Underneath the Lintel

One battered travel guide. One hundred and fifty-three years overdue. One small-town Dutch librarian... who refuses to let the matter rest.

Glen Berger’s acclaimed and beloved solo mystery UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL begins with the smallest possible catastrophe: a book returned through a library’s overnight slot more than a century late. To most people, it would be an oddity. To the Librarian, it is an outrage — a crime against order, reason, and the sacred little card in the back of the book.

Then he finds the first clue.

And then another.

A laundry ticket. A pair of abandoned trousers. A tram report. A dog quarantine record. A name: “A.”

What begins as an attempt to collect the fine of the century becomes a globe-spanning pursuit through London, Bonn, China, Australia, New York, ancient myth, modern grief, and the stubborn human need to leave proof: I was here.

Funny, obsessive, erudite, and unexpectedly heart-cracking, UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL is part detective story, part ghost story, part metaphysical treasure hunt — a theatrical puzzle box about faith, evidence, regret, wonder, and the impossible task of proving that a life has mattered.

After performing the play five times in previous productions across the region and in Florida, Edward Gibbons-Brown returns to the role for a rare NYC revival of Berger’s cult Off-Broadway hit.

Originally produced at Soho Playhouse, where it ran for more than 400 performances and was named one of Time Out New York’s ten best plays of 2001, UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL now arrives at Under St. Marks for one night only — an intimate, urgent, funny, haunted evening about the scraps we leave behind... and the defiant act of continuing.

Still, we’ll proceed.

Content Awareness: This production contains references to antisemitism and Jewish persecution, including one quoted antisemitic comment, presented disapprovingly as being from a historical document; references to war, mass death, mortality, existential despair, religious imagery, the Holocaust/Buchenwald, and the death/euthanasia of a dog. The play also includes brief profanity.

There is no sexual violence, nudity, self-harm, gunshot sounds, or graphic violence. Sensory elements may include projected images/slides, theatrical lighting shifts, and recorded music/scratchy archival-style audio; no strobe/flashing lights or haze will be used.

• Plays
• $30.00 + $2.50 fee
• August 10, 2026
• 90 minutes
• 19:00
• Under St Marks
• 94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009