Works & Process Announces Fall 2025 Season

Championing artists and their creative process at each step from studio to stage, Works & Process announces its dynamic fall 2025 season. Taking place at Guggenheim New York, Manhattan West, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the season includes premieres, rotunda dance parties, creative residencies, and performances that bring audiences closer to the artistic process. Three Works & Process commissions will premiere in the Guggenheim’s Peter B. Lewis Theater: Food Opera: Carême: The Taster, a first-of-its-kind collaboration by Sensable, Alchemist Restaurant, and Studio Simkin; Tell Me Where It Comes From by Emily Coates, tracing early Balanchine archives through performance; and The NutWAACKer, Princess Lockerooo’s reimagining of the holiday classic through the lens of New York City’s underground dance culture.

Works & Process rotunda dance parties return to Guggenheim New York featuring Dance Theatre of Harlem and Ailey Extension. Each evening includes a performance and conversation in the theater, followed by participatory dance lessons in the rotunda. This season, Works & Process will present two rotunda projects. On October 15, a tribute to Robert Rauschenberg’s dance collaborations with Trisha Brown and Paul Taylor, in conjunction with Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped. On December 17, a presentation of The Hikers, directed by Rashid Johnson with choreography by Claudia Schrier, in conjunction with Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers.

The season kicks off on September 3 with Gather Round: Let’s Dance!, a free outdoor series presented in partnership with Brookfield Properties Arts & Events at Manhattan West. Every Wednesday in September at 5 pm, New York City–based dancers and choreographers will celebrate social dance traditions through performance, instruction, and open dance parties.

Beyond New York City, Works & Process continues its commitment to artist development through more than 25 fully funded creative residencies annually. Spanning Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont, the program builds on the acclaimed bubble residencies launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its inception, Works & Process has supported over 1,000 artists through more than 100 residencies, many of which have received prestigious awards and toured nationally and internationally––including with the U.S. State Department. This fall, five Works & Process commissions will continue to tour, further amplifying the voices and visions nurtured through these residencies. ­

A detailed schedule of events is outlined below.

General ticketing starts August 4 at worksandprocess.org.

SEASON AT A GLANCE

WORKS & PROCESS AT GUGGENHEIM NEW YORK

1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128

Tickets starting at $25 

Peter B. Lewis Theater: Performance Highlights, Illuminating Discussions, with Artist Receptions

• Lar Lubovitch: Art of the Solo: September 7
• The Metropolitan Opera: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clayby Mason Bates, libretto by Gene Scheer: September 8
• New York City Ballet: Jamar Roberts: September 14
• Beth Morrison Projects/PROTOTYPE Festival, LA Opera, and Aspen Music Festival and School: HILDEGARDby Sarah Kirkland Snider: September 15
• Ayodele Casel, in partnership with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park: September 21
• Dance Theatre of Harlem: Art of the Duet: September 22
• Shen Wei Dance Arts, in partnership with American Dance Festival, Katonah Museum of Art, and The Pocantico Center: September 28
• American Ballet Theatre: September 29
• Up Until Now Collective: Fellow Travelersby Gregory Spears, libretto by Greg Pierce, based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, with Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, and more: October 19
• Eugene O’Neill Theater Center: Night Fawnby Adam Rapp: October 26
• The Santa Fe Opera: Lili Elbeby Tobias Picker, libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman: October 27
• San Francisco Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet: Yuri Possokhov’s Eugene Onegin: November 1
• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with Alicia Graf Mack: November 10
• W&P Commission Food Opera: Carême: The Taster, co-produced by Sensable, Alchemist Restaurant, and Studio Simkin, featuring Stewart Matthew, Rasmus Munk, Daniil Simkin, and Jason Graves: November 13–17
• W&P Commission Tell Me Where It Comes Fromby Emily Coates: November 23
• Peter & the Wolfby Sergei Prokofiev with Isaac Mizrahi, Dance Heginbotham, and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect: December 5, 6, 7, 13, 14
• W&P Commission Princess Lockerooo’s The NutWAACKer: December 12

