Nathan Lane, Christopher Abbott & Ben Ahlers To Host Shubert Foundation High School Theatre Festival

In its 12th year, more than 200 talented young NYC public school theatre artists will make their Broadway debuts in The 2026 Shubert Foundation High School Theatre Festival for NYC Public Schools on Monday, May 4 at 7:30pm at the Schoenfeld Theatre. This annual theatre education experience for NYC students is presented by The Shubert Foundation and the NYC Public Schools Arts Office.
 
Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Nathan Lane, with  Death of a Salesman co-stars  Christopher Abbott and Ben Ahlers, will host this year’s 12th annual event. They will be joined by additional guest presenters, including Isa Antonetti (Buena Vista Social Club), Treshelle Edmond (Spring Awakening), Thayne Jasperson (Hamilton), Francis Jue (Yellowface), Aimé Donna Kelly, (Law & Order: SVU), Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), Da’Von Moody (Buena Vista Social Club), N’Kenge (Motown: the Musical), Liz Pearce (Masquerade) Caesar Samayoa (Just in Time) and Abel Santiago (Julliard & Shubert Festival Alumni).
 
The Festival celebrates five high school student productions from the 2025-26 school year, selected from more than 30 plays and musicals across the city by professional theatre artists and theatre educators. Over the course of the Festival’s 12-year history, school productions from all five boroughs have performed at the event.
 
This year, student presentations from the following schools will perform excerpted scenes and musical numbers in order as follows:
 
CHICAGO – Susan E. Wagner High School (Staten Island)
COME FROM AWAY – Professional Performing Arts High School (Manhattan)
IN TRANSIT – Brooklyn High School of the Arts (Brooklyn)
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS – Academy for College Preparation & Career Exploration (Brooklyn)
THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL – Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Campus Collaboration (Manhattan)
 
A new addition to the program this year includes performances by students who placed first and second in the NYC Shakespeare Competition. They will perform their winning monologues, followed by a scene from Romeo & Juliet:
 
Madison Martinez – Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts (Manhattan)
Kriston Hall – Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts (Manhattan)
 
The Festival showcases the ongoing excellent theatre work currently taking place in NYC public high schools, as well as highlighting the crucial skills of theatre study for the stage and in life: collaboration, artistry, discipline, focus, literacy, student voice, self-awareness, presence, and empathy. The evening focuses on the impact that a dedicated theatre program can have on students and school communities, enabling students to see theatre and the arts as a potential career path. For more information, visit www.shubertfoundation.org.