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HOLIDAY season is upon us, and in this cold winter season in NYC, watching theater is a great opportunity. NEW VICTORY THEATER is great for kids and entire family. It’ll make a great HOLIDAY outing, or a holiday gift for your loved ones!
Here’s what’s going on this month at NEW VICTORY THEATER.
Circus Abyssinia: Ethiopian Dreams
Boing!
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SEJONG SOLOISTS PERFORMED ANNUAL GALA CONCERT TO SOLD-OUT AUDIENCE
ZANKEL HALL AT CARNEGIE HALL, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 9, 2018
Sejong Soloists presented their Annual Gala Concert to a sold-out audience, featuring music from Vivaldi to contemporary. The musical theme was peace and hope, and guest artists included wind and brass faculty members from the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute. Vivaldi’s Chamber Concerto in C Major opened the concert. The virtuoso soloists were Sooyun Kim, flute, Roni Gal-Ed, oboe, Adrian Morejon, bassoon, and Stephen Kim, violin. Composer Augusta Read Thomas talked about her Plea for Peace, a 2017 commission by the University of Chicago to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the world’s first nuclear reactor. Sejong Soloists and soprano Hyunah Yu gave a powerful, gut-wrenching performance.
TV journalist Paula Zahn, a long-time supporter of Sejong Soloists, was this year’s Honoree. Nine-time Emmy Award winner and co-host of WNET’s weekly program “NYC Arts” Ms. Zahn’s joined the orchestra 18 years ago as Gala Master of Ceremonies. Special guest Neal Shapiro, WNET President, highlighted Zahn’s dedication to Sejong and to the arts, her financial support, and her humanitarian causes. Yo-Yo Ma sent a video greeting with spoken tribute and brief Bach performance, which was shown to the audience.
The glorious Baltimore-based soprano Hyunah Yu, who performed the Plea for Peace vocalise, joined Paula Zahn and the Sejong cellists for the Aria from Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. This was followed by A Poem of Hope, concertino for cello and strings, written by New York composer Eric Ewazen in 2007 and dedicated to Paula Zahn, who performed the solo. An accomplished cellist, her performances have become a tradition at Sejong’s gala concerts. Finally, the Wagner Siegfried Idyll closed the program.
The audience of friends, music lovers, and supporters included distinguished members of the diplomatic community from the United Nations. Ambassadors from 15 nations: Albania, China, Cyprus, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Russia, South Korea, Tunisia, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan.
About Sejong Soloists
Hailed as “one of the top ensembles of today” by CNN, Sejong Soloists is a first-class string orchestra renowned for its exceptional dynamic style, with ranges of quartet-like precision to full orchestra resonance. Founded by Hyo Kang, artistic director, it is highly praised for its diverse performances, documentaries, television broadcasts, and recordings. Sejong Soloists has performed in over 120 cities around the world, collaborating with renowned solo artists, such as violinists Gil Shaham, Vadim Repin, pianists Leon Fleisher and David Fray, Vladimir Feltsman, and singers David Daniels, Christophe Dumaux, Kathleen Kim, and Sasha Cooke. In March 2018 Sejong Soloists was presented with Vadim Repin in Moscow and Siberia by the Trans-Siberian International Art Festival. This was followed by Hic et Nunc International Festival in South Korea, and a Hong Kong debut.
Founded over twenty years ago, Sejong has a deep commitment to advancing the artistry and leadership of its members, with successful results. Currently, eight former Sejong leaders and soloists hold concertmaster positions throughout North America including the NY Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Sejong’s highly-praised documentaries, television broadcasts, recordings, youth development activities, as well as philanthropic endeavors worldwide are integral to the mission of this unique orchestra.
Tickets for Disney Theatrical’s newest hit musical, Frozen, are now on sale through Sunday, June 30, 2019. Visit www.FrozenTheMusical.com.
Frozen opened on Thursday, March 22, 2018 and has already set box office records, prompting Variety to declare, “Frozen sizzles!” In the top 10 best-selling shows every week, Frozen has established itself as the biggest musical hit of its season. A North American tour will open at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles in Fall 2019.
“Disney’s struck gold! Sumptuous sets, gorgeous costumes and plenty of special effects to wow the audience!” raves the New York Post. The New Yorker calls Frozen “thrilling” and “genuinely moving” and applauds its “inspired stagecraft.” “With the magic, the dancing and all those iconic tunes, Frozen was born to be a stage musical!” exclaims the Evening Standard, and The Telegraph declares, “Frozen will burn up Broadway for years to come!”
Frozen, a full-length stage work told in two acts, is the first and only incarnation of the tale that expands upon and deepens its indelible plot and themes through new songs and story material from the film’s creators; in fact, this new stage production features more than twice as much music as the film. Like the Disney Theatrical Broadway musicals that have come before it, it is a full evening of theatre running over two hours.
Based on the 2013 film written by a trio of Oscar® winners, Frozen features music and lyrics by the creators of the film score Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Up Here, Winnie the Pooh, In Transit) and EGOT-winner Robert Lopez(Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, Up Here) and a book by Jennifer Lee (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph), the film’s screenwriter and director (with Chris Buck). Frozen won 2014 Oscars for Best Song (“Let It Go”) and Best Animated Feature.
Frozen’s director is Michael Grandage, a Tony Award® winner (Red) and director of three Olivier Award-winning Outstanding Musicals (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel and Guys and Dolls), and Rob Ashford, Tony Award winner (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and multiple Tony and Olivier Award nominee, is choreographer.
Frozen stars Broadway veterans Caissie Levy as Elsa and Patti Murin as Anna. The two women are joined by principal cast members Jelani Alladin (Kristoff), Greg Hildreth (Olaf), John Riddle (Hans), Robert Creighton(Weselton), Kevin Del Aguila (Oaken), Timothy Hughes (Pabbie), Andrew Pirozzi (Sven), Mattea Conforti(Young Anna), Zoe Glick (Young Anna), Mimi Ryder (Young Elsa), Ayla Schwartz (Young Elsa), Alyssa Fox(Elsa Standby), Aisha Jackson (Anna Standby) and Adam Jepsen (Sven Alternate).
In a cast of over 40, Frozen also features Alicia Albright, Joe Beauregard, Tracee Beazer, Wendi Bergamini,Ashley Blanchet, Ben Bogen, Claire Camp, Lauren Nicole Chapman, Spencer Clark, Jeremy Davis, Kali Grinder, Ashley Elizabeth Hale, Zach Hess, Donald Jones, Jr., Nina Lafarga, Ross Lekites, Austin Lesch,Synthia Link, Robin Masella, Travis Patton, Adam Perry, Jeff Pew, Olivia Phillip, Noah J. Ricketts, Julius Anthony Rubio, Ann Sanders, Jacob Smith and Nicholas Ward.
The design team for Frozen includes scenic and costume design by two-time Tony and Olivier Award winnerChristopher Oram (Wolf Hall Parts 1 & 2, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Evita), lighting design by six-time Tony Award winner Natasha Katz (Aladdin; Hello Dolly!; An American in Paris), sound design by four-time Tony nominee Peter Hylenski (The Scottsboro Boys, Motown, After Midnight), video design by Tony winner Finn Ross(The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), puppet design by Michael Curry (The Lion King, Spamalot), hair design by David Brian Brown (War Paint, She Loves Me), makeup design by Anne Ford-Coates (On Your Feet!; On the Twentieth Century) and special effects design by Jeremy Chernick (Aladdin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).
Two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Oremus (Avenue Q, Wicked, The Book of Mormon) is music supervisor and creates vocal, incidental and dance arrangements. He is joined on the music team by Tony nominee Dave Metzger (orchestrations), Chris Montan (executive music producer), David Chase (additional dance arrangements) and Brian Usifer (music director).
Frozen is produced by Disney Theatrical Productions under the direction of Thomas Schumacher.
November 1, 2018 (New York) – Daniel J. Watts (Hamilton, TBS’ “The Last O.G.,” Signature Theatre’s The Death of The Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World) and WattsWords Productions present Daniel J. Watts' The Jam: Only Child, an evening of music, dance, spoken word, and storytelling on Monday, December 3rd at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street). Doors open at 6pm, the show begins at 7pm.
Only Child marks the reunion between Watts and director Lileana Blain-Cruz (The House That Will Not Stand, Pipeline) who received an Obie Award for her direction of The Death of The Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, in which Watts played the title character. Only Child also features Jam mainstay DJ Duggz, aka Preston Dugger III (Motown the Musical, Memphis), spinning through the evening.
All advance general admission tickets are $30. Tickets are $40 day of and can be purchased by visiting JoesPub.com.
“This Jam is the product of 2 years of therapy”, said artist and activist Watts. “I have an analogy about therapy suggesting that it’s like inviting a stranger to the attic of your mind and having them help you clean it out. I realized that being an only child and a latch key kid in a single parent home contributed to excess storage in my attic and therapy helped me sift through a lot of it and, ultimately, let some things go. By sharing my story I hope to inspire others to go through their attics in an effort to both examine the cost of holding on and experience the healing power of letting go.”
A play-on-words, The Jam pays homage to Watts’ great-grandmother who, after making jam from scratch, would share with others what she was unable to consume herself. The Jam is Watts’ continuation of that legacy blending elements of stand-up comedy and compelling storytelling with his original spoken word, often set to music and/or dance. This is Watts’ fourth instillation of The Jam: Only Child after sold out performances at Joe’s Pub in the famed Public Theater, NoHo’s new staple SubCulture, the and as one of the final acts to play the historic Webster Hall.
In 2016, galvanizing cast members from Hamilton, On Your Feet, and Shuffle Along, Watts played to a packed house in Webster Hall’s Marlin Room with The Jam: Love Terrorists - A Benefit for Orlando. The event raised $7500 for the LGBT community in Orlando after the horrific attack at Pulse Night Club.
WattsWords Productions is dedicated to developing original programming including live performances, web content, and demonstrations written by Daniel J. Watts in an effort to urge communities to actively engage in focusing on their social similarities opposed to their differences.
Daniel J. Watts in The Jam: Only Child, Photo Credit - Simply Greg
BIOS
DANIEL J. WATTS has appeared in eight Broadway shows including Hamilton, In The Heights and Memphis. Off Broadway he has starred in Suzan-Lori Parks' The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead (Signature Theatre) and the world premiere of Whorl Inside A Loop (2nd Stage). He currently appears as Felony in Tracy Morgan's new comedy series “The Last OG” on TBS. Other TV credits include recurring roles on NBC's “Blindspot” and “Smash”; HBO's “Vinyl,” “The Deuce,” “The Night Of,” and “Boardwalk Empire”; “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods” and “Person of Interest” on CBS; “Odd Mom Out” on Bravo; and “Broad City” on Comedy Central. Film: Breakup at a Wedding, Among Brothers and Freedom.
An accomplished spoken word artist, in 2012 Watts launched WattsWords Productions. Daniel J. Watts' The Jam, an homage to his great grandmother who made homemade jam from scratch and gave away what she couldn't eat herself, is a spoken word/storytelling experience fusing a live band, song, dance and multimedia where Watts encourages audiences to focus on social similarities opposed to differences. Most recently, his work is featured in the young adult anthology How I Resist edited by New York Times Best Seller Maureen Johnson for Wednesday Books/Macmillan.
An educator, Watts has also served as an adjunct professor of NYU's Tisch New Studio. He teaches his own course on how to truly engage in one's self in order to contribute meaningful and personal artistic work.
Watts is a BFA Graduate of Elon University’s Music Theatre Program and a 2011 Young Alumnus Award Recipient. For original work visit www.wattswords.com @dwattswords
LILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ is a director from New York City and Miami, and a recent recipient of an Obie Award for directing The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead at Signature Theater. Recent projects include Lucas Hnath's Red Speedo at NYTW; Alice Birch's Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again at Soho Rep; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' War at LCT3 and Yale Rep; Henry IV Part 1 and Much Ado About Nothing at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Bluest Eye at The Guthrie; Christina Anderson’s Hollow Roots which premiered in the Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater; Project Realms an electric pop opera performed at La Sala; a new translation of The Bakkhai at the Fisher Center of Performing Arts at Bard College; and A Guide to Kinship and Maybe Magic, a collaboration with choreographer Isabel Lewis and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Dance New Amsterdam.
She received her MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama, where she directed the opera Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, The Taming of the Shrew, Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys, Buffalo Maine, Cavity and lastly Fox Play as part of the Carlotta Festival of New Plays. She was one of the co-artistic directors of the 2011-2012 Yale Cabaret, where she directed Funnyhouse of a Negro, Vaska Vaska Glöm, and SALOME. She received both the Julian Milton Kaufman Memorial Prize and the Pierre-Andre Salim Prize for her leadership and directing. She was an Artistic Associate of The Exchange and The Orchard Project, a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and an Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she is currently working on a new play GURLS as part of the opening of the new Lewis Center for the Arts. Upcoming projects include Actually at MTC, Water by the Spoonful at CTG, and The House That Will Not Stand at NYTW.
PRESTON DUGGER, aka DJ DUGGZ, is a Washington, DC native that began performing in theatre and television at an early age and has appeared in Broadway shows such as Memphis and Motown, as well as on television in “Smash” and “Flesh and Bone.” Preston has had a passionate desire to make sure crowds enjoy themselves when on a stage, on screen or behind turntables. “It is my mission to go above and beyond and make sure my clients receive the best experience visually and sonically.”
