Degenerates, Else Went’s world premiere at Playwrights Horizons, is coming back this winter in a bigger room. Once its run in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater ends on November 8, the play returns for an encore engagement in the company’s larger Judith O. Rubin Theater, December 22, 2026–January 24, 2027.
Emma Rosa Went directs again. The production started performances on September 16 and has been held over more than once (the October extension pushed it to its current end date). Playwrights Horizons describes the first run as eight sold-out weeks, and the play was a New York Times Critic’s Pick; our review roundup collects what the critics wrote.
Went’s subject is a small corner of the internet where a handful of young men have persuaded one another that nobody will ever love them and that the odds are fixed against them. When a relationship nobody expected starts to grow out of that group, the cost of their shared defeatism comes into focus. The theater recommends the play for ages 16 and up because of its language and themes, and the running time is about two hours and 40 minutes, including one intermission.
The company is Juan Arturo (Serge/Chad), Olivia Rose Barresi (Stacy/All Women), Zachary Desmond (Miller), Tyler Nowell Felix (Kemp) and Christopher Dylan White (Target), and TheaterMania reports that the whole cast is returning for the encore. Sets are by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, costumes by Kindall Houston Almond, lighting by Jiyoun Chang, sound by Angela Baughman and video and projections by S. Katy Tucker. Sarah Lunnie is the dramaturg and Willow Funkhouser the intimacy director.
The current run in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater ends with its final performance on November 8. The Judith O. Rubin engagement begins December 22 and plays through January 24, 2027.
