Restart Stages Graphic © Illustration: Minkyung Lee.
Highlights include:
—Mahogany L. Browne, Lincoln Center’s first ever poet-in-residence, continues her curation of “We Are The Work” with Working Notes Jazz Café, an evening of poetry and jazz, and additional virtual events
—Artistic performances centering and celebrating disabled identity including Dark Disabled Stories by Ryan Haddad, and An Evening of Short Plays presented by Queens Theatre’s Theatre for All
—Premiere of BAAND Together Dance Festival, an unprecedented collaboration of five of New York’s most acclaimed dance companies
—Dance workshops as part of the BAAND Together Festival, including Ballet Hispánico’s Latin Social Dance Workshop, a West African dance and drumming celebration of the Kuku style by Alvin Ailey’s Arts in Education Artists, children’s ballet workshops with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem’s classic workshop for all ages.
—Faces of the Hero, the transatlantic art exhibition in collaboration with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, now on display
—Lincoln Center Theater’s new Summersongs series and special evening concerts with Brian Stokes Mitchell
—Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey, playwright and actress Debra Ann Byrd’s autobiographical one-woman show, presented in collaboration with HARLEM WEEK and the Harlem Arts Alliance
—A special performance by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Mozart’s First and Last Symphonies
—Milly Quezada, “La Reina del Merengue,” performs a selection of hits from her four-decade career, presented in collaboration with NYU Music and Social Change Lab
—Film at Lincoln Center screenings of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and New Dragon Gate Inn co-presented by New York Asian Film Festival
—Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs celebrated repertoire and original arrangements, joined by saxophonist and bandleader Branford Marsalis
—First live performance experience of the 100 Years / 100 Women Project, created to mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
—Masterz at Work dance collective, presented in collaboration with STARR, marks the birthday of late transgender rights activist Marsha P. Johnson and the death of Black Queer civil rights activist Bayard Rustin
—The 20th anniversary celebration of La Casita, a night of traditional and contemporary music and spoken word performance
—The launch of Continuum, cross-genre musical series presenting performance in new and unexpected settings across the Lincoln Center campus, curated by Time for Three’s Nick Kendall
—Mimi Lien’s The GREEN and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Outdoor Reading Room both open daily
—Free tickets to all events can be reserved through the TodayTix Lottery, Official Ticketing Partner of Restart Stages, or through Lincoln Center Guest Services
—Additional surprise Pop-Up performances of music, dance, art, family workshops, Storytimes with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Concerts for Kids, and more to take place on The GREEN and across Campus
—Restart Stages is part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts today announced new artistic performances, collaborations, workshops, family programming, and more coming to Restart Stages this August—the outdoor performing arts center created to champion the revival and recovery of New York City arts.
Lincoln Center’s 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces and civic venues are being activated by artists, arts organizations, students, and many more from across its campus and the five boroughs.
“Events in the month of August, including the Faces of the Hero exhibit to be shown in New York City and at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens, embody the spirit of international creative exchange that makes New York arts and culture some of the most exciting in the world.” – Henry Timms, President and CEO, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Restart Stages at Lincoln Center is made possible through the generous support of the Lincoln Center Board of Directors and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) as part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative, a collaboration bringing new approaches in cultural engagement to public spaces.
Mahogany L. Browne, Lincoln Center’s first ever poet-in-residence, continues her “We Are The Work” residency in August, with in-person and virtual events that act as an artistic call to recharge and unite towards justice within our communities. On August 21, Browne hosts an in-person evening of poetry and jazz outdoors. Entitled Working Notes Jazz Café, the night features Adam Falkner, Max Michael Jacob, Vuyo Sotashe, and Shanelle Gabriel. The short film Wash the Dead by Browne and Russell Craig, directed by Aseanté Renee, runs on Campus all day. Two events – a photography viewing Working Apertures and a conversation on using poetry as a lens for racial and gender equity Are You Doing Your Work – will take place online.
Lincoln Center’s artistic offerings centering and celebrating disabled identities continue past Disability Pride Month with emerging theater talent. Dark Disabled Stories, an autobiographical play by writer and performer Ryan Haddad, strings together a series of comical and unforgiving vignettes exploring a world not built for people with disabilities. Queens Theatre’s New American Voices and Theatre for All have carefully curated a talented artistic team with disabilities for An Evening of Short Plays, three short play readings centering fresh perspectives for Disabled Identities. Both performances feature integration of American Sign Language interpretation, captioning, and audio description for audience members.
Now on display on the Lincoln Center campus is Faces of the Hero, a transatlantic art exhibition examining the meaning of a “hero” and “heroism” through time, a partnership with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens. The project is the inaugural collaboration of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative. The new exhibit features eclectic interpretations of heroism from students at the Parsons School of Design in New York and the Athens School of Fine Arts.
The very first BAAND Together Dance Festival, an unprecedented collaboration of five of New York’s most acclaimed dance companies, begins August 17 – 21. Over five performances, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share a different mixed bill, with artistic directors of each organization curating evenings collaboratively, featuring new works and repertory favorites. As part of the festival, all five companies will offer all ages dance workshops. The Festival is made possible by CHANEL and is a project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund.
