Molière in the Park Presents Don Juan at Molière in the Park

Molière in the Park (MIP), Brooklyn’s home for free, world-class theater, has announced its 2026 production of Don Juan, Molière’s daring and darkly comedic masterpiece, translated by Stephen Wadsworth and directed by Drama Desk Award Nominee Lucie Tiberghien. The production will premiere September 5–27, 2026 at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside in Prospect Park, in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance as part of MIP’s signature free outdoor theater series. The production's official Opening Night and Benefit Performance will take place on September 10, featuring a pre-show cocktail reception and post-show celebration supporting Molière in the Park's mission to provide free theater for all.

Don Juan is one of Molière’s most thrilling and provocative masterpieces. A feverish descent from seduction to reckoning, the play blends comedy, tragedy, and the supernatural, pushing Molière’s exploration of hypocrisy and morality further than any of his other works.

In MIP's staging, three actors transform before our eyes into more than 10 characters, while Don Juan and his faithful sidekick Sganarelle remain the only fixed figures in a world that constantly shifts around them. The result is a fast-paced theatrical spectacle where identities blur, loyalties shift, and the unexpected lurks at every corner.

The production will star Keshav Moodliar as Don Juan and Alana Raquel Bowers as Sganarelle, alongside Kaliswa Brewster, President of the Board of Directors of Molière in the Park, Daniel Pearce. Moodliar, a Juilliard-trained actor, has appeared in Prince Faggot (Studio Seaview), Henry 6 (The Old Globe), The Odyssey (American Repertory Theater), Queen (Long Wharf Theatre/NAATCO), and Molière in the Park's acclaimed production of Tartuffe. Bowers recently received multiple award nominations for her performance as “Meek” in Cold War Choir Practice, including an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play and a GALECA Dorian Theater Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production. A Broadway veteran, her credits include Chicken & Biscuits, Bernarda's Daughters, What to Send Up When It Goes Down, and Molière in the Park's production of The Miser. Brewster is a first-generation Liberian-American actor, producer, educator, and arts advocate whose stage credits include productions with Theatre for a New Audience, The Acting Company, and Classical Theatre of Harlem, while her television and film work includes Billions, Blue Bloods, God Friended Me, Daredevil, and HBO Films' Paterno. Pearce, who recently appeared on Broadway in Othello opposite Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, returns to Don Juan following appearances in Molière in the Park's Winter Reading Series presentation of the play, bringing experience across both classical and contemporary performance.

SYNOPSIS: Don Juan has abandoned Elvira, whom he seduced into breaking her vows and marrying him. Over the course of a single adventure-filled day, he and his loyal sidekick, Sganarelle, encounter many of the people Don Juan has betrayed. As he seduces women, defies social conventions, mocks religion, and revels in provocation, his appetite for transgression seems impossible to satisfy. Yet the signs are unmistakable: the walls are closing in. Will he honestly repent? Or will he just pretend to, like so many around him, and continue down the same path to the bitter end?

“Our decision to present Don Juan as our mainstage production reflects Molière in the Park’s ongoing commitment to making ambitious, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining theater accessible to all New Yorkers,” said Lucie Tiberghien. “Don Juan feels especially urgent right now. Molière populates the play with characters who are at once farcical and tragic, heroic and deeply flawed, charming and repulsive, yet he never takes sides. Instead, he holds up a mirror and invites us to examine who we are and where we stand in the face of hypocrisy, accountability, and power. At the heart of Molière in the Park’s mission is a belief in the arts as a vehicle for empathy. By bringing this play into a public space, free of charge, we hope to create an opportunity for audiences across communities and generations to come together and engage with these questions collectively.”

Original music and live cello performance will be provided by Johnathan Moore, whose genre-blurring work spans classical, experimental, and contemporary music. Moore previously composed and performed the original score for Molière in the Park's Drama Desk-nominated production of The Imaginary Invalid, creating a bold sonic landscape that became integral to the production's emotional architecture.

The creative team includes set designer New Wilderness, lighting designer Derek Van Heel, costume designer Ari Fulton, and sound designer Chad Raines.