SERVE AND PROTECT to Bring Direct Action Theatre to Citizen Arts Festival

The Citizen Arts International Festival has announced Serve and Protect from Direct Action Theatre, a two-day community workshop from September 10-11, 2026, and three performances in pop-up locations on September 12 and 13, 2026. The events are free and open to the public. 

Serve and Protect is a playful public intervention by Direct Action Theatre (Norway) that transforms familiar symbols of authority into moments of surprise, humor, and collective reflection. Through choreography, visual theater, and unexpected encounters in public spaces, performers invite audiences to reimagine what it means to serve and protect one another, our communities, nature, and the shared spaces we inhabit.

Blurring the boundaries between performance and civic engagement, Serve and Protect includes a two-day workshop in performance activism. Bringing together community members, artists, and others interested in creative civic engagement, the workshop explores movement, public space, and collective action, informing the spirit of the project's performances and public interventions.

Over two days, participants will talk, move, experiment, play, and create together. The workshop may include movement, dance, discussion, improvisation, and other non-verbal activities. Together, the group will develop a public performance action in response to ideas and issues that matter to the community.

You do not need to be an actor, dancer, artist, or activist to participate. In fact, people with little or no performance experience are especially encouraged to join. Interested in participating? Click HERE for information and to register.

Direct Action Theatre (D.A.T.) is an international 'artivism' collective that blends performance art, public intervention, and political activism. Operating outside traditional theater spaces, the anonymous group uses public environments to challenge social structures, provoke dialogue, and blur the line between reality and performance.

In addition to attending performances, audiences are invited to explore a free exhibition featuring documentation of Direct Action Theatre's interventions from around the world. Details on dates and location to come.

Citizen Arts International transforms New York City's public spaces into vibrant stages for free international performance, participatory art, and cultural exchange. Bringing art into everyday life across the boroughs, the woman-led festival fosters joy, civic engagement, and social connection.

Responding to calls from civic leaders and urban policy advocates to expand equitable access to culture in public space, the festival centers a model of radical accessibility and global cultural exchange, bringing free, high-quality performing arts directly into neighborhood parks and community spaces.

In collaboration with community organizations citywide, the festival's inventive placemaking transforms ordinary spaces into sites of joy, spectacle, dialogue, and shared civic experience. Programming spans new circus, dance, music, theatre, and participatory performance that invite audiences to engage not just as spectators, but as participants in a shared cultural landscape.

Rooted in local partnerships, Citizen Arts International collaborates with organizations including The Ukrainian Museum, Culture Lab LIC, The Bushwick Starr, La MaMa ETC, Citizen Arts and Education, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, NYCEDC's MADE Bush Terminal, Bronx Children's Museum, Barnard Movement Lab, and more to connect performance with community conversation. Through hosted performances, workshops, and intergenerational learning opportunities, the festival creates intimate connections between audiences of all ages to engage with global artists and ideas in spaces that belong to them.

The festival is led by co-directors Meg Araneo, Natalie Rine, and Elena Siyanko. The multigenerational, women-led leadership champions collaboration, artistic vision, and public engagement as central to the citywide festival initiative. With decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, festival programming, international touring, and scholarly practice, they offer a civic-minded, community-focused, and globally informed approach to multidisciplinary performance in public spaces.

Need more Off-Broadway Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...