Play

The Misanthrope

1 upcoming performance in New York

Molière’s *The Misanthrope* is a 1666 verse comedy about a principled critic of polite society who can’t stop colliding with the very circles he keeps returning to. Its New York life has been long and recurrent, a staple of downtown and repertory stages that use it to test contemporary manners against older ones. At Symphony Space, the event frames the play inside the venue’s literary-music ecosystem, with a mixed bill that includes Ani DiFranco, Tony Trischka, Abby Jimenez, Annabelle Gurwitch, and Caro Claire Burke. The enduring point is sharp: sincerity, when treated as a social weapon, can become its own form of performance.