Free tickets to August’s Restart Stages events will be made available through the TodayTix Lottery, the Official Ticketing Partner of Restart Stages. The TodayTix Lottery will open for entries two weeks before the performance and close three days prior to the performance at 12:59 p.m. EDT. Attendees who secure tickets will be required to follow safety protocols. Enter the Lottery through the TodayTix app. For those without access to the app, please call Lincoln Center Guest Services at 212-875-5456 to reserve. *
Throughout the month of August, audiences can access The GREEN, the participatory public art installation on Josie Robertson Plaza, and spend a few reflective moments with a book at the Outdoor Reading Room, created by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. New Yorkers may also come across surprise Pop-Up performances in full swing on The GREEN and across campus. Special activities for families and children of all ages include Concerts for Kids, made possible by Amazon, and more. Lincoln Center’s Concerts for Kids and other programming on The GREEN will surprise and delight New York families,” said Carley Graham Garcia, Amazon’s New York City Head of External Affairs. “We’re happy to partner with Lincoln Center as it celebrates New York’s arts and cultural community in space entirely open to the public.”
Select Restart Stages events will be live streamed on Lincoln Center and partner organization digital platforms, increasing access nationally and internationally, well beyond those able to travel to the physical campus.
All performances occur outdoors with health and safety protocols designed in consultation with medical advisors and state guidelines.
Restart Stages is developed in coordination with NY PopsUp, part of Governor Cuomo’s New York Arts Revival, in a partnership to help extend reach of the initiative far beyond Lincoln Center’s campus.
Since the pandemic began, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has driven efforts to bring the power of the arts to New Yorkers outdoors and digitally—from Love From Lincoln Center concerts for individual essential workers to works of art that elevate the voices and lived experiences of people of color in America, such as Carrie Mae Weems’ installation Resist COVID/Take 6!, Davóne Tines’ Vigil, and digital commissions like The Baptism by Carl Hancock Rux. International collaborations with the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens (SNFCC) will bring new approaches to cultural engagement in both cities. These are just the beginning of a reorientation towards prioritizing openness, access, and inclusive excellence—elevating talent from every corner of the globe and fostering a sense of radical welcome on the campus.
Lincoln Center is continuing its commitment to civic and community service at Restart Stages. The New York Blood Center is set to hold a new blood drive at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center on August 4 from 12:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. to help address the critical shortage in NYC. Registration is required. To sign up and for more information, visit nybc.org/lincolncenter. Lincoln Center has also partnered with Food Bank For New York City for several food distributions, and with the City’s new mobile vaccination buses to serve New Yorkers alongside the Campus. In June, the David Rubenstein Atrium served as a designated primary election polling place, in partnership with the Board of Elections, and the Campus hosted public school graduations for over 3,000 graduates and their families from more than fifteen schools from across the city. Additional food distributions, blood drives, and community-related events will be announced in the coming months.
Additional programmatic details, including upcoming events for September, will be announced in the coming weeks. All seating for Restart Stages is located on accessible routes and can be removed to make space for mobility devices. For all Restart Stages family programs, social narratives describing entry and seating through images will be available. These are designed for neurodiverse families preparing for new experiences. American Sign Language, captioning and live audio description are available for select performances and upon request.
*No purchase is necessary to enter the TodayTix Lottery and reserve free tickets for these August performances. The prize value of tickets is $0. The odds of winning tickets depend on the number of eligible entries received. The TodayTix Lottery is open to residents of the 50 United States and D.C., age 18 or over. Complete official rules, prize description, and giveaway entry information will be available on the TodayTix website at TodayTix.com.
Visit RestartStages.org for updates.
***In person press opportunities for Restart Stages are very limited due to mandatory safety protocols and must be arranged in advance with the Lincoln Center Press Office***
Restart Stages at Lincoln Center August Ticketed Event Schedule
Tuesday, August 3 – Saturday, August 28
Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Look Who’s Coming to Dinner
Company SBB//Stefanie Batten Bland
Choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland has made an international name for herself in the dance community with a body of work that is provocative, visually arresting, and thematically daring. Fresh back from a reopening performance at The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard and a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, seven members of her troupe, Company SBB, will present Look Who’s Coming to Dinner, a kinetic reimagining of Stanley Kramer’s landmark 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Where that classic movie captured the shifting racial tensions of its time as a comedy of manners, Bland’s piece honors prior generations’ sacrifice toward a more justly integrated world, while acknowledging the continuing inequities of who has access to a seat at the table.
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
BECOMING OTHELLO: A Black Girl’s Journey
By Debra Ann Byrd
Directed by Tina Packer
Presented in collaboration with HARLEM WEEK and the Harlem Arts Alliance
Classically trained actress and playwright Debra Ann Byrd’s one-woman “living memoir” and musical play, Becoming Othello, explores her upbringing as a young girl raised in Spanish Harlem and the painstaking process of expressing that sometimes-troubled personal history through her acclaimed gender-switched performance as the Moor of Venice. Byrd’s life as a single mother and as an artist provide her with the grounding and depth necessary to inhabit Othello, but it is the willing bravery to share her unseen truths that most resonates with her audiences. In this new adaptation of the play, produced by Harlem Arts Alliance in honor of the annual HARLEM WEEK celebration, she mines the Shakespearean tradition to showcase the struggle, triumph, and excellence of the uptown Black experience.
Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Dark Disabled Stories
By Ryan Haddad
Directed by Jordan Fein
What do a crosstown bus, a bathroom stall, and Gramercy Park have in common? Not very much. But they’re all places where writer and performer Ryan J. Haddad must face the messy contradictions of his proudly disabled life. There’s not always a punchline, darlings, and the truth is often more complicated than the empowered narratives we create for ourselves. Haddad’s newest autobiographical play, Dark Disabled Stories, is a series of stirring vignettes about the strangers he encounters while navigating a city (and a world) not built for his walker and cerebral palsy. By turns raunchy, hilarious, and unforgiving, Dark Disabled Stories probes implicit ableism and the assumptions we make about people we’ll never really know.
Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring special guest Branford Marsalis
One of the finest big bands in the world, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs celebrated repertoire and original arrangements.
Branford Marsalis, saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, joins the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for this special evening. Known as one of jazz’s most virtuosic bandleaders, he also performs as a featured soloist with acclaimed orchestras and pop supergroups like the Grateful Dead and Sting. His scores for award-winning films like the recent Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom provide a window into his talents as a composer of music across all genres.
With music direction by Walter Blanding, audiences will hear Sonny Rollins’s “Freedom Suite,” an instrumental protest piece that foreshadowed the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s, selections from John Coltrane’s iconic work “A Love Supreme,” and Victor Goines’s “Crescent City,” a tone poem about New Orleans.
August 6, 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Mozart’s First and Last Symphonies
Conducted by Louis Langrée
Mozart: Symphony No. 1 in E major, K. 16
Mozart: “The Jupiter Symphony”, Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551
From August 1 – 7, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra will be in residency with students from New York City area music schools for a series of pop-up performances, open rehearsals, and recitals as a part of their ongoing collaborations with music schools across New York City. The week-long residency culminates in a concert on the Damrosch Stage featuring Mozart’s first and last symphonies with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, conducted by Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée. A major component of the MMFO’s efforts with schools across the City of New York was preparing students to perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 1—composed when Mozart himself was merely 8 years old—and this piece will feature select students from the ongoing partnerships with participating schools, performing alongside Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra musicians. The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra will conclude the performance with Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. Performance will be livestreamed.
Participating schools and programs include Union City Music Project; UpBeat NYC; Orchestrating Dreams; Harmony Program; Corona Youth Music Project; Chamber Music Center of New York; BridgeMusik; and Harlem School of the Arts.
This presentation is made possible in part by The Shubert Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, The Howard Gilman Foundation, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.
Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
La Casita
In 2001, Lincoln Center hosted the first La Casita, a citywide, internationally inclusive festival celebrating the global oral traditions in poetry and music, grounded in the principle that New York City is more equitably represented by presenting the rich artistic traditions of its many underserved communities. In honor of La Casita’s twentieth anniversary, their roster of esteemed curators has assembled a stellar cast of artists hailing from across the globe, including interdisciplinary musical performers Madison McFerrin, Amyra León, and Kelly Tsai; spoken word poets Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, Rich Villar and Rabih Ahmed; and Senegalese kora player and vocalist Abdou Mboup. The evening’s host is theater maker and hip-hop artist Baba Israel.
Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
Film at Lincoln Center
Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing
Spike Lee, USA, 1989, 120m
Spike Lee’s third feature marked nothing less than a revolution in American cinema and endures today as not only a seminal portrait of New York City but also as an urgent work of art about race relations, gentrification, and the meaning of community. Set across one blazing-hot summer day in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the film—which earned Lee his first Oscar nomination, for his original screenplay—captures, with a spellbinding blend of humor and political seriousness, the tensions, ecstasies, and agonies among a large ensemble of characters, played unforgettably by Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro, Danny Aiello (who earned an Oscar nomination for his turn as beleaguered pizzeria owner Sal), and countless others.
Wednesday, August 11, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Zeshan B
The Chicago-born soul singer and harmonium player Zeshan B’s finely tuned tenor hints at his classical operatic training, and his regular musical and vocal diversions into Indo-Pakistani folk and classical style serve as indicators of his heritage. But it is his deep love for retro-soul grooves that most clearly defines him as a protege following in the footsteps of sixties and seventies giants like Bobby “Blue” Bland and Sam Cooke, intentionally emphasizing that era’s ethos of progressive politics and intersectional protest music with tracks like his hard-rocking anthem “Brown Power.” A veteran of Lincoln Center’s performance and educational programs, Zeshan and his five-piece band will perform songs from his albums Melismatic and Vetted plus new music Zeshan composed during the pandemic.
Wednesday, August 11, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
New Dragon Gate Inn
Co-presented by New York Asian Film Festival and Film at Lincoln Center
Director: Raymond Lee
Cast: Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen, Lau Shun, Yuen Cheung-yan
Cantonese with English subtitles
Hong Kong, 1992; 109 min
Two of Hong Kong’s greatest actresses of all time, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin (who famously took an arrow in the eye during the shoot) play bad-ass swordswomen who attempt to thwart Ming Dynasty eunuch Tsao (played by Donnie Yen in full supervillain form) as he masterminds a plot to take over the Empire. One of the first Hong Kong films to be shot in China, Tsui Hark’s swordplay extravaganza is the gold standard of 1990s wuxia: a madcap blend of female-powered gravity-defying acrobatics mixed with spaghetti western tropes: it’s no surprise that both Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin have since retired from the big screen. Because really, how do you top a movie like this? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch this masterpiece of popular Asian cinema on the BIG screen.
