Love Me
A new solo comedy by Drew Michael
A solo comedy heard through headphones: Drew Michael's five-chapter look at love, directed by Prashanth Venkataramanujam, in a 75-minute run at SoHo Playhouse.
Quick take
- Play
- 1h 15m
- SoHo Playhouse
- Ages 13+
- 4 performances a week, dark on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Love Me showtimes
All times Eastern. Schedule last checked Nov 7
- 2:00 PMMatineeTomorrow
- 7:00 PMEvening
- 7:00 PMEvening
- 7:00 PMEvening
- 2:00 PMMatinee
- 7:00 PMEvening
- 2:00 PMMatinee
- 7:00 PMEvening
Our guide to Love Me
On this page 8 sections
What it is
Love Me, also billed as Drew Michael: Love Me, is a new solo comedy about one man's search for love, and the audience hears it through headphones. As of October 2026, Drew Michael writes and performs the piece himself, and it marks his Off-Broadway debut.
Sound does the storytelling here. Everyone in the room wears headphones for the whole performance, and a film-style audio design carries the narrative. The design also sets those personal headsets against the speakers in the house, so two layers of sound play off each other.
Deaf West Theatre, OHenry Productions, Nimitt Mankad and Prashanth Venkataramanujam produce the show. SoHo Playhouse presents it as one of eight main-stage productions in the venue's first curated fall season, and it is also on the bill of the 2026 New York Comedy Festival. As of October 2026 the run is billed as 22 performances only.
The story
The evening is divided into five chapters, and each chapter is built around one relationship. As of October 2026, Drew Michael plays himself, recounting how he has gone looking for love over the years while the headphones keep listeners close to what is going on in his mind.
Only two of the five relationships are romantic, and that balance is intentional. The aim is to stretch the meaning of love past couples. The themes are connection, denial and the hunt for affection and belonging, and the writer sees denial as the heart of it: the many ways people dodge plain truths about who they are.
The writing
Drew Michael, who as of October 2026 also performs the show, is a comedian and a former Saturday Night Live writer. He was one of eight writers hired for that program's 42nd season, 2016-17, and received a 2017 Emmy nomination for his work there. He has also recorded two one-hour HBO specials, Drew Michael and Red Blue Green, and both were nominated for Writers Guild awards.
The headphone format was the writer's own idea, and he took it to Prashanth Venkataramanujam, who signed on to direct. Venkataramanujam wanted warmth and empathy to come through, so he treated the piece as theater rather than a stand-up set. The title came from about 20 candidates, and its sense shifts during the show, moving from a plea toward a statement.
History
Love Me played the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2023, and the Off-Broadway run follows that engagement. The listed opening date is the date of the first performance, with no separate press opening announced.
The ending (spoilers)Contains spoilers. Tap to read
This section reveals a central surprise in the show.
Michael has had hearing loss of varying degree since early childhood and identifies as deaf, and the show builds toward telling the audience so. He has called the reveal a spoiler that is also central to the piece, and he describes the evening as being about denial more than about hearing loss. He accepted his deafness only while writing it, after a medical hearing test.
That is why the headphones matter. The speakers in the house send muted sound into the room to stand for the muffling around him, and audiences come to depend on the headset feed to follow the show well before the reason is named.
Creative team & cast
Creative team
Prashanth Venkataramanujam directs. He is a Peabody Award winner and a longtime collaborator of the writer: the two first crossed paths at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and both later moved to Chicago to do comedy. Venkataramanujam co-created Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and earned an Emmy nomination for his writing on Bill Nye Saves the World.
Daniel Kluger is the sound designer and has five Tony nominations. He and Venkataramanujam refined the audio world together. Chelsea Zalikowski is credited as visual access engineer.
Producer Deaf West Theatre, founded in 1991, makes theater inspired by Deaf culture and sign language for Deaf and hearing audiences alike. Its casts mix Deaf and hearing actors, as in its Spring Awakening and American Idiot.
- Playwright
- Drew Michael
- Director
- Prashanth Venkataramanujam
- Sound Design
- Daniel Kluger
More production credits (9)
- Visual Access Engineer
- Chelsea Zalikowski
- Artwork
- Tyler Babin
- General Manager
- Evan Bernardin Productions, Jenna Lazar
- Marketing Director
- Jason Zammit
- Press
- Aperture PR
- Production Counsel
- Loeb & Loeb, David Manella
- Social and Partnerships
- Our Time Influence
- Ticketing & Revenue Management
- Standing Room
- Producer
- Deaf West Theatre, OHenry Productions, Nimitt Mankad, Prashanth Venkataramanujam
Cast
As of October 2026. Casts change during a run, and understudies may appear at any performance.
- Himself
- Drew Michael
Photo credits (1)
- Daniel Kluger: PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY 4.0
Theater
SoHo Playhouse
15 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013
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Photo: Jim.henderson, CC0
Questions about Love Me
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Before or after the show
- Museum of Broadway
- Hell's Kitchen food tour before the show
- Empire State Building observation deck
- SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
- Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry
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