Works & Process at Guggenheim New York Rotunda Projects

• Robert Rauschenberg Dance Collaborations: Trisha Brown Dance Company and Paul Taylor Dance Company: October 15 – W&P Gala
• Rotunda Holiday Concert: The Metropolitan Opera Chorus Artists with Jasmine Rice LaBeija: December 14
• Rashid Johnson’s The Hikers with choreography by Claudia Schreier, featuring Lloyd Knight, Leslie Andrea Williams, and Aku Orraca-Tetteh: December 17

Works & Process Rotunda Dance Parties in partnership with Guggenheim Member Mondays 

• Dance Theatre of Harlem: September 22
• Ailey Extension: November 10

WORKS & PROCESS AT MANHATTAN WEST, BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES ARTS & EVENTS

Manhattan West Plaza, 385 9th Ave, New York, NY 10001

Free

Gather Round: Let’s Dance!

Wednesdays in September at 5 pm

• LATIN HUSTLE: Dance Is Life’s DJ Natasha Diggs & Abdiel featuring Kristine Bendul: September 3
• SWING: Gaby Cook and Eyal Vilner Big Band: September 10
• SALSA: Sekou McMiller & Friends with the Palladium Mambo Band: September 17
• QUEER LINE DANCING & TWO-STEPPING: Stud Country: September 24

WORKS & PROCESS AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JEROME ROBBINS DANCE DIVISION

40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023

Free, RSVP required

The Trail of Early Balanchine Archives with Emily Coates

Thursday, October 23, 6 pm

Dancer, writer, performance-maker, and Yale professor Emily Coates spent two years mapping far-flung artifacts related to George Balanchine found in archives throughout the northeast United States. This research became part of her Works & Process commission, Tell Me Where It Comes From, scheduled to premiere in New York this November. A former dancer with New York City Ballet, Coates searched in holdings at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Harvard’s Houghton Library, Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Archives at Jacob’s Pillow, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Jerome Robbins Dance Division, and New York City Ballet Archives, among others. In this artist talk, Coates shares the idiosyncratic trail of ephemera and people she encountered along her journey to move closer to the source of his work, from a great remove, through archival shards. Special guests joining her include Adam Lenz, Public Engagement and Programs Manager at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Join us for this unique opportunity to see what goes into creating a new work about the afterlife of a legendary choreographer.

Emily Coates received the School of American Ballet’s Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise and went on to perform internationally with New York City Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Twyla Tharp, and Yvonne Rainer. Widely commissioned and critically praised, her choreographic projects transform the marginalia of archival findings, collective memory, literature, and science into new forms. A Dance Research Fellow of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (2019) and Fellow of the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU (2016), she is a Professor in the Practice at Yale University, where she founded the program in Dance Studies.

WORKS & PROCESS COMMISSIONS ON TOUR

• Music From the Sole’s House Is Open, Going Dark

August 22: Guild Hall, NY

October 17–19: Celebrity Series of Boston, MA

• Les Ballet Afrik: New York Is Burning by Omari Wiles

September 5: Jamestown Dance Festival presented by Sukanya Burman Dance, NY

• MasterZ at Work Dance Family

September 6: Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, Fire Island Dance Festival at Dancing City, London, UK

