Photo: Whitney Browne

This is Real brings Target Margin Theater’s transgressive spirit to life for America in 2026. Created by 2025 Obie Award-winning director David Herskovits and a cohort of artists, this new work is inspired by the obsessions of the great French writer Jean Genet: power, sex, and revolution. This is a patriotic play.

A theater. A brothel. A business. In Target Margin’s new work This is Real, performers enact fantasies of American power while an insurrection rages just outside. As the dust settles, who among us will be left wearing the crown? And what sacrifices must be made?

Genet was a hero of the counter-culture—thief, drifter, prostitute—who wrote from prison; his work affronted convention and challenged audiences to question their own lives. His artistic descendants include Ludlam, Jack Smith, David Bowie, and us at Target Margin Theater! We admire Genet’s unflinching honesty in confronting power without fear. He does not judge. He is never prim or pious. Our work swells with that bravery. This is Real represents a vision of America as we have re-created it here and now.

“Every time you see one of [Herskovits]’ meticulously created shows, you leave more confused than ever, and you’re better for it” (2025 Obie Awards). For This is Real, Herskovits and company ask audiences to consider the beauty and wisdom of the outsider. Aren’t we, all of us, outsiders in our own ways?

This is Real runs through April 4 at the Doxsee Theater in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Tickets starting from $30: TargetMargin.org/ThisIsReal

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