Rebecca De Mornay stars in John Patrick Shanley's world premiere The Pushover
Three Dangerous Women. One Explosive Drama.
Chain Theatre
Proudly Presents the World Premiere of
THE PUSHOVER
Three Dangerous Women. One Explosive Drama.
Written by
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
Starring REBECCA DE MORNAY, DI ZHU, CHRISTINA TOTH with CHRISTOPHER SUTTON
Directed by KIRK GOSTKOWSKI
FOUR-WEEK LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
APRIL 3 - 26, 2026 AT THE CHAIN THEATRE
OPENING NIGHT IS MONDAY, APRIL 6
TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT CHAINTHEATRE.ORG
New York, NY - March 11, 2026: Chain Theatre, Kirk Gostkowski, Artistic Director, Rick Hamilton, Managing Director, Christina Elise Perry, Director of Development, is pleased to announce the world premiere production of John Patrick Shanley’s THE PUSHOVER, directed by Kirk Gostkowski. THE PUSHOVER will play a 4-week limited engagement at the Chain Theatre (312 W 36th St., New York, NY). Performances begin Friday, April 3rd, and continue through Sunday, April 26th. Opening Night is Monday, April 6th (7:00 p.m.). Tickets are $45-$89 and available at http://www.chaintheatre.org.
THE PUSHOVER is a play about three bad-ass women who collide and collude at a spa in New Mexico, and a bare-bones Asian 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.
"There’s a kind of theater that’s always attracted me,” says Shanley. “It’s intimate and up close. There’s a delicious danger in proximity, and the Chain Theatre lives in that zone. The Pushover has an amazing cast, and they will practice their fervent chemistry without the buffer of distance. You will be in my play."
The production stars Rebecca De Mornay as Evelyn, known from films such as Risky Business and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, who collaborated previously with John Patrick Shanley on a benefit reading of one-acts titled Outcasts (TBN Theater). The cast also includes Di Zhu* (The Master and Margarita, The Dragon) as Pearl, Christina Toth* (Orange Is the New Black, Candlelight) as Soochie, and Christopher Sutton* (William Mastrosimone’s Rules of Desire) as the therapist. *The Actor or Stage Manager appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The production features scenic design by Jackson Berkley (Fortuity, Public Theater), costume design by Debbi Hobson (A Will to Live), and lighting design by Dariel Garcia. Greg Russ (Humpty Dumpty, Usual Rejects) is the sound designer, and Rafaella Rossi* (Humpty Dumpty, Wait Until Dark) is the stage manager and Megan Sophie Gore (Stalin: The Musical, Aves + Autta + Ino + Mel) is the assistant stage manager. Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.
THE PUSHOVER plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, April 26:
Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Fridays at 7 p.m.
Saturdays at 2 p.m and 7 p.m.
Sundays at 2 p.m. (No performance on April 5, Easter Sunday)
Tickets are $45-$89 and are now available online at https://www.chaintheatre.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Chain Theatre box office 30 minutes prior to the performance.
Running Time: 90 minutes
Website: https://www.chaintheatre.org
IG: @chaintheatrenyc FB: @ChainTheatre
Special thanks to the Shubert Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs for their support in making this production possible.
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.
CHAIN THEATRE always seeks to reflect and react to the world around us. Culturally. Politically. Socially. Audiences can find investment in the work at the Chain because it's about them, no matter the topic. It’s a place where artists and audiences can expand their perspectives.
The critically acclaimed Chain Theatre is a premier Off-Broadway producing organization in midtown Manhattan. Most recently the Chain Theatre collaborated with Eric Bogosian on the NYC Premiere of Humpty Dumpty, World Premiere of Garbageman by Emmy-nominated Keith Huff (A Steady Rain, Mad Men, House of Cards) and has also collaborated with Tony Award-winner David Rabe (Hurlyburly, In The Boom Boom Room). Most recent hit World Premiere productions include: This G*d Damn House (ScreenCraft Grand Prize Winner), A Will To Live, What Passes for Comedy and macbitches (NYT Critics Pick). www.ChainTheatre.org
# # #
Who: The Chain Theatre
What: John Patrick Stanley’s THE PUSHOVER
Where: The Chain Theatre (312 West 36 Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY)
When: April 3nd - 26, 2026
How: Tickets begin at $45 at www.ChainTheatre.org
Three bad-ass women collide and collude at a spa in New Mexico, and a bare-bones Asian 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.