Preston has DJ’ed such high-profile events as The Democratic National Committee for Hillary Clinton, and at Radio City Music Hall, Webster Hall, The Watergate Hotel, and Cipriani Wall Street. @DJDUGGZ
THOMAS KAIL, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, JON STEINGART & JILL FURMAN PRESENT
JANUARY 30-MARCH 2 ONLY AT GREENWICH HOUSE THEATER
SURPRISE (AND SPONTANEOUS) GUESTS PLANNED AT SELECT PERFORMANCES DURING STRICTLY LIMITED RUN
Back by popular demand, Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jon Steingart and Jill Furman announced a strictly limited return engagement of FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME, the high-energy show that is a blend of hip-hop, improvisational theater, music, and vocal stylings, all backed by live music from keyboards and beats. Conceived of by Kail, Miranda and Anthony Veneziale, FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME begins previews on January 30 with an official opening on February 12 at the Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street. Tickets on sale now at www.freestylelovesupreme.com.
FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME features six talented performers providing non-stop action throughout this fast-paced evening, spinning cues from the audience into humorous bits, instantaneous songs and riffs, and fully realized musical numbers. The electrifying vocals of the performers – from singing to rapping to beat-boxing with harmonies and freestyle flow – are backed by tight tunes from keyboards and human percussion.
“When Lin and I were developing In the Heights, our friend Anthony kept grabbing Lin during breaks from rehearsal and freestyling. When I heard them, I knew they were on to something special,” said Producer/Director Thomas Kail. “We spent years crafting the show after that, and many of our favorite, and most hilarious memories, are from Freestyle Love Supreme shows. We've been waiting for just the right moment to bring the show back to New York. It's time!”
“Freestyle Love Supreme is the most exciting thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life. There is nothing like a live hip-hop show that is improvised from the first moment til the final curtain, and the skill set required to pull it off has introduced me to this deep bench of multi-hyphenate genius musician emcees,” said Producer Lin-Manuel Miranda. “No two shows are the same, each show its own experience. I’m so thrilled to get the band back together; and even though I’m a co-producer this time around, I selfishly hope they let me jump onstage a couple of times over the course of the run. FLS for life.”
FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME features Andrew Bancroft AKA “Jelly Donut,” Arthur Lewis AKA “Arthur The Geniuses,” Bill ShermanAKA “King Sherman,” Chris Sullivan AKA “Shockwave,” Anthony Veneziale AKA “Two-Touch,” and Utkarsh Ambudkar AKA “UTK.”
Special surprise guests are planned for select performances during the run which could include, in addition to Miranda, FLS members Chris Jackson, James Monroe Iglehart and Daveed Diggs. All audience cell phones will be checked at the door for a truly memorable and personal experience.
In name and beyond, FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME pays homage to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", with a nod to musical roots in jazz, soul, blues and hip-hop. FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME was originally developed and produced in 2004 by Ars Nova in association with Jill Furman.
The 80 minute show is directed by Thomas Kail and features set design by Beowulf Boritt; costume design by Lisa Zinni; lighting design by Jeff Croiter; and sound design by Nevin Steinberg. General Management provided by Baseline Theatrical.
FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME runs January 30 to March 2, 2019 for a strictly limited run at the Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street. Schedule varies so please check the website. Tickets are on sale now. For tickets, check out www.freestylelovesupreme.com.
THE PUBLIC THEATER ANNOUNCES FULL LINE-UP FOR 15TH ANNUAL UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL, JANUARY 3-13, 2019
11-Day Festival Includes Penny Arcade, Lola Arias, The Chekhov Project, Tania El Khoury, Ifeoma Fafunwa, The Illustrious Blacks, James & Jerome, The Kilbanes, Manual Cinema, Meow Meow, Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey, Flaco Navaja, New Saloon, Plexus Polaire, Rude Mechs
Under the Radar + Joe’s Pub: In Concert, UTR Professional Symposium and INCOMING! Series Return for UTR 2019
Single Tickets Start at $25 and UTR Packs Available Now
October 30, 2018 – The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced the full line-up today for the 15th annual UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL, running January 3-13, 2019. This popular and highly-anticipated festival of The Public’s winter season will include artists from across the U.S. and around the world, including Argentina, Australia, France, Lebanon, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, and the UK. Curated by UTR Festival Director Mark Russell, this year’s UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL continues to expand to venues throughout New York City in addition to The Public Theater’s home at Astor Place. Tickets start at $25 and are on sale now.
Exciting new work by innovative artists Penny Arcade; The Chekhov Project; Tania El Khoury; Ifeoma Fafunwa; The Illustrious Blacks; Manual Cinema; Meow Meow; Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey; Flaco Navaja; New Saloon; Plexus Polaire; and Rude Mechs will be featured at UTR 2019. The festival will also include works by Lola Arias; James & Jerome; and The Kilbanes at partner venues throughout New York City.
The line-up for the Devised Theater Working Group’s INCOMING! Series includes Sean Donovan, Aya Ogawa, Lorelei Ramirez, Sam Schanwald with Caitlin Ryan O’Connell, Eva von Schweinitz, and Whitney White. The 11-day festival will also include the return of Under the Radar + Joe’s Pub: In Concert performances and the Under the Radar Professional Symposium.
“The most exciting two weeks in New York theater will be coming again this January. Under the Radar dazzles, shocks, provokes, excites, and always, always surprises!” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.
“Under the Radar is celebrating 15 years of bringing the most adventurous independent theater from around the world to New York City,” said UTR Festival Director Mark Russell. “The Festival features artists that question the rules of theater and break them, giving us a new perspective on the world. Intense and immersive, the Under the Radar Festival is a muscle-building exercise in finding common values and imagining a future.”
Under the Radar + Joe’s Pub: In Concert returns this year with performances by Penny Arcade, The Chekhov Project, Meow Meow, and The Illustrious Blacks. This exciting series highlights the multidisciplinary music/theater hybrids emerging from this renowned venue’s programming. The Library at The Public will also be open nightly for food and drink, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Public Theater Member and Partner tickets for the 2019 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL start at $20 and are available now. Single tickets to UTR shows start at $25 and tickets can be accessed online at www.publictheater.org; The Taub Box Office at The Public at 425 Lafayette Street; or by phone at 212-967-7555, beginning Thursday, November 8. Tickets for partner venue events at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and NYU Skirball can be purchased directly from the venues. All tickets are subject to facility and service fees. The “UTR Pack” is back by popular demand. Purchase five or more UTR shows and save $5 dollars off each ticket. Good for all UTR shows at The Public and BRIC House.
Over the last 15 years, The Public’s UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL has presented over 255 companies from 45 countries. It has grown into a landmark of the New York City theater season and is a vital part of The Public's mission, providing a high-visibility platform to support artists from diverse backgrounds who are redefining the act of making theater. Widely recognized as a premier launching pad for new and cutting-edge performance from the U.S. and abroad, UTR has presented works by such respected artists as Elevator Repair Service, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Gob Squad, Belarus Free Theatre, Guillermo Calderón, and Young Jean Lee. These artists provide a snapshot of contemporary theater: richly distinct in terms of perspectives, aesthetics, social practice, and pointing to the future of the art form.
UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL AT THE PUBLIC (JANUARY 3-13, 2019):
Hear Word! Naija Women Talk True
January 3, 5-7 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
Presented by The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and iOpenEye in association with the American Repertory Theater
Directed by Ifeoma Fafunwa (Nigeria)
Tickets: $30
HEAR WORD! NAIJA WOMAN TALK TRUE is inspired by multi-generational stories of inequality and transformation. Staged by director and writer Ifeoma Fafunwa, the show grapples with the issues affecting the lives of women across Nigeria, and the factors that limit their potential for independence, leadership, and meaningful contribution in society. Combining song and dance with intimate portraits of resilience and resistance, the show celebrates the women who have broken the culture of silence, challenged the status quo, and moved beyond barriers to achieve solutions.
Frankenstein
January 3, 5-7, 10-12 (Running Time: 60 minutes)
By Manual Cinema (USA)
Adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley
Concept by Drew Dir
Devised by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, and Julia Miller
Original music by Kyle Vegter and Ben Kauffman
Tickets: $30
Love, loss, and creation merge in unexpected ways in this thrilling classic gothic tale conceived by Manual Cinema. Stories of Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein, and his Monster expose how the forces of family, community, and education shape personhood—or destroy it by their absence. Internationally-renowned multimedia company Manual Cinema stitches together the classic story ofFRANKENSTEIN with Mary Shelley’s own biography to create an unexpected story about the beauty and horror of creation. Manual Cinema combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive visual stories for stage and screen.
Chambre Noire
January 10-13 (Running Time: 65 minutes)
Created by Plexus Polaire (France/Norway)
Tickets: $30
CHAMBRE NOIRE is a wild hallucination around the death-bed of Valerie Jean Solanas (1936-1988): the most beautiful girl in America, the talented psychology student who spent her life going in and out of mental institutions, the first intellectual whore, writer, radical feminist, creator of the SCUM Manifesto, the woman who shot Andy Warhol… A character that is complex, multi-sided, outrageous, and absolutely human.
Evolution of a Sonero
January 9, 12-13 (Running Time: 75 minutes)
Written and Performed by Flaco Navaja (USA)
Directed by Jorge Merced
Tickets: $30
The first full-length show by acclaimed poet, singer, and actor Flaco Navaja, original member of the UNIVERSES and Def Poetry Jam cast: With unabashed love for The Bronx, a gift for crafting memorable characters, and genuine good humor, Navaja and five top-notch musicians—aka The Razor Blades— bring on the charm, the rhythm, and the soul essential to a Bronx Sonero. Paying homage to many great musical icons —from Janis Joplin to Menudo, from The Doors to Héctor Lavoe, from Jimi Hendrix to Rubén Blades— the play is as much about Navaja’s creative evolution as it is about the wild mix that gives life to a rhyme, a people, and a culture.
[50/50] old school animation
January 4-7, 11, 13 (Running Time: 60 minutes)
Created by Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey (USA)
Tickets: $30
A classical ghost story for our contemporary moment, this deceptively simple confessional transforms into an unnerving reflection on womanhood, memes, and our capacity for cruelty. Created by Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey, [50/50] OLD SCHOOL ANIMATION flirts with the horrific and dips into the surreal.
Minor Character
January 4-6, 9, 11-13 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
Created by New Saloon (USA)
Directed by Morgan Green
Tickets: $30
New Saloon’s irreverent mashup of English-language translations of Uncle Vanya — from the dusty 1916 edition to Google Translate’s profoundly whack results—is a kaleidoscopic amplification of Chekhov's depressing comedy. Each character is interpreted by multiple actors and through multiple translations, in an athletic attempt to say one true thing. “I’ve been made a complete fool,” Vanya says, “foolishly betrayed,” Vanya agrees, “stupidly cheated,” Vanya clarifies.
The Cold Record
January 4-7, 9-13 (Running Time: 60 minutes)
By Rude Mechs (USA)
Written and Performed by Kirk Lynn
Directed by Alexandra Bassiakou Shaw
Tickets: $30
A secret performance. A one-man show. The story of a 12-year-old boy who tries to set the record for leaving school the most days with a fever and in the process falls in love with the school nurse and breaks his heart on the punk rock. You must promise never to speak about what you witnessed or else you'll get kicked out. Kirk Lynn is a novelist and playwright living in Austin, TX. Lynn is one of five artistic directors of the Rude Mechs theatre collective. With the Rudes, Kirk has written and adapted many plays, including Lipstick Traces, Method Gun, and Not Every Mountain, which premiered in 2018 at the Guthrie in Minneapolis.
As Far As My Fingertips Take Me
January 4-7, 9-13 (Running Time: 15 minutes)
By Tania El Khoury (UK/Lebanon/Palestine)
Performed by Basel Zaraa
Tickets: $30
Our fingertips facilitate touch and sensations, but are also used by authorities to track many of us. In today’s Europe, a refugee’s journey can be set as far as their fingertips take them. The Dublin Regulation mandated a fingerprinting database across Europe for all refugees and migrants. This regulation often means that a refugee is sent back to where their fingertips were first recorded, without any regard to their needs, desires, or plans. Tania El Khoury commissioned musician and street artist Basel Zaraa who was born a Palestinian refugee in Syria to record a rap song inspired by the journey his sisters made from Damascus to Sweden. Through touch and sound, this intimate encounter explores empathy and whether we need to literally “feel” a refugee in order to understand the effect of border discrimination on peoples’ lives.
UNDER THE RADAR + JOE’S PUB: IN CONCERT
Re-engineering the intersection of music and theater
This exciting series highlights the multidisciplinary music/theater hybrids emerging from this renowned venue’s programming. These artists are exploring the intersection of music and theater to bring their unique stories to the stage. These performances are not open for review.
Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! - The Penny Arcade Sex and Censorship Show
January 3, 6, 10, 12-13 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
By Penny Arcade (USA)
Tickets: $35
Penny Arcade is New York’s undisputed queen of the underground, and her world-famous sex and censorship show is among the most exuberant performances to ever emerge from New York’s East Village. Penny Arcade's BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! blends her trademark warmth, comedy, humanism, and razor-sharp satire, with New York’s best erotic dancers in an uplifting audience dance break. Originally created as a brilliant retort to the Senator Helms NEA Censorship Crisis of 1990, BITCH! DYKE! FAG! WHORE! is now a timeless and passionate rock n’ roll anthem celebrating free speech. It is a political provocation for our times. Come early for the erotic go-go pre-show with drinks.
Meow Meow
January 2, 5 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
By Meow Meow (Australia)
Tickets: $30
A performer who gleefully tramples the barriers of genre, Meow Meow defies easy description. International siren and comedienne extraordinaire Meow Meow brings her glorious brand of subversive and sublime performance to Joe’s Pub. The spectacular crowd-surfing queen of song creates an unforgettable evening of exquisite music and much mayhem. Prepare for Piazzolla tangos, Weill, Brecht, Brel, even Radiohead alongside original chansons. If your idea of cabaret is a smoky-voiced chanteuse crooning into a microphone, prepare to have your preconceptions exploded.
