The Shed and Tin Drum have revealed An Ark, the world’s first play created for and within mixed reality, premiering in New York from January 9 to March 1, 2026. Written by Olivier and Tony Award winner Simon Stephens and directed by UK Theatre Award winner Sarah Frankcom, the seven-week engagement will be staged in The Shed’s Level 2 Gallery. Conceived and produced by mixed reality pioneer Todd Eckert, An Ark redefines what it means to experience live performance.
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The production stars Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, Richard III), Golda Rosheuvel (Bridgerton), Arinzé Kene (Misty, Get Up, Stand Up!), and Rosie Sheehy (Machinal, Old Vic). In this format, audiences of up to 200 people will wear headsets through which the actors appear, performing intimately for each viewer, face-to-face, though not physically present. The result is a shared, deeply personal encounter that challenges the boundaries between theater, cinema, and technology.
Following Tin Drum’s acclaimed 2023 project Kagami, An Ark continues the company’s exploration of volumetric recording and immersive storytelling. This new work uses mixed reality to invite audiences into a 47-minute meditation on the human condition, moving through the experiences of love, loss, memory, and mortality in a single continuous flow.
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Todd Eckert described the project as an attempt to “expand the traditional forms of theater and film into something that isn’t otherwise possible, to bring us closer to the truth of ourselves.” Director Sarah Frankcom added that the medium “creates a magical space for an extraordinarily intimate and mesmeric encounter with actors and story.”
Tickets for An Ark go on sale November 20, 2025, with presales beginning November 12 for members and November 18 for Mastercard cardholders via TheShed.org.
