Big Apple Circus Will Return to NYC With New Show Hometown Playground

New York City’s hometown circus, the Big Apple Circus, returns with an all-new family-friendly show celebrating the city that never sleeps. Hometown Playground will include acrobats, stunts, comedic mischief, and performing dogs to take audiences on a journey from Manhattan to Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, celebrating the diverse neighborhoods and unique landmarks of New York City. The show will run November 8-January 5, 2025, beneath the Big Top in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.

Under the stewardship of producer and promoter Michael Cohl and two-time Emmy Award-winning director Shanda Sawyer, Hometown Playground will feature all-new acts with a cast of international circus stars, including Sofia Petrov sailing atop the Big Apple Circus tent, cartoon poodles rescued from shelters across the United States, Sweden’s Michael Halverson as a comedic pickpocket, the trapeze family Flying Poemas, human fountains, and Mihret Mekonnen on the slack wire.

The Big Apple Circus was founded by Paul Binder and Michael Christensen in 1977 as an alternative to the American three-ring circus. This season, the Big Apple Circus will continue to donate tickets to local nonprofits and community-based organizations to offer the circus experience to hundreds of children and families at no cost.