MAY 28 TO JUNE 28
WP THEATRE, 2162 BROADWAY
WOODIE KING, JR.'S NEW FEDERAL THEATRE PRESENTS
"BLOOMING IN DRY SEASON" BY ELJON WARDALLY
A weathered rum shop in Grenada becomes the crucible for love, regret, and hard choices in "Blooming in Dry Season," a lyrical new play by Eljon Wardally making its New York premiere May 28 to June 28 at WP Theater, 2162 Broadway (at 76th Street), presented by Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre in partnership with North Carolina Black Repertory Company. Directed by Jackie Alexander, the production follows a struggling former Calypsonian, his steadfast wife, and their gifted teenage daughter as they clash over whether to chase opportunity abroad or remain rooted at home. Featuring an original score by acclaimed Trinidadian musician Etienne Charles, the play blends music and drama to explore generational dreams, cultural inheritance, and the cost of holding on--or letting go. It won the International Black Theatre Festival's Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award. 

Eljon Wardally is an award-winning Grenadian Italian-American playwright and screenwriter. Her work focuses on amplifying underrepresented voices with authentic, socially relevant stories, often with a dark comedic twist.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/blooming.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PsF6V5GyTn2MPwWm9

MAY 22 TO 24
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
Over 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and film makers will gather for the 31st annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which will be mounted May 22 to 24 in and around Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street). Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.

The festival has been presented annually since 1996, although in 2020 it was produced online due to pandemic concerns. A cohort of theater, dance, performance, music, film, literary and visual artists are participating on all three days. Multidisciplinary indoor performances will take stage from 6:00 PM to midnight each evening, utilizing two of TNC's four theaters. From 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will line the closed-off block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues. On Saturday afternoon inside in the Johnson Theater, there will be performances by and for children, curated by T. Scott LillyDanielle Hauser and Miguel Loyola, emceed by John Grimaldi. A fine art show, curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe, will be hanging throughout the fest in the theater's lobby gallery. A film program will be presented Saturday from noon to 10:00 PM in the Cabaret Theater, featuring works by auteurs from the Lower East Side/East Village along with works that reflect the essence of the neighborhood. Over 25 films curated by Burak Tatar will be screened, accompanied by talkbacks with a number of the film makers. On Saturday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, an Outdoor Stage adjoining the theater will offer music and multi-discipline performances curated by Richard West, assisted by Didi Champagne. On Sunday from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM in TNC's Community Theater, there will be a "Poetry Jam with Prose on the Side" curated by Lissa Moira.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/LES26.htm
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VGZyTSf9RXf8z5St5

MAY 28 TO JUNE 5
THHE SEGAL CENTER OF CUNY, 365 FIFTH AVE. AND ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES, 32 SECOND AVE.
TENTH ANNUAL SEGAL CENTER FILM FESTIVAL ON THEATRE & PERFORMANCE
From May 28 to June 5, 2026, The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY’s Graduate Center will present the tenth edition of its Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) in partnership with Anthology Film Archives, New York’s legendary arthouse cinema. This year's festival contains a bold international program of new films plus "Robert Wilson On Screen," a retrospective of films by and about Robert Wilson, one of the 20th century’s most transformative theater artists, who passed away in 2025 at the age of 83.

Since its founding in 2015, FTP has been the premier U.S. event for new film and video works focusing on theater and performance, presenting screen-based works that explore the boundaries between stage and cinema, and inviting experimental and established artists from across the globe to share original films with New York audiences and industry professionals.

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

JULY 16 TO AUGUST 1
PARKING LOT AT 145 STANTON STREET
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT "AS YOU LIKE IT"
The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (SITPL) is presenting its 31st season this summer. Its concept--presenting free Shakespeare plays with a "poor theater" aesthetic in a working parking lot--is now widely imitated around the US and around the world, with productions as far away as New Zealand. From July 16 to August 1, free performances of "As You Like It," directed by Hamilton Clancy, will be offered in the schoolyard/ parking lot of Lower East Side Prep, 145 Stanton Street (at Norfolk/Rivington Streets).

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/SITPL_2026.htm

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