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After two decades, arts center near One World Trade announces its premiere season
By
Steve Smith
Published Jun 14, 2023
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Iwan Baan for Perelman Performing Arts Center
By
Steve Smith
Published Jun 14, 2023
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Nearly two decades after a master plan for redeveloping the former site of the World Trade Center was drafted, a cultural facility long promised as part of that plan is set to open in September. The Perelman Performing Arts Center, directed by a blue-chip team of entrepreneurs, philanthropists, organizers and curators, announced details of its inaugural season on Wednesday morning.
The facility, located on the corner of Fulton and Greenwich streets, is named for one of its leading benefactors, banker and investor Ronald O. Perelman. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a leading force behind the Hudson Yards arts and culture facility The Shed, is the chairman of the board for the new center. The branding of the facility is now emphasizing PAC NYC — Performing Arts Center New York City — as its name.
Executive Director Khady Kamara, who previously headed New York City's Second Stage Theater, and Artistic Director Bill Rauch, formerly leader of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, will head the facility's artistic leadership.
The facility comprises three main performance spaces: the John E. Zuccotti Theater, which seats 450; the Mike Nichols Theater, with a capacity of 250; and the Doris Duke Foundation Theater, which accommodates up to 99. A flexible design also allows the venues to be combined, for a total capacity extending to 950 seats.
The Perelman Performing Arts Center cuts a striking profile, nestled among downtown towers.
Iwan Baan for Perelman Performing Arts Center
“We have invited some of the most compelling talents in theater, opera, music and dance to work with us and with each other, to create and present new works that bring PAC NYC to life, here in the world capital of performing arts,” Rauch said of the new center's programming initiatives in a media statement. “Our program, which celebrates and brings together an array of artistic disciplines, will anchor a robust and diverse inaugural season that will inspire, entertain and engage all audiences.”
Programming for the center, which will open on Sept. 15, emphasizes access and inclusion. "We will celebrate the diversity and humanity of all five boroughs of New York through ambitious and accessible programming," Kamara said in a statement, pointing in particular to free performances planned to take place in the center's lobby.
Some of the marquee names involved in the inaugural season's programming include actor and director Laurence Fishburne, choreographer Bill T. Jones, playwright David Henry Hwang, poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, dancer/choreographer Jenn Freeman and performance artist Laurie Anderson.
Tickets for the inaugural season go on sale to members on June 20 and to the general public on June 23.
Theaters in the Perelman Performing Arts Center are being designed to accommodate theater and dance performances, concerts and film screenings.
Iwan Baan for Perelman Performing Arts Center
Here are some highlights of the inaugural season at the Perelman Performing Arts Center:
"Refuge: A Concert Series to Welcome the World"
The center opens with a five-night series of concerts, each with a distinct theme and a clutch of marquee name artists. Participating performers include Laurie Anderson, Angélique Kidjo, Mwenso and the Shakes, Forro in the Dark, The Klezmatics, Tanya Tagaq, Common, Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Martha Redbone and the choirs of Trinity Wall Street.
Sept. 19-23, 2023, pay what you wish.
"Watch Night"
Dance, opera and slam poetry converse in a world premiere collaboration involving choreographer Bill T. Jones, poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph and composer Tamar-kali.
Nov. 3-19, 2023
"Is It Thursday Yet?"
Jenn Freeman and Sonya Tayeh are co-creators and choreographers of a multimedia performance rooted in Freeman’s neurodivergent experience, with music composed and performed by Holland Andrews.
Dec. 8-23, 2023
"Between Two Knees"
Indigenous sketch comedy group The 1491s, responsible for the hit TV series "Reservation Dogs," mounts a play spanning almost a century in the life of a Native American family.
Feb. 3-24, 2024
"Like They Do in the Movies"
Laurence Fishburne is the writer and star in the world premiere of a one-man show directed by Leonard Foglia.
March 10-31, 2024
"Number Our Days"
Librettist David Van Taylor conceived this multimedia musical treatment of Jamie Livingston’s “Photo of the Day” series, with new music composed by Luna Pearl Woolf.
April 12-14, 2024
"An American Soldier"
Composer Huang Ruo, playwright David Henry Hwang and director Chay Yew fashion a new opera from the true story of Danny Chen, a U.S. Army soldier who served in Afghanistan, and whose suicide prompted a military investigation.
May 12-19, 2024
"Cats"
Andrew Lloyd Webber's much-loved musical is re-envisioned through the prism of New York City ballroom culture, in a new production directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, and choreographed by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles.
June-July 2024
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Steve Smith
Steve Smith is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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