Steve McQueen’s “End Credits” brings Paul Robeson’s F.B.I. files to The Shed

Steve McQueen’s “End Credits” brings Paul Robeson’s F.B.I. files to The Shed

One-hour live performance, drawn from decades of government surveillance records, will have New York premiere Sept. 25 and 26.

The Shed will present the New York live premiere of Steve McQueen’s “End Credits” on September 25 and 26 at the Griffin Theater in Manhattan. Created by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker and artist, the work examines the nearly four decades of F.B.I. surveillance directed at Paul Robeson, the celebrated singer, actor, and activist, and his wife, writer and activist Eslanda Goode Robeson.

For the two-performance engagement, McQueen’s 72-hour video installation will be transformed into a one-hour live performance featuring actors Laurel Lefkow, Jeff Mash, Eric Meyers, and Regina Reagan. The performers spent a decade recording material drawn from thousands of pages of declassified F.B.I. documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The records reveal the government’s sustained scrutiny of the Robesons because of their advocacy for civil rights, organized labor, anti-fascism, and anti-colonial movements. Through the accumulation of reports, observations, and bureaucratic language, “End Credits” exposes the contradictions, absurdities, and human consequences of politically motivated surveillance.

“‘End Credits’ asks audiences to confront how fear, bureaucracy, and racism can become instruments of state power,” said Alex Poots, the Shed’s artistic director, in a statement. He added that the work arrives at a moment when questions surrounding civil liberties, democracy, political dissent, and free expression are urgent around the world.

Originally conceived more than 15 years ago, “End Credits” has continued to expand through archival research. The installation has been presented internationally since 2012. The live stage version premiered at Harvard University in September 2025 as part of McQueen’s Charles Eliot Norton Lectures.

McQueen is best known as director of “Hunger,” “Shame,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Widows,” and “Blitz.” “12 Years a Slave” won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2014. His other work includes “Small Axe,” an anthology about London’s West Indian community, and the documentaries “Uprising” and “Occupied City.”

With “End Credits,” McQueen turns the government’s own records into both a historical document and a warning about the fragility of democratic institutions.

“End Credits” will be performed on September 25 and 26, 2026, at the Shed’s Griffin Theater (545 W. 30th Street).

Tickets go on sale on August 14. A presale for Shed members begins on August 5, followed by a Mastercard cardholder presale on August 12. Additional information is available at TheShed.org.