Photos: King Kirby to Close Brooklyn Run with Jack Kirby Birthday Celebration
A live JACKED KIRBY podcast taping will follow the show, featuring Mike DeVito, George O'Connor, Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente.
brooklynONE productions (bkONE) is heading into the final weekend of its limited engagement of KING KIRBY, Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente's play chronicling the life, career and imagination of comic-book creator Jack Kirby, following what the company describes as an electric first weekend at Industry City.
Audiences at the Tom Kane Theatre have embraced the production and the larger celebration surrounding it, as bkONE transforms its home at Industry City into a destination for fans to experience Kirby's story, artwork, history and enduring influence on generations of popular culture.
The celebration continues with the final four performances, August 27–30, including two particularly special nights marking Jack Kirby's birthday weekend.
The August 28 performance falls on what would have been Jack Kirby's 109th birthday, giving audiences the opportunity to celebrate 'The King of Comics' by experiencing his story onstage.
The celebration continues Saturday, August 29, when KING KIRBY will be followed by a special live JACKED KIRBY podcast event featuring host Mike DeVito, artist and author George O'Connor, KING KIRBY playwrights Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente, and additional special guests.
The evening will celebrate Kirby's birthday, his creative legacy and the continuing influence of the man whose imagination helped create and define characters and worlds including Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Thor, the X-Men, the New Gods and others.
The event will also honor the memory of Tommy Lombardozzi, the Brooklyn artist, musician and longtime co-host of Jacked Kirby, whose passion for Kirby, comics and independent art was deeply connected to this production.
For nearly a decade, Jacked Kirby has explored the life, artwork and influence of Jack Kirby through hundreds of episodes combining comics history, cultural conversation and the chemistry between DeVito and Lombardozzi. The August 29 event brings that conversation into the Tom Kane Theatre for a night that connects Kirby's legacy, Tommy's memory and bkONE's production of KING KIRBY.
Throughout the engagement, audiences can also explore a Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center exhibition installed at bkONE, along with a display celebrating artwork by Lombardozzi inspired by Kirby.
Together, the production, exhibition and special events have turned KING KIRBY into something larger than a theatrical run — part performance, part comics history, part memorial and part celebration of the creative spirit Jack Kirby represented.
'The first weekend showed us that this production connects far beyond comic-book fandom,' said Anthony Marino, Artistic Director of brooklynONE productions. 'People are responding to Jack as an artist, a husband, a New Yorker and a person who spent his life fighting to create. Now we get to close the run on Jack's birthday weekend, surrounded by people who have spent years celebrating his work, while also honoring our friend Tommy. It feels like exactly what this production was supposed to become.'
The production arrives during what bkONE has dubbed 'The Year of Jack Kirby,' as Kirby's influence continues to reverberate throughout comics, film, television, art and contemporary popular culture.
Final Performances
KING KIRBY
Written by Crystal Skillman & Fred Van Lente
Directed by Bill Coulter
Thursday, August 27 — 8:00 PM
Friday, August 28 — 8:00 PM — Jack Kirby Birthday Performance
Saturday, August 29 — 8:00 PM — Special JACKED KIRBY Post-Show Event
Sunday, August 30 — 3:00 PM — Final Performance
Tom Kane Theatre at brooklynONE productions
Industry City, Building 5
51 35th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Tickets and information: bkONE.org
About brooklynONE Productions
Founded in Brooklyn in 2006, brooklynONE productions (bkONE) is a nonprofit performing arts organization dedicated to bold, independent and collaborative work across theatre, film, music, visual art and live events. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2026, bkONE operates the Tom Kane Theatre at Industry City and continues its mission of building a home for independent artists and audiences in Brooklyn.
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