We are absolutely thrilled to announce that The Garden has been selected as the New Victory LabWorks Launch project for 2026! With the support, resources, and community of one of the most respected institutions in theater for young audiences, this dream partnership will take our radically inclusive, site-specific outdoor performance series to the next level.
For those who've been following along, you know how much heart we've poured into The Garden since 2022. You've seen your children's faces light up as they opened milkweed pods, felt the bark of trees, and experienced the life cycle through all five senses in public parks across the city. Now, with New Victory LabWorks’ backing, we'll have the opportunity to further develop this work with the goal of bringing it to even more families both at the New Victory and on stages beyond.
You can read the full press release below for all the details.
NEW VICTORY LABWORKS WELCOMES FLYING LEAP PRODUCTIONS AS COMPANY IN RESIDENCE TO DEVELOP GROUNDBREAKING NEW WORK
11/21/2025 – New Victory LabWorks, a residency program for New York City-based artists creating new work for family audiences, will partner with Flying Leap Productions throughout 2026 to further develop The Garden, an original, site-specific theater piece designed for children aged 0-5 and their families.
The Garden is a 45-minute immersive theater work that incorporates live music, movement, poetic text performed in multiple languages and sensory play. The piece invites very young audiences to experience nature and the cycle of life using their senses, while exploring themes of connection, environmental conservation, and their place in the world. Flying Leap Productions has designed The Garden to tour public parks and green spaces, in an effort to reach audiences who are geographically isolated from the City’s existing arts districts and cultural spaces, inviting them into nature, parks and culture. Created by immigrant, LGBTQ+, women, and disabled artists, the show is radically accessible to families from different backgrounds, languages, neighborhoods, and audiences with disabilities. The Garden provides a welcoming atmosphere for families to share a peaceful moment and participate at their own pace at a critical stage in early childhood development.
Established in 2012, New Victory LabWorks supports New York-based artists of all disciplines in making works that challenge common preconceptions about theater for young audiences. New Victory LabWorks® program participants receive financial support, rehearsal space and bespoke professional development, networking and community-building opportunities. Artists also hold invited rehearsals for industry professionals, fellow artists, and kid and family audiences with facilitated feedback sessions. The Garden is specifically part of the New Victory LabWorks Launch program, which was established in 2021 to provide individualized support for a particular project to be further developed with the aim of presenting the work at the New Victory and/or on other local, national or international stages in the future.
About New Victory Theater
The New Victory opens new worlds to young people and families through extraordinary performances, education and engagement programs. Bringing kids to the arts and the arts to kids since 1995, this nonprofit theater has become a standard-bearer of quality performing arts for young audiences in the United States. Reflecting and serving the multicultural city it calls home, The New Victory is committed to arts access for all communities of New York to experience and engage with the exemplary international shows on its stages. A global leader in arts education, youth development and audience engagement, the New Victory Theater has been honored by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, by Americans for the Arts with a national Arts Education Award, and by the Drama Desk for "providing enchanting, sophisticated children's theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people."
About New 42
New 42 was founded to breathe new life into 42nd Street and its historic theaters, transforming the block into a vibrant and youthful theater district. Today and every day, we continue to spark awe and wonder, opening new worlds to young audiences through New Victory Theater, incubating new works at New 42 Studios, and paving new pathways to creative careers through our artist and mentorship programs. Under the leadership of President & CEO Russell Granet and Board Chairman Henry Tisch, New 42’s mission is to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone’s life from the earliest years onward. Driven for 35 years by the belief that the performing arts have the power to connect and change us all, we continue to expand what’s possible for artists, audiences, and the future of the performing arts. New 42 is the recipient of a 2025 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.
About Flying Leap Productions
Flying Leap Productions is New York’s only site-specific family theater company. Flying Leap’s artists have created and produced original works such as The Garden, an interactive meditative performance for families staged in public parks and green spaces in NYC; Beyond the Wall || Más Allá del Muro, a binational giant puppetry project at the US/Mexico border wall (seen in Mexico, Prague, New York, London, and Chicago) and Lights in the Sky. Since founding in 2021, Flying Leap has received support from New Victory LabWorks, The Uptown Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and was a 2024-2025 A.R.T. New York Small Theaters Fund grant recipient. Founder and Producing Artistic Director Jess Kaufman has been a New Victory Theater LabWorks artist, a New York Foundation for the Arts “Emerging Arts Leader”, and recently served as the temporary Acting Executive Director of TYA/USA. Sign up for updates at www.flying-leap.com.