August 12, 13, and 14, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
Lincoln Center Theater
Brian Stokes Mitchell: Out with the Old, In with the New
Lincoln Center Theater welcomes back Broadway’s favorite leading man, Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, when he returns to Lincoln Center with an evening of song titled Out with the Old, In with the New. “Stokes,” whose velvet baritone has been captivating Broadway audiences since the 1990s, will perform a wide range of songs, contemporary as well as favorites from the American songbook and Broadway, to celebrate our finally moving forward from the shadows of this pandemic. Accompanied by a trio of musicians led by music director Tedd Firth.
Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Mark de Clive-Lowe: Motherland
The electronic jazz pioneer and pianist Mark de Clive-Lowe’s latest project, Motherland, a meditative and evocative sonic journey inspired by Asian mythology and folklore, is newly restaged for the live stage at this very special Lincoln Center concert. Incorporating past work from his Heritage and Dreamweavers albums reimagined through deeply considered explorations of his Japanese ancestry, de Clive-Lowe’s Motherland will be presented with his quartet and special guest artist Kaoru Watanabe on shinobue flute and taiko drums. A recipient of the 2021 US-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship, de Clive-Lowe’s newest work observes and embraces the past, eschews the modern tendency toward the new and reclaims a sense of unity with ancestral connections and our future generations.
Friday, August 13, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Erol Josué: Pèlerinaj
Erol Josué is one of the world’s best known and most highly respected expert in the centuries old Haitian Vodou religion. His presentation spotlight elements of Vodou ritual in a clear and engaging fashion that draws from personal experience, tapping into his many decades as a performer and his accomplished hand as a playwright and arts presenter. Ordained as a Houngan (Vodou priest) in his teens, Erol Josué currently holds the position of General Director of Haiti’s National Bureau of Ethnology, acting as both an academic and living emissary for his birthplace and the Haitian Vodou religion. Josué’s newest album, Pèlerinaj (Pilgrimage), is a showcase for Josué’s eclectic and innovative blend of contemporary jazz, Haitian sacred songs, Creole folk, improvisation, and electronic pop.
Friday, August 13, 2021 at 9:00 p.m.
The GREEN
Silent Disco on The GREEN: DJ Moma & DJ Eli “Escobar”
Groove on The GREEN this summer in the newly reimagined Josie Robertson Plaza at our Silent Disco series, playing hot dance party sets in August with a different world-class DJ every time. We’re sure you’ll agree that the only thing better than going out dancing is dancing outside under the stars! On August 13, the “dance! Dance! DANCE!” duo DJ Moma and DJ Eli “Escobar” hit the ones and twos for a one-of-a-kind Friday the thirteenth dance party.
Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 12:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Concerts for Kids: Let Your Soul Glow
Let Your Soul Glow as you dance, play, and sing along with Soul Science Lab, as they chronicle the joys of world travel, adventure, and cultural exploration. This upbeat and interactive performance will explore building a brighter future together and universal messages of self-empowerment. And of course, the dynamic Soul Science Lab duo, Chen Lo and Asante Amin are bringing their signature big band blend of hip-hop, funk and soul on this funky fresh Afrofuturist journey in the tradition of griots!
Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Jokes and Jazz (Music and Laughs)
Hosted by Sheila Anderson and created by Wali Collins
As Frank Zappa famously asked, “Does humor belong in music?” You’ll find the answer to be a resounding “yes” at this intersection of songs and stand-up, featuring the creative force behind Jokes and Jazz, comedian Wali Collins (Hulu, Comedy Central). Your host for the evening is WBGO DJ Sheila Anderson. Bringing the Jazz will be the Willerm Delisfort trio, and funny folks Erin Jackson (Seth Meyers, Netflix) and Michael Somerville (Late Show with David Letterman, Wingman) will provide the jokes.
Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
Virtual Event*
Working Apertures
Hosted by Lincoln Center Poet-in-Residence Mahogany L. Browne
A virtual photography viewing featuring the work of Jeff Kay accompanied by the poetry of Sarah Kay.
*No tickets required for this virtual event
August 15 and 16 at 8:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Lincoln Center Theater
LCT Summersongs: John Gallagher, Jr.
One of today’s most eclectic talents, John Gallagher, Jr., will open the LCT Summersongs series with a performance which will include his own original songs, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Gallagher’s versatility, evident from his Tony Award-winning performance in Spring Awakening, to his subsequent starring roles on Broadway in Green Day’s American Idiot, the O’Neill classic Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and on TV in HBO’s The Newsroom, will be on full display during this intimate evening in Hearst Plaza.
Sunday, August 15, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
K-Pop Disco Fever
Presented in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center New York
The international sensation that is K-Pop has infiltrated and influenced every level of contemporary music from the Billboard charts to the Broadway stage. Now, in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center New York, the K-Pop summer comes to Lincoln Center. Join us for a joyful dance party with your host DJ Gamma Vibes on the turntables spinning tracks from breakout artists like PSY all the way up to modern hitmakers like BTS, Blackpink, and Twice. If you don’t know the steps, just follow the lead from I LOVE DANCE, the Queens-based K-Pop instructors and dance troupe, kicking it live.
