Theater audiences in New York are seeing a familiar face in a much smaller setting: Anthony Rapp has stepped onto the compact platform of the East Village Basement, a 500-square-foot venue that seats approximately 40 people. This production, Touch, is an one-man show written by Kenny Finkle and directed by Jonathan Silverstein, and it marks Rapp’s return to Manhattan theater after nearly two years away. Performing for such a limited audience has given Rapp a new set of artistic challenges and rewards, as the scale of the space intentionally aligns with the play’s inward focus and emotional immediacy.
Beyond the stagecraft, the run represents a notable personal sacrifice: Rapp has been separated from his husband, Ken Ithiphol, and their sons, Rai Larson Ithiphol and Keony Lee Ithiphol, for the length of the engagement. The family recently relocated to Chicago, and Rapp described being apart for three weeks as the longest time he’s been away from them since they formed their household. For him, that absence is offset by the prospect of a meaningful project, and by the intimacy of a performance that asks both actor and audience to sit very close to difficult questions about identity, authority and consequence.
Small space, large themes
Touch centers on Syd Blatter, a middle-aged, gay fifth-grade teacher who is also a frustrated, less-than-successful writer. In the course of the narrative, an encounter with a former student propels Syd into a crisis that raises questions about boundaries and power. Playwright Kenny Finkle frames the story around the subtle tensions of relationships and the passage of time, inviting the audience to weigh complex moral choices rather than offering tidy answers. The production’s scale amplifies the intensity of those choices: in an environment where the viewers are physically close to the performer, nuance becomes unavoidable.
Origins and development
The project grew from an early production at a festival in Aspen where Touch won an award that included $10,000 in seed money, enabling further development. Rapp said he connected with the script from the first pages and trusted Finkle’s ability to render both external action and inner monologue with clarity. Finkle, who trained as an actor at NYU and earned a master’s in playwriting at Columbia, wrote a piece that uses the small stage as a laboratory for character study; the audience is invited to observe the interplay between public behavior and private thought in real time.
Career arcs and creative choices
Rapp’s career spans screen and stage, beginning with his film debut in Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and continuing through television work such as the FX thriller The Beauty. He has also performed autobiographical material: his one-man show based on his memoir, Without You, appeared in April 2026. On the musical theater front, Rapp originated the role of Lucas in the Broadway production If/Then opposite Idina Menzel and toured nationally from 2014 to 2016. Those varied experiences inform his approach to Touch, where the demands of sustained solo performance require both technical skill and emotional availability.
Legacy and ongoing collaborations
Rapp remains linked to the cultural legacy of Rent, the rock musical that launched a generation of performers and for which he originated the role of Mark Cohen. The show has continued to resonate: Rapp and fellow alum Adam Pascal still perform together in concert settings and are involved in anniversary events this summer that celebrate the musical’s longevity. Rapp describes that connection as an honor rather than a burden, and he continues to revisit the material in smaller-scale formats rather than pursuing a full-scale, all-star Broadway reunion.
Visibility, representation and future roles
Beyond theater, Rapp has been visible in television as part of significant representation milestones: he and Wilson Cruz were among the first openly gay couples depicted on recent Star Trek series, and Rapp played Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2026). He has said publicly that he would reprise that character if the opportunity arose. For now, his focus is on live performance, where he can inhabit the morally ambiguous world of Syd Blatter and invite audiences to grapple with difficult questions about teachers, authority and human fallibility.
For fans who want to see this intimate experiment in person, Touch is staged at the East Village Basement at 321 East 9th Street, New York, N.Y., and is scheduled to run through March 30. Additional information and ticketing details are available at www.touchtheplaynyc.com, where the production presents itself as a concentrated conversation between actor and audience.