American Idle 2026
Audio Guide
New Years Eve:
--
:
--
:
--
:
--
°F
Broadway between 46th & 47th Sts
New York, NY
Start:
Aug 14, 2026
End:
Friday, August 14, 2026 | 7pm, 9pm
View Public Programming
Broadway between 46th & 47th Sts
New York, NY
Start:
Aug 14, 2026
End:
Friday, August 14, 2026 | 7pm, 9pm
View Public Programming
American Idle by Maia Chao
Choreographed by Lena Engelstein
Friday, August 14, 2026 | 7pm, 9pm
Duffy Square | Broadway & 46th St
Times Square Arts Public-Artist-In-Residence Maia Chao developed a live performance for Time Square by observing the social behaviors in the public plazas of one of the city’s busiest centers. The hour-long performance, choreographed by Lena Engelstein, originally debuted on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Now, it returns to the Broadway plaza between 46th and 47th Streets on Friday, August 14, 2026. Click here to reserve a spot for one of the performances.
American Idle constructs a choreographic score of public behavior in one of the world’s most iconic, and most photographed, urban spaces. Mirroring the 24/7 loop of the billboards and the pedestrian movements in the plazas below, the piece considers a world of repetition and copies of gestures and images, examining how this spectacle-driven environment homogenizes collective behavior, and compels the constant performance of the self for the ever-present camera. In this feedback loop of image and enactment, one’s experience gives way to its representation, and the outline of certain archetypes begin to form—the kissing couple, the tired mother, the lost tourist. The performance draws its choreography from the everyday movements of NYC tourists and the looping gestures of 3D figures animated in crowd simulation software used to model, manage, and control the flow of human movement through public space. American Idle meditates on the beauty and suffering of our contemporary condition—fractured attention, techno-mediation, sensory overload, and excess—magnified by the hyperreality of Times Square.
Designed around the unique characteristics and communities of Times Square, the Times Square Arts Public-Artist-in-Residence program supports multidisciplinary artists interested in exploring social, cultural, or political concerns within the context of New York City’s most iconic commercial and cultural district. As part of the program, Times Square Arts facilitates connections with relevant individuals and organizations in Times Square — which could include theaters, restaurants, retailers, hotels, non-profits, or street vendors — and provides resources and expertise from the broader Times Square Alliance team across departments, including from operations, to policy and research. In addition to a fee covering the residency period, artists are eligible for funding toward the public presentation of an artwork in Times Square.
In her artistic practice, Chao becomes deeply embedded in her environment. As part of her research for the Public Artist-in-Residence program, Chao shadowed the Times Square Alliance’s sanitation and public safety teams, whose often-overlooked work revealed a practiced eye for noticing what the average visitor may tune out — cracks in the sidewalk, graffiti on a street sign, a sticker on a bench. The sanitation and safety staff document each of the tasks that require repair or removal, capturing the fleeting moments when what is meant to disappear becomes visible: french fries scattered across the plaza, an empty stroller left on the sidewalk. From these evocative images, Chao began inventing narratives, imagining the everyday dramas that gave rise to these accidental tableaus, then turning her attention to the close observation of pedestrian behaviors, which ultimately shaped American Idle, the performance.
As well, Chao consulted with the broad network of the Times Square Alliance, including the in-district organization, Theater of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC), the non-profit dedicated to using theatrical games and exercises to empower communities from adverse backgrounds. In these programs, actors and audiences engage in theatrical brainstorming with the aim of catalyzing creative change on individual, community, and political levels. Chao pursued further training in this method with independent practitioners, Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews and Christian Hayden.
Additional Credits:
Costume Design: Zoë Chao & Maia Chao
Sound Design: Lavinia Eloise Bruce
Creative Assistant: Amanda Horowitz
Videography: Ty Burdenski, Jack Mikesell, and Ian Faria
Performance Photography: Maria Baranova
Rehearsal photography: Amelia Golden
3D Modeling: Elijah Ober
Theater of the Oppressed Facilitation: Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews + Christian Hayden
Research and Development: Ree Bradley
Graphic Design: M Slater
Proposal Editor: Blanche Brown
Crowd Psychology Consultation: John Drury
Rehearsal Space: Center for Performance Research
Songs by Nina Ryser, Daniel Lopatin, Alice Coltrane, Britney Spears, Bolis Pupul and Charlotte, Adigéry and Richard Proulx
American Idle by Maia Chao
Choreographed by Lena Engelstein
Friday, August 14, 2026 | 7pm, 9pm
Duffy Square | Broadway & 46th St
Times Square Arts Public-Artist-In-Residence Maia Chao developed a live performance for Time Square by observing the social behaviors in the public plazas of one of the city’s busiest centers. The hour-long performance, choreographed by Lena Engelstein, originally debuted on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Now, it returns to the Broadway plaza between 46th and 47th Streets on Friday, August 14, 2026. Click here to reserve a spot for one of the performances.
American Idle constructs a choreographic score of public behavior in one of the world’s most iconic, and most photographed, urban spaces. Mirroring the 24/7 loop of the billboards and the pedestrian movements in the plazas below, the piece considers a world of repetition and copies of gestures and images, examining how this spectacle-driven environment homogenizes collective behavior, and compels the constant performance of the self for the ever-present camera. In this feedback loop of image and enactment, one’s experience gives way to its representation, and the outline of certain archetypes begin to form—the kissing couple, the tired mother, the lost tourist. The performance draws its choreography from the everyday movements of NYC tourists and the looping gestures of 3D figures animated in crowd simulation software used to model, manage, and control the flow of human movement through public space. American Idle meditates on the beauty and suffering of our contemporary condition—fractured attention, techno-mediation, sensory overload, and excess—magnified by the hyperreality of Times Square.
