Thirty plays in sixty minutes sounds like a stunt until the fifth one lands and you realize the whiplash is the form: funny, then political, then a song, then something genuinely upsetting, all inside four minutes. The company has produced more than 7,750 world-premiere plays and rewrites the menu every week, so no two nights are the same show. If you have ever found a comedy club too predictable, this is the antidote, and it is the cheapest real theater ticket in Gramercy.
What to expect
A cast in numbered order, a clock, and an audience shouting out which play it wants next. Plays swing from slapstick to confessional with no warning, and the evening ends with a die roll on stage that decides which pieces are cut from the running order permanently.
Good to know
- Asylum NYC is at 123 East 24th Street — take the R or W to 23rd Street, the 4 or 6 to 23rd Street-Baruch College, or the PATH to 23rd Street
- Student tickets are available at the box office with valid ID
- The running order changes every week, so repeat visits are genuinely different shows
- The theater seats about 150, which keeps the room loud and reactive
- Content swings unpredictably between silly and serious — not a clean-comedy room
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Common questions
Do they really perform 30 plays?
They attempt 30 inside an hour. Whether they finish is part of the show, and the audience calls out which number goes next.
Is it the same show every week?
No. New plays are written weekly, and a die roll at the end of each show retires some of the existing 30.
Where does it play?
Asylum NYC at 123 East 24th Street in Gramercy, just east of Madison Square Park.
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