Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage.” Although all of New York City is a lively stage, on June 5th, the South Plaza at Astor Place will have a big, red, metallic, 30-foot-wide by 13-foot-tall stage for anyone and everyone to perform, meet, meditate, protest, or do whatever inspires.

Building on his coronavirus-inspired “Untitled Anxious Red Drawings” (which were built on his “Anxious Men” series), artist Rashid Johnson created the Red Stage as "an emergency call for artists and individuals to ask, 'What new ways of togetherness and experimentation can form in times of crisis? What becomes possible when makers have open access to improvise, experiment, and play together, free from barriers between artist and stage?'"

Experiential artist and activist Molly Gochman told us, "As a funder, I was drawn to this work and the ways it undermines institutional systems of hierarchy and access. The platform that Rashid has created is open for everyone, installed in a public park rather than in a museum or gallery, where many people often feel out of place or alienated. And by lifting up all types of performance—and all types of performers—he has entrenched equity in every part of the project, both in terms of who is viewing the work and who is creating it. Rashid is celebrating all modalities of performance and all perspectives of performers, flattening institutional hierarchies and democratizing access. There’s so much beauty in that—the combination of so many different types of performance and performers, all existing on this stage over a prolonged period in the park. There’s a dynamism to it."

Some of the performances will include theater director Charlotte Brathwaite with Sunder Ganglani and y.o.u. enacting a public reading with song; Legendary QTPOC nightlife collective Papi Juice hosting The Portal, and comedic activist and performer Morgan Bassichis performing his very own musical.

Gochman adds, "I deeply appreciate the element of surprise in Rashid’s piece. Without access to the full schedule, viewers are able to engage with the work and have a truly unexpected experience. When we don’t know what is going to happen each day, or in what order, we are able to have these beautiful moments of surprise. And in that way, his work really mimics life; we crave structure and understanding, yet the most beautiful moments often come from the unexpected and the unknowable. Despite the formal gridded structure of Rashid’s platform, the evolving schedule of performers offers beautiful and unexpected moments of surprise, stretching time and in some ways, extending life itself. "

Creative Time, the public arts organization behind the project, says, “Red Stage references a state of chronic anxiety (which we can all relate to this year).”

Astor Place is symbolically significant with its storied history of public discourse and insurgency, such as the 1849 Astor Place Riot and the 1863 site of Frederick Douglas' "The Proclamation and a Negro Army" address.

The stage will be open to the public from June 5th and will stay up until July 4th.