NYU Skirball Sets 2016-17 Season of Theater, Dance, Music & More

New York University Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, downtown New York's most diverse cultural center, today announced its 2016-17 season, featuring more than 20 presentations in a wide array of genres that showcase diverse and cutting-edge talent from across the country and around the world. The season features over 60 performances, from acclaimed dance companies and contemporary circus performances to theater, comedy, film and family programming.

NYU Skirball Center presentations are enhanced by free pre-and post-show discussions and special events, drawing on the expertise of NYU's renowned faculty and educational resources. The events are designed to provide context and give audiences the chance to interact with the artists, reflecting NYU's commitment to education in, and through, the performing arts.

NYU Skirball's Dance Season will present six acclaimed U.S. companies, beginning on September 11 with a staging-in-process by Suzanne Farrell, featuring discussions and performance of an excerpt from Balanchine's Gounod Symphony. BalletCollective returns to NYU Skirball for its third season on October 27 and 28, presenting two world premiere collaborations choreographed by Troy Schumacher, inspired by architecture.

The world premiere of Titicut Follies, a full-length ballet based off Frederick Wiseman's groundbreaking 1967 documentary about a Massachusetts Hospital for the Criminally Insane, will have its world premiere in April, 2017, performed by James Sewell Ballet.

Pilobolus Dance Theater returns to NYC for two weeks in November and December with two programs mixing dance, physical theater and short film, featuring two N.Y. premieres and including works created in collaboration with Penn and Teller, choreographer Javier de Frutos and alt-band OK Go.

Talented young dancers from two of the country's most acclaimed dance companies will get their chance to shine, when ABT Studio Company (February) and Ailey II (March) take to the Skirball stage.

NYU Skirball is committed to presenting new and boundary-breaking contemporary circus. Circus and Kitchen Arts mix when the Montreal-based Les 7 Doigts de la Main (The 7 Fingers) makes its Skirball debut in April with the N.Y. premiere of Cuisine and Confessions, a mix of the company's trademarked, jaw-dropping acrobatics combined with all things cuisine: kitchen utensils, food and baking ingredients. It's a sure a recipe for fun.

Circus Now Festival returns to NYU Skirball following two sold-out engagements of its International Contemporary Circus Exposure 2017, a mix of the world's most innovative and inspired companies from around the world. NY Comedy Festival returns in November to celebrate all things funny in New York City.

Music and opera programs include a return of the acclaimed Prototype Festival in January, presenting the N.Y. premiere chamber opera Breaking the Waves by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. Alt-classical composer/pianist Ludovico Einaudi, whose unique musical style is renowned around the world, returns to NYU Skirball in October with a brand new concert based on his new album "Elements."

A new theater series, World Musicals, will present three U.S. premieres from South Africa, Korea and Shanghai; and the National Theatre Live film series returns with screenings of acclaimed plays featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller, Mark Strong and more.

NYU's beloved Big Red Chair Family Series will present unique family friendly fare for audiences ages 3 and up, featuring pre-show educational activities for kids and families and will include at an autistic family friendly performance of Peter Rabbit Tales in May.