Hyperbolic!
January 4, 12-13 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
By The Illustrious Blacks (USA)
Tickets: $25
The Illustrious Blacks have arrived to save the world one beat at a time! Once upon a time in a galaxy not far away, there lived two kings. Each was the ruler of his own deliciously glorious planet. The first king, Manchildblack, was well known throughout the cosmos for his ethereal vocals, celestial sonics and earthy musical messages. The other king, Monstah Black, was a star in the solar system for his gravity-defying performances, gender bending fashions, and spacey disposition. One magical night, an inexplicable ultra-magnetic pull forced the two planets to collide. A technicolored explosion occurred, turning night into day, with a feast of aural and visual delights. It was then that the universe was changed forever. Manchildblack and Monstah Black united and became The Illustrious Blacks! The acclaimed duo fuse music, dance, theater, and fashion as the main ingredients to expand minds, shake bootys, and encourage all to be bold, be brave, and be you! #LiveTheHypeLife
Astrov’s Lounge: Music From The Chekhov Project
January 5 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
Conceived by Melissa Kievman and Brian Mertes (USA)
Music by The Chekhov Project
Tickets: $25
ASTROV’S LOUNGE: MUSIC FROM THE CHEKOV PROJECT re-assembles the musicians of The Chekhov Project. Each summer, for one week, theater directors Brian Mertes and Melissa Kievman open their Rockland County New York home to a grand experiment: A group of sixty, all professional theater-makers and musicians, gather in the house, yard and neighborhood to explore and explode a Chekhov play. The cramped garage, known as “Astrov’s Lounge,” becomes home to the eclectic group of musicians who respond to the work generating original songs and soundscapes for each performance. ‘Astrov’s Lounge: Music from The Chekhov Project’ re-collects these musicians for a multifarious musical set inspired by the rhythms of Chekhov’s words and folks.
I Am a Seagull
January 5 (Running Time: 95 minutes)
Conceived by Brian Mertes and Melissa Kievman
Created by The Chekhov Project (USA)
Rita & Burton Goldberg Theatre
721 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY
Tickets: $10
I AM A SEAGULL follows a community of actors in their frenzied and loving attempt to stage a Chekhov play in their house, yard and neighborhood. This hybrid film documents The Chekhov Project: an annual, immersive, open-frame performance event created by Brian Mertes and Melissa Kievman. Like the project itself, the film dissolves boundaries between audience and performer, representation and reality. Life and rehearsal blend together in this portrait of The Project’s production of The Seagull. Chekhov’s text is embodied by a handful of actors from New York City as they converge in an upstate lakeside retreat. Through juxtaposing phases of rehearsal, live performance, and pure cinema this experience captures the idealism, contradictions and raw instinct that fuels theater-making itself.
UNDER THE RADAR AT PARTNER VENUES:
Minefield
January 11-13 (Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes)
By Lola Arias (Argentina)
Co-Presented by The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and NYU Skirball
NYU Skirball
566 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY
Tickets: $30 | www.nyuskirball.org
In MINEFIELD, Argentine and British veterans from the Falklands/Malvinas war are transported into the past to reconstruct their experience of the war, its aftermath, and their memories. The only thing they have in common is that they are all veterans. But what is a veteran; a survivor, a hero, a madman? Digging deep into the personal impact of war, MINEFIELD confronts different visions of history, bringing together old enemies to tell one single story. This collaboratively created new work merges theatre and film to explore the minefield of memory, where truth and fiction collide. Buenos Aires-based visual and performance artist Lola Arias returns to Under the Radar after her memorable performance in 2014 “El Año en Que Nací.”
Weightless
January 11-13 (Running Time: 75 minutes)
By The Kilbanes
Directed by Becca Wolff (USA)
Co-Presented by The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, BRIC, Z Space, and piece by piece productions
BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: $30 | www.bricartsmedia.org
Part Concert, Part Play, Part Dream, WEIGHTLESS by The Kilbanes weaves together myth with evocative indie rock to tell a story of sisterhood, love, betrayal and rebirth. WEIGHTLESS is inspired by the story of Procne and Philomela from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Through intimate storytelling and The Kilbanes’ celebrated indie rock sound, WEIGHTLESS explores the bonds of sisterhood and the power of the female voice. It’s equal parts blistering rock show and bleeding edge experimental theater. Rock 'n' roll meets myth as only The Kilbanes can deliver.
Ink
January 5-6 (Running Time: 75 minutes)
Created and performed by James & Jerome in collaboration with Shawn Duan
Directed by Rachel Chavkin and Annie Tippe (USA)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Tickets: $25 | www.metmuseum.org/tickets
Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall in the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education
INK is an art lecture, live personal essay, and electronic music concert all in one. With stunning visuals by media designer Shawn Duan, musician-storyteller duo James Harrison Monaco and Jerome Ellis perform a lush live score as they lovingly analyze works from around the world, exploding the traditional art lecture into a unique theatrical experience—one that’s at once playful, intellectual, and spiritual. Together, they guide us through a meditation on calligraphy and illuminated manuscripts, on music and silence, and on Jerome’s intimate relationship to the spoken and written word, in this first ever collaboration between Under the Radar and MetLiveArts, the performance series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
INCOMING! SERIES:
A Festival within a Festival. Rapid Response. Controlled Chaos. New Work.
This year, The PubIic Theater’s Devised Theater Initiative (DTI) hosts the fifth cohort of the Devised Theater Working Group. These artists will be presented as part of the 2019 Under the Radar Festival’s INCOMING! Series, a platform that features in-process works of formal investigation and artistic ambition. Works-in-process are not open for review.
Twin Size Beds
January 6, 11 (Running Time: 70 minutes)
Sam Schanwald with Caitlin Ryan O’Connell (USA)
Tickets: $25
In an abandoned tree house, a limp-wristed boy hides during the neighborhood game of hide-and-seek. While he waits for a gang of metal-mouthed peers to find him, Sam’s newfound solitude spurs songs about nihilistic desire, and fuzzy hallucinations of his sexual future. TWIN SIZE BEDS is a concert-play that fuses deadpan stand-up with a hormone-fueled musical blitz. Grab a juice box. You might be stuck in that splintered hiding place forever.
Cabin
January 6, 12 (Running Time: 45 minutes)
Sean Donovan (USA)
Tickets: $25
CABIN is the reconstruction of a memory—the story of three queer men in a poly-amorous relationship who move from Brooklyn to a cabin in upstate New York, and of the violence that befalls them. Through monologue, film, dance, and live music by Heather Christian,CABIN surveys the lines between myth and memoir, the complexity of intimacy, and the magnitude of loss.
Macbeth in Stride
January 5, 7 (Running Time: 75 minutes)
Whitney White (USA)
Tickets: $25
MACBETH IN STRIDE is a live concert and theatrical event that excavates the underbelly of female ambition. With throbbing orchestrations of vintage rock, White traces the fatalistic arc of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth while exorcizing demons of her own. One in a five part series on Shakespeare's women, this concert-play is a battle cry for black female power and desire.
The Nosebleed
January 5, 9 (Running Time: 85 minutes)
Aya Ogawa (USA)
Tickets: $25
THE NOSEBLEED is an intimate autobiography that explores playwright/director Aya Ogawa’s fractured relationship with her long-deceased and enigmatic father. Through a series of turbulent, absurd, and poignantly comic vignettes, Ogawa reveals the seemingly insurmountable cultural and generational gap between herself and her father, and the questions she faces in her own motherhood today. A theatrical memorial and healing ritual for the audience, this darkly humorous, tender, and inventive play considers how we inherit and bequeath failure, and what it takes to forgive.
The Space Between the Letters
January 5, 10 (Running Time: 70 minutes)
Eva von Schweinitz (USA)
Tickets: $25
A dot of light turns into a line, into a shape, into words. Writing becomes a physical, virtuosic feat. Easels swirl in an intersectional flipchart ballet that unpacks the legal, social, and political dimensions of adult literacy in the United States. In this ensemble lecture, performers weave personal stories, handmade infographics, and histories of discrimination and disenfranchisement.
Lorelei Ramirez: ALIVE! (For Now)
January 6, 13 (Running Time: 60 minutes)
Lorelei Ramirez (USA)
Tickets: $25
Take note: this may be the last time we will all be assembled in this room—some of us might die someday. Ramirez's playful morbidity seeps through in this multi-media comedy special, which invites us all to be unsettled together in this unsettling moment. Crafting at the intersection of art and comedy, Lorelei perverts the familiar and profanes the sacred—all in pursuit of one last laugh.
UNDER THE RADAR PROFESSIONAL SYMPOSIUM: JANUARY 3-5
The Under the Radar Professional Symposium is a three-day event on January 3-5, featuring a chance to see full productions of festival shows as well as keynote speakers and featured artist speakers. Attendance at the Symposium is strictly limited to presenting and producing professionals in the field. For more information on the UTR Symposium, please email utrsymposium@publictheater.org.
The Under the Radar Professional Symposium is a pre-conference event of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (formerly the Association of Performing Arts Presenters) and is held in conjunction with the APAP|NYC 2019 conference. APAP is the national service, advocacy and membership organization for presenters of the performing arts and the convener of APAP|NYC, the world’s leading gathering of performing arts professionals, held every January in New York City. For more information on this year’s APAP conference, visit www.apapnyc.org.
JanArtsNYC
Every January in New York City, more than 45,000 performing arts leaders, artists, and enthusiasts from across the globe converge forJanArtsNYC. A partnership among eleven independent multidisciplinary festivals, indispensable industry convenings, and international marketplaces, JanArtsNYC is one of the largest and most influential gatherings of its kind. For more info visit, www.janartsnyc.org.Promotional support provided by the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
ABOUT JOE'S PUB AT THE PUBLIC:
JOE'S PUB, named for The Public Theater’s founder Joe Papp, opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Under the new leadership of Director Alex Knowlton, this fall begins Joe’s Pub’s 20th Anniversary Season of presenting the best in live music and performance nightly, committed to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. The venue also offers opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that provides musicians resources and tools to develop original theater works; Joe’s Pub Working Group, an artist development initiative; The Vanguard Award & Residency, a yearlong series that celebrates the career of a prolific and influential artist, who leads their own artistic community; and nationwide programming partnerships. Commissioned artists include Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Bridget Everett, Daniel Alexander Jones, Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Allen Toussaint and more. The venue’s food and beverage partner is NoHo Hospitality Group, helmed by acclaimed chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:
THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for all people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 170 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
2019 UNDER THE RADAR TICKET INFORMATION
Public Theater Member and Partner tickets for the 2019 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL start at $20 and are available now. Single tickets to UTR shows start at $25. Tickets can be accessed online at www.publictheater.org; The Taub Box Office at The Public at 425 Lafayette Street; or by phone at 212-967-7555, beginning Thursday, November 8. Tickets for partner venue events at TheMetropolitan Museum of Art and NYU Skirball can be purchased directly from the venues. All tickets are subject to facility and service fees.
The “UTR Pack” is back by popular demand. Purchase five or more UTR shows and save 5 dollars off each ticket. Good for all UTR shows at The Public and BRIC House. Visit www.publictheater.orgl.com to purchase your “UTR Pack” online. Each “UTR Pack” purchased over the phone and online is subject to a $1 per ticket package fee per performance. All sales are final, no refunds or cancellations. Exchanges must be made at least 24 hours before a performance. Good for all Under the Radar shows at The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, and BRIC House.
Food and beverage service will be available during Under the Radar + Joe’s Pub: In Concert performances, but there is no minimum purchase required. The Library at The Public will also be open nightly for food and drink, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
For more information, please visit www.publictheater.org or;www.publictheater.org
by Mariah MacCarthy
directed by Leta Tremblay
Performances Oct 26 – Nov 11 at Wild Project
New York, NY —
Kora and Minnie are best friends. And honors students. (Duh.) They are as smart as they are mischievous. And yes they are plotting a scheme involving a lot of money and a little blood. But when their volatile relationship is threatened by Minnie’s friendship with awkward YouTube sensation Megan, all bets are off. In the tradition of Heathers and The Virgin Suicides, Mariah MacCarthy’s new play Honors Students asks one question: Who will survive?
“We were drawn to Mariah’s play Honors Students because it puts the ambiguities of female friendships and the extremes of being a teenage woman front and center,” says Olivia Levine, who plays Minnie.
Mariah MacCarthy, whose plays Mrs. Mayfield’s Fifth-Grade Class of ’93 20-Year Reunion and The Foreplay Play played in New York City apartments and whose show Baby Mama: One Woman’s Quest to Give Her Child to Gay People has been viewed over 42,000 times on YouTube, has a growing reputation as one of downtown’s most dauntless writers. MacCarthy’s stories feature women who are raw, flawed, honest, ambitious, complex, and searching for themselves in the midst of chaotic circumstances.
Running time is 90 minutes
Honors Students features Arielle Goldman, Chris Harcum, Olivia Levine and Thanh Ta. Honors Students is written by Mariah MacCarthy, directed by Leta Tremblay with lighting design by Cha See; sound design by Jeanne Travis; costume design by Iliana Paris; blood effects by Stephanie Cox-Williams; fight direction by Jesse Geguzis, stage management by Michelle Navis assistant direction by Dylan Hoffman and produced by Hope Chavez.
Praise for Mariah MacCarthy:
“Sweet and boisterous…The show can’t boast the square footage or the design budget or the top-shelf liquor of an extravaganza like Sleep No More, but Mrs. Mayfield’s still feels like an adventure and an event.”