• The Missing Element with The Beatbox House

September 12: University of Virginia’s College at Wise, VA

September 18: Lenfest Center for the Arts at Washington and Lee University, VA

• Ephrat Asherie Dance’s UNDERSCORED

October 23: Lenfest Center for the Arts at Washington and Lee University, VA

November 1: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC

November 5: Omaha Performing Arts, NE

• Johnny Loves Johann

December 1–13: Carolina Performing Arts, NC

WORKS & PROCESS RESIDENCY PROGRAM

Each year, Works & Process produces more than 25 fully funded, week-long creative residencies with partners in five states. Projects are both curated and selected through an open call. Launched during the pandemic, after four successful years, Works & Process residencies continue to provide longitudinal and made-to-measure support for artists, including industry-leading creative residency fees of $1,050 per artist per week, transportation, health insurance enrollment access, 24/7 studio availability, and on-site housing to facilitate uninterrupted creative process. Recognizing that the artistic process is a continuum, public engagements during the residency illuminate the creative process with local communities. Culminating performances in New York City pays artists $400 per artist per performance. For more information, such as community events featured in residencies, visit worksandprocess.org.

RESIDENCY PARTNERS

CT        Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
MA       Prior Performing Arts Center at College of the Holy Cross, The Yard
NJ        ArtYard
NY       Bethany Arts Community, Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill Mountain Foundation, Chautauqua Institution, The Church, Guild Hall  William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Modern Accord Depot, ONX, The Pocantico Center, PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance, The Watermill Center
VT       The Campus at Marlboro Music
 

CURATED RESIDENCIES

Baye & Asa, Ayodele Casel, Chrybaby Cozie, Djapo, Roderick George with New Jersey Ballet, Johnny Loves Johann, Princess Lockerooo, SPEAK, Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington with MasterZ at Work Dance Family and Parsons Dance

OPEN CALL RESIDENCIES

Kristine Bendul & Abdiel, BOCA TUYA | Omar Román de Jesús, Orlando Hernández & the Knee-Heart Connection, Sun Kim Dance Theatre, Arturo Lyons, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances, New Chamber Ballet, Adesola Osakalumi, REYNA, Xin Ying

CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE JOINT RESIDENCIES

A Lady in the House Dance Company/Nubian Néné

FALL 2025

Ayodele Casel

September 8–21: Kaatsbaan Cultural Park

Johnny Loves Johann: Johnny Gandelsman with John Heginbotham, Caili Quan, Jamar Roberts, and Melissa Toogood

September 29–October 6: The Yard

Sun Kim Dance Theatre

October 27–November 2: Modern Accord Depot

Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington and Parsons Dance

November 1–9: Catskill Mountain Foundation

Djapo by Marie Basse-Wiles and Omari Wiles

November 16–22: Prior Performing Arts Center at College of the Holy Cross

SPEAK with Rachna Nivas, Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia, and Rukhmani Mehta

November 21–25: Eugene O’Neill Theater Center

Works & Process at Guggenheim New York

Lar Lubovitch: Art of the Solo

Sunday, September 7, 3 and 7 pm

With a career spanning over six decades, choreographer Lar Lubovitch presents his unique solo creations. Works & Process invites Lubovitch to assemble a cast of dancers to perform his dancing portraits and discuss his creative process. The program features dancers Craig D. Black Jr., Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; Adrian Danchig-Waring, New York City Ballet; and Ashley Green, Jacquelin Harris, and Jesse Obremski, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Learn the stories behind each dance and celebrate this choreographer’s profound influence and contributions to the art form.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda following the 7 pm performance.

The Metropolitan Opera

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Mason Bates, libretto by Gene Scheer

Monday, September 8, 7 pm

Enjoy an advance look at the exhilarating new adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which opens the Metropolitan Opera’s 2025–26 season on September 21. Set shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the opera follows two Jewish cousins who invent an anti-fascist superhero and launch their own comic book series, hoping to recruit the United States into the fight against Nazism.