August 15, 16, 19, and 20, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Stage at Jaffe Drive
Continuum at Jaffe Drive
Artistic Director, Nick Kendall
Slip into an unexpected musical hideout when violinist Nick Kendall, artist in residence and artistic director of Continuum, unveils his four shows in the underground Jaffe Drive at Lincoln Center. Kendall’s informal and spontaneous collaborations create emotional and personal connections between artists and audience, a shared path of musical discovery. Surprise programming will become a musical playground for the highest caliber artists, where super music lovers and fans can experience something unique and new.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Kuku and U!: An Interactive West African Dance Celebration with Ailey
Led by Ailey Arts In Education Teaching Artists Sherece Hill and Matthew Hill
This workshop is a part of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Restart Stages at Lincoln Center and will be led by Ailey Arts In Education Teaching Artists Sherece Hill and Matthew Hill.
Visionary choreographer Alvin Ailey’s work was influenced by the rich legacy of West African dance – high-powered, rhythmic movement with roots in storytelling and community. Join Ailey Arts In Education Teaching Artists in person at Lincoln Center for an interactive celebration of Kuku, a lively West African rhythm and dance style sure to bring a smile to dance lovers of any age. Learn the steps, get on your feet, and clap along to the rhythms of djembe drums at this high-spirited workshop that shares the joy of Kuku with the whole family.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
BAAND Together Dance Festival: Program 1 – August 17
In an unprecedented celebration of dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share the spotlight for the first time at Lincoln Center’s BAAND Together Dance Festival. August 17 features the following programming (*subject to change): Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Lazarus by Rennie Harris (excerpt), New York City Ballet’s Ces noms que nous portons by Kyle Abraham, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Harlem on My Mind by Darren Grand Moultrie (excerpt), American Ballet Theatre’s Let Me Sing Forevermore, and Ballet Hispánico’s 18+1 by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano.
August 17 and 18, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Lincoln Center Theater
LCT Summersongs: The Bengsons
“The Bengsons” are Abigail and Shaun Bengson
Personal. Raw. Real. Powerful. Funny. Charming. Harrowing. Full of Life. These are all adjectives used to describe the electro-folk music of Abigail and Shaun Bengson, the married composing and performing couple whose autobiographical work has been seen and heard in New York at Ars Nova and New York Theatre Workshop, as well as nationally, internationally and on YouTube, where videos of their songs have racked up millions of views. Hearst Plaza audiences are guaranteed to be taken on a joyful ride by this award-winning duo.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
New York City Ballet’s Children’s Workshop
Led by NYCB Dancers accompanied by a NYCB Pianist
This workshop is a part of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Restart Stages at Lincoln Center and will be led by New York City Ballet dancers and accompanied by a New York City Ballet pianist.
Get your little ones moving in this movement workshop exploring the enchanted world of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. NYCB Artists will guide children in a warm-up and choreography inspired by the magical characters in this treasured tale. No experience necessary and young movers of all abilities are welcome.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
BAAND Together Dance Festival: Program 2 – August 18
In an unprecedented celebration of dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share the spotlight for the first time at Lincoln Center’s BAAND Together Dance Festival. August 18 features the following programming (*subject to change): New York City Ballet’s In Creases by Justin Peck, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s New Bach, by Robert Garland, American Ballet Theatre’s Songs of Bukovina by Alexei Ratmansky (excerpts), and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Revelations by Alvin Ailey (excerpt).
Thursday, August 19, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
ABTKids Story Ballet Workshop
Led by ABT Teaching Artists
This workshop is a part of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Restart Stages at Lincoln Center and will be led by ABT Teaching Artists.
Join American Ballet Theatre for an intimate dance workshop that will introduce your child to the most popular story ballets in the company’s repertoire. Children 4-12 years old, divided by age, will participate in activities directed by ABT Teaching Artists. As an introduction to the movement of ballet, the children are guided through a ballet warm-up and taught a short piece of choreography based on ballets that ABT regularly performs at Lincoln Center. Children will transform into the elegant swans of Swan Lake, soar as a swashbuckling pirate from Le Corsaire and bound through the energetic dances of Don Quixote! There is no need for any prior dance background, as we welcome all to experience the joy of dancing. Children are encouraged to wear their favorite dance clothes.
Thursday, August 19, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
BAAND Together Dance Festival: Program 3 – August 19
In an unprecedented celebration of dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share the spotlight for the first time at Lincoln Center’s BAAND Together Dance Festival. August 19 features the following programming (*subject to change): Dance Theatre of Harlem’s New Bach by Robert Garland, Ballet Hispánico’s Línea Recta by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, American Ballet Theatre’s Songs of Bukovina by Alexei Ratmansky (excerpts), and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Revelations by Alvin Ailey (excerpt).
