PRELUDE 2026

Now in its 23rd year, the PRELUDE Festival returns with a new lineup of works-in-progress and critical conversations, organized by the artistic team: Alessandra Gómez-Misserian, Olivia Mermagen, and Dylan Sherman. This year's edition marks an exciting expansion for the festival, welcoming two new partners in Brooklyn: Coffey Street Studio in Red Hook and the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. PRELUDE 2026 steps outside the theater, into a hotel loft, a converted 19th-century warehouse, and a private apartment. This year's cohort spans again solo performance, ensemble work, contemporary dance, clown, theater, performance art, music, and multidisciplinary work.

As a featured program of the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center, PRELUDE presents a unique snapshot of the contemporary New York experimental theatre at the cutting edge. By merging the critical with the creative, PRELUDE provides a space for artists to share and discover emerging practices in form, craft, and technology. Since 2003, The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center has presented the PRELUDE Festival at GC CUNY. Founder: Frank Hentschker.

Meet Curator ALESSANDRA GOMEZ-MISSERIAN

Alessandra Gómez is a New York-based contemporary art curator working at the intersection of performance and visual art. She is currently Consultant Public Art Curator at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where she leads the Robert W. Wilson Public Art Mural Initiative, and Head Art Curator at Wythe Hotel, directing acquisitions and programs such as site-specific hotel room performances, art exhibits, talks, community life drawing sessions, and screenings. She is a Curator at Offerings, an ongoing experimental performance series at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square, and was a 2026 Curator for Sugar Sugar!, a large-scale outdoor performance series presented in Domino Square during June. Previously, Gómez was a curator for Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy (2023–24), the revival of André Heller's legendary art amusement park, and a member of the founding curatorial team at The Shed (2018–23), where she organized exhibitions and developed commissions for the Open Call program. Her independent projects and advisory work have included collaborations with Nike, Columbia University, the Center for Performance Research, Knockdown Center, Queens Museum, Pace University, Pratt Institute, Martin E. Segal Center at CUNY, Perelman Center for Performing Arts, and more. Gómez holds an M.A. in Modern and Contemporary Art from Columbia University and a dual BFAAH in Fine Art and Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

PRELUDE TEAM:

Alessandra Gómez-Misserian Curatorial Director 

Olivia Mermagen, Artistic Producer/Producing Director 

Dylan Sherman Assistant Curator 

Charli Sass Prelude Coordinator 

Johnny Gasper, Technical Director

Henry Alper, Front of House

Frank Hentschker Executive Director and Director of Programs,

Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and Prelude Founder

Olivia Mermagen lives in Brooklyn and is originally from London, England. She has made theater with Clubbed Thumb, The Tank, Rattlestick, The Civilians, Elevator Repair Service and more. She is currently the Artistic Producer of the Coffey Street Studio Artist Initiative in Red Hook. She graduated from NYU Tisch with a BFA in Dramatic Writing.

Dylan Sherman is an interdisciplinary curator and producer based in New York. He has recently held positions at the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, the Netherlands), Sugar Sugar! (New York), Performa (New York), Slash (San Francisco), and the Performance Talks podcast. Dylan's writing has appeared in publications including The Brooklyn Rail, Motor Dance Journal, Document Journal, and Platform: Journal of Theatre and Performing Arts. He currently studies contemporary time-based art and queer culture as an M.A. student in Modern and Contemporary Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies at Columbia University.

Gaurav Singh Nijjer

Digital and Web Producer, Martin E. Segal Theater Center

Image: Prelude Archives, photo by Tasja Keetman, ""Placebo Sunrise". NTUS National Theatre of The United States, Yehuda Duenyas and Compagny