The Dark

The Dark is a new annual festival from PS21 : Center for Contemporary Performance that celebrates and elevates the depths of winter. Taking place February 16–22, 2026, the festival will unfold at PS21 and across Columbia County—in theatres, restaurants, libraries, saunas, and outdoor public spaces. Featuring more than 60 international artists and over 80 performances, The Dark offers a packed week of world-class contemporary performance, installation, music, dance, and theatre—all exploring winter as a time of community and solitude, fire and ice, darkness and light. A major new attraction for the region, the festival positions Columbia County as a year-round cultural destination—not just a summer one. It is a light in the dark—and The Dark is the light. Alex Harvey • The Willows • Stonykill Coffee and Records • Chatham, NY Andrew Schneider • NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) • PS21 Black Box Theater • Chatham, NY Ant Hampton & Time Based Editions • Borderline Visible • Chatham Bookshop • Chatham , NY Ant Hampton with Tim Etchells • Not to Scale • US premiere • Creative Legion • Hudson , NY Ant Hampton with Tim Etchells • The Quiet Volume • Chatham Public Library • Chatham , NY Arone Dyer / Droneschoir • Lode* • Masonic Hall • Chatham, NY Autumn Knight • Nothing #62: a bluff • Pocketbook Hudson • Hudson, NY Ben LaMar Gay • Cold was the Ground • Crandell Theatre • Chatham, NY Bert & Nasi / Tim Etchells • L’Addition • US premiere • Time & Space Limited • Hudson, NY David Lang & Bill Morrison • darker • Crandell Theatre • Chatham, NY Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou • Night Prayers, piano by Thomas Feng • PS21 Black Box Theater • Chatham, NY John Fitzgerald • The Vivid Unknown: Cloudqatsi • US premiere • PS21 Animal Barn • Chatham, NY Julian Brave NoiseCat • We Survived the Night: A Coyote Story in Four Parts • World premiere • Spencertown Academy • Spencertown, NY Kara-Lis Coverdale • Music for Organ • St. James Church • Chatham, NY Kara-Lis Coverdale • A Series of Actions in a Sphere of Forever • PS21 Black Box Theater • Chatham, NY LaJuné McMillian • Constellations • World premiere • PS21 Ice Skating Rink • Chatham, NY Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer • ContreJour • Basilica Hudson • Hudson, NY Natural Information Society • Perseverance Flow • Crandell Theatre • Chatham, NY Okwui Okpokwasili & Peter Born: sweat variant • my tongue is a blade • US premiere • Hudson Hall • Hudson, NY Peni Candra Rini & Garin Nugroho • Setan Jawa • Crandell Theatre • Chatham, NY Phil Kline • Force of Nature (February) • World premiere • PS21 Grounds • Chatham, NY Raven Chacon & David Lang • Voiceless Mass and the little match girl passion • St. James Church • Chatham, NY Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe • Nsenene / Grasshopper Republic • Crandell Theater • Chatham, NY Sarah Hennies & Tristan Kasten-Krause • Prisoner’s Cinema • Masonic Hall • Chatham, NY Sister Sylvester • Constantinopoliad • US premiere • Kinderhook Knitting Mill • Kinderhook, NY Sister Sylvester • Drinking Brecht • Spencertown Academy • Spencertown, NY Sister Sylvester • Shadowtime • Creative Legion • Hudson, NY Sophia Brous • Songs for the Dark • World premiere • Art OMI Barn • Ghent, NY Trisha Brown Dance Company • In Plain Site • Masonic Hall • Chatham, NY Walid Raad • Artist Talk • Crandell Theatre • Chatham, NY