—The New York Times
“MacCarthy doesn’t pull any punches…funny, moving and unapologetically candid.”
—Time Out New York
“f*cking brilliant!”
—Kate Bornstein
“I really can’t recommend this play enough—as it will likely be a highlight of your theatrical year.”
—Theatre Is Easy
“You'll laugh out loud at this fun and fascinating show... this is the one to see.”
—BroadwayWold
Performance Schedule:
Friday Oct 26 at 8PM
Sat Oct 27 at 8PM
Sun Oct 28 at 2PM *matinee
Sun Oct 28 at 8PM
Mon Oct 29 at 8PM
Thurs Nov 1 at 8PM
Fri Nov 2 at 8PM
Sat Nov 3 at 8PM
Sun Nov 4 at 2PM *matinee
Sun Nov 4 at 8PM
Mon Nov 5 at 8PM
Thurs Nov 8 at 8PM
Fri Nov 9 at 8PM
Sat Nov 10 at 2PM *matinee
Sat Nov 10 at 8PM
Sun Nov 11 at 2PM *matinee
Location:
Wild Project is located at 195 E 3rd Street (b/w Avenues A and B). F train to 2nd Ave stop.
More info at: www.thewildproject.com
Tickets: $20
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Mariah MacCarthy (playwright) is a creatrix-of-all-trades. Work developed/presented at: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Rattlestick, Primary Stages, Culture Project, New Dramatists, Theatre Row, La MaMa, HERE, Dixon Place, The Brick, Atlantic Stage 2, Fringe NYC. Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award, Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences, Indie Theater Hall of Fame, PoNY nominee. Plays: Mrs. Mayfield’s Fifth-Grade Class of ’93 20-Year Reunion ("a lot of fun " -The New York Times), Baby Mama: One Woman’s Quest to Give Her Child to Gay People (Ensemble Studio Theatre, viewed over 41,000 times on YouTube), The Foreplay Play (two NYIT Award nominations), Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story (twenty Looking Glass Forum Awards, FringeNYC “Outstanding Performance”), The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret(“f*cking brilliant” -Kate Bornstein). Executive Artistic Director of Caps Lock Theatre, Associate Artistic Director-at-Large of The Brick, writer-in-residence of The Propulsion Lab, member of Youngblood and Lather/Rinse/Repeat. http://www.mariahmaccarthy.com/
Leta Tremblay (director) is a Theatrical Director based in New York City who strives to create space for Intersectional Feminism, Queer Voices, and Revolution in her artistic pursuits. The New York Times called her work; “Sweet and boisterous… an adventure and an event.” She assisted acclaimed SITI Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart on Kurt Weill’s musical opera LOST IN THE STARS at CAP UCLA. Leta is a graduate of Smith College and the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute, where she now returns as a teacher and mentor. She is the Producing Artistic Director of Caps Lock Theatre and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. www.letatremblay.com
Hope Chavez (producer) is a creative producer, arts administrator, and activist in New York City. She is a co-founder of Lyra Theater, dedicated to serving early-career artists across New York City. Hope currently serves as the Programs Coordinator at A.R.T./New York creating programming for and serving more than 400 non-profit theaters in New York. As the Managing Producer of The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, Hope leads this developmental program occurring every summer in NYC for theatre artists 25 and younger from across the US. Select producing credits: KEEN TEENS 2016, 2017, 2018 (Keen Company), SALTY (Lyra Theater), THE 24 HOUR PLAYS OFF-BROADWAY (Roundabout), MY HEART IS IN THE EAST (La MaMa), THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI (Lyra Theater), THE UNUSUAL TALE OF MARY & JOSEPH’S BABY (FringeNYC), THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: BROADWAY 2015, 2016, 2017 (The 24 Hour Plays), LUCKY CHICK (Fringe Encore Series). Upcoming: PUSSY GRABBER PLAYS (Joe’s Pub).
Multi-talented, award-winning actress, playwright, director and an advocate for inclusion, Christine Toy Johnson(FX's "The Americans") recently returned to the stage for the national tour of the award-winning musical COME FROM AWAY. Starring as 'Diane,' the highly-acclaimed show also stars Kevin Carolan (Newsies) and James Earl Jones II and recently launched their Northern American tour in Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theatre in October 2018. The musical tells the true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. The show began performances on Broadway in February 2017, and officially opened to critical acclaim on March 12th at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in NYC. The musical will be touring in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Los Angeles and more.
On the small screen, Christine currently can be seen in the sophomore season of Netflix's hit Marvel series "Iron Fist" in which she plays the role of "Sherry Yang," the wife of Hai-Qing Yang, leader of Yangsi Gonshi - also known as the Hatchets. As the Hatchets went up against the Hand in season one, Danny (Finn Jones) and Hai-Qing are begrudging allies of sorts. However, when he's taken out of Davos (Sacha Dhawan), Sherry becomes more than just a "mob wife," stepping up to take his place and teams up with Danny and Colleen (Jessica Henwick) for protection, continuing the alliance in the face of a looming gang was. Season 2 is currently available to view on Netflix.
In addition to her exciting new role on "Iron Fist," Johnson also appears on Lifetime's newdrama series "You" which premiered on Sunday, September 9th. Based on Caroline Kepnes' follow-up novel to Hidden Bodies,the series follows Joe Golberg (Penn Badgley), a man willing to cross any line in pursuit of true love. The new season will see him venture into even riskier, bolder territory as his quest takes him across the country from New York to Los Angeles and will now have to face the darkest parts of his past as he tries to make a future for himself and the woman he loves.
Born and raised in the suburbs of New York City, Johnson became a performer at an early age modeling for national campaigns prior to getting her Equity card the summer she graduated from high school when she played the role of "Liat" in a production of South Pacific. She attended the University of Southern California School of Music for Vocal Performance and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and much later from the Screenwriting Program at NYU. She made her New York debut in the Autumn following her college graduation as the leading lady of the Off-Broadway musical Oh, Johnny. This led her to have a varied and extensive stage career on and off-Broadway and in regional theaters across the US, some of which included The Music Man, Grease!, Flower Drum Song, Pacific Overtures, Falsettoland, Bombay Dreams. Johnson is also a playwright and writer and has had her screenplay "Jumping the Third Rail" win a Meryl Streep/Iris Writers Lab fellowship in 2016 and prior to that, her written work was included in the Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection in 2010. On the small screen, Johnson is highly recognized for her recurring role on "The Americans" (as 'Linh Gaad') and on "Law and Order: SVU" ('as 'Dr. Celia Lee'), the pediatrician to Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) son, Noah. She's also had significant guest roles on "30 Rock," "Bull," "Mr. Robot," "Madam Secretary, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," "Ugly Betty," among many others.
As an avid anti-discrimination advocate and performer, Johnson has been breaking the color barrier in non-traditionally cast roles for over 30 years. Christine is a member of the elected leaderships of both Actors' Equity Association and the Dramatists Guild of America and serves as National Chair of both associations' Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees. She is a founding member of AAPAC (Asian American Performers Action Coalition) and served on the Board of the Tony honored Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts for over fifteen years.
THE PUBLIC THEATER’S MOBILE UNIT TO TOUR THIS FALL WITH A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM DIRECTED BY JENNY KOONS
Free Three-Week Tour Visits Correctional Facilities, Homeless Shelters, Social Service Organizations, Community Centers October 4 – October 26
Free Performances at The Public Continue Tradition of Access to Shakespeare for All October 28 – November 17
Continuing its commitment to bringing free Shakespeare to the community and strengthening audience engagement with the arts, The Public Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, will mount its MOBILE UNIT again this fall with a free three-week tour to the five boroughs of Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, directed by Jenny Koons. Now in its ninth year, the Mobile Unit’s free tour (October 4-26) brings Shakespeare and other works to audiences who have limited or no access to the arts by visiting correctional facilities, homeless shelters, social service organizations, and other community venues. There will also be a three-week engagement of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at The Public Theater running Sunday, October 28 through Saturday, November 17 with an official press opening on Friday, November 2.
The company of The Public’s Mobile Unit production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, directed by Jenny Koons and running at The Public Theater, following a free tour to the five boroughs. Photo Credit: Richard Termine.
The complete cast of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM features Marinda Anderson (Hippolyta/Titania), Leland Fowler (Demetrius/Flute), Christopher Ryan Grant (Bottom), Merritt Janson (Theseus/Oberon), Carolyn Kettig (Hermia/Starveling), Jasai Chase Owens (Lysander/Snug), David Ryan Smith (Egeus/Quince/Fairy), Natalie Woolams-Torres (Puck), and Rosanny Zayas (Helena/Snout).
“Jenny Koons is an amazing, luminous director, and her Midsummer promises to be a groundbreaking theatrical event,” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.
This fall, a classic New York City block party becomes the enchanted setting where fairies work their mischief in Shakespeare’s beloved play A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Acclaimed director Jenny Koons takes you to the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, where a celebratory play is being rehearsed. But the real drama is unfolding in the concrete jungle of fairy King Oberon. There, four young New Yorkers discover the course of true love runs anything but smooth, as supernatural sprites and the lovable Puck conspire to reveal what fools we mortals be, and draw us all into the collective dream of romance and merriment.
“Welcoming Jenny Koons into the Mobile Unit family feels natural and inevitable — the Mobile has long been a home for artists working at the intersection of art and social justice and Jenny is no exception,” said Director
of Special Artistic Projects Stephanie Ybarra. “She has assembled a magnificent team and they’ve already demonstrated a deep commitment to creating a joy-filled communal experience tailor-made for New Yorkers.”
All tour performances are free, and performances at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center; Pelham Fritz Recreation Center; North Brooklyn YMCA; Brownsville Recreation Center; Queens Public Library, Central Branch; Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center; Island Voice/Canvas Institute; Faber Park Recreation Center; and St. Paul’s Chapel are also open to the general public via RSVP at publictheater.org. To further the mission and reach of THE MOBILE UNIT, tickets for each performance of the limited run at The Public Theater will be given to community organizations that are unable to host a visit from the tour.
Marinda Anderson and David Ryan Smith in The Public’s Mobile Unit production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, directed by Jenny Koons and running at The Public Theater, following a free tour to the five boroughs. Photo Credit: Richard Termine.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM features scenic design by Kimie Nishikawa, costume design by Hahnji Jang and fight direction by Lisa Kopitsky.
In 2018, THE MOBILE UNIT celebrated the 61st anniversary of its inaugural mobile tour in 1957 which began with a production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Joseph Papp with Bryarly Lee and Stephen Joyce in the titular roles. The 1957 Mobile Unit tour received early support from New York City authorities. Stanley Lowell, then deputy mayor, was an early champion for free theater and mobilized city resources and departments to support Papp's production. The first Mobile Unit rolled up to performance venues across the city in borrowed Department of Sanitation vehicles with a wooden folding stage mounted to a truck bed and portable seating risers to accommodate 700 people per venue. The city's Parks Department permitted performances in local parks across all five boroughs. Subsequent productions included Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, Ti-Jean and His Brothers, Take One Step, Unfinished Women Cry in No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage, and Volpone, among many others. This modern reimagining of The Public Theater’s original Mobile Theater is inspired by Ten Thousand Things Theater in Minneapolis, MN. In August 2018, THE MOBILE UNIT announced the national expansion of it’s programming with a Midwest Mobile Unit National Tour of Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning play Sweat. The tour extends beyond performances with community engagement activities on the issues and conversations most alive in their communities.
Recent MOBILE UNIT productions include Henry V; The Winter’s Tale; Twelfth Night; Hamlet; Romeo & Juliet; The Comedy of Errors; Measure for Measure; Richard III; Much Ado About Nothing; Pericles, Prince of Tyre; and Macbeth. This program reinforces The Public’s commitment to the ongoing exploration of Shakespeare’s canon, along with the Public Shakespeare Initiative; the recent Public Works production of Twelfth Night and As You Like It staged at the Delacorte Theater for free; Free Shakespeare in the Park; and The Public’s other affordable productions at its downtown home at Astor Place.
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY ON THE PUBLIC’S MOBILE UNIT
"I do not know if I have ever been so moved by a theatrical work in my life." – Highbridge Recreation Center Audience Member
“I will bring my family to see future plays. I have been coming to these plays for the three years that I was in MDC. My release is Thursday and I would like to continue to watch The Mobile Unit Plays.” – Metropolitan Detention Center Audience Member
“You took an everyday space and made it something more, something special.” – Queens Public Library Audience Member
“I love that you came to my neighborhood! The same room where I vote!” – Pelham Fritz Recreation Center Audience Member
The Mobile Unit is made possible with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Tow Foundation, The McLaughlin Children's Trust, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Additional support provided by JetBlue Airways, Open Society Foundations, Susan & David Edelstein, The MAE Private Foundation, and The Estée Lauder Companies
Inc. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater’s year-round activities.
TOUR DATES WILL INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING VENUES (October 4-26):
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, Manhattan, is a one-of-a-kind organization that empowers community members to lead healthy, successful lives (October 4).
Pelham Fritz Recreation Center, Manhattan, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in Harlem (October 5).
North Brooklyn YMCA, Brooklyn, is a community center that in Brooklyn that empowers youth, improves health, and strengthens community. (October 6).
Lenox Hill Neighborhood House/Women’s Mental Health Shelter, Manhattan, provides short-term, safe, and supportive environments to address immediate needs for mentally ill homeless women (October 8).
HELP Bronx Morris Avenue, Bronx, is affordable supportive housing designed to provide housing and appropriate support services to persons who are homeless or who are close to homelessness (October 9).
