Theater for the New City
Theater for the New City
presents
the 22nd Annual
Love N’ Courage Benefit
in support of TNCs’ Emerging Playwrights Program
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
at The Players Club
16 Gramercy Park South
New York, NY 10003
Cocktails 6pm
Seated Dinner 6:45pm
Performances 8pm
Featuring performances by
Charles Busch
Phoebe Legere
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers
and more!
Honoring Peter Schumann
Co-Founder and Director of the Bread & Puppet Theater
Fill out the form below to purchase tickets:
Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents
A poetry reading series
Curated by Lissa Moira
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
7 PM – 10 PM
Tickets: $5
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
Food – Wine – Soft Drinks
Open Mic as time permits
Please join us for some New Year’s Poetry and artistic conviviality.
In Alphabetical Order
Austin Alexis
Madeline Artenberg
Stan Baker
Maude Lardner Burke
Didi Champagne
Peter Dizozza
Peter Dolack
Rachel Drummer
Alisa Ermolaev
Jim Feast
Dorothy Friedman
Duane Ferguson
Davidson Garrett
Phillip Giambri
WiilieAnn Gissendanner
Robert Hieger
Linda Kleinbub
Ron Kolm
Wayne Kral
Fran Luck
Peter Marra
Prince A. McNally
Lissa Moira
Valery Oisteanu
Puma Perl
Howard Pflanzer
John Sarno
Lorraine Schein
Bina Sharif
Jessica Slote
Peyton Watson
Richard West
Joanie Hieger Zosike
Presents
January 10, 2025 – January 19, 2025
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets $20
MATINEES ARE KIDS’ DAYS: At all matinée performances, children ages five to twelve who are accompanied by a ticket-bearing adult are admitted for $1.00 (adults $20)
Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
JOHNSON THEATER
PHOTOS AND VIDEO ARE AVAILABLE. See directions at bottom.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
There will be dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. The event has become a treasured New York tradition for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans. TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for Native American students.
A Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. Traditionally a gathering and sharing of events, Pow-Wows have come to include spectacular dance competitions, exhibitions, and enjoyment of traditional foods.
Throughout the performance, all elements are explained in depth through detailed introductions by the troupe’s Director and Emcee Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago). An educator, Mofsie plays an important part in the show by his ability to present a comprehensive view of native culture. He was awarded a 2019 Bessie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. In 2017, he was honored, along with Garth Fagan and Martha Myers, with a Lifetime Achievement Award from American Dance Guild.
Highlights will also include a Hoop Dance set to guitar and flute music that will be performed on alternating dates by Marie Ponce (Cherokee and Seminole) and Matt Cross (Kiowa); a Deer Dance (from the Yaqui Tribes of Southern Arizona) with Ciaran Tufford (Mayan/Cherokee) and Carlos Ponce (Mayan), and various ensemble dances: a Grass Dance and Jingle Dress Dance (from the Northern Plains people), a Stomp Dance (from the Southeastern tribes), a Shawl Dance (from the Oklahoma tribes), a Fancy Dance (from the Oklahoma tribes) and a Smoke Dance (from the Iroquois). As the audience enters the theater, they will be serenaded by the Heyna Second Son Singers (various tribes).
Pageantry is an important component of the event, and all participants are elaborately dressed. There is a wealth of cultural information encoded in the movements of each dance. More than ten distinct tribes will be represented in the performance. The dozen-or-so dancers are people of all ages, raging from thirteen-year-old Isabel Cespedes (Mayan) to retirees.
Native American crafts and jewelry will be sold in the TNC lobby.
Matinées are kids’ days, when children aged five to twelve accompanied by a ticket-bearing adult are admitted for $1.00 (adults $18). At the conclusion of these matinées, young audience members are invited to pose for pictures with the dancers.