Featuring an eclectic score by composer Mason Bates that incorporates scintillating electronic elements and a variety of musical styles, the opera moves seamlessly through the three distinct worlds of Gene Scheer’s libretto: Nazi-occupied Prague, the bustling streets of New York, and the technicolor realm of comic book fantasy. Ahead of the opera’s thrilling premiere, Met general manager Peter Gelb moderates a conversation with members of the creative team, joined by cast members who will perform highlights from the opera.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

New York City Ballet: Jamar Roberts

Sunday, September 14, 7 pm

Experience a special preview of choreographer Jamar Roberts’s third commission for New York City Ballet. Premiering on the eve of the Fall Fashion Gala, this new work will marry the art forms of ballet and fashion, with costumes by Dutch designer Iris van Herpen. Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan will moderate a discussion with Roberts, and company members will perform excerpts from the work.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

Beth Morrison Projects/PROTOTYPE Festival, LA Opera, and Aspen Music Festival and School
HILDEGARD by Sarah Kirkland Snider 

Monday, September 15, 7 pm 

Join creative producer Beth Morrison; Christopher Koelsch, President and CEO, LA Opera; director Elkhanah Pulitzer; and composer Sarah Kirkland Snider for a discussion on the commissioning and creation of HILDEGARD, the composer’s first opera.

Set in 1147, HILDEGARD follows the brilliant, pioneering composer Hildegard von Bingen as she receives visions from God. Always at risk of being condemned by the church as a heretic, she decides to document her visions, enlisting her fellow nun Richardis von Stade to illustrate the manuscript. As their passion project bleeds into passion, the two women must confront the powers that would see them struck from history rather than making it.

Singers Nola Richardson and Mikaela Bennett, accompanied by Contemporaneous Ensemble will perform highlights from this intimate tale of two genius women finding their voices, ahead of the opera’s rolling world premiere this November in Los Angeles with LA Opera and in January at PROTOTYPE Festival in New York—marking the sixteenth collaboration between Beth Morrison Projects and LA Opera.

Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects. Commissioned in part by the Aspen Music Festival and School and OPERA America Grants for Female Composers award funded by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional commissioning support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts. The production of Hildegard received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Fund, New York State Council on the Arts, New Music USA, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, William Kennedy, Betsy Greenberg, and Pamela Drexel. Developed and produced by Beth Morrison Projects. 

Ayodele Casel

In partnership with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park

Sunday, September 21, 7 pm

Award-winning and critically acclaimed tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel (Chasing Magic and Funny Girl) continues her exploration of the music of jazz legends Max Roach and Cecil Taylor. Join Casel and her collaborators Torya Beard and Naomi Funaki as they reflect on their two-week Works & Process residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, an artist sanctuary located along the Hudson River. The evening features a discussion about their work, accompanied by select performance highlights.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

Dance Theatre of Harlem: Art of the Duet

Rotunda Dance Party in partnership with Guggenheim Member Mondays 

Monday, September 22, 7 pm 

Ticket purchase includes admission to the Rotunda Dance Party with Dance Theatre of Harlem at 8 pm, presented in partnership with the Guggenheim’s Member Mondays.

Arthur Mitchell, founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, was renowned for his artistry in adagio, or partnering work—a skill that made him a frequent muse of choreographer George Balanchine.

Dance Theatre of Harlem’s beloved Firebird returns in 2026, revived from its 1982 premiere featuring John Taras’s choreography, Stravinsky’s iconic score, and Geoffrey Holder’s dazzling sets and costumes. Be among the first to experience the ballet’s signature duet—an unforgettable moment—performed alongside other striking pairings from the company’s repertory, with commentary from Jonathan Stafford, Artistic Director, New York City Ballet, and Donald Williams, former Dance Theatre of Harlem Principal Dancer and original Firebird cast member.

Get ready to groove with Dance Theatre of Harlem in the Guggenheim rotunda after the onstage program! Dancing In The Streets brings ballet-inspired warm-ups, classic soul beats, and a joyful cipher to the floor. Presented by Works & Process for Member Mondays, this high-energy event ends in a Soul Train–style celebration that will have everyone dancing.

The evening also includes a viewing of the exhibition Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers.

