LEAR to Open at The Secret Theatre in Fall 2026
Richard Mazda and Barbara McGalmery lead the revived production arm known for staging Shakespeare, Marlowe and Moliere.
The Secret Theatre has announced the return of its production company with a new staging of King Lear, coming in Fall 2026.
Since opening nearly 20 years ago, The Secret Theatre has served as both a performance venue and producing company, bringing Shakespeare and other classic works to audiences throughout Queens. Over the years, our stages have featured acclaimed productions of Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Edward II, and Dr. Faustus, alongside beloved musicals including Rent, Urinetown, Hair, and A Chorus Line. During that time, we also grew the Secret Academy into a vibrant home for children and adults to study theatre and the performing arts. Then, like so many arts organizations, everything changed.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought our uninterrupted producing history—dating back to 2007—to an abrupt halt. We were forced to leave the Long Island City theatre we had built and called home for more than a decade. Thankfully, our friends Jim and Cindy at Project for Living Artists welcomed us into their Woodside space, where we built a new Secret Theatre and continued serving our community. At the same time, we opened a separate Secret Academy studio on Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, ensuring our educational programs could continue to grow.
Five years later, we moved again when our Skillman Avenue building was slated for demolition to make way for new housing and retail. While relocating twice in five years was never part of the plan, it ultimately led us to an exciting new chapter.
Today, The Secret Theatre has found its permanent home in a beautiful new Long Island City space large enough to unite everything under one roof: our theatre, production company, Secret Academy, and Vital Art Studios, which includes a gallery and 15 working artists' studios.
As part of this exciting new era, Artistic Director Richard Mazda invited acclaimed actor and director Barbara McGlamery join the company as Co-Artistic Director. Together, they will co-direct King Lear in November 2026, launching the next chapter of The Secret Theatre's producing legacy with a fresh and distinctive interpretation of Shakespeare's timeless tragedy.
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