About the Show

David Lindsay-Abaire and Kenny Leon team up for a sharp comedy of neighborly chaos and civic absurdity.

Set in the tightly knit—and tightly wound—Vernon Point neighborhood, The Balusters centers on the escalating chaos that erupts when a new board member proposes adding a stop sign to the community’s most picturesque block. What begins as a seemingly minor suggestion spirals into a full-blown conflict, as residents clash over aesthetics, authority, and the meaning of tradition.

The play is written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Kimberly Akimbo, Rabbit Hole, Good People, Ripcord), marking a return to Manhattan Theatre Club, where much of his work has premiered. Direction is by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon (Othello, Our Town, Topdog/Underdog, King James), whose work spans Broadway and regional stages.

The Balusters explores the absurdity of local politics and the emotional stakes embedded in seemingly trivial disputes, offering a sharply observed portrait of a community where decorum gives way to disorder.

Critic Reviews (9)

"Lindsay-Abaire had just offered me a slippery, sensitive, clever play about how we reveal ourselves by what we choose to bristle over and what we find funny."
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"Lindsay-Abaire’s script is masterful, a stunning dissection of hypocrisy that is equally political and hilarious. Still, the play stays firmly in the comedy camp, so things can be a bit tidy"
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"The discussions seem very silly just before we realize that a few of these people treat them as life-or-death matters."
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"Lindsay-Abaire mines them for plenty of laughs, including a couple of total howlers."
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"...may be the most vital and timely show on Broadway this season. It’s definitely the funniest."
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"The play has forced its characters and audience to explore the intricacies of racism, discrimination, privilege, and those annoying biases that we all contain, and asked the question of how we determine a bad person is a bad person."
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"The Balusters is hilarious, skewering not only neighborhood associations but also identity politics while maintaining compassion for all its characters."
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The squabbling over whether to put a stop sign on the neighborhood’s prettiest street might not sound substantial enough to build a play around. But David Lindsay-Abaire’s fresh and funny comedy uses the pettiness, blind spots and outright biases of the diverse characters who are involved to comment with sharp insight on The Way We Live Now
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