Prelude: A Day to Remember Forever

All the world’s a stage—and this time, it's right outside our front door! For forty years, En Garde Arts has transformed New York City’s streets, barges, and hidden corners into newly discovered sites for theatrical experiences, and urgent, poetic, and political stories to come alive. This October, the company reunites director Anne Bogart and playwright Charles L. Mee for PRELUDE, a large-scale, free outdoor performance on the plaza at 300 Ashland Place, featuring original music by the Lazours—and elaborate costume constructions by Machine Dazzle. Set against the rhythms of the city itself, PRELUDE invites audiences to witness fleeting encounters and moments of connection that illuminate what it means to be alive together and in love in New York City. This marks another chapter in a creative partnership; both Mee’s bobrauschenbergamerica (2003) and Hotel Cassiopeia (2007) were directed by Bogart at BAM, who returned in 2022 to direct The Medium.