mezzocchi
Music Direction: Pete Lanctot
Set: Marcello Martinez
Costumes: Mika Eubanks
Lights: Amith Chandrashaker
Sound: Jane Shaw
Video: Paul Deziel
Dramaturg: John Eisner
Stage Management: Olivia Fletcher
with Jen Regan, Paco Tolson, Pete Simpson, and Jen Tullock
September 28—October 27
>> First Showing of The Hustler and the Nun
Book, Music and Lyrics by Andrew Bancroft (Freestyle Love Supreme)
Dramaturgy+ by Sarah Gancher
Commissioned by Araca Group
Fall 2024
>> Workshop of Eugene Onegin at the Arkansas New Play Festival at Theatre Squared
with dramaturg Ken Cerniglia
Summer 2024
>>Residency at The Hermitage for The Wind and The Rain
Spring 2024
>>New York City stage premiere of Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy
at Vineyard Theatre
Produced in Association with Dori Berinstein/Dramatic Forces
Directed by Darko Tresnjak
Set: Alexander Dodge
Costumes: Linda Cho
Lights: Marcus Doshi
Sound: Darron L West
Projections: Jared Mezzocchi
Dramaturg: Elizabeth Williamson
Stage Management: Jennifer Rogers
with Renata Friedman, Haskell King, Christine Lahti, John Lavelle, and Hadi Tabbal
January 25—February 25, 2024
>>Upcoming: Radio play with jazz I Could Get a Man
commissioned by Playwrights Horizons for their series Soundstage's Season 2
directed by Jade King Carroll
>>Selected Recent Teaching:
- Writing Studio 1 and Writing Studio 3 (MFA Playwriting 1 and 3) at The New School for Drama
- Grad Playwriting 1 and Advanced Playwriting at NYU's Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing
- Grad Masterclass in Comedy (Screen and Stage), NYU Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing
- Story (grad class about dramatic structure onstage and on screen) at The New School for Drama
- Collaborative Making Process (acting/writing/directing grad class) at The New School for Drama
Recent Highlights
>>Eugene Onegin was a finalist for the prestigious 2024 Kleban Prize in Musical Theatre
>>Brooklyn Rail profile: In Sarah Gancher's Plays, the Joke is On the World
by Kally Patz
>> Featured on Articulate with James Cotter on PBS
Episode: Sarah Gancher / The Funny Thing About Grief
>>Featured on the Broadway Women's Fund 2022 Women to Watch on Broadway list
>> Winner of the James Stevenson Prize for Comedy from NPR's Playing on Air
Radio play Tech Demons commissioned by NPR's Playing on Air
Directed by Marc Bruni
with Isaac Oliver and Jay O Sanders
Listen here
>>Russian Troll Farm online production wins a 2023 Obie Award Special Citation!
Acceptance speech here
>>Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy digital production made the New York Times' Best Theater of 2020 list
nominated for a 2025 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience
>> Music from Eugene Onegin (concert)
at Little Island this summer
July 30—31, 2025
The Glade
directed by Rachel Chavkin
New York Times Announcement
>> Full Production of Eugene Onegin announced
Theatre Squared Spring 2026
directed by Rachel Chavkin
>> First Reading of Human Development
directed by Kip Fagan
with Diane Davis, Will Rogers, and Pete Simpson
at Primary Stages's Fresh Ink Festival
April 10 at 3 pm, 59 E59th St Theater
Developed in Primary Stages' Dorothy Streslin New American Writers' Group
>> The Wind and the Rain makes Vulture's Best Theater of 2024 list!
Read the rave reviews:
"Exquisite... Gancher sends a plumb line down through history and a flare up into the future...[the show] fill[s] the here and now, as the spark illuminates the filament with a glowing, pulsing sense of the infinite present. For Gancher, the theatrical moment stretches to encompass all moments past and to come, vibrating with beauty, urgency, and potential."
Vulture, Sarah Holdren
"In a city swarming with so many ideas about how to shake things up at the theater with immersive or site-specific productions, The Wind and the Rain hits the mark, holding a trust in their audience that allows everyone to step into the story for a night rather than just sitting in a dark theater watching it."
