The Public Theater names initial productions in 2026-27 season

London's acclaimed Curious Case of Benjamin Button musical and eight more shows will go up at the renowned Off-Broadway institution between fall 2026 and winter 2027.

Summary

• The Public Theater's 2026-27 season will include Public Record; How Shakespeare Saved My Life; songs from Bark of Millions; Good Time Charlie; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; We'll See; The Verge; Welcome Table; and Are the Bennet Girls OK?

The Public Theater has named initial programming for its upcoming Off-Broadway season, with nine productions slated to go up between fall 2026 and winter 2027. Spring and summer 2027 programming will be announced in September.

From September 4-8 at the Public's Delacorte Theatre in Central Park is Public Record, in which New Yorkers from all five boroughs create a live album on stage in real time. Public Record is written by Lisa Sanaye Dring, based on the concept and creative direction by Emily Lim and Dan Canham; directed by Emily Lim; and co-directed and choreographed by Dan Canham. Musical supervision and songs are by Ross Millard, words are by Stewart Pringle, and music supervision is by Michael Thurber.

Next, Tony Taccone directs How Shakespeare Saved My Life, written and performed by Jacob Ming-Trent. The autobiographical show follows how a young Ming-Trent turned to the Bard, rappers, preachers, and poets to find home and himself. Performances run September 15 to October 18, with opening night on September 27.

How Shakespeare Saved My Life is a Red Bull Theater production, and a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Folger Theatre.

For three free performances from September 18-20 at the Delacorte, Taylor Mac (lyrics and direction) and Matt Ray (music and musical direction) will perform songs from Bark of Millions, their rock-opera meditation on queerness, with special guests and performers from the original production.

From September 24 to October 18 (opening October 9) is Good Time Charlie, written by and starring Ryan J. Haddad and directed by Danny Sharron. A dentist who once dreamed of a performing career channels his passion for the arts into his nephew in this multigenerational story of gay men.

Next is the new musical adaptation of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a new musical fresh from an acclaimed premiere in London's West End. This time-hopping love story, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story, follows a man who ages in reverse. The show has a book, lyrics, and direction by Jethro Compton; music and lyrics by Darren Clark; and choreography by Chi-San Howard.

Performances run October 8 to November 15, with an opening on October 21.

From October 25 to November 22 is We'll See: Conversations Among the Apple Family on the Night of the Midterm Elections. On November 3, 2026 — the show's opening night — the Apple family gathers for an anxiety-filled dinner in the latest play in writer/director Richard Nelson's Rhinebeck Panorama series of 12 family dramas.

Reprising their roles as the Apple family from past plays are Sally Murphy as Jane, Maryann Plunkett as Barbara, Laila Robins as Marian, and Jay O. Sanders as Richard.

Fiasco Theater’s production of The Verge is next, running from October 27 to November 22, with opening night on November 5. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Susan Glaspell and directed by Jessie Austrian, the 1921 play follows botanist Claire Archer (Tony Award winner Miriam Silverman), whose husband, lover, and soulmate all arrive in her greenhouse and test the boundaries of her life as she knows it.

The Public's next two productions will take place in winter 2027 at dates to be announced. First is Welcome Table, the newest world premiere from Pulitzer winner James Ijames (Fat Ham, Good Bones), directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown). The play dramatizes a 1963 meeting between James Baldwin and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, which also brought together figures like Lorraine Hansberry, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, and Freedom Rider Jerome Smith to discuss how to imagine a better country.

The final show announced thus far is Emily Breeze's Are the Bennet Girls OK?, a reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice directed by Eric Tucker. The production originally premiered with the theatre company Bedlam.

Additional cast and creative team members for all the above productions have yet to be announced. Unless otherwise specified, all shows take place at the Public's home venue in downtown Manhattan, containing multiple stages and the cabaret space Joe's Pub, which will host its own extensive slate of concert programming throughout the season.

Photo credit: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in London. (Photo by Marc Brenner)