Perelman Performing Arts Center has revealed a lineup of new programs, artists, and dates for the 2025-2026 season.

ICONS OF CULTURE presented by BNY

The annual ICONS OF CULTURE event presented by BNY brings together innovators, creators, and game changers for a series of conversations about shaping culture and influencing the way we live, work, and play. For 2025, PAC NYC is celebrating Women in Front and has revealed the addition of actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish in an evening conversation moderated by CNN Host, Founder of DreamMachine.org and NYT Bestselling Author Van Jones (October 30 at 6pm) and Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill in conversation to talk about their upcoming book All the Cool Girls Get Fired (November 1 at 6pm). They will join the previously announced conversations featuring Icons Es Devlin, Danai Gurira, and Christy Turlington Burns. Diane Von Furstenberg will be celebrated as the 2025 PAC NYC Icon of Culture on October 28. Additional conversation moderators will be announced soon.

For the first time ever, world-renowned artist Es Devlin brings her acclaimed interactive work CONGREGATION to the U.S., on view for a limited time at PAC NYC. All audiences can experience Devlin’s work on a Pay-What-You-Wish basis during hours the center is open October 29 – November 1.

In CONGREGATION, created in partnership with UK for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, Devlin made large-scale chalk and charcoal portraits of 50 Londoners who have experienced forced displacement from their homelands. The drawings are presented as a monumental projection, mapped tiered structure with each portrait sitter acting as a co-author of the work.

Their voices are included in an accompanying sound sequence composed by Polyphonia. The sound installation features poetry by the Kinshasa-born poet JJ Bola and extracts from Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It culminates in a reworking of Anton Bruckner’s sacred motet Locus Iste (This Place) which fuses the voices of The London Bulgarian Choir, The South African Cultural Gospel Choir UK, Genesis Sixteen, and The Choir of King’s College London.

The projected film sequence has been created in close collaboration with filmmaker Ruth Hogben and choreographer Botis Seva and features dancer Joshua Shanny Wynter.

THE VISITORS

The Visitors, by Jane Harrison and directed by Wesley Enoch, will make its US premiere at PAC NYC from January 21 – February 1, 2026.

Visitors leave. Right? Sydney Harbor. January 1788. Seven Aboriginal leaders gather while a mysterious fleet of nawi (giant ships) amasses in the bay. As the vessels creep closer, the leaders face a fateful decision: send the strangers away or welcome them?

Winner of the 2023 Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Mainstage Production and Best Ensemble, PAC NYC is proud to welcome The Visitors for its first international production. This gripping, deeply researched drama captures one of the most pivotal and painful days in Australia’s history—while offering a sharp and funny portrait of how communities respond to change and the unknown.

GIULIA: THE POISON QUEEN OF PALERMO

Jennifer Nettles’ new musical GIULIA: The Poison Queen of Palermo will premiere at PAC NYC on June 28 and play a limited run through July 26, 2026. Tony Award® winner Mary Zimmerman has joined the project to direct.

The power lies in her hands, one drop at a time. What began as a single act of self-defense ripples through Palermo, creating a cascade of casualties and inspiring a secret sisterhood. But the path to safety is never safe. Can Giulia Tofana save them all without losing herself?

Written by and featuring GRAMMY® Award winner Jennifer Nettles and directed by Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphoses), this world premiere—inspired by a true story—is laced with dangerous secrets and a soulful, contemporary score.

MORE AT PAC NYC

These productions and events join the previously announced production of Matthew Warchus and Jack Thorne’s new version of A Christmas Carol (November 23 – December 28, 2025), the formerly named “Gems” New York premiere of Reflections: A Triptych by Benjamin Millepied (February 21–22), new comedy Trash by James Caverly and Andrew Morrill from Out of the Box Theatrics (March 7–28), and the returns of Motion/Matter: All Styles Dance Battle (March 21) and Family Day (May 30). Free artistic programming will continue on the Vartan and Clare Gregorian Lobby Stage.