Josh Luxenberg is a theater-maker: playwright, director, producer, and curator based in New York City. He makes lyrical, loopy, highly theatrical work, that integrates design and performance in search of what it means to be a human in the world.

His work has been nominated for multiple Drama Desk Awards, and has been performed in NYC at theaters including New York Theatre Workshop, the Connelly, and the New Ohio, at festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Sundance Film Festival, Under the Radar, Vårscenefest (Norway), Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes (France), and supported by the Getty Museum, the Orchard Project, the New York State Council on the Arts, USArtists International, the Jim Henson Foundation, the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, the Mercury Store, Mabou Mines, and others.

Original Artistic Work

Josh is Co-Artistic Director of Sinking Ship, an award-winning physical theater company. His work with Sinking Ship includes The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy (NYTW, co-produced by Lucille Lortel Theatre, created in collaboration with Theater in Quarantine, New York Times Critics Pick, nominated for two Drama Desk Awards), Cassandra: An Agony (commissioned by the Getty Museum), Powerhouse (New Ohio Theater, NYT Critics Pick), and A Hunger Artist (Connelly Theater), which was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards and has toured in the U.S. and internationally. At the Edinburgh Fringe, A Hunger Artist was one of the best-reviewed plays of 2017 (according to List Magazine), and was awarded Summerhall’s Lustrum Award for Excellence. Josh also co-curated and produced Puppet Playlist, Sinking Ship’s long-running puppetry and music cabaret, which over the course of a decade fostered the creation of hundreds of original short performances.

Josh is also the co-writer of The Dial, an interactive AR experience that premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts high school conservatory program, and spent four seasons working in various positions on HBO’s The Wire.

Connelly Theater

Josh was the Director of the historic Connelly Theater in Manhattan’s East Village from 2014 - 2024, where he oversaw the revival of the iconic jewelbox playhouse, turning it into a hotspot for adventurous independent theater productions. During his decade-long tenure, the Connelly was home to dozens of world premiere productions including Kate Berlant’s Kate (directed by Bo Burnham), Marin Ireland’s Pre-Existing Condition (with Tatiana Maslany, Edie Falco, and Tavi Gevinson), Talene Monahan’s The Good John Proctor, and Will Arbery’s Plano, and work by hundreds of artists including Mandy Patinkin, Sasha Velour, Anne Kaufman, Sarah Benson, Jack Serio, as well as acclaimed companies including Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, Soho Rep., Page 73, and New York Theatre Workshop.

Josh resigned from his position as Director of the Connelly when the landlord, the Archdiocese of New York, began censoring the content of productions at the theater.

Read The New York Times coverage.
Read an interview with Josh about his time at the Connelly.

Producing

Josh has worked both institutionally—most recently at New York Theatre Workshop as the New Initiatives Artistic Producer—and independently, managing production and supporting the visions of incredible artists Off-Broadway and on tour in the U.S. and internationally. Most recent: Manon!, a new English-language adaptation of Jules Massenet’s classic opera, reimagined as a golden-age musical, with a libretto by Rory Pelsue and Jacob Ashworth, and a new orchestration by Daniel Schlosberg. Josh is also a producer of the upcoming cast album, to be released in August 2026.