Playscape Performs will return in 2023 with dance, puppetry, music, and more!
Home to ShowBox, the first improv theater in a New York City playground, Playscape is New York’s destination for arts, exploration, and play. Join us this summer to celebrate the beauty of a biodiverse playground.
Playscape performs will debut with a special collaboration with Parsons Dance and the talented fourth and fifth graders at Ballet Tech, the NYC Public School for Dance. The performance, entitled “About Sprouts,” kicks off The Battery’s summer activities, which are funded by The Battery Conservancy – the organization responsible for transforming the city’s birthplace park. Their performances will be joined by an array of puppetry at ShowBox Theater. Wonderspark Puppets will perform classic fairytales with a twist and Playdate Puppets will put on an EGGcellent show with Humpty Dumpty and friends.
Friday, June 3rd
2:00pm: Ballet Tech and Parsons Dance – About Sprouts
3:00pm: Ballet Tech and Parsons Dance – About Sprouts
Saturday, June 4th
10:30am: Wonderspark Puppets – The Lion and the Mouse
12:30pm: Wonderspark Puppets – The Lion and the Mouse
2:00pm: Ballet Tech and Parsons Dance – About Sprouts
2:25pm: Playdate Puppets – Humpty Dumpty and Friends EGGcellent Puppet Show
3:00pm: Ballet Tech and Parsons Dance – About Sprouts
3:25pm: Playdate Puppets – Humpty Dumpty and Friends EGGcellent Puppet Show
Sunday, June 5th
10:30am: Wonderspark Puppets – The Three Little Pigs
12:30pm: Wonderspark Puppets – The Three Little Pigs
2:00pm: Playdate Puppets – Humpty Dumpty and Friends EGGcellent Puppet Show
3:30pm: Playdate Puppets – Humpty Dumpty and Friends EGGcellent Puppet Show
Playscape Performs continues with puppetry at ShowBox by Paper Heart Puppets and Bruce Cannon. “Cardboard Explosion!” by Paper Heart Puppets brings four original stories to life using nothing but cardboard and the power of your imagination. On Saturday, witness a classic style of marionette puppetry when Bruce Cannon presents “The Magic of Music.” On Sunday, enjoy West African music, games, stories, and drumming with Amos Gabia and Third Street Music School.
Saturday, July 2nd
10:30am: Paper Heart Puppets – Cardboard Explosion
12:30pm: Paper Heart Puppets – Cardboard Explosion
2:00pm: Bruce Cannon – The Magic of Music
3:30pm: Bruce Cannon – The Magic of Music
Sunday, July 3rd
10:30am: Paper Heart Puppets – Cardboard Explosion
12:30pm: Paper Heart Puppets – Cardboard Explosion
2:00 – 4:00pm: Third Street Music School & Amos Gabia
Playscape Performs continues with puppetry at ShowBox with shows by Sova Dance and Puppetry and Teatro Sea. “Marvelous Metamorphoses” from Sova Dance and Puppetry unravels to present bizarre and beautiful transformations in our world like caterpillar to butterfly, polliwog to frog, and more! Teatro Sea will perform a bilingual, one-woman show about the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, which combines storytelling, music, visual arts, puppets and audience participation.
Saturday, August 6th
10:30am: Sova Dance and Puppetry – Marvelous Metamorphosis (Performance followed by Workshop)
12:30pm: Sova Dance and Puppetry – Marvelous Metamorphosis
2:00pm: Teatro Sea – The Colors of Frida
3:30pm: Teatro Sea – The Colors of Frida
Sunday, August 7th
10:30am: Sova Dance and Puppetry – Marvelous Metamorphosis (Performance followed by Workshop)
12:30pm: Sova Dance and Puppetry – Marvelous Metamorphosis
2:00pm: Teatro Sea – The Colors of Frida
3:30pm: Teatro Sea – The Colors of Frida
Playscape Performs comes to a close with Hobey Ford’s celebrated show “ANIMALIA” and a special presentation by Good Hearted Entertainment. Together with his team of adorable “Foamies,” Hobey Ford makes animals of all sorts emerge in movement and music to form a full-on puppet ballet. Watch as the habits and habitats of the world’s mightiest beasts and tiniest bugs come into furry focus right before your eyes. “Sock Monkey Circus” by Good Hearted Entertainment is a full circus performed in miniature! This performance features the magical talents of the host “Funny Honey” and her clever monkeys, who are trained to juggle, dance, and swing on a flying trapeze!
Saturday, September 10th
10:30am: Good Hearted Entertainment – Sock Monkey Circus
12:30pm: Good Hearted Entertainment – Sock Monkey Circus
2:00pm: Hobey Ford – ANIMALIA
3:15pm: Hobey Ford – Workshop
Sunday, September 11th
10:30am: Good Hearted Entertainment – Sock Monkey Circus
12:30pm: Good Hearted Entertainment – Sock Monkey Circus
Tanya Khordoc
Foskett Family Foundation
James David Price
Tom and Gayle Walsh
Read about the ceremony on our blog
Learn about our amazing trees on The Battery Blog
Join us for March cutback.
Use our mobile and printable resources to explore this month’s blooms, or bring your family on a seasonal scavenger hunt through the park!
7 days a week, 7am-6pm
Watch Warrie Price’s Luncheon Speech
Learn about the park’s rich history, many important landmarks and monuments, Seaglass Carousel, beautiful perennial gardens designed by renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf and so much more!
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