Under the Radar Festival

The Under the Radar Festival is an internationally-sourced experimental theater festival based in New York City, founded in 2005 by Mark Russell. Russell was the former Artistic Director of P.S. 122 for over twenty years and also Guest Artistic Director for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time-Based Art Festival from 2006-2008.^[1] The first Under the Radar, in 2005, took place at St. Ann's Warehouse. From 2006 to 2022, Under the Radar had its headquarters at the Public Theater.

Under the Radar Festival aka RADAR
Under the Radar Logo, circa 2023
Status	Active
Genre	Theatre festival
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	New York City
Country	United States
Inaugurated	2005; 19 years ago (2005)
Founder	Mark Russell
Website	utrfest.org

Under the Radar has become known over its run for presenting a wide breadth of programming, introducing intriguing international productions to audiences, and acting as a breakout platform connecting artists to international presenters. The list of artists who have participated in the festival includes Tarell Alvin McCraney, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Reggie Watts, Gob Squad, Rachel Chavkin, Taylor Mac, Belarus Free Theater, Alicia Hall Moran, Laurie Anderson, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Daniel Fish, Manual Cinema, Pascal Rambert, Andrew Schneider, Lars Jan, Tim Crouch, Javaad Alipoor, Tania El Khoury, Erin Markey, Young Jean Lee, Choir! Choir! Choir!, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Inua Ellams, Toshi Reagon, Elevator Repair Service, Roger Guenveur Smith, Melissa Madden Gray, Eric Bogosian, Cliff Cardinal, Zora Howard, Penny Arcade (performer), and Adam Gopnick, among many others.

In 2021, Under the Radar was canceled and replaced by a virtual event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Festival was then canceled in 2022 due to "multiple disruptions related to the rapid community spread of the Omicron variant".^[2] In mid-2023, Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, announced the indefinite suspension of the Under the Radar Festival at The Public for "entirely financial" reasons.

Under the Radar was subsequently revived only a few months later ^[3] in collaboration with the NYC production company ArKtype. The 2024 iteration of the Festival runs from January 5 to January 21, presenting more than 180 performances of 17 distinct productions over three weeks at 12 different theaters across Brooklyn and Manhattan, including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, Theatre for a New Audience, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Japan Society (Manhattan), the Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement, BRIC Arts Media, New York Live Arts, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, St. Ann's Warehouse, Mabou Mines, and The Invisible Dog Art Center. Additional programming as part of the 2024 Festival includes a Symposium featuring keynote conversations with Jeremy O. Harris, Ravi Jain, Hana Sharif, and Kaneza Schall; a "Coming Attractions" artistic pitch session; a six show "UFO" works-in-progress performance calendar; and an "Anti-Misogynoir Disco" dance party at Lincoln Center spotlighting local Black women DJs Twelve45, DJ Shannon, Lady NiK and Miss Hap.

References

1. "Past Festivals - PICA". PICA. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
2. Evans, Greg (2021-12-31). "New York's Public Theater Cancels Entire Under The Radar Festival Due To Covid Disruptions". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
3. Soloski, Alexis (2023-10-12). "Under the Radar to Return, With New Partners". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-10-12.

General references

• Del Signore, John. . Interview with Mark Russell. Gothamist (blog), January 10, 2008. Accessed January 10, 2008.
• "History and Milestones", Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) and Time-Based Art Festival (TBA Festival), Portland, Oregon. Accessed January 10, 2008.

External links

• [1] – Official webpage