August 19 and 20, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Lincoln Center Theater
LCT Summersongs: Grace McLean & Them Apples
“Grace McLean & Them Apples” is Grace McLean, with Justin Goldner on bass and Hiroyuki Matsuura on drums
The “phenomenal” (NY Times) award-winning actor-singer-songwriter Grace McLean will bring her own special magic to Hearst Plaza, accompanied by Justin Goldner on bass and Hiroyuki Matsuura on drums, to perform a concert of her acclaimed original music, accompanying herself on the looper. Winner of the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 production of her musical In the Green, McLean’s voice was described by Stephen Holden in the NY Times as “a flexible instrument with unexpected reserves of power…Behind her playful adventurousness lies a well of passion.”
Friday, August 20, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Ballet Hispánico’s Latin Social Dance Workshop
Led by Ballet Hispánico Teaching Artist Yvonne Gutierrez
This workshop is a part of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Restart Stages at Lincoln Center and will be led by Ballet Hispánico Teaching Artist Yvonne Gutierrez.
Celebrate the reopening of the city with Ballet Hispánico while dancing to the beats of Salsa, Mambo and Cha-cha. Full of energy and good music, this outdoor workshop is designed for the whole family and it includes basic movements that everyone can enjoy and follow. Participants are welcome to bring their own partner, continue to dance solo, in a group, or dance with someone new! Learn the steps and reconnect with your loved ones and the vibes of New York City through the joy of dance.
Friday, August 20, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
BAAND Together Dance Festival: Program 4 – August 20
In an unprecedented celebration of dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share the spotlight for the first time at Lincoln Center’s BAAND Together Dance Festival. August 17 features the following programming (*subject to change): Ballet Hispánico’s Tiburones by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, New York City Ballet’s In the Night by Jerome Robbins, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Change by Dianne McIntyre, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Lazarus by Rennie Harris (excerpt).
Friday, August 20, 2021 at 9:00 p.m.
The GREEN
Silent Disco on The GREEN: DJ Ushka
Groove on The GREEN this summer in the newly reimagined Josie Robertson Plaza at our Silent Disco series, playing hot dance party sets in August with a different world-class DJ every time. We’re sure you’ll agree that the only thing better than going out dancing is dancing outside under the stars! On August 20, DJ Ushka brings the beats, deejaying from the perspective of a dancer, blending a wide range of club music from soca to dancehall, hip hop to south Asian rhythms, Baltimore/Jersey club to baile funk, vogue cuts to kuduro, azonto to afrobeats and more.
Saturday, August 21, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Inside Ballet with Dance Theatre of Harlem
Led by Dance Theatre of Harlem Company Artists
This workshop is a part of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Restart Stages at Lincoln Center and will be led by Dance Theatre of Harlem Company Artists.
Join Dance Theatre of Harlem for an informal performance that will take viewers into the art of classical ballet, from the training and preparation of a dance artist through the elements of choreography. Following a brief history on ballet and DTH, the performance begins with exercises at the barre and the reasoning behind them before quickly moving on to jumping, partnering and lifts. Finally, viewers can enjoy excerpts from the DTH repertoire showing different styles of ballet, including Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Vessels, Arthur Mitchell’s Tones II, the adagio from the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux and Robert Garland’s “Mother Popcorn”. Viewers will be able to interact with the Company Artists during a Q&A segment to close the program.
Saturday, August 21, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
BAAND Together Dance Festival: Program 5 – August 21
In an unprecedented celebration of dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share the spotlight for the first time at Lincoln Center’s BAAND Together Dance Festival. August 17 features the following programming (*subject to change): Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Lazarus by Rennie Harris (excerpt), New York City Ballet’s Ces noms que nous portons by Kyle Abraham, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Harlem on My Mind by Darrell Grand Moultrie (excerpt), American Ballet Theatre’s Let Me Sing Forevermore by Jessica Lang, and Ballet Hispánico’s 18+1 by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano.
August 21 and 22, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Lincoln Center Theater
LCT Summersongs: Michael R. Jackson – MichaelMakeYouFeelGood
Music Director/pianist: Sean Patrick Cameron
Composer-lyricist-playwright Michael R. Jackson made his professional theatrical debut in 2019 when his musical A Strange Loop took New York by storm, winning numerous accolades including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. With MichaelMakeYouFeelGood, the triple threat, described by Vogue Magazine as “hyper-observant and hyper-verbal… part of an extraordinary generation of ferociously talented black playwrights,” will be backed by music director/pianist Sean Patrick Cameron and a trio of musicians and singers, to perform an evening of stories and music guaranteed to—make you feel good.
Saturday, August 21, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Stage at Jaffe Drive
Working Notes Jazz Café
Hosted by Lincoln Center Poet-in-Residence Mahogany L. Browne
From July to September, Mahogany L. Browne is Lincoln Center’s first ever poet-in-residence, curating monthly virtual and in-person events in a residency entitled “We Are The Work”—an artistic call to recharge and unite towards justice within our communities.
On August 21, Browne hosts an evening of poetry and jazz outdoors. It is the (re)imagining of your favorite city and new friends beneath the stars. Featuring: Adam Falkner, Max Michael Jacob, Vuyo Sotashe, and Shanelle Gabriel. A film installation showing Wash the Dead, a short film by Mahogany L. Browne and Russell Craig, directed by Aseanté Renee, runs all day.
