It’s an Irish eye on a perennially transfixing Shakespearean tragedy. It’s a heralded American choreographer gracing the art-filled spaces of the Gibbes. It’s a Mallorcan theater group immersing local audiences in a teen odyssey, all with a little help from a smartphone.
In short, it’s Boundless, a new initiative of Charleston Gaillard Center that radiates from its august hub to present acclaimed artists in Charleston venues certain to raise the bar on live performance through the city.
“There is something deeply exciting about leading this institution as it evolves in ways that are both artistically bold and responsive to the community we serve,” Charleston Gaillard Center President and CEO Lissa Frenkel recently told the Charleston City Paper. “Boundless represents exactly the kind of meaningful step forward that defines who we are.”
Expanding the walls
Boundless extends the Gaillard’s artistic vision beyond its walls with four new additions to the 2026–2027 season, expanding both the center’s artistic offerings and its presence throughout Charleston.
As the Gaillard’s artistic vision has grown alongside the needs of the community it serves, so too has the need for new spaces in which to realize it. Bringing world-class programming to iconic venues and unexpected locations across the city, Boundless reflects the Gaillard’s belief that transformative artistic experiences can take root anywhere, as well as its ongoing commitment to serving as an active cultural partner invested in the vitality of Charleston and its communities.
The initiative launches with six programs, two of which were previously announced as part of the Gaillard’s 2026–2027 season and are now recognized as founding presentations of Boundless: the Sept. 26 collaboration between digital artist Beeple and Grammy Award-winning ensemble Sō Percussion at Beeple Studios and the December run of Cabaret Royale by Underbelly, returning to the Spiegeltent on the Terrace Lawn for its fifth year. These are now joined by the four just-announced productions.
Trisha Brown Dance Company’s In Plain Site at the Gibbes Museum of Art, an immersive presentation of the celebrated New York choreographer’s seminal site-specific work, set against the backdrop of one of Charleston’s beloved cultural institutions.
Druid’s Macbeth at College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre features Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes directing an Irish take on Shakespeare’s fiercest tragedy.
Lost Lear by Dan Colley at College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre brings the Scotsman Fringe First Award-winner at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe to Charleston, promising a riveting remix of the Shakespeare standard using puppetry, projection and live video effects.
La Mecànica’s A Teen Odyssey at College of Charleston’s Simons Center Black Box Theatre — an exhilarating piece of immersive physical theater from Mallorca that transforms every audience member into an active participant.
Boundless also represents a curatorial bellwether for Nicole Taney, Gaillard’s first vice president of artistic programming who was appointed in July 2025. Her vision for the center is manifest throughout the 2026-27 season, including works that are part of the new initiative that she said encompass the city’s exceptional venues and vibrant communities, as well as its deep appetite for meaningful cultural experiences.
“What drew me to these particular productions is that each one uses its environment as an essential part of the work,” she told the City Paper, teasing out performance morsels in the works, among them Trisha Brown’s dancers moving through the Gibbes, the audience as participants in A Teen Odyssey at the College of Charleston’s Black Box Theatre and Shakespeare on the Sottile stage via Druid, the renowned Irish theater the infuses Macbeth with of-the-moment urgency.
“That specificity is what makes Boundless so compelling to me, and I think it will resonate deeply with Charleston audiences,” she said.
Educating Charleston
The launch of Boundless is testament to the Gaillard’s deepened commitment to its education and community program, which has served more than 200,000 students from across the Lowcountry, including 100% of Charleston County public schools.
As the Boundless initiative expands the Gaillard’s physical presence throughout the city, it will be augmented with new and deepened opportunities for curriculum-aligned arts education. More details will be announced in the coming months.
Across spaces and generations, it will leverage the Gaillard’s resources beyond its august performance hall.
“This is an opportunity to take the Gaillard’s artistic vision and let it breathe in new spaces across this city. Charleston has an extraordinary cultural infrastructure, and we are proud to be part of it in an ever-expanding way,” said Frenkel.
For tickets and membership information, visit gaillardcenter.org.
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