Brownsville Recreation Center, Brooklyn, a Public Works community partner, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in the Brownsville Playground with extensive resources for youth and seniors. The center offers a vibrant space to tap into pursuits artistic and athletic alike (October 10).
Queens Public Library, Central Branch, is located in Jamaica, Queens and also serves as a Public Theater borough distribution center for Free Shakespeare in the Park (October 11).
Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, Bronx, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in the Bronx (October 12).
Island Voice/Canvas Institute, Staten Island, is a grassroots community and youth development organization whose focus is on giving voice to the African immigrant, African-American, Caribbean-American, and immigrant communities (October 13).
Lost Battalion Hall Rec Center, Queens, is NYC Parks and Recreation center located in Queens (October 15).
Queensboro Correctional Facility, Queens, is a minimum security correctional facility in Long Island City (October 16).
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Manhattan, houses one of the world's most extensive collections in its field, available free of charge (October 17).
DreamYard Arts Project, Bronx, a Public Works community partner, uses project-based arts learning to ignite the transformative spirit (October 18).
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, is a U.S. federal administrative detention facility, which holds male and female prisoners of all security levels (October 19).
Faber Park Recreation Center, Staten Island, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in Staten Island (October 20).
Edgecombe Correctional Facility, Manhattan, is a minimum security male parole diversion facility (October 22).
Taconic Correctional Facility, Westchester, is a medium security facility for women in New York (October 23).
Help 1, Brooklyn, provides 191 family units of transitional housing for homeless families. (October 24).
St. Paul’s Chapel, Manhattan, part of Trinity Wall Street, is an Episcopal parish that has been a part of New York City since 1697 (October 25).
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, is a U.S. federal administrative detention facility, which holds female prisoners of all security levels (October 26).
JENNY KOONS (Director). Her directing projects include Burn All Night at American Repertory Theater; Airness at Humana and the Actors Theatre of Louisville; Theatre for One: In This Moment at Pershing Square Signature Center; a SPKRBOX Festival commission, Instant SPKRBOX, in Norway; Bars and Measures at B Street Theatre; a Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games commission, Gimme Shelter; Theatre for One: I'm Not the Stranger You Think I Am at Arts Brookfield; A Sucker Emcee at the National Black Theatre and LAByrinth Theater Company; Queen of the Night at the Diamond Horseshoe Nightclub; and The Odyssey Project 2012. Koons has developed new work at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Joe’s Pub, Lark Play Development Center, and the Roundabout Theatre Company. She is also a 2017 Lilly Award recipient.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:
THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for all people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 170 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
TICKET INFORMATION
All tour performances are free and performances at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center; Pelham Fritz Recreation Center; North Brooklyn YMCA; Brownsville Recreation Center; Queens Public Library, Central Branch; Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, Bronx; Island Voice/Canvas Institute; Faber Park Recreation Center; and St. Paul’s Chapel are also open to the general public via RSVP at publictheater.org. Please check The Public’s website for the most up-to-date performance times.
Following the MOBILE UNIT tour of the five boroughs, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM will run at The Public Theater from Sunday, October 28 through Saturday, November 17 in the Shiva Theater, with an official press opening on Friday, November 2.
Furthering the mission of making great theater accessible to all, tickets to the MOBILE UNIT’s run at The Public are FREE and are available via TodayTix mobile Lottery and in-person distribution downtown at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place. On each public performance date, free tickets will be distributed in-person beginning 90 minutes prior to curtain, and via mobile lottery on the TodayTix app. Download the TodayTix app to enter or visit publictheater.org for more information.
The performance schedule at The Public will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday and Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (There are no 1:00 p.m. performances on Wednesday, October 31 and there are no performances at 1:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 3.)
The Library at The Public is open nightly for food and drink, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe’s Pub at The Public continues to offer some of the best music in the city. For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.
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DANIEL J. WATTS DEBUTS AT SUBCULTURE WITH
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15TH
September 18, 2018 (New York) – Daniel J. Watts (Hamilton, TBS’ “The Last O.G.,” Signature Theatre’s The Death of The Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World) and WattsWords Productions present Daniel J. Watts' The Jam: Only Child, an evening of music, dance, spoken word, and storytelling on Monday, October 15th at new NoHo stapleSubCulture (45 Bleecker Street). Doors open at 7pm, the show begins at 8pm.
Only Child marks the reunion between Watts and director Lileana Blain-Cruz (The House That Will Not Stand, Pipeline) who received an Obie Award for her direction of The Death of The Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, in which Watts played the title character. Only Child also features Jam mainstay DJ Duggz, aka Preston Dugger III (Motown the Musical, Memphis), spinning through the evening.
All advance general admission tickets are $30 through October 7th. Tickets are $40 October 8th through October 15th and can be purchased by visiting SubCultureNewYork.com/event/the-jam-only-child. Standing room tickets will be available upon sold out general admission.
“Each time I put together a new edition of The Jam, it is inspired by what is happening in the world, in my world, or in my life,” said artist and activist Watts. “This Jam has a coming of age feel. It follows my journey through the experiences that have shaped my perceptions and influenced my decision-making as I investigate the cost of holding on, and the freedom of letting go.”
A play-on-words, The Jam pays homage to Watts’ great-grandmother who, after making jam from scratch, would share with others what she was unable to consume herself. The Jam is Watts’ continuation of that legacy featuring his original spoken word, often set to music and/or dance. This is Watts’ third instillation of The Jam: Only Child after sold out performances at Joe’s Pub in the famed Public Theater, and as one of the final acts to play the historic Webster Hall.
In 2016, galvanizing cast members from Hamilton, On Your Feet, and Shuffle Along, Watts played to a packed house in Webster Hall’s Marlin Room with The Jam: Love Terrorists - A Benefit for Orlando. The event raised $7500 for the LGBT community in Orlando after the horrific attack at Pulse Night Club.
WattsWords Productions is dedicated to developing original programming including live performances, web content, and demonstrations written by Daniel J. Watts in an effort to urge communities to actively engage in focusing on their social similarities opposed to their differences.
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Daniel J. Watts in The Jam: Only Child, Photo Credit - Simply Greg
BIOS
DANIEL J. WATTS has appeared in eight Broadway shows including Hamilton, In The Heights and Memphis. Off Broadway he has starred in Suzan-Lori Parks' The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead (Signature Theatre) and the world premiere of Whorl Inside A Loop (2nd Stage). He currently appears as Felony in Tracy Morgan's new comedy series “The Last OG” on TBS. Other TV credits include recurring roles on NBC's “Blindspot” and “Smash”; HBO's “Vinyl,” “The Deuce,” “The Night Of,” and “Boardwalk Empire”; “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods” and “Person of Interest” on CBS; “Odd Mom Out” on Bravo; and “Broad City” on Comedy Central. Film: Breakup at a Wedding, Among Brothers and Freedom.
An accomplished spoken word artist, in 2012 Watts launched WattsWords Productions. Daniel J. Watts' The Jam, an homage to his great grandmother who made homemade jam from scratch and gave away what she couldn't eat herself, is a spoken word/storytelling experience fusing a live band, song, dance and multimedia where Watts encourages audiences to focus on social similarities opposed to differences. Most recently, his work is featured in the young adult anthology How I Resist edited by New York Times Best Seller Maureen Johnson for Wednesday Books/Macmillan.
An educator, Watts has also served as an adjunct professor of NYU's Tisch New Studio. He teaches his own course on how to truly engage in one's self in order to contribute meaningful and personal artistic work.
Watts is a BFA Graduate of Elon University’s Music Theatre Program and a 2011 Young Alumnus Award Recipient. For original work visit www.wattswords.com @dwattswords
LILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ is a director from New York City and Miami, and a recent recipient of an Obie Award for directing The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead at Signature Theater. Recent projects include Lucas Hnath's Red Speedo at NYTW; Alice Birch's Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again at Soho Rep; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' War at LCT3 and Yale Rep; Henry IV Part 1 and Much Ado About Nothing at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Bluest Eye at The Guthrie; Christina Anderson’s Hollow Rootswhich premiered in the Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater; Project Realms an electric pop opera performed at La Sala; a new translation of The Bakkhai at the Fisher Center of Performing Arts at Bard College; and A Guide to Kinship and Maybe Magic, a collaboration with choreographer Isabel Lewis and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Dance New Amsterdam.
She received her MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama, where she directed the opera Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, The Taming of the Shrew, Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys, Buffalo Maine, Cavity and lastly Fox Play as part of the Carlotta Festival of New Plays. She was one of the co-artistic directors of the 2011-2012 Yale Cabaret, where she directed Funnyhouse of a Negro, Vaska Vaska Glöm, and SALOME. She received both the Julian Milton Kaufman Memorial Prize and the Pierre-Andre Salim Prize for her leadership and directing. She was an Artistic Associate of The Exchange and The Orchard Project, a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and an Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she is currently working on a new play GURLS as part of the opening of the new Lewis Center for the Arts. Upcoming projects include Actually at MTC, Water by the Spoonful at CTG, and The House That Will Not Stand at NYTW.
PRESTON DUGGER, aka DJ DUGGZ, is a Washington, DC native that began performing in theatre and television at an early age and has appeared in Broadway shows such as Memphis and Motown, as well as on television in “Smash” and “Flesh and Bone.” Preston has had a passionate desire to make sure crowds enjoy themselves when on a stage, on screen or behind turntables. “It is my mission to go above and beyond and make sure my clients receive the best experience visually and sonically.”
Preston has DJ’ed such high-profile events as The Democratic National Committee for Hillary Clinton, and at Radio City Music Hall, Webster Hall, The Watergate Hotel, and Cipriani Wall Street. @DJDUGGZ
Last night the Queen of Country Music, Reba McEntire, took in a performance of Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway. After the show, Reba join the cast backstage for a quick photo.
Major Attaway, Arielle Jacobs, Reba McEntire and Telly Leung Backstage at Broadway's Aladdin - Photo by Shay Frey Courtesy Disney Theatrical Productions (2 photos)
Reba McEntire and Telly Leung Backstage at Broadway's Aladdin - Photo by Shay Frey Courtesy Disney Theatrical Productions
New York, NY (September 10, 2018) – Satellite Collective will present Echo & Narcissus, their seventeenth interdisciplinary work, at BAM Fisher (321 Ashland Pl, Brooklyn, NY) this Friday, September 14th at 8 PM and Saturday, September 15 at 7:30 PM. Written by Satellite Artistic Director Kevin Draper and composed by Aaron Severini, Echo & Narcissus is directed by Philip Stoddard and features choreography by Norbert De La Cruz III. The evening will seamlessly intertwine a myriad of artforms, including live chamber performance, visual art, ballet, digital multimedia, and opera, in order to literally immerse the audience in art. Echo & Narcissus will showcase an incredible ensemble of acclaimed and accomplished dancers, including Matteo Fiorani, Timothy Stickney, Joslin Vezeau, and Tara Youngmen, along with singers Christine Taylor Price and Philip Stoddard. Tickets are now available.
“We work at the intersection of dance, visual art and music - and we use architects and poets as the glue,” said Founding Artistic Director Kevin Draper. “Echo & Narcissus will be our first, focused, evening-length work where group action has to resonate in service to the story. We're crafting a pretty high level of intensity for the audience.”
New York, 1971. Narcissus, a rebellious yet charismatic outsider, hunts alone in the city at night. He's come south from his father's kingdom on the city's outer coast. Echo, a young nymph and socialite, falls for Narcissus and they hook up. Her brother and the other nymphs fail in their attempt to separate her from Narcissus and one night the two commit an irrevocable crime. Echo's brother tries with more urgency to separate the two but is instead drawn into an adventure that ends with tragedy.
Satellite Collective, led by Artistic Director Kevin Draper, was founded in 2010 with members of the New York City Ballet, visual artists, writers, and composers from across the United States. Since then, the Collective has produced five seasons of multi-disciplinary work in New York City, Michigan and the Pacific Northwest. With the belief that artists of all mediums should collaborate as equals, globally and virtually, Satellite has fearlessly fused dance, music, film, and spoken word into their unique vision. An artistic incubator at the highest level, and an “admirably cooperative endeavor” (New York Times), the Collective has served as a launching pad for young choreographers, composers, film makers, poets and visual artists. With an ever-growing and impressive roster of artists from the New York City Ballet, The Juilliard School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the Bowery Poetry Club, “Satellite Collective aims to open up the stage to diverse artistic practice, producing alternate channels for performance to envelop their audiences while channeling theatrical and choreographic gesture, film, stagecraft, and storytelling into a total artwork” (New York Observer).
The production team for Echo & Narcissus also includes lighting designer Brandon Stirling Baker, film maker Lora Robertson, production designer Kevin Draper, projection designer Simon Harding, and live music by ShoutHouse.
Tickets for Echo & Narcissus are $25 and are available online at www.SatelliteCollective.org.
The Satellite Collective is proud to receive support from BAM, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Frey Foundation, Nestle, SAP, 92Y, DeVos Institute of Arts Management, Brooklyn Arts Council, and many other government, public and private supporters.
24th Annual MAAFA: “Eradicating Slavery’s Legacy”
WHAT:
For the 24th consecutive year, New York-based and nationally recognized Pastor Rev. David K. Brawley of East New York’s St. Paul Community Baptist Church, presents The MAAFA: “Eradicating Slavery’s Legacy.”
The theatrical production recognizes and reflects the journey of African slaves to America from 1500-1900. Attracting more than 3,000 people every year, the play follows the journey of more than 100 million slaves through the “Middle Passage” during a period of history known as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The MAAFA offers people from all walks of life a chance to understand the nature of the treatment the ancestors of black Americans went through upon generations of Africans in America.
