23rd annual PRELUDE Festival and More Set for Martin E. Segal Center Fall 2026 Season

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY, has set its Fall 2026 season, a wide-ranging program of events running from October through December. The season brings together theater and performance scholars and writers, landmark publications, international theater makers, daylong symposia and conversations with major figures in contemporary and downtown performance.

October 7-10, 23rd annual PRELUDE Festival

The season opens with the 23rd annual PRELUDE Festival, October 7–10, which expands beyond the Segal Center's Midtown home to Coffey Street Studio in Red Hook, the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg and private residences. PRELUDE presents works-in-progress, performances and critical conversations by artists working across solo performance, ensemble theater, contemporary dance, clown, performance art, music and multidisciplinary practice. The complete PRELUDE program is available on the Segal Center website: PRELUDE 2026

Following PRELUDE, the fall program continues with book celebrations, journal launches, explorations of theatre history and contemporary scholarship, international perspectives and conversations with influential artists.
 

Thursday, October 22, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

The season continues with a book celebration of “The Diaries of Judith Malina,” volumes 1–4, edited by Kate Bredeson, together with Anna Opel's “NOW! Judith Malina and the Living Theatre.” The evening examines Malina's diaries and Opel's new biography, with Kate Bredeson, Anna Opel, Alisa Solomon, Cindy Rosenthal, Penny Arcade and others, moderated by Frank Hentschker. More information and RSVP

Monday, November 2, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

“The Theatre of Drawing,” edited by Bonnie Marranca and Daniel Sack, is celebrated in an evening examining drawing as a form of performance, with work by 42 influential American artists and more than 160 images. Marranca is publisher/editor of PAJ Publications and author of books of theatre criticism; Sack is a theatre scholar and editor of “Imagined Theatres.” More information and RSVP

Thursday, November 5, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

The Segal Center launches “The Robert Wilson Yearbook,” a peer-reviewed annual journal devoted to the study, documentation and critical exploration of Robert Wilson's life, work and influence. The fully online journal includes essays, archival research, artist reflections, performance documentation and creative responses. More information and RSVP

Monday, November 9, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

“Greek Tragedy Today: Trojan Women” marks the New York debut of Joel Christensen and Paul O'Mahony's Reading Greek Tragedy Online ensemble, with scenes from Euripides' “Trojan Women” and an introduction to a new adaptation of “Iliad 6.” Christensen is a classics scholar and O'Mahony is a theatre maker and scholar; together they helped create the Reading Greek Tragedy Online series in 2020. More information and RSVP

Thursday, November 12, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

The Center launches “Tahkox: Indigenous Stages,” an interdisciplinary academic journal dedicated primarily to Indigenous authors writing about theatrical and cultural performance around the world. Founded by GC CUNY Ph.D. candidate Opalanietet (Ryan Victor Pierce) and Frank Hentschker, the journal publishes work in English and Indigenous languages with English translations. More information and RSVP

Monday, November 16, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

“Revolutionary Islands - Caribbean Theatre Project” brings together playwrights, directors and scholars engaging the colonial and revolutionary histories of the Caribbean and its diaspora, including France-Luce Benson's “WORTHY” and Deepa Purohit's “The In Between: A Love Story.” Benson is a Haitian-American playwright and performer; Purohit is a playwright and producer; directors Keith Josef Adkins and Awoye Timpo join the artists and scholars for a panel moderated by Frank Hentschker. More information and RSVP

Thursday, November 19, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

The GC CUNY Student Doctoral Theatre Students' Association presents “Sticky Situations: Bodies / Pleasures / Perturbations,” a conference examining the artistic, scholarly and methodological entanglements that theatre and performance studies encounter in the messy present. More information and RSVP

Monday, November 30, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

“The Voyage of St. Louis” by Daniel Kehlmann, in Tom Stoppard's radio-play adaptation, will be presented in an evening of “Remembering Tom Stoppard,” directed by Carey Perloff, with Kehlmann. Stoppard was one of the major British playwrights of the late 20th and early 21st centuries; Kehlmann is the German-Austrian author of “Measuring the World” and “Tyll.” More information and RSVP

Thursday, December 3, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

Lighting artist Jennifer Tipton and sound artist Eric Sluyter will discuss their work on the upcoming Wooster Group Production “L.S.D. (...just the high points…) Renovation,” with company members Kate Valk and Ari Fliakos. Tipton is an internationally recognized lighting designer for theatre, opera and dance; Sluyter is a composer and sound artist who has scored and mixed the Wooster Group's stage and media pieces since 2015. More information and RSVP

Monday, December 7, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

A celebration of “Global Theatre from the Cherry Artists Collective: New Plays in Translation” will feature excerpts from plays by Frédéric Sonntag of France, Gabrielle Chapdelaine of Quebec, David Paquet (Quebec), and Rebekka Kricheldorf of Germany, with Samuel Buggeln. The Cherry Artists Collective, based in Ithaca, has spent a decade developing new and unusual plays from around the world for English-language artists and audiences. More information and RSVP

Thursday, December 10, 6:30 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

“Grazia Deledda (Italy) Ritrovata” commemorates the centenary of Grazia Deledda's 1926 Nobel Prize and includes readings of plays inspired by her work. Deledda was a Sardinian novelist and the first Italian woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature; the program features Italian playwright Marcello Fois and Nalini Vidoolah Mootoosamy of Italy and Mauritius. In collaboration with GC CUNY Ph.D. Program in Comparative Literature / Italian Specialization, Giancarlo Lombardi (Co-Chair); 369 Gradi, Italy, Valeria Orani (Co-Chair)--with Donatella Mulvoni (Conference Coordinator.)

More information and RSVP

Monday, December 14, 9:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m., Martin E. Segal Theatre Center

The season concludes with “Richard Schechner Day -- Excerpts of All Schechner Plays in One Day,” in which Schechner will walk audiences through his 12 plays, offering commentary and inviting artists into the conversation. Schechner is a pivotal figure in modern theatre and performance studies and the founder of The Performance Group and editor of The Drama Review. More information and RSVP