For the first time since 2020, the Under the Radar Festival is back with live, in-person theatrical performances. A project of the Public Theater, the festival includes nearly 30 shows which will be performed at the Public or its five partner venues.

“I think it's absolutely essential to know that you're not the only crazy person in the room,” actor and playwright Roger Guenveur Smith says.

Smith is performing his solo play "Otto Frank" at Under the Radar and says it's important for theater makers who are taking risks in their work to have a platform.

The annual festival was founded 18 years ago by the Public Theaters’ Mark Russell to bring attention to emerging theater artists from the United States and abroad, and to feature works that may not readily be produced by established theaters elsewhere.

"I want [audiences] to feel these stories and to discover these artists so they can follow them in the future. These are the artists that will be making the theater of the future,” says Smith.

Smith's "Otto Frank" is a drama inspired by the Holocaust survivor and father of Anne Frank.

"He was the only survivor of his immediate family. And he was the one who took his daughter's diary to international fame," notes Smith.

In addition to performances at the Public Theater, performances are being held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Chelsea Factory, La MaMa, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, and the New York Public Library. Under The Radar continues through Jan. 22 with tickets starting at $25 each. More information on the festival, which includes productions from nine countries, can be found HERE.