UNDER THE RADAR: A JANUARY RE‑ENTRY INTO NEW YORK’S CULTURAL LIFE
Contributor - Jack Bartholet | Head of Events & Experiences • 1/15/26
January in New York has its own cadence. The holidays fade and the city slows. By mid‑month, you feel the pull to go out again and engage with work that rewards your attention, your curiosity, and your company’s conversation. Under the Radar arrives in this moment with a clarity few seasonal festivals manage.
Running through late January, Under the Radar brings multidisciplinary performance across downtown and midtown venues, convening international and U.S. artists in theater, dance, experimental work, and hybrid performance. Over the course of the festival, rooms from The Public Theater to Irish Arts Center and SoHo Rep host work that feels attuned to now without being tethered to trend. This is thoughtful programming that asks you to sit, watch, and respond, not scroll.
As someone who tracks performance and social rhythm in this city, I value Under the Radar because it gives members a reason to plan a night that feels both deliberate and enriching. Each show is a contained experience. You choose an evening, see a performance, then gather with friends afterward and talk about what you witnessed. That sequence — show, table, conversation — feels exactly right for this part of the calendar.
The festival’s citywide structure matters. It invites you into neighborhoods with identity and texture, where you can build a complete night around a single performance rather than treating the work as an afterthought. Across these venues, the programming tends toward artists and pieces that reflect urgency without spectacle. The work rewards presence, which makes every show a good occasion to build a fuller evening.
Two pieces in the lineup illustrate the variety and depth of this programming:
Elevator Repair Service’s Ulysses at The Public Theater
If you think of Ulysses as Victorian academic luggage, this version by Elevator Repair Service will change your mind. Best known for Gatz, the company brings Joyce’s sprawling modernist text into the realm of live performance with humor, risk, and physicality. What begins as a serious reading evolves: performers break into pints, staged brawls unfold, and the text becomes a live score of invention. The result is a fast‑paced, richly layered, and surprisingly accessible reimagining of a literary monolith.
This production is the sort of theatre that rewards thoughtful pre‑show pacing and post‑show reflection. It isn’t background noise; it is a piece you unpack with companions over dinner or drinks.
Brokentalkers’ Bellow at Irish Arts Center
Where Ulysses plays with linguistic architecture, Bellow moves through sound and memory. Brokentalkers’ production traces the life of Irish accordionist Danny O’Mahony, weaving live playing, electronic composition, and movement into an intimate narrative. It’s rooted in artistry and craft, and it honors the tension between impulse and mastery.
This performance feels personal on arrival. You hear breath and nuance in every gesture and note. In a city where most nights are agenda‑driven, Bellow feels like a quiet invitation to be present in a way you don’t often get.
Across the rest of the festival, work spans dance, conversation pieces, multimedia performance, and forms that blend representational practice with experimentation. But these two — Ulysses and Bellow — illustrate the frame: work that rewards attention and deep involvement rather than passive consumption.
For members, this offers a sequence that flows naturally into a broader evening. The venues are close to restaurants where the pace supports dialogue rather than distraction, and where service matches a member’s expectation for thoughtful timing and space.
Strategic Pairings for the Night:
Pairing dinner with performance matters most when the work itself asks for conversation afterward. Two restaurants stand out near key festival venues:
Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria — near The Public Theater
For shows at The Public and nearby downtown venues, Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria is a natural anchor. Tables move with intention. The room respects conversation and midpoint pauses. Their generous hospitality supports a leisurely pre‑show dinner or a lingering table afterward.
Raoul’s — for SoHo Rep and adjacent spaces
Raoul’s sits in that sweet spot between classic New York and neighborhood sensibility. The bar seating works for shorter dinners before curtain; a table suits deeper conversation before or after a performance. Raoul’s supports evenings like Bellow, where the work draws you in and leaves you curious to talk through the experience rather than rush for the next thing.
These two options honor the logic of the neighborhood and the flow of the night. They are not obligatory, but they are reliable. In a festival that spreads across several distinct cultural anchors, having a trusted dinner destination before a show creates ease and a sense of possession over your evening.
Under the Radar’s timing — situated after the holiday cycle and just before the city’s next wave of cultural launches — makes it a smart occasion to re‑engage with live performance. The work is serious without being solemn. It rewards attendance without demanding exhaustion. The neighborhoods encourage movement rather than transit.
We help members choose which show makes sense for their group, advise on ideal seating and timing, handle tickets, and plan the meal so that arrival is relaxed and the evening unfolds logically. A well‑curated night around Under the Radar is not an itinerary; it is a sequence that feels composed rather than constructed.
This festival does not ask you to go everywhere in two weeks. It asks you to go somewhere worth being. That precision — intimacy over bigness, presence over pace — is exactly what many of us are looking for at this point in the season.
If you want a cultural re‑entry that feels social, thoughtful, and distinctly New York , Under the Radar offers nights that are worth selecting. Submit a request through the member portal, and our team will help you choose the right performance and the right dinner pairing for a complete evening.
Contributor — Jack Bartholet | Head of Events & Experiences
Jack effortlessly transitions from the entertainment industry to the world of luxury hospitality and travel, bringing a rich background of collaboration with celebrated artists and extensive personal travel experiences. When not consulting, he can be seen onstage with cabaret and theatre performances. Jack's enduring passion centers on fostering a sense of belonging for LGBTQ travelers wherever their journey takes them.
