The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has announced a week-long slate of special, free programming to honor the 60th anniversary of its founding. “Living Library: Celebrating 60 Years” will take place during the last week of July and will serve as part of Lincoln Center’s annual Summer for the City event series.
Included among the events is a panel discussion in honor of the 50th anniversary of the opening of “A Chorus Line.” The discussion will feature original “Chorus Line” company members Baayork Lee, Priscilla Lopez, Kelly Bishop and Donna McKechnie, the latter two of whom took home Tony Awards for their performances. Richard Jay-Alexander will moderate the discussion which will take place on July 25 (the 50th anniversary of “A Chorus Line”’s premiere bow on the Main Stem) from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium.
In addition to the “Chorus Line” panel, the Library will host a reading of the unproduced musical “Stranger,” one of the many unproduced works found within the Library’s catalog. Written by the late Michael Friedman (who is known for composing the score and writing the lyrics for “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”), the reading will feature Tony winner Lindsay Mendez, as well as Andrew Barth Feldman and Analise Scarpaci. Trip Cullman will direct the event, which is scheduled for July 23 at 4 p.m. in the Bruno Walter Auditorium.
Additional programming includes a mambo dance party hosted by Sekou McMiller (July 23 at 6 p.m.); a silent disco decades party DJ’d by Bill Coleman (July 23 at 8 p.m.); guided tours of the exhibition Room to Move: Dance Theater Workshop and Alternative Histories of Downtown Dance (July 24 at 11 a.m. and July 26 at 11 a.m.); children and youth theater classes hosted by Main Street Theatre and Dance Alliance (July 24 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.); a reading party hosted by Reading Rhythms (July 24 at 5:30 p.m.); a children’s music workshop hosted by Just Accessible Music (July 25 at 11 a.m.); screenings of the silent films “Love ’Em and Leave ’Em” (from 1926) and “Movie Night” (from 1929) curated by Elena Rossi-Snook and Steve Mass, with live piano accompaniment by Ben Model, with a post-film discussion.
“As much as the Library for the Performing Arts is committed to archiving performing arts history, we are equally dedicated to shaping its future,” said the Library’s executive director Roberta Pereira in a statement. “Our 60th anniversary celebrations honor the artists, audiences and milestones that have defined us, while doubling down on our focus on community, creativity and access. We aim to deepen our engagement with the public, expand and diversify our collections and enhance the patron experience — ensuring that the Library remains a vibrant, welcoming home for the performing arts for generations to come.”
“The Library for the Performing Arts is such an incredible gift to the city — inspiring so many New Yorkers with its unique and invaluable resources,” said Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts chief artistic officer Shanta Thake. “The Library has been a longtime collaborator during our summer seasons with storytimes and the outdoor reading room, and we are proud to expand that collaboration in such a meaningful way to help celebrate this milestone as part of Summer for the City.”
Beyond the “Living Library” series, the 60th year of the Library’s founding will include an upcoming exhibition surveying 200 years of Black musical theater history, a newly designed open community space on the Library’s first floor and a one-night-only after-hours “open house,” with food and drinks, performances activities and special access throughout the entire building. Additional details will be announced.
Established in 1965 through a partnership with the New York Public Library and the newly created Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Performing Arts Library serves as the central hub for archival information regarding all areas of the performing arts, including theater, dance, music and recorded sound. The Library’s collection includes approximately eight million items across its various divisions, which comprise the Billy Rose Theatre Division, the Jerome Robbins Dance Divisions, Music Division, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound and Theatre on Film and Tape Archive. The institution received a 2025 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.
Complete details for the week-long “Living Library” series can be found here.