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Liraz Charhi
Israeli singer Liraz Charhi, already a well-known actress in her homeland, writes her songs in Farsi, the language of her native nation of Iran. It is a country where, as a singer, she is unwelcome, regardless of her popularity. While Liraz’s 2019 single “Zan Bezan (Women, Sing)” lyrically channels the tradition of powerful Iranian pop musicians such as Googoosh and Ramesh, her compositions encompass both Eastern instrumentation and Western electronic house beats and synths. For Liraz, a glamorous and exciting live performer, simply to take the stage is a political act.
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
Masterz at Work
Presented in collaboration with STARR
The Masterz at Work dance collective, made up of fierce, young performers from different dance backgrounds, ignites the Damrosch Stage with jazz, hip-hop, street jazz, house, African, vogue and contemporary dance. The individual technique of each collective member is undeniable, but when they get together, it’s truly a masterpiece. In collaboration with co-presenter STARR, the Strategic Trans Alliance for Radical Reform, these joined forces for greater trans equity present a celebratory evening of unstoppable talent on the anniversary of the birthday of the late transgender rights activist and icon Marsha P. Johnson and the passing of Bayard Rustin, another Black queer civil rights great.
STARR is the oldest Trans-led civil rights group in the U.S., founded after Stonewall by Trans individuals in order to give their community a voice with the nationwide movement and push for TLGBQ+ rights. This performance wraps up STARR’s 2021 series of Pride events.
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
An Evening of Short Plays
Presented by Queens Theatre’s New American Voices and Theatre for All
Reflecting Queens Theatre’s commitment to the creation of original work and engagement within the Disabled community, this evening of three short play readings centers on fresh perspectives for Disabled identity. In 2001, Queens Theatre began its play development program, New American Voices, which led to the 2018 launch of their Theatre for All initiative, created to provide services for Disabled audiences and offer financial support, training and opportunities for Disabled artists. Following an earlier collaboration between QT and Lincoln Center in 2020, this evening’s show features a team of Disabled writers chosen from submissions to New American Voices and artists from its Theatre for All training program. Stage direction will be supplemented by audio description and American Sign Language captioning will be provided.
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
100 Years / 100 Women Project
Presented in collaboration with Park Avenue Armory, lead partner National Black Theatre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Laundromat Project
To mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, Park Avenue Armory, with lead partner National Black Theatre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Laundromat Project, and seven other cultural institutions across New York City, commissioned over 100 self-identified women, or nonbinary, artists to respond to the complex history of women’s suffrage, the 100 Years / 100 Women Project. On the eve of Women’s Equality Day 2021, join the 100 Years / 100 Women Project partners and commissioned artists at Lincoln Center’s Restart Stages for the first live celebration of the project with music, dance, and spoken word to honor a kaleidoscope of women who inspire us all.
Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Restart Stage at Damrosch Park
Milly Quezada
Presented in collaboration with NYU Music and Social Change Lab
Justly known as “La Reina del Merengue,” Santo Domingo’s own Milly Quezada has released 34 beloved albums of Latin dance music over a 45-year recording career. Whether as a solo artist, alongside luminaries such as the Fania All-Stars or with her family band, Milly, Jocelyn y los Vecinos, Quezada has been the defining voice of bachata and merengue for multiple generations and one of the Dominican Republic’s best known musical titans. Her 2020 hit “Gracias a Ti,” was dedicated to frontline healthcare professionals who worked through COVID-19, and her most recent song is central to a national campaign on behalf of the Dominican Republic. Come dressed to impress and dance for a greatest hits performance from this four-time Latin Grammy Award winner, live on the big stage in Damrosch Park!
August 26, 27, and 28, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
The Stage at Jaffe Drive
NYLaughs: Laughs Under Lincoln Center*
Presented in collaboration with NYLaughs
After a year like 2020, we could all use a laughter intervention! NYLaughs, through its signature stand-up series Laughter in the Park and Laughter in the City, has been bringing no-cover comedy sets to New Yorkers since 2007, with a roster of program alumni that includes Amy Schumer, Hannibal Buress, Michael Che, Todd Barry and Michelle Buteau. For nearly 15 years, NYLaughs’ outdoor comedy shows in public spaces and parks have enriched lives and let audiences soak up free Vitamin D without a drink minimum. Now, they’re bringing the fun indoors to Lincoln Center’s Stage at Jaffe Drive for a one-of-a-kind experience that we promise will be less sweaty and awkward than your last hot yoga class. Expect stellar talent and big laughs from the unique cultural asset that is NYC’s stand-up scene!
*May Include explicit language; talent is subject to change.
Friday, August 27, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Son Rompe Pera
Kacho, Kilos and Mongo Gama, the three brothers who drive the marimba-driven cumbia combo Son Rompe Pera polished their chops as street musicians in Mexico City, perfecting a raucous and modern reinvention of the genre that draws from ska, rockabilly and punk. The result is a sound that straddles old and new, distinctly danceable and entirely accessible for younger audiences unfamiliar with the rich Pan-Latin tradition of cumbia music. Son Rompe Pera has since achieved success on the global music festival scene, particularly in Chile. For their Lincoln Center debut, the band will perform a set of rambunctious, high-energy songs from their recently released debut LP, named after and inspired by their late father and bandleader, Batuco.
August 28 at 7:00 p.m.
Virtual Event*
Are You Doing Your Work?
