The Pushover

WORLD premiere of

THE PUSHOVER

By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Kirk Gostkowski

April 3-26, 2026

at The Chain Theatre

LIMITED 4 WEEK OFF-BROADWAY ENGAGEMENT

THE PUSHOVER is a play about three bad-ass women who collide and collude at a spa in New Mexico, and a bare-bones Chinese restaurant in Queens. Dangerous and hungry, their weapons and their passions bleed into each other. They speak the language of the outcast, rough and sexual, and fight to survive, and to love.

The production features scenic design by Jackson Berkley (Fortuity, Public Theater), costume design by Debbi Hobson (The Cottage, dir. Blake White), and lighting design by Dariel Garcia. Greg Russ is the sound designer, and Rafaella Rossi is the stage manager.

Chain Theatre extends a special thanks to the Shubert Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.

There will be no intermission.

No late seating.

No refund or exchanges.

BIOGRAPHIES

JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY’s (Playwright) plays include Prodigal Son, Outside Mullingar (Tony Award nomination), Danny and The Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, Italian-American Reconciliation, Welcome To The Moon, Four Dogs and a Bone, Dirty Story, Defiance, Beggars in the House of Plenty, and Brooklyn Laundry. His theatrical work is performed extensively across the United States and around the world. For his play Doubt, he received both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the arena of screenwriting, he has ten films to his credit, most recently Wild Mountain Time, with Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, and Christopher Walken. His film of Doubt, which he also directed and which starred Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Other screen credits include Five Corners (Special Jury Prize, Barcelona Film Festival), Alive, Joe Versus The Volcano (which he also directed), and Live from Baghdad for HBO (Emmy nomination). For his script of Moonstruck, he received both the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2009, the Writers Guild of America honored Mr. Shanley with the Lifetime Achievement in Writing Award.

KIRK GOSTKOWSKI (Director) Kirk Gostkowski is the Artistic Director and founding member of the Chain Theatre. Over the past fifteen years, Gostkowski has collaborated with theatre legends such as Tony Award winner David Rabe on multiple projects, including a rare revival of In The Boom Boom Room, the NYC Premiere of Humpty Dumpty by Eric Bogosian, and two premieres by Emmy-nominated Keith Huff: Six Corners and Garbageman. Gostkowski adapted Holocaust survivor Helena Weinrauch's memoir, A Will to Live, for the stage. He is the founder and Festival Director of the Chain NYC Film Festival. Kirk made his directorial debut with Leave Me Behind, which was featured at 10 film festivals worldwide, won awards, and is distributed by Screen Media Ventures.