ABOUT THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS
The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers are the oldest resident Native American dance company in New York. The troupe was founded in 1963 by a group of ten Native American men and women, all New Yorkers, who were descended from Mohawk, Hopi, Winnebago and San Blas tribes. Prominent among the founders were Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago) and his sister, Josephine Mofsie (deceased), Rosemary Richmond (Mohawk, deceased), Muriel Miguel (Cuna/Rapahannock) and Jack Preston (Seneca, deceased). Some were in school at the time; all were “first generation,” meaning that their parents had been born on reservations. They founded the troupe to keep alive the traditions, songs and dances they had learned from their parents, and added to their repertoire from other Native Americans living in New York and some who were passing through. Jack Preston taught the company its Iroquois dances, including the Robin Dance and Fish Dance. To these were added dances from the plains, including the Hopi Buffalo Dance, and newer dances including the Grass Dance and Jingle Dress Dance. The company was all-volunteer, a tradition that exists to today. Members range in professions from teachers to hospital patient advocates, tree surgeons and computer engineers. Now Louis Mofsie says, “To be going for 60 years is just amazing to me, and to be able to do the work we do.”
The troupe made a home in the old McBurney YMCA on 23rd Street and Seventh Ave. Within three or four years, they were traveling throughout the continental U.S., expanding and sharing their repertoire and gleaning new dances on the reservations. A number of Thunderbird members are winners of Fancy Dance contests held on reservations, where the standard of competition is unmistakably high.
The Thunderbird-TNC collaboration began in 1975, when Crystal Field directed a play called “The Only Good Indian.” For research, Ms. Field lived on a Hopi reservation for three weeks. In preparation for the project, she met Louis Mofsie, Artistic Director of the dance troupe and a representative of the American Indian Community House. Mofsie suggested a Pow Wow and dance concert to celebrate the winter solstice. Field, who is herself 1% native American, committed herself to bring this to fruition. The event has continued annually to this day.
The troupe’s appearances benefit college scholarship funds for Native American students. The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Scholarship Fund receives its sole support from events like this concert (it receives no government or corporate contributions), and has bestowed over 350 scholarships to-date. Theater for the New City has been presenting Pow-Wows annually as a two-week event since 1976, with the box office donated to these scholarships.
# # #
CRITICS ARE INVITED to all performances. Press contact Jonathan Slaff (212) 924-0496.
VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE upon request.
2023 PRODUCTION PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BQefisDJzPgvr7Db9
2019 PRODUCTION PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ebLLGRPPQVHjJsxt8
RECENT YEARS’ PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/tcrxbtPYtF2hdvhV6 and https://goo.gl/photos/SLr4PXEHJrsq34j9A
HISTORICAL PHOTOS of Pow-Wows from 2004 to 2015 are available for download at: https://goo.gl/photos/wUcenp6ZcPDcBCYD7
Presents
A new play by Ishmael Reed
Directed by Rome Neal
January 30, 2025 – February 16, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets: $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run Time:
COMMUNITY SPACE THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
Playwright Ishmael Reed explains why he wrote The Shine Challenge 2025: “Like members of most ethnic groups, the purpose of our schooling was to have us fit into the Anglo mainstream. At home and on the playground, other story-telling traditions were available, handed down through the generations as part of an oral tradition. The Bible might be the only book in the house. But there was a story-telling tradition that we kept from our parents because of the bad words. They were “toasts” and “the dozens,” which had endless variations.
“In my great uncle’s house, the only painting on the wall was that of the Titanic. The sinking of the Titanic challenged the boasts of white supremacy. From the collective imagination of the Black streets came the “toast” of “Shine,” who warns the first-class passengers that the ship, thought to be invincible, was taking water. One might consider Shine to be the grassroots nominee for a member of the Black prophetic tradition.”
Ishmael Reed has lengthened the 40 or so lines of the typical Shine rap into a 100-page script in which he expands on the issues addressed in the original toast: race, class, immigration, engineering, and Edwardian morality by putting Shine on trial in which he is both the accused and his own defense attorney.
One of the reasons Reed wrote the play was he found that members of three generations of Blacks had never heard the story of Shine. He calls the play The Shine Challenge, 2025 because he expects that a future playwright will expand upon what he has accomplished. During a time when there is a crackdown on Black culture under the banner of Woke, whose definition has been twisted by our enemies, every possible effort must be made to maintain Black, Brown, Native American and Asian American traditions. Our writers can be like the monks who protected the sacred texts from barbarians.