Shen Wei Dance Arts

In partnership with American Dance Festival, Katonah Museum of Art, and The Pocantico Center

Sunday, September 28, 7 pm 

Hailed as “one of the most expansive, creative minds in the arts” (Pia Catton, The New York Sun), Works & Process welcomes back choreographer, director, and painter Shen Wei. Join him and American Dance Festival (ADF) executive director Jodee Nimerichter as they discuss Wei’s newest commission, developed during residencies at ADF and The Pocantico Center. Michelle Yun, Executive Director, Katonah Museum of Art, joins the panel to discuss Wei’s upcoming retrospective at the museum, opening October 2025. Shen Wei Dance Arts company members will perform excerpts.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

American Ballet Theatre

Monday, September 29, 7 pm

Experience the extraordinary range of American Ballet Theatre’s fall 2025 season—from timeless classics to bold new works—as the company returns to the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Members of the artistic team will share insights into the lineup, and dancers will perform highlights from featured works.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

Works & Process Gala

Robert Rauschenberg Dance Collaborations

Trisha Brown Dance Company and Paul Taylor Dance Company

Wednesday, October 15

6:30 pm – Cocktails, Private Exhibition Viewing, and Dinner

8 pm – Special Exhibition Viewing of Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped

9 pm – Rotunda Performance

Opening October 10, 2025, Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped marks the centennial of the artist’s birth and is presented as part of Guggenheim New York’s Collection in Focus series. In celebration of opening week, Works & Process presents a one-night-only rotunda project exploring Rauschenberg’s boundary-pushing collaborations with choreographers Trisha Brown and Paul Taylor.

The Trisha Brown Dance Company will perform an excerpt from Astral Converted (1991), originally commissioned by the National Gallery. The work incorporates Rauschenberg’s gleaming towers outfitted with motion sensors, lighting, and sound designed to detect the presence of dancers and respond to their movement John Cage’s score, an eight-track recording of live musicians, emanates from tapes embedded in mobile towers. When the work premiered, the audience was seated on the National Gallery’s gradually rising steps. For this iteration, the audience will stand on the spiraling ramps of the Guggenheim rotunda, offering a unique 360-degree perspective.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company will perform 3 Epitaphs (1956), a humorous yet brilliant exploration of posture and gesture set to early New Orleans jazz and featuring a parade of faceless dancers in gray leotards. In Tracer (1962), Taylor’s refined elegance and simplicity is joined by Rauschenberg’s spinning bicycle wheel, adding an amusing touch of anti-utilitarian art. The piece is an austere, experimental work where movement unfolds independently of the wheel’s presence, showcasing a playful yet thoughtful blend of gesture and décor.

Up Until Now Collective

Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears, libretto by Greg Pierce,

based on the novel by Thomas Mallon

with Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, and more

Sunday, October 19, 7 pm

Based on Thomas Mallon’s best-selling 2007 novel, the opera Fellow Travelers tells “a deeply human love story” (Chicago Tribune) set against the backdrop of a forgotten chapter of LGBTQ+ history known as the Lavender Scare. Created by composer Gregory Spears, librettist Greg Pierce, and director Kevin Newbury, Fellow Travelers premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2016. Since then, it has secured its place in the canon and become one of the most critically acclaimed and widely produced operas of its generation, with over twenty-five thousand tickets sold across fifteen productions.

Up Until Now Collective, under the leadership of Newbury and Jecca Barry, is producing a tenth anniversary tour in 2026–27 that will bring the work to more than ten venues across the U.S., including Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, Glimmerglass Festival and others to be announced, shedding light on this history while building community within the opera industry and across the country. At Works & Process, Newbury, Barry, and opera company leaders will participate in a moderated discussion exploring collaboration and new production models. Cast members will perform highlights from the opera.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