As part of the annual MAAFA Presentation, the SPCBC campus also transforms into The MAAFA Museum. The visual/interactive walking tour is employed to expand participants’ knowledge-base on the period in history known as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Visitors experience “Africans in America” in a new and enlightening way with galleries of art, authentic artifacts, wood carvings, quilts, historic vignettes and more. The MAAFA Museum tour is appropriate for adults and students grades 4 and higher.
WHEN:
Theatrical Presentation: Sunday, September 16th – 6pm
. Monday, September 17th – 7pm
Thursday, September 20th – 7pm
Friday, September 21st – 7pm
MAAFA Museum: September 11– October 6 *appointment only*
WHERE:
St. Paul Community Baptist Church
859 Hendrix Street, Brooklyn, NY 11207
ABOUT THE MAAFA
The term MAAFA (pronounced Mah- AH-fah) is a Kiswahili word which gives definition to the catastrophic event experienced by millions of African people during the Middle Passage journey. The word MAAFA is the concept of Dr. Marimba Ani, African-American scholar and author, and has been adopted in contemporary scholarship. St. Paul Community Baptist Church first introduced The MAAFA under the leadership of Pastor Emeritus Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood as a way to heal the community and bring awareness to racism in American society.
ABOUT SPCBC
St. Paul Community Baptist Church is a nonprofit ministry dedicated to serving the borough of Brooklyn and the needs of its congregants who reside across the borough as well as the five boroughs of New York City, Long Island and northern counties of New York and New Jersey. The organization was established in 1927 and is currently led by Pastor David K. Brawley. Located in the East New York section of Brooklyn, one of the roughest neighborhoods in the Tri-State area known for its history of gang violence, crime, drugs and poverty, has grown to be a safe haven and resource organization ministering to communities around Brooklyn and the NYC area and through its African Justice Ministry, provides aid and assistance to the continent of Africa and islands in the Caribbean. Pastor Brawley is full of passion, love and fervor for the Word of God and his obedience to the call of ministry is evidenced in his leadership. He started his ministry as a youth minister at the age of 16 at First Baptist Church in Deer Park, NY and served in that ministry for 13 years. He began his full time career in ministry at St. Paul in 1994.
For More Information, Click Here
THE PUBLIC THEATER ANNOUNCES 2018-19 SEASON
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CONOR MᴄPHERSON
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY BOB DYLANMOTHER OF THE MAID BY JANE ANDERSON, DIRECTED BY MATTHEW PENN
FEATURING GLENN CLOSEEVE’S SONG BY EMERGING WRITERS GROUP ALUM PATRICIA IONE LLOYD
DIRECTED BY JO BONNEYWILD GOOSE DREAMS BY PUBLIC STUDIO ALUM HANSOL JUNG
DIRECTED BY LEIGH SILVERMANSEA WALL / A LIFE WRITTEN BY SIMON STEPHENS AND NICK PAYNE
RESPECTIVELY
DIRECTED BY CARRIE CRACKNELL, FEATURING TOM STURRIDGE AND JAKE GYLLENHAAL, RESPECTIVELYWHITE NOISE BY PUBLIC MASTER WRITER CHAIR SUZAN-LORI PARKS
DIRECTED BY OSKAR EUSTISAIN’T NO MO’ BY PUBLIC STUDIO ALUM JORDAN E. COOPER
DIRECTED BY STEVIE WALKER-WEBBSOCRATE BY TIM BLAKE NELSON
DIRECTED BY DOUG HUGHESMOJADA BY LUIS ALFARO
DIRECTED BY CHAY YEWJOE’S PUB CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY
15th ANNUAL UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVALFREE MOBILE UNIT TOURS TO FIVE BOROUGHS
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM DIRECTED BY JENNY KOONS
THE TEMPEST DIRECTED BY LUCAS CALEB ROONEYPublic Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham announced the line-up today for The Public’s 2018-19 Season at their landmark home on 425 Lafayette Street. The iconic New York destination, which includes five theaters and Joe’s Pub, as well as The Library restaurant, has been home to over 50 years of revolutionary theater, and continues this season with new work by Emerging Writers Group alum and 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Patricia Ione Lloyd, Public Studio alumni Hansol Jung and Jordan E. Cooper, Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks, Conor McPherson, Simon Stephens, Nick Payne, Jane Anderson, Tim Blake Nelson, and Luis Alfaro, as well as the continuation of year-round and community engagement programming: Mobile Unit, Public Works, Under the Radar Festival, Public Studio, Public Forum, Public Shakespeare Initiative, Emerging Writers Group, and the beloved Free Shakespeare in the Park.
“This is a season of spectacular, ambitious projects, highlighted by a burst of young playwrights,” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “Patricia Ione Lloyd, Hansol Jung, and Jordan E. Cooper will be making their Public Theater mainstage debuts. Public Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks has written a brilliant and disturbing reflection on our current state of race relations, White Noise; masters Jane Anderson, Luis Alfaro, Conor McPherson, and Bob Dylan are working at the height of their powers; and actors Glenn Close, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tom Sturridge will light up Astor Place.”
Joe’s Pub at The Public celebrates 20 years of extraordinary programming this fall. In addition to presenting cutting-edge performances year-round, Joe’s Pub continues its Vanguard Residency with Nona Hendryx, featuring a new show commissioned with Carrie Mae Weems titled Refrigerated Dreams; presents a new commission in the fall with Murray Hill; ongoing residencies with Pub favorites Shaina Taub, This Alien Nation, Isaac Oliver, Mx Justin Vivian Bond, The Illustrious Blacks, Public Forum, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and more; as well as Joe’s Pub national and international projects in Philadelphia, Long Island, Washington, D.C., and Edinburgh this year.
Hamilton, the acclaimed Public Theater production, can be seen on Broadway, London’s West End, and on tours nationally, while the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home will play at the Young Vic in London this fall. Public Works continues to expand its global reach with continuing partnerships in Dallas, presenting The Winter’s Tale at the end of summer 2018; and in Seattle, presenting As You Like It in fall 2019. In London, The National Theatre will present a Public Works-inspired production ofPericles in August 2018, developed by their own community-based initiative, PUBLIC ACTS.
Patrons who join The Public Theater as a donor starting with a gift of $65 gain early access to tickets for shows and events throughout the year. To find out how you can support The Public by joining one of the donor programs, visitwww.publictheater.org/support or call 212-967-7555. Tickets for the 2018-19 season will go on sale later this year.
The Library at The Public continues to be open nightly for food and drinks, beginning at 5:30 p.m., with an American menucreated by Chefs Andrew Carmellini and John Ramirez, featuring local ingredients and New York influence.
THE PUBLIC THEATER’S 2018-19 SEASON:
North American Premiere
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
Written and Directed by Conor McPherson
Music and Lyrics by Bob Dylan
September 11 - November 4, 2018Following a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at London’s Old Vic and a West End transfer, the astonishing new show from Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Conor McPherson and music icon Bob Dylan will make its North American premiere at The Public with an American cast. Dylan’s inimitable songbook is authentically transformed into this achingly beautiful story of a down-on-its-luck community on the brink of change in Dylan’s hometown, Duluth, Minnesota, in 1934. Named “one of the greatest playwrights working today” by Ben Brantley ofThe New York Times, McPherson has created a mythical new show, weaving the music of our greatest poet-singer-songwriter into a piercing drama about home, heart, and the searching determination of the American soul.
New York Premiere
MOTHER OF THE MAID
Written by Jane Anderson
Directed by Matthew Penn
Featuring Glenn Close
September 25 - November 18, 2018Six-time Academy Award nominee and three-time Tony and Emmy Award winner Glenn Close returns to The Public in a breathtaking new play by Emmy winner Jane Anderson. MOTHER OF THE MAID tells the story of Joan of Arc’s mother (Glenn Close), a sensible, hard-working, God-fearing peasant woman whose faith is upended as she deals with the baffling journey of her odd and extraordinary daughter. This riveting play is an epic tale told through an unexpected and remarkable new perspective. Emmy nominee Matthew Penn directs this deeply moving drama about the glories and challenges of raising an exceptional child.
World Premiere
EVE’S SONG
Written by Patricia Ione Lloyd
Directed by Jo Bonney
October 23 - December 2, 2018
Developed in residence as the Tow Playwright-in-Residence at The Public TheaterFrom The Public’s Emerging Writers Group alum and 2017-18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence Patricia Ione Lloydand Obie Award-winning director Jo Bonney comes a stunning, genre-bending new drama about the haunting of a black family in America. In the aftermath of a messy divorce and a daughter coming out as queer, Deborah is trying to keep things normal at home. But as black people continue to be killed beyond their four walls, the outside finds its way in, blurring the lines between family dynamics, politics, and the spirit world. How long can family dinners keep the dangers outside at bay? Filled with dark humor and boiling suspense, EVE’S SONG examines our present racial climate through the eyes of a regular American family.
New York PremiereWILD GOOSE DREAMS
Written by Hansol Jung
Directed by Leigh Silverman
October 30 - December 9, 2018
A co-production with La Jolla Playhouse
After its initial run in The Public’s Public Studio, Hansol Jung’s fascinating and unforgettable new play WILD GOOSE DREAMSreturns in a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse, where it had a critically acclaimed run last season. Minsung is a “goose father,” a South Korean man whose wife and daughter have moved to America for a better life. Deeply lonely, he escapes onto the internet and meets Nanhee, a young defector forced to leave her family behind in North Korea. Amidst the endless noise of the modern world, where likes and shares have taken the place of love and touch, Minsung and Nanhee try their best to be real for each other. But after a lifetime of division and separation, is connection possible? Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman directs this strikingly original play with music about two people, from two cultures, forced to choose between family and freedom.
FREE Mobile Unit: FallA MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Jenny Koons
Sit-down run at The Public Theater: October 29 - November 18, 2018
Following a three-week tour in the five boroughs
This fall, a classic New York City block party becomes the enchanted setting where fairies work their mischief in Shakespeare’s beloved play A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Acclaimed director Jenny Koons takes you to the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, where a celebratory play is being rehearsed. But the real drama is unfolding in the concrete jungle of fairy King Oberon. There, four young New Yorkers discover the course of true love runs anything but smooth, as supernatural sprites and the lovable Puck conspire to reveal what fools we mortals be, and draw us all into the collective dream of romance and merriment.
15th Edition
UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL
January 3-13, 2019
Curated by UTR Director Mark Russell, the 15th edition of this highly-anticipated downtown winter festival will bring together exciting artists from around the world who are redefining the act of making theater.FRANKENSTEIN (First Show Announced of the Festival)
By Manual CinemaTwo hundred years ago, 18-year-old Mary Shelley conceived a ghost story about birth, creation, and abandonment that would become the world’s first science-fiction masterpiece. Internationally renowned multimedia company Manual Cinema stitches together the classic story of Frankenstein with Mary Shelley's biography to create a full-length, unexpected story about the beauty and horror of creation. Using an ingenious “laboratory" of cameras, overhead projectors, actors, and puppets—and accompanied live by a chamber ensemble—Manual Cinema’s FRANKENSTEIN assembles music, theater, and silent film to create a Frankenstein like you’ve never seen before. Full UTR line-up to be announced in the fall.
New York Premiere
SEA WALL / A LIFE
Written by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne, respectively
Directed by Carrie Cracknell
Featuring Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively
January 26 - March 24, 2019Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Tony Award nominee Tom Sturridge make their Public Theater debuts in an unforgettable and incredibly intimate evening of theater. Sturridge, in his third collaboration with Tony and Olivier Award winner Simon Stephens, performs SEA WALL, an astonishing monologue about love and the human need to know the unknowable. Gyllenhaal continues his artistic collaboration with Olivier Award-nominated playwright Nick Payne in A LIFE, a meditation on how we say goodbye to those we love most. Directed by Carrie Cracknell, this heart-filled exploration of the beauty of life and the meaning of love, SEA WALL / A LIFE is an evening of dramatic storytelling at its best.
World Premiere
WHITE NOISE
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Oskar Eustis
February 19 - March 31, 2019Following her critically acclaimed trilogy Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts 1, 2, & 3, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and The Public’s Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks returns with a world premiere play about race, friendship, and our rapidly unraveling social contract. Long-time friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan, and woke. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation. The Public’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis directs this fierce new drama about what happens when the unspoken and the unspeakable come head-to-head.
World Premiere
AIN’T NO MO’
Written by Jordan E. Cooper
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
March 12 - April 21, 2019AIN’T NO MO’, first seen in The Public’s Public Studio, is a vibrant satirical odyssey portraying the great exodus of black Americans out of a country plagued with injustice. In a kaleidoscope of scenes of the moments before, during, and after this outrageous departure, Jordan E. Cooper’s masterful new work explores the value of black lives in a country hurtling away from the promise of a black president. Stevie Walker-Webb directs this wildly imaginative and emotionally charged play.
World Premiere
SOCRATES
Written by Tim Blake Nelson
Directed by Doug Hughes
April 2 - May 19, 2019
In collaboration with the Onassis Cultural Center NY, with support of Onassis Foundation USA
SOCRATES is a witty and endlessly fascinating new drama about a complicated man who changed how the world thought. This powerful new play by actor, director, and writer Tim Blake Nelson is an intellectual thrill ride from the philosopher’s growing prominence in democratic Athens through the military and social upheavals that led to one of the most infamous executions in Western history. Tony Award winner Doug Hughes directs SOCRATES, a timely and timeless new work that serves as a passionate tribute to the man who continues to inspire us to question authority and defend freedom of belief.FREE Mobile Unit: Spring
THE TEMPEST
Written by William ShakespeareDirected by Lucas Caleb Rooney
Sit-down run at The Public Theater: April 29 - May 19, 2019
Following a three-week tour in the five boroughs
Magic and mayhem continue their wicked work in THE TEMPEST, directed by Obie Award winner Lucas Caleb Rooney. When a storm shipwrecks King Alonso and his royal entourage on the island home of Prospero and his daughter Miranda, secrets and suspicions lead to drunken distrust and murderous plots. But love plays games with revenge, and the stuff of nightmares becomes the stuff of dreams in this magical comedy about the human heart, lost at sea.