CAST
Monisha Shiva (Announcer)
Audrey Shon (Bailiff)
Malika Iman (Court Clerk)
Roz Fox (Judge Georgia St. Clair)
Carman Noelia (Prosecutor Francis Nunez)
Brian Simmons (S. Shine, acting as his own defense attorney)
Jesse Bueno (Captain Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic)
Jordan Barringer (Helen Smith, the captain’s daughter)
Emil Guillermo (J. Bruce Ismay, owner of the Titanic)
Robert Turner (Jake “The Cat” Watson, prosecution witness)
Maurice Carlton (Jack the Shark, defense witness)
Rome Neal (Polar Bear Sam, defense witness)
Joy Reneé LeBlanc (Iceberg Sally)
Sekou Carradine (male understudy)
PRODUCTION
Director – Rome Neal
Writer – Ishmael Reed
Set Design – Chris Cumberbatch
Lighting & Sound Design – Alexander Bartenieff
Costume Design & Costume Mistress – Diana Chaiken
Stage Manager & Props Manager– Emily Yarmey
Production Coordinator – Carla Blank
What 2 critics wrote about The Shine Challenge 2024’s virtual reading”:
“[Ishmael] Reed has brilliantly molded the legendary African American folklore comedic poem of “Shine on the Titanic” into a plausible debate, questioning what really happened on the Titanic….’The Shine Challenge 2024’ is a crazy, rousing, slapstick tour…with more laughs than “Blazing Saddles” and more facts than Google, floating in the ocean of race, class, inequality, immigration, and what really happened on that ship. Look closely past all that insane humor and pay attention. Reed has pulled the covers off Shine. The truth is the light. Shine on.”
Ron Scott, New York Amsterdam News, April 4, 2024
In a Brilliant Burlesque on History, … America’s most inventive storyteller Ishmael Reed, the ever-insightful satirist has given us yet another masterwork that tickles our funny bone, stimulates our intellect, titillates our emotions, and challenges our imagination. All the while giving us a solid history lesson in his inimitable style….A rare and brilliant achievement.
Playthell Benjamin, The New York Beacon, March 7-March 13, 2024
Is Pleased to present
in association with Bill and Maura Haney, the Long Point Fund and New Stage Theatre Company Presents
Created by Ildiko Nemeth and Lisa Giobbi with Marie Glancy O’Shea
March 13, 2025 – March 29, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets: $25, Students & Seniors $20
Pay-What-You-Can Sundays
Run Time: 65 minutes No intermission
JOHNSON THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
Inspired by When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone and created for the stage by Ildiko Nemeth and Lisa Giobbi, this performance piece, structured through classic theater and ungrounded aerial movement elements, traces the lives of a group of women from different eras and socio-political circumstances, through the lens of historical records and lists from mundane to extraordinary. Infused with humor throughout and presented in a series of interconnected vignettes, Lists of Promise questions the expectations and demands made of women by highlighting absurd, tragic, and ironic realities.
Created by: Ildiko Nemeth and Lisa Giobbi with Marie Glancy O’Shea
Directed by: Ildiko Nemeth
Aerial choreography by: Lisa Giobbi
Costumes by: Tamar Mogendorff in collaboration with Jessica Mitrani
Set design/ sculptures by: Tamar Mogendorff
Lighting design by: Federico Restrepo
Performing artists: Sarah Lemp, Lisa Giobbi, Rebecca Magazine, Lainey Mackinnon, Tatyana Kot, Renee Erikson, Amanda Langberg Hermansen, Elena Lozonschi, Elizabeth Foster, Jacob McKee
Aerial operators: Benny Oyzone, Abe Meisel, Jacob McKee, Manny Mendoza
Lighting Operator: Rodney Perez
Sound Engineer and Operator: Dalton LaPree-Chavez
Stage Manager: Chris Adams and Nora Butler
The program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
The program is supported in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Presents
LEAH FORSTER
In
The Show You Didn’t Know You’ve Been Waiting For
A Dangerous Mix of Comedy, Satire and Song
November 27, 2024 – December 15, 2024
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
NO SHOWS:
THU, NOVEMBER 28 THANKSGIVING
WED, DECEMBER 11
Tickets: $25
Pay-What-You-Can Wednesdays
Run Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
COMMUNITY SPACE
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
If you don’t know a Lesbian, Orthodox Singer-Comedian who is shomer Shabbos (and who somehow gets away with it), then Now is the Time!