Eugene O’Neill Theater Center

Night Fawn by Adam Rapp

Sunday, October 26, 7 pm

For more than sixty years, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center has served as the launchpad for American theater—discovering, developing, and empowering new work, new voices, and creative risk-taking. For one night only, go behind the scenes with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 2025 Artist in Residence, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Tony Award winner Adam Rapp (The Outsiders) for an in-process reading of his new play, Night Fawn. Rapp will also participate in a discussion moderated by Melia Bensussen, artistic director of the O’Neill’s flagship program, the National Playwrights Conference, exploring Rapp’s career, the process of writing Night Fawn to date, and what he hopes to accomplish during an upcoming developmental workshop at the O’Neill’s seaside campus in Connecticut.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

The Santa Fe Opera

Lili Elbe by Tobias Picker, libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman

Monday, October 27, 7 pm

Composer Tobias Picker and librettist Aryeh Lev Stollman present selections from Lili Elbe—the first full-scale opera about a transgender person composed for a trans opera singer in the title role—which will have its American premiere at The Santa Fe Opera in 2026. The opera tells the true story of Lili Elbe, a celebrated Danish painter who, with the steadfast support of her wife, Gerda, became one of the first to undergo gender-affirmation surgery nearly a century ago. Members of the production’s creative team will discuss their process and excerpts will be performed.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

San Francisco Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet

Yuri Possokhov’s Eugene Onegin

Saturday, November 1, 7 pm 

San Francisco Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo CBE, The Joffrey Ballet artistic director Ashley Wheater MBE, and San Francisco Ballet resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov come together to discuss their co-production and first co-commission between the two companies, Eugene Onegin, featuring an original score. Explore how Possokhov, in this world premiere, plans to bring new depth to Alexander Pushkin’s classic, where a single choice alters the course of a life. Set in the final days of imperial Russia, this cautionary tale follows a jaded aristocrat forced to face the weight of his choices after a fateful encounter with the earnest Tatiana. The program includes selected excerpts performed by company dancers.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with Alicia Graf Mack

Rotunda Dance Party with Ailey Extension

In partnership with Guggenheim Member Mondays

Monday, November 10, 7 pm

Ticket purchase includes admission to the Rotunda Dance Party with Ailey Extension at 8 pm, in partnership with the Guggenheim’s Member Mondays.

See a preview of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s new season before they raise the curtain at New York City Center on their next era under the leadership of new artistic director Alicia Graf Mack in December. Following the performance, Ailey Extension director Lisa Johnson-Willingham and West African dance instructor Maguette Camara lead a dynamic dance class in the rotunda open to all. Accompanied by an ensemble of drummers, the class builds toward a collective group dance and provides the opportunity to learn steps from Revelations.

Presented by Works & Process in conjunction with the Guggenheim’s Member Mondays, the event also includes access to the exhibition Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers.

Works & Process Commission

Food Opera: Carême: The Taster

Co-produced by Sensable, Alchemist Restaurant, and Studio Simkin

Stewart Matthew, Rasmus Munk, Daniil Simkin, and Jason Graves

Thursday, November 13, 8:30 and 9:45 pm

Friday–Monday, November 14–17, 6, 7:15, 8:30, and 9:45 pm

A Works & Process premiere marks an operatic first where the audience’s eating is choreographed and synchronized with the drama. This new genre of storytelling is a collaboration between Stewart Matthew (Green Aria, A ScentOpera), chef Rasmus Munk of famed Alchemist Restaurant (Copenhagen), Daniil Simkin, internationally renowned ballet dancer pioneering innovation in dance, and double BAFTA winning composer, Jason Graves.

Carême dramatizes the awakening of the tastes of a young Antonin Carême, the eighteenth-century chef (played by Simkin) who would come to elevate cuisine to a new art form. The evening begins as a live stage performance in the Peter B. Lewis Theater that magically dissolves and immerses the audience first in a grand theater set in late 18th century Paris, where they not only watch—but taste—the unfolding drama continuing on stage. The action culminates with the audience caught up in the storming of the Bastille.