New York Premiere
MOJADAWritten by Luis Alfaro
Directed by Chay Yew
July 2 - August 11, 2019
MacArthur Genius Award-winning playwright Luis Alfaro returns with the New York premiere of his stirring drama about love, immigration, and sacrifice, inspired by the Ancient Greek story of Medea. Helmed by Chay Yew, this play masterfully combines ancient storytelling with the most pressing issues facing our country today, following a young Mexican mother who gives up everything to bring her son to America, only to find America demands even more. Alfaro’s Oedipus El Rey, produced last season in collaboration with The Sol Project, was hailed by The New York Times as a “dynamic reminder that we are living in a political moment when stories matter.” With great poetry, humor, and heart, MOJADA is a bold new telling of a story as old as tragedy itself.
ONGOING PROGRAMS AT THE PUBLIC THEATER:
DEVISED THEATER INITIATIVE at The Public is one of the first of its kind in the U.S., providing support and resources to the next generation of independent artists and ensembles. The Public Theater has been a strong supporter of the devised theater movement and has helped promote the work of prominent and emerging devised theatermakers. Through The Public’s annual Under the Radar Festival and year-round downtown season at Astor Place, many examples of this inventive art form have been brought to the attention of audiences in New York and around the world.
EMERGING WRITERS GROUP is a component of The Public Writers Initiative, a long-term program that provides key support and resources for writers at every stage of their careers. In just 10 years, it has nurtured numerous playwrights who have gone on to have their plays staged at The Public and elsewhere around the country. Time Warner is the Founding Sponsor of the Emerging Writers Group, and provides continued program support through the Time Warner Foundation.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park is one of the cornerstones of The Public Theater’s mission. Since 1962, over five million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals. This summer, The Public presents OTHELLO (May 29-June 24), directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson; and TWELFTH NIGHT (July 17-August 19), a reimagining of the 2016 Public Works production, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub and directed by The Public’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Lead support for Free Shakespeare in the Park provided by Bank of America and The Jerome L. Greene Foundation.
JOE’S PUB AT THE PUBLIC, named for Public Theater founder Joseph Papp, opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community, and artistic freedom. The organization also offers opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that helps musicians develop original theater works; Joe’s Pub Working Group, an artist development initiative; The Vanguard Award & Residency, a yearlong series that celebrates the career of a prolific and influential artist; and nationwide programming partnerships. Commissioned artists have included Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Bridget Everett, Daniel Alexander Jones, Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Allen Toussaint, and more. The venue’s food and beverage partner is the venerated Noho Hospitality Group, helmed by acclaimed chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually. Support for New York Voices provided by the National Endowment of the Arts.
THE LIBRARY AT THE PUBLIC is open nightly for dinner and cocktail service. Chefs Andrew Carmellini and John Ramirez have created an American menu of bar snacks, shareable appetizers, sandwiches, dinner plates, and desserts sourcing local ingredients and New York influence that is available in both The Library and Joe’s Pub.
MOBILE UNIT is a reinvention of Joseph Papp’s Mobile Shakespeare program, beginning in 1957 with the simple idea that theater belongs to everyone, evolving into the New York Shakespeare Festival and ultimately becoming The Public Theater. Now in its eighth year, the Mobile Unit meets audiences where they are by presenting world-class Shakespeare and other works in recreation centers, prisons, senior centers, schools, and other community gathering places across the five boroughs. The Mobile Unit has already toured Henry V, The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Pericles, Measure for Measure, Richard III, and Much Ado About Nothing. The Mobile Unit is made possible with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Tow Foundation, The Herbert McLaughlin Children's CLUT, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and JetBlue Airways. Additional support provided by Susan & David Edelstein and The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
PUBLIC FORUM, now in its ninth season, brings together surprising combinations of artists, audiences, and experts to explore the issues and ideas raised on our stages. Through one-of-a-kind events and our digital engagement platform Digiturgy, Public Forum engages both the world of our plays and the world at large with some of the most original thinkers of today.
PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE INITIATIVE offers a wide range of programming which includes larger Public Shakespeare Presents evenings, blending incisive commentary by scholars and other thinkers with compelling live performances by artists of all disciplines; intimate Public Shakespeare Talks, giving audiences unique insight into the artistic and intellectual processes of leading Shakespeare practitioners working in the theater; Artist Development Programs, to cultivate some of the most visionary artistic minds working on Shakespeare today; and Education Programs, specifically the Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble, which The Shakespeare Society co-founded with the Hunts Point Alliance for Children over a decade ago, and which has offered hundreds of elementary and middle school students the opportunity to develop their confidence, knowledge, and creativity through the transformative experience of bringing Shakespeare’s words to life onstage in the 10 Shakespeare productions the Ensemble has presented.
PUBLIC STUDIO is a performance series dedicated exclusively to developing the work of emerging writers. In a laboratory environment, writers rehearse with actors and a director, incorporate bare-bones design elements, and open the process to an audience over a series of performances. More than a reading or workshop, but not a full production, this middle step affords early career writers the important opportunity to deepen their experience of working collaboratively over an extended rehearsal period and to see their work staged in front of an audience. Previous Public Studio plays include Ain’t No Mo’ by Jordan E. Cooper, Masculinity Max by MJ Kaufman, On the Grounds of Belonging by Ricardo Pérez González, Wild Goose Dreams by Hansol Jung, Pretty Hunger by Patricia Ione Lloyd, Teenage Dick by Mike Lew, Ping Pong by Rogelio Martinez, Fidelis by Christina Gorman, Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle, and The Urban Retreat by A. Zell Williams. Each year one Public Studio production is designated The Lisa Quiroz Emerging Writers Group/Public Studio Production, in honor of former Public Theater Trustee Lisa Garcia Quiroz, who, as Chief Diversity Officer and SVP of Cultural Investments at Time Warner, was instrumental in forming EWG and Public Studio. Public Studio was founded with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Time Warner Foundation. Continued support for Public Studio is provided by Time Warner Foundation.PUBLIC WORKS, now in its sixth year, is a major initiative of The Public Theater that seeks to engage the people of New York by making them creators and not just spectators. Working with community partners in all five boroughs, Public Works invites members of New York City communities to participate in theater workshops, attend classes, attend productions, and become involved in the daily life of The Public. Founded by Resident Director Lear deBessonet and currently led by Public Works Director Laurie Woolery, Public Works deliberately blurs the line between professional artists and community members, creating theater that is not only for the people, but by and of the people as well. The community partner organizations of Public Works are Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn), Center for Family Life in Sunset Park (Brooklyn), DreamYard Project (Bronx), The Fortune Society (Queens), Military Resilience Foundation (all boroughs), and alumni partners Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education (Bronx), Children’s Aid (Manhattan), and Domestic Workers United (all boroughs). Lead support for Public Works is provided by The Ford Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and The Tow Foundation. Additional support is provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., The One World Fund, David Rockefeller Fund, The SHS Foundation, New York Community Trust, and New York State Council on the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL, over the past 14 years, has presented over 229 companies from 42 countries. It has grown into a landmark of the New York City theater season and is a vital part of The Public's mission, providing a high-visibility platform to support artists from diverse backgrounds who are redefining the act of making theater. Widely recognized as a premier launching pad for new and cutting-edge performance from the U.S. and abroad, UTR has presented works by such respected artists as 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Elevator Repair Service, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Belarus Free Theatre, Guillermo Calderón, and Young Jean Lee. These artists provide a snapshot of contemporary theater: richly distinct in terms of perspectives, aesthetics, and social practice and pointing to the future of the art form.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:
THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for all people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joseph Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Emerging Writers Group, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway, in London and around the country by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen nationally and internationally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 170 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
THE WILLIAMSBURG HOTEL PRESENTS: GOLD COMEDY'S NEW MONTHLY SHOW WITH TEEN & ADULT COMEDIANS
NEGIN FARSAD, JORDAN CARLOS, RUBY KARP AND MORE
WHAT: The second installment of GOLD Comedy's new monthly show featuring comedy's current best and brightest, the shining stars of tomorrow—and the funniest teens in town, who are coming to take our jobs.
WHO:
Special guest host: KERRY CODDETT (Problem Areas with Wyatt Cenac, HBO)
NEGIN FARSAD (TED, Comedy Central, The Muslims Are Coming!)
JORDAN CARLOS (Colbert Report, Larry Wilmore)
MAEVE PRESS (youngest performer ever at the Women in Comedy Festival)
LEAH BONNEMA (VH1)
CAROLYN CASTIGLIA (Comedy Central, NBC, Lifetime) and her daughter, ADRIANA ("Daughter Knows Best" podcast)
RUBY KARP (teen author of Earth Hates Me)
JOANNA BRILEY (Caroline's, Lifetime)
Music by DJ SWUNE
WHEN: Tuesday, June 26th at 7:30pm
WHERE: The Williamsburg Hotel - 96 Wythe Ave. Brooklyn NY
HOW: $10 admission includes 1 free drink - tickets - Facebook event
On Tuesday, June 26th at 7:30pm, The Williamsburg Hotel presents latest installment of GOLD Comedy's new monthly show featuring comedy's current best and brightest, the shining stars of tomorrow—and the funniest teens in town, who are coming to take our jobs. The show will be hosted by Kerry Coddett (Problem Areas with Wyatt Cenac, HBO), and will feature sets from Negin Farsad (TED, Comedy Central, The Muslims Are Coming!), Jordan Carlos (Colbert Report, Larry Wilmore), Maeve Press (youngest performer ever at the Women in Comedy Festival), Leah Bonemma (VH1), Carolyn Castiglia (Comedy Central, NBC, Lifetime) and her daughter, Adriana ("Daughter Knows Best" podcast), Ruby Karp (teen author of Earth Hates Me), and Joanna Briley (Caroline's, Lifetime). Music by DJ swune. Tickets are $10 and include one free drink, available here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/gold-comedy-live-tickets-46378660823?aff=erelexpmlt
ABOUT GOLD COMEDY:
GOLD Comedy is an early stage startup designed to give girls and women the tools to find their funny and the places to share it with the world.
GOLD "left me thinking, ‘Comedy IS a place for me. I can do this’ — and that’s priceless."
–Holly Brockwell, Gadgette
EMMY-WINNING COMEDIAN PAUL MECURIO ANNOUNCES NEW OFF-BROADWAY SHOW “PERMISSION TO SPEAK WITH PAUL MECURIO” OPENING JULY 23 AT THE JERRY ORBACH THEATER IN NYC - Previews Begin July 16; Tickets On Sale Now
Emmy and Peabody Award-winning comedian, Paul Mecurio, announces his new Off-Broadway show: PERMISSION TO SPEAK WITH PAUL MECURIO. With over a decade of television appearances including his own comedy special, his longtime association with Stephen Colbert through multiple stand-up appearances on and as being the opening act for The Late Show, and headlining comedy shows throughout the U.S. and Europe, Mecurio is prepared for this next great challenge. PERMISSION TO SPEAK WITH PAUL MECURIO will play at the Jerry Orbach Theater at NY’s Theater Center (1627 Broadway, New York), with previews beginning Monday, July 16, 2018 and opening night scheduled for Monday, July 23, 2018.
In this exciting one man comedy show with a twist, starring the audience and Mecurio, Mecurio improvises with audience members by randomly bringing them on stage and talking with them about who they are, their lives, interests, personal experiences and what they honestly think without feeling boxed in by the confines of contrived political correctness or fear of offending. A breath of fresh air, PERMISSION TO SPEAK is first and foremost, funny and entertaining, but also a truly freeing experience.
“People have very revealing, fun and refreshingly honest things to say that no one has ever bothered to ask,” says Paul Mecurio, “so I created a show where audiences can have a lot of laughs and are free to be open and honest ... by the way, when needed, we’re calling BS on the BS! I love the unscripted format, it’s fun, keeps me and the audience on our toes and we end up on this unexpected journey together into funny truths. Everyone has a story, every night people reveal something fun and eye-opening and in the process, people come to understand and appreciate one another a little more.”
Prior to entering the world of entertainment, Mecurio worked as a lawyer on Wall Street at a top tier international law firm (Willkie Farr & Gallagher) and as an investment banker at a major Investment Bank (Credit Suisse), executing multi-million-dollar M&A transactions for Fortune 500 companies.
While on Wall Street, Mecurio had a chance encounter with late night comedy icon, Jay Leno, who subsequently hired him to write jokes for NBC’s The Tonight Show. After living a secret double life as a Wall Street lawyer/banker by day and comedian by night, Mecurio, at the encouragement of Leno, left his day job to go into entertainment full time. This quickly led to his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the beginning of his longtime association with Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report” and now, the number one show in late night, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Partnering with longtime friends and creative collaborators from The Late Show, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, PERMISSION TO SPEAK will feature set consultation by Emmy Award-winning set designer Jim Fenhagen, digital mapping by Tim Donovan and Ryan Kelly of industry leading experiential marketing studio Bravo Media and Optoma Projection, and lighting design by Michael Scricca.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
PERMISSION TO SPEAK WITH PAUL MECURIO will play Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:00pm at the Jerry Orbach Theater at NY’s Theater Center (1627 Broadway, New York) beginning Monday, July 16, 2018 through Wednesday, August 15, 2018.
