Conceived by Martine Gutierrez and Julio Torres, Marina is about a New York City sea wench, a coastal female who may or may not be a mermaid. After a construction worker tosses his cellphone off a dock, Marina discovers it, scrolls, and becomes entangled in a world not her own. Torres, Marina’s writer and director, is one of New York’s up-and-coming artists. So far he’s received four Emmy nominations for his work on Saturday Night Live, two Peabody Awards for HBO’s Los Espookys, an A24 directorial feature, and a New York Times profile. Gutierrez stars as the surreal comedy’s namesake character. The show has a score by Lia Ouyand Rusli and choreography by Ryan McNamara. Marina is a collaboration between the Whitney Museum of American Art and Little Island, and was commissioned by the Whitney Biennial 2026. “Bringing the Biennial beyond the walls of the Museum and into the surrounding neighborhood through this significant collaboration marks a watershed moment in the history of this long-running exhibition,” said Whitney Biennial co-curators Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer. —Gracie Wiener