Hosted by Lincoln Center Poet-in-Residence Mahogany L. Browne
Join the virtual conversation with leaders who use their platforms to ignite change through poetry as a lens for racial and gender equity. Featuring V (formerly Eve Ensler), Yolanda Sealey Ruiz, and Idrissa Simmonds.
*No tickets required for this virtual event
Saturday, August 28, 2021 at 12:00p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Concerts for Kids: Yasser Tejeda
Guitarist, vocalist, composer, and producer Yasser Tejeda performs original and traditional music based on Afro-Dominican and Dominican Roots culture and traditions in a joyous concert for families. Yasser gives traditional folkloric music a new spin with jazz, rock and Caribbean rhythms, and he’s committed to writing new music to continue preserving and celebrating Dominican roots music. His debut album Mezclansa was dubbed one of the “100 essential recordings of Dominican music” by the Nation’s Association of Art Writers (Acroarte), and his second album Kijombo received six awards from Dominican Republic’s Indie awards ‘Premios Indie,’ including Best Album.
Saturday, August 28, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Jubilee 11213: The Keeping
Conceived by Ebony Noelle Golden and collaborators
Presented in collaboration with Weeksville Heritage Center
Ebony Noelle Golden’s work as a scholar, performance artist and cultural organizer has earned her a reputation as a progressive creator to watch. As one of New York’s foremost social justice artists, she engages with communities and local neighborhoods by means that foreground Black women as a matrix for liberation and civic growth. Her recent residency at Brooklyn’s Weeksville Heritage Center inspired her newest piece, Jubilee 11213: The Keeping, a public processional, site-specific ceremony and interactive theatrical experience that incorporates dance, music, fashion, film and storytelling into a ritual of reparation and recovery. Golden and her collaborators will be freely adapting that work at the Lincoln Center campus in a bold reclamation of intellectual and physical space.
About Restart Stages
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is spearheading Restart Stages, a sweeping initiative creating 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces—an outdoor performing arts center—as well as other civic venues to help kickstart the performing arts sector and contribute to the revival of New York City.
As one of New York City’s leading arts institutions and an anchor of its cultural and public life, Lincoln Center is embarking on this effort as a symbol of its commitment to the city and to an equitable revitalization that elevates all New Yorkers. Restart Stages is a major, public-facing component of its broader effort to provide resources in this moment not just to Lincoln Center’s resident companies, but to the performing arts community as a whole — helping get artists back to work and supporting institutions from Brooklyn to the Bronx to engage their communities in the elevating power of the arts.
Restart Stages launched on World Health Day, April 7, with a special performance for healthcare workers. It has continued with pop-up performances by ensembles from The Juilliard School, Passion Fruit Dance Company/Tatiana Desardouin in collaboration with Works & Process, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and puppeteer Basil Twist. Many art installations have called the Lincoln Center campus home during Restart Stages, including “We Belong Here” by Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya.
About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the steward of the world’s leading performing arts center, an artistic and civic cornerstone for New York City comprised of eleven resident companies on a 16-acre campus. The nonprofit’s strategic priorities include: supporting the arts organizations that call Lincoln Center home to realize their missions and fostering opportunities for collaboration across campus; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; and reimagining and strengthening the performing arts for the 21st century and beyond, helping ensure their rightful place at the center of civic life.
About TodayTix
TodayTix takes the drama out of theater ticketing. With prices that can’t be beat, an app and website that are simply enjoyable, and all the theater you could ever imagine — it’s created a new generation of theatergoers.
TodayTix set out to get more people to the theater by taking the confusion out of buying tickets. The company made a traditional industry adapt to today’s audiences with an easy-to-use app, an impressive variety of shows, and first-to-market digital Lottery and mobile Rush programs (which have generated over 400 million impressions on social media). With its seamless platform and impressive reach, TodayTix works with over 1,600 partners in 16 markets to attract and engage audiences from around the world. Since launch in 2013, over six million theatergoers across the world have enjoyed a show because of it.
TodayTix is part of TodayTix Group, theatre’s one-stop-shop but not one-size-fits-all distribution network combining unparalleled inventory with an expansive consumer ecosystem built for global audiences.
To learn more, download TodayTix for iOS or Android or visit www.todaytix.com
BAAND Together Dance Festival is made possible by CHANEL. #CHANELandDance
A Project of Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund
BAAND Together Festival Education Workshops are generously sponsored by The Thompson Family Foundation
Pop-up performances and family workshops made possible by Amazon
Major support provided by Jody and John Arnhold, Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund and First Republic Bank
Major support for Lincoln Center accessibility programming is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Taft Foundation, The FAR Fund, Kenneth Goldman Donor Fund and The Megara Foundation.
Restart Stages is made possible by Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative
Major support provided by First Republic Bank
Additional support provided by BNY Mellon, Cleary Gottlieb, Warburg Pincus, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Inc., the Scully Peretsman Foundation, Shari and Jeff Aronson, and Lincoln Center’s 20/21 Donors and Members
Endowment support is provided by Oak Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund
In-kind support is provided by United Staging and Rigging, Worldstage, Inc., Audio, Inc., Hudson Scenic Studio, and TGIF Event Services
Lincoln Center’s artistic excellence is made possible by the dedication and generosity of our board members
Operation of Lincoln Center’s public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York
Public support for Lincoln Center is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Gonzalo Casals, Commissioner, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature
NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center
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