Washington Square Park has never needed anyone to turn it into a stage. On a good afternoon the space around the fountain can hold a band, a piano somebody has wheeled in, the chess tables, a student running lines and a few hundred people deciding, minute by minute, whether any of it is worth stopping for. The park's great quality as a venue is that the audience owes nobody anything.
That is the setting David Drebin has chosen for an idea that runs the other way. His project, Hidden Stars: The Magic of You, is not about the people who already perform in the park. It is about the ones walking past them.
A conversation first, then an invitation
The project began as conversation. According to its organizers, Drebin, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans photography, art and publishing, including ten books, has spoken with hundreds of people in Washington Square Park, "using observation and conversation to encourage participants to look beyond the image they present to the world."
On Saturday and Sunday, 3 and 4 October, from 3 to 6pm, that practice becomes a public event. It is free. The format has three doors, and a visitor can choose any of them: sit down for a one-on-one conversation with Drebin, stand and watch other people take theirs, or step forward and perform.
"Everyone carries something inside them that deserves to be seen," Drebin said in the announcement. "Sometimes all it takes is for someone else to notice it first."
The part that is actually unusual
Open mics are not new, and neither are public art projects that ask strangers to talk. What is less common is the audience Hidden Stars says it wants on its stage. The invitation to sing, dance or share a talent is extended to experienced performers, but the organizers make a point of naming the other group: people who "have never performed publicly but have been waiting for an opportunity to begin."
That is a different ask from a talent show. A talent show selects. This one, on its own description, is trying to lower the cost of the first attempt, in a place where the crowd is already there, nobody bought a ticket, and walking away is as easy as walking up.
The organizers say they expect the people who take part to shape the weekend, which is another way of saying nobody knows yet what it will look like. For a project built on the premise that people are more interesting than they let on, that is the honest position.
If you go
Where: Washington Square Park, Manhattan.
When: Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026, 3 to 6pm.
Cost: Free, and open to anyone.
What to bring: Nothing, or whatever it is you have been meaning to show someone.
Drebin posts about the project on Instagram as @daviddrebin. The weather in early October is the one variable the organizers have not addressed; the announcement does not say what happens if it rains.
This article is based on the announcement "New York's Hidden Stars Step Into the Spotlight at 'Hidden Stars: The Magic of You'", issued by Vehement Media on 26 September 2026, and on the project's promotional artwork. The photograph is by David Drebin, supplied by the organizers; when it was taken is not stated, and the people in it are not identified. It was supplied at low resolution and has been enlarged for publication. The quotation from David Drebin, the dates, times, location, admission terms and the description of the project and of Drebin's career are taken from that announcement and have not been independently verified by this publication. Cranberry Journal has not attended a Hidden Stars session. An earlier version of the promotional artwork circulated with the dates 24 and 25 September; the announcement and the current artwork give 3 and 4 October, which are the dates used here.
Topics culturenew yorkperformancephotography