Matthew’s libretto and direction forge an unprecedented genre of storytelling, dissolving barriers between performer and audience. Munk’s intimate, small dishes, eaten at timed intervals, serve up tastes that add a new layer to the musical score, in its own key, with textures serving up new chords and releases of flavor that amplify Simkin’s choreographed movement.

Matthew’s vision, Munk’s flavors and textures, Simkin’s kinetic eloquence and Graves’ bold music combine to create an exciting new perceptual frontier.

Works & Process Commission

Tell Me Where It Comes From by Emily Coates

Sunday, November 23, 7 pm

Dancer, writer, and choreographer Emily Coates presents the world premiere of Tell Me Where It Comes From, a performance project commissioned by Works & Process. Spurred by George Balanchine’s brief but pivotal 1933 touchdown in Hartford, Connecticut, Coates gathered artifacts of his lingering presence in archives throughout the northeast United States. Drawing on her background as a former member of New York City Ballet, Coates creates an unexpected portrait of his choreographic legacy, working in collaboration with director Ain Gordon, performer and co-creator Derek Lucci, violinist and composer Charles Burnham, pianist Melvin Chen, lighting designer Krista Smith, and costume designers Reid & Harriet she assembles a collage of far-flung remnants: unanswered letters, lost ballets, old photographs, music exercises, early muses, and more. Filled with hidden movements and quieted voices, Tell Me Where It Comes From meditates on the sparks that propel art into existence.

Coates received the School of American Ballet’s Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise and went on to perform internationally with New York City Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Twyla Tharp, and Yvonne Rainer. Widely commissioned and critically praised, her choreographic projects transform the marginalia of archival findings, collective memory, literature, and science into new forms. A Dance Research Fellow of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (2019) and Fellow of the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU (2016), she is a Professor in the Practice at Yale University, where she founded the program in Dance Studies.

For this project, she assembled a cross-disciplinary team of artists: Ain Gordon, a three-time Obie Award and Guggenheim Award–winning writer, actor, and director; Derek Lucci, actor, writer, director, and founder of Open Sky Inc., an award winning, innovative, skills-based acting program aimed at successful reintegration without recidivism in the New Hampshire state prison system; Charles Burnham, a leading figure in the American musical scene for more than five decades; Dr. Melvin Chen, professor in the practice of piano at the Yale School of Music and director of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival; Krista Smith, lighting designer and interdisciplinary artist, graduate of the Yale School of Drama, and company member of KrymovLab NYC; and Reid & Harriet, who design costumes and sets for dance productions around the world.

Continue the conversation at a post-performance reception in the rotunda.

Tell Me Where It Comes From is commissioned by Works & Process. Its development included a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at The Church in Sag Harbor, home to George Balanchine’s grave, followed by a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at the Catskill Mountain Foundation in Hunter, New York. Additional support was provided by the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, and New England Foundation for the Arts Dance Fund. The work was created in part during a residency at the Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow. Additional support was provided by the O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation.

Peter & the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev with Isaac Mizrahi

Dance Heginbotham and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect conducted by Michael P. Atkinson

Friday, December 5, 6:30 pm

Saturday, December 6, 11 am, 1 and 2:30 pm

Sunday, December 7, 11 am, 1 and 2:30 pm

Saturday, December 13, 2:30, 4, and 5:30 pm

Sunday, December 14, 11 am, 1 and 2:30 pm

Isaac Mizrahi narrates and directs Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic Peter & the Wolf, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and conducted by Michael P. Atkinson. The cast, wearing costumes by Mizrahi, performs choreography by John Heginbotham, bringing the thirty-minute story to life for the young––and the young at heart.

No matter how tall or small, everyone needs a ticket.

