Creative Ambassador for breakout platform for Artists

Festival Founder + Director
Mark Russell

Co-Creative Director/Producer-in-Residence
Meropi Peponides

Co-Creative Director/Artist-in-Residence
Kaneza Schaal

Festival Producer
ArKtype | Thomas O. Kriegsmann + Sami Pyne

Director of Development
Kendall Masson

CREATIVE AMBASSADORS

Arian Moayed
Brian M. Rosen
Carlos Armesto
Christopher Hibma
David Binder
Dianne McKeever
Gundega Laivina
John C Robinson
Nunally Kersh
Olga Garay-English
Ruby Lerner
Stephen C. Smith
Vallejo Gantner

For over two decades, the Under the Radar Theater Festival has brought bold, risk-taking work to New York City, celebrating groundbreaking theater and performance from around the world and just down the street. Produced in collaboration with venues across the city, the festival showcases innovative multidisciplinary artists whose work speaks powerfully to the present moment. Under the Radar returns in January 2026 with a signature slate of more than 25 new productions staged throughout the city.

The Under the Radar Festival began as a beta concept in January 2003 entitled Fresh Terrain: A Performance Art/Theatre Festival & Symposium, co-produced by the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance and New York’s Performance Space 122. Featured artists were New York’s Richard Maxwell, Big Art Group, Ann Carlson, and Universes; Toronto’s da da kamera; Diana Szeinblum of Buenos Aires; and Austin’s Rude Mechs. The first NY edition was realized at St. Ann’s Warehouse in January of 2005 as a conference on presenting and producing new work. Mark Russell shifted the conference to be a 7-day theater festival, where the actual performances were the break-out sessions.

The event was considered a success and received funding for two more years of meetings. Oskar Eustis, when he assumed the role of Artistic Director of the Public Theater invited Mark Russell and Under the Radar to be a part of his inaugural season in 2006. With the resources, legacy, and stature of the Public Theater Under the Radar expanded its length to 12 days. It continued its success and became an annual meeting point for producers, presenters, and their international counterparts interested in the burgeoning alternative theater scene thriving in New York at that time. The festival has always mixed international work with national and local artists, to give a spotlight on new artists and new global developments in the field. As it continued at the Public it became a destination festival for leaders from theaters and festivals hailing from Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and Europe. It was quickly considered one of the most adventurous and significant festivals. An audience grew at the Public, expecting the festival as much as they relied on Shakespeare in the Park. Other festivals began to pop up surrounding RADAR, dealing with new opera, performance art, and experimental dance.