Ticket pricing: $52 - $72.
To purchase tickets, please go to: Ticketmaster or call the box office at 212.921.7862.
MORE ABOUT PAUL MECURIO:
Paul Mecurio is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning comedian/writer (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), TV personality, actor, and podcaster who currently headlines comedy clubs across the U.S. and Canada and makes regular appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In addition to his presence on The Late Show, Paul has hosted shows and pilots for Comedy Central, HBO, CBS, VH-1 and has starred in his own Comedy Central special.
Over the years, Mecurio has made numerous late-night television appearances on: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert; The Late, Late Show; The Tonight Show (writer); Comedy Central; The Daily Show; Fridays (NBC); and The Joke Show, to name a few.
He also appears regularly as a pop culture and general news commentator and political satirist on a wide variety of major national television shows including: CBS Sunday Morning; CNN (New Day, CNN Newsroom, Showbiz Tonight); MSNBC; Fox News Channel (Hannity, Fox & Friends, Red Eye, Real Story, Outnumbered, Kennedy, Viewpoint); ESPN (SportsNation); Katie Couric; The Meredith Vieira Show; Bethenny; Dr. Drew (HLN & VH-1); and many more. Mecurio is also a published essayist: The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
Mecurio has performed at many prestigious comedy festivals around the world including “Just for Laughs" and the Glasgow/Edinburgh Comedy Festival, to name a few.
Mecurio’s critically-acclaimed podcast, The Paul Mecurio Show, showcases his talent as a skilled interviewer that covers a wide range of topics and conversations with A-list guests at the pinnacle of the worlds of entertainment, pop culture, music, politics, science, sports and more. Guests include: Paul McCartney; Stephen Colbert; Katie Couric; Bryan Cranston; Judd Apatow; Kristen Chenoweth; Neil deGrasse Tyson; Jay Leno; Bill Burr; Adam McKay; Jeff Fager, Executive Producer of 60 Minutes; Stone Cold Steve Austin; Bob Costas; Lewis Black; Hardball’s Chris Matthews; Thomas Freidman of The New York Times; Rob Reiner; Artie Lange; Rob Corddry and many more.
Prior to entering into the world of entertainment, Mecurio graduated Georgetown Law School with high honors and worked as a lawyer on Wall Street at a top tier international law firm (Willkie Farr & Gallagher) and as an investment banker at a major Investment Bank (Credit Suisse), executing multi-billion-dollar M&A transactions for Fortune 100 companies.
While on Wall Street, Mecurio was hired by Jay Leno to write jokes for NBC’s The Tonight Show. After living a secret double life as a Wall Street lawyer/banker by day and comedian by night, Mecurio, at the encouragement of Leno, left his day job to go into entertainment full time... if he hadn’t he would have had a nervous breakdown trying to keep the two worlds separate.
Mecurio soon went on to serve as a writer and occasional correspondent on The Daily Show and appeared in the regular segment which he created, “Second Opinion,” in which he skewered the medical profession playing an HMO representative with a less than sympathetic mindset.
For additional information, please visit: www.paulmecurio.com
Podcast - "The Paul Mecurio Show": http://apple.co/2cMp0sV
Twitter.com/paulmecurio
Facebook.com/paulmecurio
Instagram.com/paulmecurio
New Yorkers know the ins and out of the subway. It’s part of growing up, it’s a part of our rights of passage. In case you did not know, next summer when you are in the middle of the dog days of summer take a ride on the E train because it has the very best air condition and like every subway car in the city, there is always a show.
The new multimedia, multicultural children reading series KaZoom Kids iStoryBooks, the brainchild of founder and CEO, Donna Beasley has teamed up with Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) to create a series of free readings of the books published under the new company.
KaZoom iStoryBooks was created because frankly there is a great need. “There is a real shortage of multicultural children's books for Black and Latino families,” says creator and CEO Donna Beasley, who discovered that only 5% of children’s books published feature children of color. Her way of solving the problem was to create greater diversity in children’s literature. “At KaZoom iStoryBooks we are changing things, but we can't do it alone.” This is why partnerships like the one with HSA are extremely important in helping to connect with audiences that will appreciate finding relatable stories, featuring characters that look like them, reflect their communities and experiences, and serve to strengthen their children’s imaginations and sense of self. Author Lapacazo Sandoval who wrote Taking the E Train and Everybody Loves Cake, one of the three books featured in this storytelling event, was first to respond when the call went out to the community of writers attached to KaZoom Publishing, to participate in the series."
The series came to life because of HSA's commitment to connecting with the community and other creatives of color. It was Yvonne Garcia, Vice President of Development & External Affairs who warmed to the idea of the new children publishing company and connected with CEO, Donna Beasley.
The creative idea grew again because of the life force that embodies the Artistic Director & Director of Theatre, Alfred Preisser -- a man of great vision. He placed the reading of Taking The E Train performance in the capable hands of Amanda McDowall, one of the most respected musical theater teachers at HSA.
The theatrical reading of Taking The E-Train is about an adventurous Abuela who takes her three grandchildren on an adventure on NYC’s E train on one of the hottest days of summer! Directed by McDowall, the reading will include live music, song, African drumming, and a choreographed hip-hop dance number. All performed by the students of HSA.
For more information on registering for the event visit HSA present Storytelling with KaZoom iStorybooks. https://hsa kazoombookseries.eventbrite.com
For additional information on HSA visit www.hsanyc.org , and for more on KaZoom Digital Publishing go to www.kazoomkidsbooks.com.
The KaZoom Kids Storytelling series is tailored to kids ages 3-8 (Saturday, November 4 at 10:00 am). HSA is located at 645 Saint Nicholas Avenue, NYC. It is FREE for all children and their parents.
HSA present Storytelling with KaZoom iStorybooks :
www.hsanyc.org, and for more on KaZoom Digital Publishing go to www.kazoomkidsbooks.com.
@HSANYC | https://www.facebook.com/hsanyc/ https://www.instagram.com/hsanyc/
@KaZoomPub
From Gerard Alessandrini, the mastermind behind Forbidden Broadway, comes Spamilton, a sneak peek into his ongoing obsession with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Now in its second smash year off-Broadway, the musical is playing to packed houses at the 47th Street Theater / Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Spamilton was awarded “Best Unique Theatrical Experience” by the Off-Broadway Alliance and Show of the Year at the 2017 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Awards. The show was also nominated for Best Lyrics at the Drama Desk Awards, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical by the Outer Critics Circle, Best Off-Broadway Musical by the Theater Fans’ Choice Awards, and a Distinguished Performance award from the Drama League.
The current cast features Dan Rosales, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Chris Anthony Giles, Aaron Michael Ray, and Tristan J. Shuler. We chatted with the wonderful cast, here are the excerpts.
You all make the show look easy, but it's not. Anyone with a smiche of musical knowledge knows, you are ALL well trained. How do you keep your instrument in Tip Top Shape?
Dan Rosales:
The show is definitely a marathon for all of us— its fast paced and super high energy, so we all try to take care of ourselves as best we can. We don’t have the luxury of a traditional musical that has scenes or large solo numbers, this is very much an ensemble show and we’re onstage for most of the time— either rapping, singing, shouting or all three. I have an amazing voice teacher, Mike Ruckles, whom I take lessons with whenever I can. His technique and methodology help inform the way I perform the show.
Nicole Vanessa Ortiz:
I try to make sure I get 8-10hrs of vocal rest while also making sure to give myself 3-4 hours to vocally come around as I sip on my Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat Lemon Echinacea tea mixed with my medicinal herbal drops to prevent me from getting sick for those 8 shows a week.
Aaron Michael Ray:
Something that's really important is making sure that you are physically and mentally ready to do a show 8 times a week. No one really tells you how hard it is and if no one has told you let me be the first, it's tough! What I do to make sure I'm able to do the show every day is to constantly stay hydrated. It's super important to drink water as well as anything that helps you get your electrolytes in. I also have little to no dairy in my diet altogether because it creates a lot of phlegm in my voice. Before I get to the theater I also make sure that my body is physically and vocally warm so I don't feel cold stepping on stage. Sometimes before the shows I have some lemon ginger tea.
Chris Anthony Giles:
Well the smart thing to do when in an 8 show a week run of a show is to not go out much, don't drink or smoke, and generally rest your voice and body. Singing is basically yelling on pitch, so doing that for an hour or two a day can be taxing. Luckily I'm an introvert who naturally shys away from such things, so I haven't had much problems in that area. Any difficulty I have stems from keeping the material fresh after such a long run.
Were you all in the cast when Lin came and blessed the show? If so, do you have a Lin story? Share your Lin story?
Dan Rosales:
I’m one of two original cast members remaining, and we were there for BOTH times Lin came to see the show. The first time was a little nerve-wracking, but the second time was just a blast. When I used to work at a restaurant in-between performing jobs, I actually waited on Lin and his wife. They were both so nice and pleasant, and I was able to tell Lin the story when he came to see the show the first time— he was like “No Way!!"
Nicole Vanessa Ortiz:
Since I didn't start until April 2017, I unfortunately missed "My Shot" to perform for Lin!
Glenn Bassett:
I was in the cast when Lin saw it. It was interesting to see the reaction of the audience to him being there, especially the young girls. They were so giddy, it felt like we were in the 1950's or 60's in the presence of a matinee idol. He also brought with him Thomas Kail and Alex Lacamoire. I had a great chat with Alex who couldn't have been nicer (and so much of the brilliance of Hamilton comes from his arrangements)!
Chris Anthony Giles:
Yes I am part of the original cast and was here both times when Lin came, first with Alex Lacamoire and Tommy Kail, then with his family. He's a great guy who came back stage, gave us all hugs and stayed for at least 30 minutes talking and taking pictures.
What's next for you?
Nicole Vanessa Ortiz:
I've always loved the spontaneity of embracing unexpected blessings as they come and Spamilton has definitely been one of them. With that said I still plan on auditioning for more amazing roles in theater, television and even film while continuously working on my original music that, by God's time, will most certainly be released in the near future!
Glenn Bassett:
I'll be performing in the Los Angeles production of Spamilton as the king (as well as designing the set and props) in November and I am currently writing lyrics and libretto for an original musical called Dig A Little Deeper with composer Adam David Cohen.
In addition to the Off-Broadway run in New York City, Spamilton currently has a Chicago production, and will launch a West Coast premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre this November that will be produced in Los Angeles by Center Theatre Group.
Checkout more at http://spamiltonnyc.com/
There is an long, long list of great perks that come with being a native New Yorker and one that really hits home, is being able to enjoy free Shakespeare inside New York’s Central Park as provided by The Public Theater and ripping up the stage, right now, is A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, directed by Lear deBessonet with choreography by Chase Brock. deBessonet’s MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM runs through Sunday, August 13.
The Delacorte Theater transforms into the most enchanted forest in all of theater in Shakespeare’s beloved comedy and one that’s most child friendly. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM tells the story of the merry sprite Puck who meddles with a magical love potion causing young lovers, who are lost in the woods, to mysteriously find themselves infatuated with the wrong person. Truly one of Shakespeare most hilarious, fairytale with an over the top, fantasia flair proving that the “course of true love never did run smooth.”
Lear deBessonet, founder of The Public Theater’s groundbreaking Public Works program brings her electric theatrical vision to the classic romance about the supernatural nature of love with a cast of some of the finest performers working on stage today. The complete cast of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM features Annaleigh Ashford (Helena); De’Adre Aziza (Hippolyta); Kyle Beltran (Lysander); Min Borack (Fifth Fairy); Vinie Burrows (First Fairy, Peaseblossom); Danny Burstein (Nick Bottom); Justin Cunningham (Philostrate); Marcelle Davies-Lashley (Fairy Singer); Austin Durant (Snug); Shalita Grant (Hermia); Keith Hart (Third Fairy); Alex Hernandez (Demetrius); Jeff Hiller (Francis Flute); Robert Joy (Peter Quince); Patricia Lewis (Fourth Fairy); David Manis (Egeus, Cobweb); Pamela McPherson-Cornelius (Second Fairy); Patrena Murray (Snout); Kristine Nielsen (Puck); Bhavesh Patel (Theseus); Richard Poe (Oberon); Phylicia Rashad (Titania); Joe Tapper (Robin Starveling); Judith Wagner (Mote); Warren Wyss (Mustardseed); Benjamin Ye (Changeling Boy); and Rosanny Zayas (Understudy).
To learn more about how to reserve your free tickets go to https://www.publictheater.org/Free-Shakespeare-in-the-Park/
*Performances are rarely rained out and never cancelled before 8:00 p.m.
This weekend on June 2 & 3, Roy Arias Main Stage Theater in midtown Manhattan will have 3 showings of the wonderful off-broadway play ROSE GOLD, co-starring Art Shrian. Please check out the details and buy the ticket stand link below:
https://events.ticketprinting.com/event/23395
Written by actor, writer, director Keli Laing, Rose Gold is a story about a young woman conveniently named Rose who works as the head bartender at Flow Bar and Grill. Though she seemingly has "it together", she has fallen on hard times pretty much her entire life. For most of those times, she managed to push through and keep her faith in God that one day life will get better. That is until she receives some horrible news about the love of her life, which causes her to decide living her dream isn't realistic and God may not be as loyal as she once thought. Even with her trials and tribulations, Rose manages to keep the bar and her family-like co-workers in pretty good shape. Even if they are a little crazy. She also has the pleasure of dealing with those special patrons of the bar that come by from time to time to let Rose know she's not alone with her life struggles. It can be a burden at times, but at other times it can be a blessing in disguise.
