THURSDAY

(flyer via Eventbrite)

Quitters
Thursday, February 28 at C’mon Everybody, 8 pm: $8 advance, $10 doors 

It could be argued that February is a quitter. All the other months stretch on for 30 or 31 days, while February stops short. It gives up. And then, suddenly, it’s March, and you’re left wondering why rent costs the same for 28 days as it does for 31. Celebrate the last day of this short month tonight at Quitters, a comedy show hosted by Sam Corbin and Ian Goldstein that embraces failure in all its forms, particularly the funny ones. This time, they’re welcoming guests Karen Chee, Brett Davis, Marcia Belsky, and Matt Buechele to the stage, and audience members have the chance to confess their own memorable moment of quitting for a chance to win a free drink.

FRIDAY

(image via The Bushwick Starr / Facebook)

Suicide Forest
Now through March 23 at The Bushwick Starr, 8 pm: $30 

Playwright Kristine Haruna Lee is always up to something that manages to be both interesting and unsettling, and her newest theatrical venture is no different. Suicide Forest is a “bilingual nightmare play” co-presented by Ma-Yi Theater Company that explores the eventually-connecting stories of a teenage girl and dissatisfied businessman in 1990’s Japan, and of course, the notorious suicide forest. Plus, if your only brush with the subject matter is that awful blonde vlogger’s tone-deaf viral video (you know the one!), this is a good chance to cleanse your brain of that and replace it with something much better.

SATURDAY

(photo: Jay Kay Photography, via Instagram)

Snack Theater Presents: Dollhouse
Saturday, March 2 at Chelsea Music Hall, 7:30 pm: $20-30 advance, $25 door 

Snacks are usually not very filling, but it’s looking like you’ll be more than satisfied at the premiere of Snack Theater, a new cabaret venture from larger-than-life burlesque and drag performers Rara Darling and Angelica Sundae at the new-ish venue Chelsea Music Hall. Rather than a standard variety show, this will be a more structured and staged (and spooky) evening, about living dolls in an “enchanted playhouse.” Helping them tell this story will be current Miss Coney Island Pearls Daily, Nyx Nocturne, Miscallaneous DomTop, and more. Audience members who come dressed as living dolls (we once interviewed a great example) will have the chance to walk the runway for a special prize.

SUNDAY

(image via Flux Theater Ensemble / Facebook)

Operating Systems
March 2-16 at Abrons Arts Center, 7:30 pm (Sunday shows at 4 pm or 2:30 pm): FREE (donation suggested) 

The newest play from Flux Theater Ensemble, written by Gus Schulenburg and directed by Emily Hartford, takes place in a coding school for young women of color. The school finds itself embroiled in controversy when they face backlash for rejecting a white student applicant and a new employee accuses their departing CEO of sexual misconduct. While plays about identity politics are pretty much a dime a dozen nowadays, many of them lack nuance or think the mere inclusion of marginalized characters onstage is the only thing that needs to be done to make a play meaningful. Rather than doing that, Operating Systems takes a look at internalized oppression within marginalized groups and how our society can tend to create toxic competition between different identities. Plus, tickets are free (a rarity for theater), but a donation to the theater company is suggested.