AUGUST 1 TO SEPTEMBER 13
IN PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS & CLOSED-OFF STREETS THROUGHOUT THE 5 BOROUGHS
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY'S STREET THEATER TOUR,
"THE ROOT OF IT ALL: A DENTIST'S TALE"
A comic musical in which a neighborhood dentist and a brigade of unlikely heroes battle cavities of fear, hatred, and injustice after an ICE raid. Book, lyrics and direction by Crystal Field, Artistic Director of Theater for the New City. Musical score composed and arranged by Peter Dizozza. The play is a bouncy joyride through the undulations of the body politic, with astute commentary couched in satire, song and slapstick. TNC's free Street Theater productions are delightfully suited for family audiences, since complex social issues are often presented through children's allegories, with children and neighborhood people as the heroes.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/stth2026.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JQRC8Vy32B3eQmcV7

AUGUST 23 TO SEPTEMBER 13
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
DREAM UP FESTIVAL
Theater for the New City (TNC), under the direction of Crystal Field, will present the 14th Dream Up Festival, an annual festival of new theatrical and performance works. The festival is curated by TNC Literary Manager Michael Scott-Price. This year's lineup includes 23 productions comprising 18 world premieres, one special engagement, one workshop, and three shows with previous production histories. The festival presents new work by emerging and established artists, with an emphasis on experimental and nontraditional performance.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Dreamup2026.html
PHOTOS OF SELECTED SHOWS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wJv7XXocedHgabBPA

AUGUST 27 TO SEPTEMBER 13
GURAL THEATRE AT THE A.R.T. THEATRES, 502 W. 53RD STREET
SMOKING MIRROR THEATRE COMPANY IN "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM"
Smoking Mirror Theatre Company, an emerging Shakespeare troupe, is making its late summer Shakespeare productions at A.R.T.'s Gural Theatre a regular annual event, having previously mounted "The Tempest" (2025) and "The Life and Death of King John" (2026) there. This time, co-directors John Gordon and Ruby Rich will stage Shakespeare's most enchanted comedy with wily minimalism. No elaborate scenery. No theatrical excess. Just fourteen actors, Shakespeare's language, and the audience's imagination.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Smoking_Mirror_Midsummer.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/98V6qmm8bhodRkKQ7

SEPTEMBER 16 TO OCTOBER 25
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"TAKING IT TO THE STREETS," AN ARCHIVAL EXHIBIT OF THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY'S FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF STREET THEATER HISTORY
Theater for the New City (TNC), the historic Off-Broadway Venue that has produced new and avant-garde theater since 1971, is hosting a special exhibit to celebrate 55 years of its Summer Street Theater, an annual production of a new musical with book and lyrics by TNC Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director Crystal Field. The composers of TNC's Street Theater over the years are David Tice, Mark Hardwick, Joseph Vernon Banks and Peter Dizozza. The exhibit will feature photos, recordings, posters, print materials, costumes, props, and other memorabilia, highlighting the people, productions and cultural impact of the Summer Street Theater throughout the decades. The opening is set for Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM in TNC’s gallery located at 155 1st Ave, New York, NY, 10003. Video screenings of selected productions continue Sundays through October 25.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/stth_archive.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qM4EDGyhUvyU1P1Q7

SEPTEMBER 17 TO OCTOBER 4
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"OBIT" BY REBECCA CHACE
A female revenge thriller set in the dystopian future. Maya Hawthorne, an “advance” obituary writer for the New York Times, arrives at the house of an aging college president, Philip Stern, on the campus of Briarwood College to interview him for his obituary. It is deep winter, the college is shut down, wolves and feral dogs roam the grounds. To many, President Stern represents the best of liberal arts values. He is also an art monster who hopes this interview will solidify his legacy with a glowing obituary in the Times. Maya Hawthorne wants answers from the man who ruined her life years earlier. It's a play of interrogation, professional power, and control of a person’s legacy that explores whether revenge can ever produce truth. You can come for the revenge, stay for the suspense, and leave arguing about justice.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Obit.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UuSbwEdk3drUrNhi8

SEPTEMBER 18 TO OCTOBER 4
THEATRE ROW, THEATRE #5
"SHELTER INN PLACE"
Ego Actus Theatre Company presents a raucous family comedy, "Shelter Inn Place" by Henry Feldman, directed by Joan Kane. As a powerful hurricane bears down on a coastal bed-and-breakfast, a harried innkeeper finds himself trapped with his suicidal father, his lovestruck son, his ex-wife, and a celebrity therapist, forcing everyone to confront the emotional storms they have been avoiding.

