INTERVIEW: PAC NYC will stage ‘The Visitors’
Photo: The Visitors will begin performances Jan. 21 at PAC NYC. Photo courtesy of Redhanded Productions / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
The Perelman Performing Arts Center, known as PAC NYC, has had a successful beginning to its home at the World Trade Center in Downtown Manhattan, and one of its most anticipated shows is The Visitors, coming Wednesday, Jan. 21, with performances only running through Feb. 1.
Co-produced by Moogahlin Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company, the 75-minute work depicts the fateful events of January 1788, when seven Aboriginal leaders gather and discuss what to do with the giant ships in Sydney Harbor, according to press notes.
The New York City stop is the first destination on the play’s international tour, bringing to the Big Apple the vision of Muruwari playwright Jane Harrison and Quandamooka man director Wesley Enoch. Recently Bill Rauch, artistic director of PAC NYC, exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox to discuss the decision to bring The Visitors to the new downtown venue. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Why did it attract you and the team to bring The Visitors to the United States and PAC NYC?
Given our location on the campus of the World Trade Center, PAC NYC is committed to sharing projects from around the globe. We also have a strong commitment to work from Indigenous artists, having had Native work in every season since we opened. This Indigenous Australian project is completely aligned with our mission.
What do you think the piece says about how we welcome perceived strangers in 2026?
The Visitors is a brilliant play. It is so gripping to watch these seven clan leaders debate whether or not to welcome the newly arrived settlers, especially from the vantage point of knowing what will happen next. Our theater is located at the tip of the island where Dutch settlers first massacred the Lenape people and where wave after wave of immigrants entered our country through New York Harbor, including my own great-grandfather from Germany. The play provides a fascinating double lens on our relationship to Indigenous people as well as to current worldwide debates about how we welcome refugees and immigrants.
Have you been happy with the success that PAC NYC has found so far since opening?
We are in our third season since opening, and we will announce our fourth season in April. I am overjoyed by the variety and power of work that we’ve been able to share and by audiences’ passionate responses. Right after The Visitors closes, I begin rehearsals for the Broadway transfer of Cats The Jellicle Ball. PAC NYC audiences are adventurous, and their tastes are wide-ranging.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Visitors will play Jan. 21 to Feb. 1 at PAC NYC at the World Trade Center in Downtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