Designed around the unique characteristics and communities of Times Square, the Times Square Arts Public-Artist-in-Residence program supports multidisciplinary artists interested in exploring social, cultural, or political concerns within the context of New York City’s most iconic commercial and cultural district. As part of the program, Times Square Arts facilitates connections with relevant individuals and organizations in Times Square — which could include theaters, restaurants, retailers, hotels, non-profits, or street vendors — and provides resources and expertise from the broader Times Square Alliance team across departments, including from operations, to policy and research. In addition to a fee covering the residency period, artists are eligible for funding toward the public presentation of an artwork in Times Square.
In her artistic practice, Chao becomes deeply embedded in her environment. As part of her research for the Public Artist-in-Residence program, Chao shadowed the Times Square Alliance’s sanitation and public safety teams, whose often-overlooked work revealed a practiced eye for noticing what the average visitor may tune out — cracks in the sidewalk, graffiti on a street sign, a sticker on a bench. The sanitation and safety staff document each of the tasks that require repair or removal, capturing the fleeting moments when what is meant to disappear becomes visible: french fries scattered across the plaza, an empty stroller left on the sidewalk. From these evocative images, Chao began inventing narratives, imagining the everyday dramas that gave rise to these accidental tableaus, then turning her attention to the close observation of pedestrian behaviors, which ultimately shaped American Idle, the performance.
As well, Chao consulted with the broad network of the Times Square Alliance, including the in-district organization, Theater of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC), the non-profit dedicated to using theatrical games and exercises to empower communities from adverse backgrounds. In these programs, actors and audiences engage in theatrical brainstorming with the aim of catalyzing creative change on individual, community, and political levels. Chao pursued further training in this method with independent practitioners, Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews and Christian Hayden.
Additional Credits:
Costume Design: Zoë Chao & Maia Chao
Sound Design: Lavinia Eloise Bruce
Creative Assistant: Amanda Horowitz
Videography: Ty Burdenski, Jack Mikesell, and Ian Faria
Performance Photography: Maria Baranova
Rehearsal photography: Amelia Golden
3D Modeling: Elijah Ober
Theater of the Oppressed Facilitation: Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews + Christian Hayden
Research and Development: Ree Bradley
Graphic Design: M Slater
Proposal Editor: Blanche Brown
Crowd Psychology Consultation: John Drury
Rehearsal Space: Center for Performance Research
Songs by Nina Ryser, Daniel Lopatin, Alice Coltrane, Britney Spears, Bolis Pupul and Charlotte, Adigéry and Richard Proulx
August 14, 7pm
An hour-long performance on the Broadway plaza between 46th and 47th Streets.
August 14, 9pm
An hour-long performance on the Broadway plaza between 46th and 47th Streets.
Support for Maia Chao's American Idle is provided in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Broadway between 46th & 47th Sts
New York, NY
Friday, August 14, 2026 | 7pm, 9pm
Photo by Maria Baranova
Maia Chao is an artist who works collaboratively in performance, film, and social practice. She is co-creator of the social practice project, Look at Art. Get Paid (2015-20) with Josephine Devanbu, which piloted at the RISD Museum. She has since made collaborative works with artists Ethan Philbrick, Fred Schmidt-Arenales, and Ree Bradley. Chao has created commissioned films and performances for the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, The Shed, and MoMA Education. Her work has been presented at the Bronx Museum, Cuchifritos Gallery, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Boston Center for the Arts, Tufts University Art Galleries, Smack Mellon, and Oregon Contemporary. She has completed fellowships and residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center, Pioneer Works, and Queer|Art. In 2022, she was named a Pew Fellow and in 2023, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Based in Philadelphia, Chao is an artist-member of the art collective and DIY space, Vox Populi. She holds a BA from Brown University, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is currently full time faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Learn More About
Maia Chao
Maia Chao is an artist who works collaboratively in performance, film, and social practice. She is co-creator of the social practice project, Look at Art. Get Paid (2015-20) with Josephine Devanbu, which piloted at the RISD Museum. She has since made collaborative works with artists Ethan Philbrick, Fred Schmidt-Arenales, and Ree Bradley. Chao has created commissioned films and performances for the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, The Shed, and MoMA Education. Her work has been presented at the Bronx Museum, Cuchifritos Gallery, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Boston Center for the Arts, Tufts University Art Galleries, Smack Mellon, and Oregon Contemporary. She has completed fellowships and residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center, Pioneer Works, and Queer|Art. In 2022, she was named a Pew Fellow and in 2023, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Based in Philadelphia, Chao is an artist-member of the art collective and DIY space, Vox Populi. She holds a BA from Brown University, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is currently full time faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Learn More About
Maia Chao
Maia Chao is an artist who works collaboratively in performance, film, and social practice. She is co-creator of the social practice project, Look at Art. Get Paid (2015-20) with Josephine Devanbu, which piloted at the RISD Museum. She has since made collaborative works with artists Ethan Philbrick, Fred Schmidt-Arenales, and Ree Bradley. Chao has created commissioned films and performances for the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, The Shed, and MoMA Education. Her work has been presented at the Bronx Museum, Cuchifritos Gallery, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Boston Center for the Arts, Tufts University Art Galleries, Smack Mellon, and Oregon Contemporary. She has completed fellowships and residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center, Pioneer Works, and Queer|Art. In 2022, she was named a Pew Fellow and in 2023, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Based in Philadelphia, Chao is an artist-member of the art collective and DIY space, Vox Populi. She holds a BA from Brown University, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is currently full time faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Learn More About
Maia Chao