COMPLETE INFO: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/shelterinnplace.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jXfhgjRiUZs9UHhZ7

OCTOBER 31
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
VILLAGE HALLOWEEN COSTUME BALL
To celebrate the spookiest night of the year with art, music, and community spirit, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will host its annual Village Halloween Costume Ball. A large outdoor festivity will be held from 3:30 PM to 7:00 PM outside the Theater on East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues (or if it rains, in a big tent), featuring performances and a costume competition for kids. The celebration moves inside from 7:00 PM to midnight with nonstop performances, ballroom dancing, an aerial dance concert, and dining in a pop-up restaurant (The Witch's Cauldron) where for $4, guests can savor gourmet dishes donated by local restaurants. The evening culminates in a costume judging with prizes from 11:00 PM to midnight. Admission is free for the outdoor program and $20 for the indoor festivities. Costumes or formal wear are requested.

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/halloween.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/prEwwsQct9R5SC9G7

DECEMBER 3 TO 6
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"EN MER AVEC LOUISE BOURGEOIS" BY MICHELLE BESHAW
A haunting found-object bioplay in which discarded things reveal fragments of the memories and obsessions that animated Louise Bourgeois’s work well into her 90s. Part of La MaMa's Puppet Series 2026. Conceived, written and directed by Michelle Beshaw, performed by Michelle Beshaw and Deborah Beshaw-Farrell. The Beshaw sisters are stalwarts of Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. French-American artist Louise Bourgeois is famous for her monumental spider sculptures, raw explorations of childhood trauma, and deep psychological art that bridged modernism and contemporary installation. Her eight-decade career tackled themes of memory, sexuality, and abandonment through unconventional materials.

FEBRUARY 5 TO 14, 2027
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS' POW-WOW AND DANCE CONCERT
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Pow Wow and Dance Concert will include dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. The event has become a treasured New York tradition for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans. TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for Native American students. A Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. Throughout the performance, all elements are explained in depth through detailed introductions by the troupe's Director and Emcee Louis Mofsie (from the Hopi and Winnebago tribes).

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Pow_Wow_2027.htm
RECENT YEARS' PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/tcrxbtPYtF2hdvhV6 and https://goo.gl/photos/SLr4PXEHJrsq34j9A
HISTORICAL PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/wUcenp6ZcPDcBCYD7

VIDEO ON DEMAND

"USED AND BORROWED TIME" BY SOPHIA ROMMA
"Used and Borrowed Time," written and directed by Sophia Romma, is now available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Roku and the Vyre Network. This experimental avant-garde film, a psychological drama phantasma, has amassed over 45 festival awards and 26 festival film selections. An interracial couple's idyllic love rises above the hatred of a vengeful white supremacist family in segregationist Alabama during the 1960s. The film pays homage to the French New Wave films of Goddard, Truffaut and Agnès Varda. It has been translated from its original English into Greek, Spanish and Italian.

COMPLETE INFO: www.usedandborrowedtime.com

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY & NEW YIDDISH REP PRODUCTION OF "THE DYBBUK"
"The Dybbuk" is arguably the most well-known play in the Yiddish theater lexicon. It was premiered on December 9, 1920 by the Vilna Troupe at the Eizeum theater in Warsaw. Its success catapulted that company onto the International stage. It has since been translated into 27 languages and performed worldwide. From December 9-13, New Yiddish Rep celebrated the play's 100th birthday with a live performance streamed from Theater For The New City. A recording of the production has now been released for the general public to view on YouTube.

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Dybbuk.htm

"Feathers of Fire" is the most elaborate shadow theater experience ever created, and this recording, captured on an actual theater stage, transforms it into a video-on-demand production for all ages. The story is adapted from Shahnameh (the Persian Book of Kings) and tells the action-packed tale of two star-crossed lovers of old Persia. Zaul, an outcast albino boy, is brought up by a bird-goddess and grows up into a wise ruler. He enters into a forbidden love with Rudabeh, a princess who is the granddaughter of the dreaded Serpent King. Their young, impetuous romance survives many precarious adventures before they finally receive blessings for their union. When they ultimately have a child, it is Rostam, "the Hercules of Iran." Aspects of the story are reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet," "Rapunzel," "The Firebird" and "Jungle Book."

The piece is created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist living in Brooklyn. It is endorsed by Francis Ford Coppola, who called the production "Fantastic! One of the greatest epics of all time and my favorite Shahnameh brought to life in a spectacular fashion by Hamid Rahmanian with shadow puppets design and cinematic wizardry."

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/feathers.htm