Out Of Order

Written and Performed by Carl Holder
Directed by Skylar Fox

Carl Holder’s written plays for 20 years, but when he turned 40, something strange happened—he couldn’t write plays anymore. So he made this instead. It’s a game. A challenge. A bowl of index cards, pulled at random, now controls his fate. Each card holds a task designed to test his grit, his ingenuity, his emotional resilience, and his willingness to be humiliated. For the past year, he’s toured the country, training for this night. And if he fails to complete the challenge, he’ll quit theatre forever. We’re not joking.

Production History:
August 2025 at the East Village Basement

“Emotional, funny, wrenching, not adverse to interpretive dancing… Out of Order is underground in every sense of the word, and unexpectedly heartbreaking.”
— Elisabeth Vincentelli, The New York Times

”Part parlor game, part confessional solo show, and part midlife crisis, it’s 100 percent the most creative thing playing off-off-Broadway right now.”
— Zachary Stewart, TheatreMania

Photos by Rebecca J. Michelson