Theatermania, Meg Masserson
"It's a show about the frailties and the strengths and the triumphs and the failures of all our human institutions–family and place and community and city–and, on the grandest scale, the way we as humans live on our fragile planet and the way we make peace with the inevitable losses. Sarah Gancher’s script shuttles from the very particular to the almost absurdly epic, from idiosyncratic individual tales of love and betrayal to the celebration of tiny bureaucratic triumphs to a run through the history of New York from dinosaurs right up to gentrification."
Exeunt, Loren Novek
"This is a magical site-specific play, in a historical setting, that will leave you smarter than when you walked in and with more understanding and respect for lives lived that have gone on before you. Highly, highly recommended."
The Front Row Center, David Walters
"The Wind and the Rain is some of the best historical interpretation I have ever seen. At turns, the show is charming, funny, and heartbreaking…The Wind and the Rain is magnificent. Through the years Sunny’s has been repeatedly characterized as the edge of the world. Go to the edge of the world, then keep going to the barge. See this show, and lurch on shifting time just as the barge lurches under you. The emotional payoff is beautiful, grabbing you and holding you in the many many stories that make up neighborhoods and institutions like Red Hook and Sunny’s. I simply cannot think of a better way to spend an evening."
No Proscenium, Penelope Ray
>> Premiere of The Wind and The Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
produced by En Garde Arts in association with The Vineyard
site-specific at the Waterfront Barge Museum and at Sunny's Bar
Directed by Jared Mezzocchi
Music Direction: Pete Lanctot
Set: Marcello Martinez
Costumes: Mika Eubanks
Lights: Amith Chandrashaker
Sound: Jane Shaw
Video: Paul Deziel
Dramaturg: John Eisner
Stage Management: Olivia Fletcher
with Jen Regan, Paco Tolson, Pete Simpson, and Jen Tullock
September 28—October 27
>> First Showing of The Hustler and the Nun
Book, Music and Lyrics by Andrew Bancroft (Freestyle Love Supreme)
Dramaturgy+ by Sarah Gancher
Commissioned by Araca Group
Fall 2024
>> Workshop of Eugene Onegin at the Arkansas New Play Festival at Theatre Squared
with dramaturg Ken Cerniglia
Summer 2024
>>Residency at The Hermitage for The Wind and The Rain
Spring 2024
>>New York City stage premiere of Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy
at Vineyard Theatre
Produced in Association with Dori Berinstein/Dramatic Forces
Directed by Darko Tresnjak
Set: Alexander Dodge
Costumes: Linda Cho
Lights: Marcus Doshi
Sound: Darron L West
Projections: Jared Mezzocchi
Dramaturg: Elizabeth Williamson
Stage Management: Jennifer Rogers
with Renata Friedman, Haskell King, Christine Lahti, John Lavelle, and Hadi Tabbal
January 25—February 25, 2024
>>Upcoming: Radio play with jazz I Could Get a Man
commissioned by Playwrights Horizons for their series Soundstage's Season 2
directed by Jade King Carroll
>>Selected Recent Teaching:
- Writing Studio 1 and Writing Studio 3 (MFA Playwriting 1 and 3) at The New School for Drama
- Grad Playwriting 1 and Advanced Playwriting at NYU's Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing
- Grad Masterclass in Comedy (Screen and Stage), NYU Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing
- Story (grad class about dramatic structure onstage and on screen) at The New School for Drama
- Collaborative Making Process (acting/writing/directing grad class) at The New School for Drama
Recent Highlights
>>Eugene Onegin was a finalist for the prestigious 2024 Kleban Prize in Musical Theatre
>>Brooklyn Rail profile: In Sarah Gancher's Plays, the Joke is On the World
by Kally Patz
>> Featured on Articulate with James Cotter on PBS
Episode: Sarah Gancher / The Funny Thing About Grief
>>Featured on the Broadway Women's Fund 2022 Women to Watch on Broadway list
>> Winner of the James Stevenson Prize for Comedy from NPR's Playing on Air
Radio play Tech Demons commissioned by NPR's Playing on Air
Directed by Marc Bruni
with Isaac Oliver and Jay O Sanders
Listen here
>>Russian Troll Farm online production wins a 2023 Obie Award Special Citation!
Acceptance speech here
>>Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy digital production made the New York Times' Best Theater of 2020 list