Explosive dance productions, interactive comedies, vintage tuners, and new shows that push the boundaries of what musical theatre can be – Off-Broadway’s got something for everyone this winter!

Laugh away the winter chill by seeing an Off-Broadway comedy. From Shakespeare to Shepard to Shaw, Off-Broadway’s got a whole range of engaging comedies, both light and dark, that illuminate human foibles through farce.

Baby, it’s cold outside, so duck inside an Off-Broadway theatre for some hot-blooded dramatic action this winter: Epic family sagas, literary adaptations, new plays ripped from the headlines, and much more!

'Tis the season for hilarious comedies, thought-provoking dramas, heartwarming stories and more opening on Off-Broadway stages.

This Thanksgiving as families sit down to bountiful feasts and stave off food hangovers while watching football games on television, several Off-Broadway shows are helping the less fortunate by participating in the annual fall fundraising drive for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The Signature Theatre Company, one of the most ambitious non-profit theatres in the city, has done it again. Their history of dedicating entire seasons to the work of a single American playwright continues in a grand way with the local premiere of Horton Foote’s magnum opus, The Orphans' Home Cycle. Several of the nine interrelated one-act plays have been seen previously in New York, but the Cycle is now being presented for the first time in its entirety, newly adapted by Foote himself (just prior to his death in March at age 92) , in three groupings of three plays each, featuring 22 actors playing nearly 60 characters in an epic total of nine blissful theatrical hours. If Part One: The Story of a Childhood is any indication, New Yorkers are in for not just a treat, but a royal feast.

Theatrical bitterness, Broadway’s obsession with movie stars, and affairs of the heart get a well-deserved ribbing in Theresa Rebeck’s new sweet and salty satire-cum-love letter to the theatre, The Understudy, which due to popular demand, has been extended through mid-January at the Roundabout.

Theatre games are serious business in Annie Baker’s achingly funny and blisteringly heart-breaking new play, Circle Mirror Transformation. The much buzzed-about production has been extended for two additional weeks at Playwrights Horizons due to popular demand (and critical hosannas).

November is a time for gratitude and counting one’s blessings. Lovers of Off-Broadway theatre are particularly thankful for a cornucopia of fantastic new shows opening this month.

The unorthodox history of Avenue Q, the little musical that could, continues. From its initial success Off-Broadway, to its Broadway transfer (including its surprise “Best Musical” Tony win against the Wicked juggernaut), to eschewing a national tour in favor of an exclusive sit-down engagement in Las Vegas, the sweetly satirical puppet musical Avenue Q has never played by the book. Its latest eyebrow-raising move is, after six successful years on the main stem, bringing the show a few blocks northwest, where it’s now cozily ensconsed Off-Broadway at New World Stages alongside other quirky musicals like Altar Boyz and The Toxic Avenger.