Looking for upcoming JACK Rental Events and Performances? Find them here.
ANDREW WATKINS
MOMENTS AFTER AIAS
JULY 17th-26th 2026
A decade of war is coming to a close. A soldier is dead. Devastated by the loss of his closest friend and betrayed by his commanding officers, he also committed an act of unspeakable violence. Now those left behind face a series of collective questions: What was his life worth? What do they owe him? Where does responsibility lie?
moments after Aias is a free adaptation of Sophocles that combines classical and contemporary found-voices. It asks how a community remembers tragedy. And why it is easier to mourn someone than it is to help them.
OYE GROUP
Ghetto Hors D’oeuvres presents 100 Years: The Black Liberation Experience
AUGUST 6th-8th
Rooted in the legacy of Carter G. Woodson and the 100-year journey of Black History celebrations, this year’s GHD honors the artists, historians, organizers, elders, and everyday people who carried Black life forward. Inspired by figures like Arturo Schomburg, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, Gordon Parks, Kara Walker, Basquiat, and the voices from our own blocks, this festival asks: What do we remember? What do we reclaim? What do we reimagine?
Across three nights — REMEMBER!, RECLAIM!, and REIMAGINE! — poets, musicians, performers, and community voices come together in true GHD fashion: part performance, part classroom, part ceremony. We gather to honor where we’ve come from, celebrate how we’ve risen, and dream toward the next 100 years of Black freedom.
FANA FRASER
A sweet Victory
AUGUST 1st 2026
A Sweet Victory casts spells for courage. In this roving experimental play, surreal scenes of dance and sound unfurl with time across the Island. Presented as part of Governors Island Arts’ INTERVENTION series.
STEW
A Spoonful of Booker Helps the Fascism Go Down
june 27th 2026
Tony Award–winning artist Stew is back with the fourth installment of his residency, STEWDIO ZERO, with a new full-length performance.
A night of music and performance that is urgent, electric, and fully alive.
we cannot sing
the evil away
so we’ll sing
because we should
we cannot sing
the evil away
but we'll sing
as if we could
Paul bargetto
& Michael rubenfeld
If i had a gun, i’d take them all down
june 16th 2026
Ukrainian playwright and activist Piotr Armianovski grapples with a century of resistance in this powerful multidisciplinary monodrama, performed by Michael Rubenfeld. Weaving personal testimony with the story of the anarchist who assassinated a Russian prime minister in Kyiv in 1911, If I Had a Gun, I'd Take Them All Down retraces a walk through Kyiv, moving fluidly between historical reenactment and the lived reality of modern Ukraine.
Through a fusion of live performance and documentary video, the stage becomes a meeting point between two places and two realities: the safety of the theatre and a city living under the shadow of war.
The PARSNIP SHIP
Dispatch 06.19.26.: Homegoing / Homecoming (A Live Podcast Event)
june 19th 2026
Dispatch 06.19.26.: Homegoing / Homecoming is an intimate live podcast event by The Parsnip Ship and JACK gathering Black diaspora artists to do exactly that through original theatrical works and live music, recorded live before an intimate audience. Come for the show. Stay for the Homecoming: food, drinks, and community to close out the night together.
JACK's programming is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with Mayor Eric Adams, Speaker Adrienne Adams and the City Council, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development with the support of City Council Member Crystal Hudson, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forrest, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, The Hyde & Watson Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Bains Family Foundation, The John Golden Foundation, Ridgewood Savings Bank, Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman in addition to many generous individuals.