SARAH GANCHER
PLAYWRIGHT
Current
>> The Wind and the Rain makes Vulture's Best Theater of 2024 list!
>> The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar is totally sold out
and our entire extension sold out in six hours!
Standby tickets available at the door.
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
Tickets
>> Workshop of Eugene Onegin at Dorset Theatre Festival
directed by Jade King Carroll
Summer 2024
>> First Showing of The Hustler and the Nun
Book, Music and Lyrics by Andrew Bancroft (Freestyle Love Supreme)
Dramaturgy+ by Sarah Gancher dramaturgy
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
>> Workshop of The Wind and The Rain at The Vineyard
with director Jared Mezzocchi
performers Pete Simpson, Andrea Syglowski, Aya Ogawa and Alfredo Narciso
dramaturgs John Eisner, Sarah Stern
Spring 2024 & 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
>>Eugene Onegin pop-up
Sharing songs and stories from Eugene Onegin / followed by party and open jam
Monday, December 11th at The Grey Mare, 61 Second Ave, NYC — 7 pm until late
Songs and words by Sarah Gancher
Creative Team Jade King Carroll, Ginger Dolden, Pete Lanctot, Lana Russell
With Mary Bacon, Nick Blaemire, Diane Davis, Nina Grollman, Jess Lynn, Joshua Machiz,
Marianne Rendon, Cameron Scoggins, Mike Shapiro
Musician Guests Hillary Hawke, Cesar Moreno, Kensuke Shoji, Rick Snell
And more surprise special guests!
>>Fall 23: Commission from NYSCA for The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
via En Garde Arts
>>Fall 23: Finishing commission from Venturous Foundation for The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
Commissioned by En Garde Arts and Vineyard Theatre
>>Residency at Andy's Summer Playhouse with Jared Mezzocchi, August 2023
Working on The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
>>Residency at Dorset Theatre Festival, Dorset, VT, July—August 2023
>>Workshopping Eugene Onegin: A Bluegrass Musical at The Orchard Project Summer Arts Festival
Book, music and lyrics by Sarah Gancher
Direction team Jade King Carroll and Dina Vovsi
Music Director Pete Lanctot
With Mary Bacon, Nick Blaemire, Diane Davis, Alan Epstein, Nina Grollman, John Kirk, Josh Machiz, Trish Miller,
Marianne Rendón, Cameron Scoggins, and Mike Shapiro
Friday, July 7, 2023 at Saratoga Arts Center
Saturday, July 8 2023 at Pitney Meadows Community Farm
>>Workshopping new bluegrass musical Eugene Onegin with New Dramatists via the Creativity Fund
as librettist, composer and lyricist
Directed by Jade King Carroll
Commission from Dorset Theatre Festival
April 2023
>>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:
- 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
- Play II (BFA) at NYU Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing
- Advanced Playwriting at NYU TIsch Department of Dramatic Writing (co-taught with Lucas Hnath)
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
>> The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar is totally sold out
and our entire extension sold out in six hours!
Standby tickets available at the door.
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
Tickets
>> Workshop of Eugene Onegin at Dorset Theatre Festival
directed by Jade King Carroll
Summer 2024
>> First Showing of The Hustler and the Nun
Book, Music and Lyrics by Andrew Bancroft (Freestyle Love Supreme)
Dramaturgy+ by Sarah Gancher dramaturgy
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
>> Workshop of The Wind and The Rain at The Vineyard
with director Jared Mezzocchi
performers Pete Simpson, Andrea Syglowski, Aya Ogawa and Alfredo Narciso
dramaturgs John Eisner, Sarah Stern
Spring 2024 & 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
>>Eugene Onegin pop-up
Sharing songs and stories from Eugene Onegin / followed by party and open jam
Monday, December 11th at The Grey Mare, 61 Second Ave, NYC — 7 pm until late
Songs and words by Sarah Gancher
Creative Team Jade King Carroll, Ginger Dolden, Pete Lanctot, Lana Russell
With Mary Bacon, Nick Blaemire, Diane Davis, Nina Grollman, Jess Lynn, Joshua Machiz,
Marianne Rendon, Cameron Scoggins, Mike Shapiro
Musician Guests Hillary Hawke, Cesar Moreno, Kensuke Shoji, Rick Snell
And more surprise special guests!
>>Fall 23: Commission from NYSCA for The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
via En Garde Arts
>>Fall 23: Finishing commission from Venturous Foundation for The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
Commissioned by En Garde Arts and Vineyard Theatre
>>Residency at Andy's Summer Playhouse with Jared Mezzocchi, August 2023
Working on The Wind and the Rain: a story about Sunny's Bar
>>Residency at Dorset Theatre Festival, Dorset, VT, July—August 2023
>>Workshopping Eugene Onegin: A Bluegrass Musical at The Orchard Project Summer Arts Festival
Book, music and lyrics by Sarah Gancher
Direction team Jade King Carroll and Dina Vovsi
Music Director Pete Lanctot
With Mary Bacon, Nick Blaemire, Diane Davis, Alan Epstein, Nina Grollman, John Kirk, Josh Machiz, Trish Miller,
Marianne Rendón, Cameron Scoggins, and Mike Shapiro
Friday, July 7, 2023 at Saratoga Arts Center
Saturday, July 8 2023 at Pitney Meadows Community Farm
>>Workshopping new bluegrass musical Eugene Onegin with New Dramatists via the Creativity Fund
as librettist, composer and lyricist
Directed by Jade King Carroll
Commission from Dorset Theatre Festival
April 2023
>>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:
- 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
- Play II (BFA) at NYU Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing
- Advanced Playwriting at NYU TIsch Department of Dramatic Writing (co-taught with Lucas Hnath)
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