LIMITED ENGAGEMENT OF “THAT’S YENTATAINMENT!” PRODUCED BY NEW YIDDISH REP RUNS NOV 27 TO DEC 15
The groundbreaking Jewish comedy satirist Leah Forster, who boasts a fast-growing social media following over 100,000 strong, stars in her first solo stage show, That’s Yentatainment!, a daring mix of stand-up, song and flashes of digital media.
Something of a genie out of the bottle, Forster started performing stand-up in her Borough Park Hasidic community, where she was only allowed to perform for girls and curious housewives. Her inevitable break with the community came when she came out as a lesbian on social media.
After being shunned by her community, Forster has found unexpected redemption through social media, where her “Tichel Tuesday” videos are much-shared viral sensations.
“This show is my love letter to all the pieces of who I am – the Jewish humor, the Yiddish soul, the modern woman. It’s pure ‘YENTATAINMENT!’
“The Yiddish speaking world in New York is evolving in interesting ways,” David Mandelbaum, New Yiddish Rep’s artistic director, points out. “Leah provides striking evidence of this! I mean how many shomer shabbos Lesbian, Orthodox singer-comedians do you know?”
Presents
SEX! VENGEANCE! EARTHQUAKES! HUMAN RESOURCES!
FROG & PEACH THEATRE COMPANY TO PRESENT WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE OF “COLLEGE FUN” By TED ZURKOWSKI
November 29, 2024 – December 15, 2024
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Wednesday performance on December 11 at 8:00 PM
Tickets: $18
Run Time: 40 minutes
CABARET SPACE
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
The Frog & Peach Theatre Company announced that New York’s critically acclaimed & revolutionary ensemble has teamed with Theater for a New City to present a full production of “College Fun” a startling new comedy by Ted Zurkowski. Directed by Lynnea Benson, the “College Fun” performances will open on Friday, November 29 at 8 PM at the Theater for the New City’s Cabaret space. The cast includes popular performers from Frog & Peach’s recent smash hit, KING LEAR.
Join the charming but hapless Professor Jones (DazMann Still) in the slightly mad Office of Diversity & Inclusion at an elite university in Southern California. His Inquisitors include the seductive & deranged Dr. Ram (Amy Frances Quint), the flamboyantly vigilant Dr. Queeg (Jonathan Reed Wexler), and the widely feared Dr. Pane (Anuj Parikh). The Production Stage Manager is Matthew Seepersad. Photo by Maria Baranova.
Ted Zurkowski (Playwright) is also a singer, composer, musician, & actor. He is the frontman for the rock band Honey West, which he formed with Ian McDonald (King Crimson, Foreigner). He is currently developing “Unhappy Jack, the High School Self-Medicating Rock Opera” into an Off-Broadway musical production for 2025. He is a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio and has taught at Hunter College, NYU, and The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Thanks Lynnea and Cast!
Amy Frances Quint (Dr Ram) is honored to be working with Frog & Peach again, and grateful to both F&P and Theatre for the New City for providing a home for new and thought-provoking theatre. Amy was born and raised in Rome, Italy and studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and The Stella Adler Conservatory. She has acted, written and produced at venues including La MAMA, the NYC Fringe, the Ohio Theatre, the Connelly Theatre, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Dublin Fringe Festival, Baltimore Arts Project, The West End Theatre and Chashama. She is also a voiceover artist and co-founder of Quattro Gatti Theatre Company. Favorite roles with Frog & Peach include Rosalind in As You Like It, Katarina in The Taming of the Shrew, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Constance in King John, and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She’d like to thank her husband Matthew, daughter Cassandra, and her partners in crime at Frog & Peach.
Anuj Parikh (Dr Pane) is a happy guy originally from Vancouver. Fun recent roles include Duke of Cornwall (King Lear, Frog & Peach Theatre); Dromio of Syracuse (Comedy of Errors, Hip to Hip Theatre); Badger (Wind in the Willows, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble); Titus Andronicus (noted in the New York Times); Rev. Duckworth (premiere of Alice Again, by The Lifespan of a Fact’s G. Farrell). He has a PhD in experimental nuclear astrophysics from Yale and was a professor in Barcelona and expert on thermonuclear stellar explosions. He is particularly interested in developing theatre that explores the interface between physics and poetry. More at anujparikh.com!