Works & Process Commission

Princess Lockerooo’s The NutWAACKer 

Friday, December 12, 7 pm

Visionary dancer, director, and cultural force Princess Lockerooo—with a background in musical theater and a champion of waacking, a queer dance form nearly lost during the AIDS crisis—reimagines a holiday classic with a fierce new vision. The NutWAACKer brings the elegance of Tchaikovsky’s classical score into a glittering fusion with the raw energy of New York City’s underground dance culture. The result is a tribute to queer brilliance, street culture, and the city’s electrifying legacies of movement. Bringing together waacking, vogue, hip-hop, house, and more, this high-impact performance is a kinetic journey through identity, defiance, and holiday magic—told through the eyes of a nonbinary youth navigating tradition, resistance, and chosen family in the heart of Central Park.

Rotunda Holiday Concert

The Metropolitan Opera Chorus Artists with Jasmine Rice LaBeija

Sunday, December 14, 7 pm

Celebrate the season with members of The Metropolitan Opera Chorus Artists and Asian drag artist Jasmine Rice LaBeija––a Juilliard-trained tenor and 2025 Britain’s Got Talent finalist. As part of a beloved annual Works & Process tradition, the singers bring the museum’s iconic Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda to life with the joyous sound of holiday music.

Works & Process Rotunda Project

Rashid Johnson’s The Hikers

Choreography by Claudia Schreier

Lloyd Knight, Leslie Andrea Williams, and Aku Orraca-Tetteh

Wednesday, December 17, 6:30 and 8 pm

On the occasion of the exhibition Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers at the Guggenheim Museum, Works & Process co-presents The Hikers, staged live under the direction of Rashid Johnson and choreographed by Claudia Schreier. Originally conceived as a film, The Hikers tells the story of two anxious travelers who cross paths and share an unexpected, profound connection for a fleeting moment.

For this special presentation, the work has been reimagined to be performed in the Guggenheim’s rotunda, amplifying the dialogue between movement, architecture, and Johnson’s expansive practice. The performance features Lloyd Knight and Leslie Andrea Williams, both acclaimed members of the Martha Graham Dance Company, with live piano accompaniment by composer and multi-instrumentalist, Aku Orraca-Tetteh. Aku Orraca-Tetteh is the pianist, harmonizer for Florence + Machine and frequent collaborator of Saul Williams, Santigold, TV On the Radio, and Bill T. Jones.

The evening includes a viewing of the exhibition Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers.

Works & Process Lead Donors

Lead funding provided by Adam and Abigail Flatto, Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Stephen Kroll Reidy, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Caroline M. Sharp, The Evelyn Sharp Foundation, The SHS Foundation, and Eugene and Jean Stark.

Additional support provided by Jody and John Arnhold, Jeff and Susan Campbell, Cate Caruso, Stuart H. Coleman and Meryl Rosofsky, Paul Cronson, Duke Dang and Charles E. Rosen, Lucy and Philip Dobrin, Elizabeth Sharp Edens and Wes Edens, The Fanwood Foundation, Bart Friedman and Wendy Stein, Agnes Gund, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Barbara Ritchin, Denise and Andrew Saul, and Randall Sharp.

Works & Process is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

About Works & Process

Championing performing artists and their creative process at each step from studio to stage, Works & Process produces fully funded residencies and presents events that go behind the scenes, blending artist discussion and performance highlights. Works & Process events transcend the proscenium, encouraging audiences to spectate and participate beyond the stage, and culminate in receptions in the Guggenheim rotunda to continue the conversation.

Works & Process produces over 25 creative residencies annually. Expanding from our bubble residency program created during the COVID-19 pandemic, Works & Process now has a network of over a dozen partners in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. In over 100 Works & Process residencies, supporting over 1,000 artists, incubated works have been recognized with awards and grants, and have toured nationally—and internationally with the U.S. State Department. These out-of-town residencies provide 24/7 studio access, on-site housing, access to health insurance enrollment, industry-leading artist fees, and a transportation stipend to facilitate uninterrupted creative process.

Beyond the Guggenheim, we also partner with organizations across New York, including 92NY and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division. During the summer, we curate and present free outdoor dance programs with Manhattan West and City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage.

Works and Process, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Tax ID: 13-3592291