NEW YORK CITY: The city’s downtown performance hub HERE has announced its 2018-19 season, its 26th.

“As HERE heads into its next quarter-century, I couldn’t be more excited about our striking 26th season,” said founding artistic director Kristin Marting in a statement. “I am astounded by the adventurous artists who make HERE their home—opening our eyes to new ideas through their vast explorations of divas, family history, primatology, cannabis, blackness, McCarthy, and so much more. Plus, we get to celebrate HERE’s 25th birthday with one hell of a party.”

The season will open with a HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP) play, which will be the world premiere of Soundstage (Sept. 13-29) by Rob Roth, a live theatre and film hybrid about alternative realities and a metaphysical journey, seen through a queer lens. Roth will star, and a performance by Rebecca Hall will be featured onscreen.

Next will be HERE’s 25th Birthday Party event, which will occur on Oct. 29 and feature performances by 25 of HERE’s favorite artists of all time.

Following will be the PROTOTYPE Festival (Jan. 5-13, 2019), which will feature several groundbreaking new works. The lineup includes p r i s m by Ellen Reid & Roxie Perkins; The Infinite Hotel by Michael Joseph McQuilken and Leah Siegel, with selected songs and lyrics adapted from Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley; Train With No Midnight by Joseph Keckler; Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance by Graham Reynolds & Lagartijas Tiradas Al Sol of Mexico City; Stinney: An American Execution by Frances Pollock & Tia Price; one project soon to be announced; PROTOTYPE: Out of Bounds, a series of short, free, site-specific works in public spaces; and the return of the PROTOTYPE Soirée at City Vineyard. For a detailed schedule, go to prototypefestival.org.

Also in the PROTOTYPE Festival and the second HARP play this season will be the world premiere of ThisTree (Jan. 6-12, 2019) by Leah Coloff, a play about Coloff’s childhood memories, unanswered questions, and fertility treatments. It features Coloff’s signature blend of blues, rock, and non-traditional cello playing with an all-female band.

Next will be CULTUREMART (March 5-10, 2019), the annual festival for HARP where process becomes the focus for HERE Resident Artists.

Following will be the presentation of HERE’s Dream Music Puppetry Program, which will begin with the New York premiere of Ashes (March 12-17, 2019) by Yngvild Aspeli/Plexus Polaire. It combines the stories of a young man who sets houses on fire and a writer who seizes them as literary material several decades later.

Closing out the season will be the second Dream Music Puppetry Program play, the world premiere of Chimpanzee (March 14-24) by Nick Lehane. It is a non-verbal puppet play about an aging, isolated chimpanzee who pieces together the fragments of her childhood in a human family.

HERE is an Obie-winning New York theatre that is a leader in the field of producing and presenting new, hybrid performance viewed as a seamless integration of artistic disciplines.