DazMann Still (Professor Jones) is a newcomer to the Frog &Peach Theatre Company! Some previous credits include: Manifest (Kory), Bill and Ted Face the Music (Jimi Hendrix), Blue Bloods (Marcus), Maybe I Do (Jonah), and the stage play The Royale (Fish). He also loves doing voiceover work! In addition to having done some voice work on the animated show Solar Opposites, his client list includes: White Castle, AT&T, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Nissan, American Express, Bounce, Maryland Health and more. Thanks to everyone who’s coming out to see the show, and he hopes you enjoy!
Jonathan Reed Wexler (Dr Queeg) is a native New Yorker. He played Edmund in Frog & Peach’s King Lear last winter. He studied The Method (with Ted) at The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Theater: The Braggart of Bourbon Street (NYCFringe), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Gorilla Rep), Playdate (Dixon Place), A Tale of Two Cities (Roxy Regional Theatre). Film: Last Supper, The Stand Up, Macbeth , Hamlet, Richard III (post-production), Evil Weed. Television: The Mysteries of Laura, Rockaway. He is a company member of The Metropolitan Opera where he is currently acting (and playing percussion) in Il Trovatore and will be performing in the highly anticipated new production of Aida, opening New Year’s Eve.
Pedro Vierre ((u/s, QUEEG) played Jonah in Open at The Tank, Stanley in If I Did, You Deserved It at Under St Marks, Paul in Replaced! at the NY Theater Festival, and Mack The Knife in The Threepenny Opera at Hunter College. He can’t wait for COLLEGE FUN!
Lynnea Benson (Director) Ms Benson is a co-founder and The Artistic Director at Frog & Peach Theatre. Recent directing credits include King Lear (starring Greg Mullavey), As You Like It, and Verbatim (starring Estelle Parsons). She serves as the writer director for the Frog & Peach bilingual family show, Tinkerbell Theatre, and writes & directs the viral web series Tink Online.
Mathew Seepersad (Stage Manager) is a stage manager and actor who has been with Theater for the New City for over 3 years now and has worked on many different shows. He is a York College graduate and acquired a Bachelor’s degree with a major in Speech Communication and Theater Arts and a minor in Communication Technology. Mathew wants to pursue a career in voice acting, as well as video production and editing. Instagram: soundboard3000. Website: mathewseepersad.com
Frog & Peach Theatre Company founded in 1996 by members of The Actors Studio, the critically acclaimed Frog & Peach Theatre is widely known for gripping new works & daring productions of Shakespeare’s plays. 2025 will include Verbatim starring Estelle Parsons, and Taming Of The Shrew. Watch for the musicals Unhappy Jack & Three Women this spring. Frog & Peach is also widely beloved for the zany, bilingual children’s program, Tinkerbell Live & the viral comedy web series Tink Online. The Frog & Peach Arts Ed program serves high quality arts education every week to New York’s most vulnerable-formerly homeless adults with serious mental illness at sites throughout Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Presents
January 9, 2025 – January 26, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets: $18.00, Students & Seniors $15.00
Run Time: 90 minutes
COMMUNITY SPACE
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
Drama Desk and Obie award winner MARILYN CHRIS is Nannie Doss AKA THE GIGGLING GRANNY, a world premiere solo show opening JANUARY 9th for three weeks at THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY.
THE GIGGLING GRANNY is a true story about the most mesmerizing, innocent and likable serial killer (looking for true love) that you are ever going to meet! The show was written especially for Marilyn by PBS’ Theater in America writer Marsha Lee Sheiness, and is directed by Jim Semmelman.
MARILYN CHRIS is also know from her many years as WANDA WEBB WOLEK on television’s ONE LIFE TO LIVE.
Presents
December 19, 2024 – January 5, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets: $20.00, Students & Seniors $15.00
Run Time:
JOHNSON THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions
“A Shift of Opinion” is a play based entirely on historical characters and events.
Jacob Schiff, a Jewish American banker and philanthropist, having heard of Jewish massacres in the Russian Empire, declares himself a personal enemy of the Russian Czar. Soon an opportunity for revenge presents itself.
The play features a parade of historical characters, from Teddy Roosevelt to Leo Tolstoy, and explores various historical parallels, including the subjects of antisemitism, immigration, and Russian expansionism.
CAST
PRODUCTION