Molière in the Park's production of "Don Juan" tops a new list of five must-see Off Broadway shows compiled by critics for the season's new and remounted productions.

The recommendations, published by a team of critics, span five titles: "Don Juan," staged by Molière in the Park; "Beyond the Stardust"; "The Hope Theory"; "Pre-Existing Condition"; and additional productions grouped under the critics' "and more" selections.

Molière in the Park, the company behind the top-billed pick, has made its name presenting the works of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin — the 17th-century French playwright known as Molière — for New York audiences. "Don Juan," Molière's 1665 comedy about the legendary libertine, is the kind of title that anchors a company's identity, and its inclusion at the head of the critics' list signals that this staging earned particular attention.

The remaining named recommendations cover a wide expressive range. "Beyond the Stardust" and "The Hope Theory" suggest productions reaching toward the speculative and the observational, while "Pre-Existing Condition" signals work with a sharper, contemporary edge — its title alone points toward themes of healthcare, vulnerability, or inheritance of circumstance. The critics' list deliberately mixes new writing with remounted productions, a distinction that matters Off Broadway, where a returning show has already survived the economics of a first run and returns by demand.

Off Broadway remains the sector where New York theater tests itself. The category, defined by house size rather than ambition, has historically been the proving ground for work that later defines the culture — from musicals that transferred uptown to plays that entered the canon. A critics' shortlist of five, drawn from the hundreds of productions running at any given moment in the city's smaller venues, functions as a filter for audiences navigating that volume.

The list's structure — five named titles plus a broader tail of additional recommendations — reflects how critics' picks typically work in practice: a headline set of productions judged ready for a general audience, followed by selections for particular tastes. "Don Juan" sits first among them.

For readers planning theatergoing, the practical takeaway is direct. Five titles are flagged as worth the ticket: Molière in the Park's "Don Juan," "Beyond the Stardust," "The Hope Theory," "Pre-Existing Condition," and the critics' further picks. Tickets for Off Broadway productions tend to have shorter runs and smaller houses than their Broadway counterparts, so the recommended window to catch any of these is the current season, before the productions close or complete their remounted engagements.