Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

For three performances only, acclaimed poet, playwright, physician and art collector Marc J. Straus will bring his deeply personal play in verse, APHASIA, to New York City from October 9 through October 11, 2026. As part of the Factory Series at the Chain Theatre 312 W. 36th Street, 3rd floor.

Written and performed by Straus, APHASIA is directed by Mara Mills, with stage production by Jeremy Gratt. The play was inspired by Straus’ mother, Dora, and the devastating stroke that left her unable to communicate with those around her.

Dora Straus awakens in an emergency room after suffering a massive stroke that has caused paralysis on her right side and aphasia. Although she understands everything happening around her, she cannot make herself understood.

A formidable, brilliant and fiercely competitive woman, Dora graduated from college as valedictorian at the age of 76. Now soundless and entirely dependent upon others, she is forced to confront her life, her relationships and her own mortality. Through a series of intimate soliloquies, Dora takes full stock of a life that was complicated, demanding and richly lived.

At times sad, funny and angry—but always unflinchingly honest—APHASIA gives voice to a woman who has lost the ability to speak.

Straus himself assumes the role of Dora, channeling his mother’s story through a series of poignant and lyrical reflections. In performing the role, he speaks both for her and to her, creating an intimate portrait of a mother as remembered by her eldest son.

“APHASIA is my way of honoring my mother by giving voice to the thoughts and feelings she could no longer express after her stroke,” said Straus. “Dora was brilliant, formidable and unforgettable, but she could also be deeply difficult. Writing and performing this play has allowed me to confront those memories honestly while preserving the full complexity of who my mother was. It is an act of remembrance, reckoning and, ultimately, compassion.”

Premiere Presentation of "Dreamers at the Precipice," a groundbreaking new play that awakens audiences from the dream of extremism!

Presented as part of the Factory Series at Chain Theatre, "Dreamers at the Precipice" is a necessary antidote to the polarizing world we live in. Using real dreams from the present and the past, this play will awaken audiences from the nightmare of totalitarianism, and have them moving toward kindness, respect, and deceny!

To learn more, you can find us at:

thewaywelivetoday.com

Facebook: Dreamers at the Precipice

Instagram: @dreamersattheprecipice

https://seedandspark.com/fund/dreamers-at-the-precipice

House and Box Office open 30 minutes before showtime. Show runs 75 minutes with no intermission.

The theatre is ADA accessible.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

Synopsis:

In Halley Feiffer's darkly funny and brutally intimate play, an actress spends a night celebrating with her famous playwright father—until admiration, ambition and love turn vicious. I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a raw look at what happens when the person whose approval you crave most is also the person capable of hurting you most.

A deeply human solo show about the version of yourself you put down — and whether it’s ever too late to pick it back up.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

A deeply human solo show about the version of yourself you put down — and whether it’s ever too late to pick it back up.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

A deeply human solo show about the version of yourself you put down — and whether it’s ever too late to pick it back up.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis 

'Psychopathia Paschalis' is a dark comedy-of-manners that satirizes the hypocrisy and dysfunction beneath an upper-middle-class American family. When the Wallace family gathers for Easter, a shocking revelation—that Nick’s “friend” Justin is actually his lover—throws the household into chaos. As tensions erupt, an inept, self-styled detective only makes matters worse. Secrets unravel, bodies pile up, and the family’s fragile civility collapses into madness.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis 

'Psychopathia Paschalis' is a dark comedy-of-manners that satirizes the hypocrisy and dysfunction beneath an upper-middle-class American family. When the Wallace family gathers for Easter, a shocking revelation—that Nick’s “friend” Justin is actually his lover—throws the household into chaos. As tensions erupt, an inept, self-styled detective only makes matters worse. Secrets unravel, bodies pile up, and the family’s fragile civility collapses into madness.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis 

'Psychopathia Paschalis' is a dark comedy-of-manners that satirizes the hypocrisy and dysfunction beneath an upper-middle-class American family. When the Wallace family gathers for Easter, a shocking revelation—that Nick’s “friend” Justin is actually his lover—throws the household into chaos. As tensions erupt, an inept, self-styled detective only makes matters worse. Secrets unravel, bodies pile up, and the family’s fragile civility collapses into madness.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis 

'Psychopathia Paschalis' is a dark comedy-of-manners that satirizes the hypocrisy and dysfunction beneath an upper-middle-class American family. When the Wallace family gathers for Easter, a shocking revelation—that Nick’s “friend” Justin is actually his lover—throws the household into chaos. As tensions erupt, an inept, self-styled detective only makes matters worse. Secrets unravel, bodies pile up, and the family’s fragile civility collapses into madness.

Synopsis: 

What happens when you don’t return a book for twenty years? You owe the library A MILLION DOLLARS. Based on the popular web-series of the same name, this musical is an action packed story full of guns, betrayal, and books. Follow the Battersham librarians story about the lengths one will take to save an old run-down library. 

Synopsis 

'Psychopathia Paschalis' is a dark comedy-of-manners that satirizes the hypocrisy and dysfunction beneath an upper-middle-class American family. When the Wallace family gathers for Easter, a shocking revelation—that Nick’s “friend” Justin is actually his lover—throws the household into chaos. As tensions erupt, an inept, self-styled detective only makes matters worse. Secrets unravel, bodies pile up, and the family’s fragile civility collapses into madness.

Synopsis 

'Psychopathia Paschalis' is a dark comedy-of-manners that satirizes the hypocrisy and dysfunction beneath an upper-middle-class American family. When the Wallace family gathers for Easter, a shocking revelation—that Nick’s “friend” Justin is actually his lover—throws the household into chaos. As tensions erupt, an inept, self-styled detective only makes matters worse. Secrets unravel, bodies pile up, and the family’s fragile civility collapses into madness.