THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CRYSTAL FIELD

PRESENTS

DREAM UP FESTIVAL 2024

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY SETS ITS TWELFTH DREAM UP FESTIVAL
Annual feast of adventurous theater will play August 25 to September 15.
All events at THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

August 25 to September 15, 2024

For Dream Up Festival tickets, go to: https://WWW.DREAMUPFESTIVAL.ORG/SHOWS – $15-$20
For additional info, call the TNC box office at 212-254-1109.

NEW YORK, July 26 — From August 25 to September 15, 2024, Theater for the New City (TNC), under the direction of Crystal Field, will resume its twelfth  Dream Up Festival, a feast of adventurous theater.  The annual event is an ultimate new works festival, dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors and edgy, innovative performances.

The Festival is helmed by the theater’s Literary Manager, Michael Scott-Price.  This year it offers 16 plays, 12 of which are world premieres and one of which is an American premiere. Audiences will savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country.

Theater for the New City has consistently been the most inexpensive theater of its caliber and it continues its commitment to affordable tickets with this festival. Dream Up Festival tickets are $15-$20 for all participating productions.

The festival does not seek out traditional scripts that are presented in a traditional way. It selects works that push new ideas to the forefront, challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of how art illuminates the world around us.

Theater for the New City (TNC) maintains a distinctive commitment to high artistic values and community service. In an effort to make theater accessible to all, TNC presents an assortment of distinct, exceptional events each year, including the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which celebrates the artistic and cultural diversity of TNC’s Lower East Side community; an annual Village Halloween Ball and an annual summer Street Theater tour that presents a free, live, original musical in thirteen neighborhoods in all five boroughs. Most of these are free of charge to the public.

Go to https://www.dreamupfestival.org/shows.html for more information and full schedule

LIST OF PRODUCTIONS

“Adulting for Idiots” written and performed by Nikki MacCallum, directed by Kelvin Moon Loh

“Apocalypse Truck The musical” written by Kyle Giller, directed, choreographed and designed by Sarah Cosgrove

“Attorney-Client” written by Alex Ladd, directed by Pat Golden

“Babel, Babel, Babel” written and directed by Søs Banke

“Cafe Munich” written by Anwar N. Suleiman, directed by Barbara Schofield Suleiman

“Colder by the Water” written by Bri Madden-Olivares

“The Coming Storm-the legacy of Nazism endures” written and directed by Stephan Morrow

“The Coronation of Queen Jaguar” by Christine Stoddard (writer/director/designer) and Aaron Gold (assistant writer/director/designer)

“If Words Could Talk” written by Jenn Amelia Martin, directed by Stephanie Stowers

“Leaving Kiev: Coming Full Circle” by Mila Levine, directed by Lissa Moira

“Matt, James, and Ben In Lord Finnington Bus In The Positively Puzzling Case of The Purloined Pelvis: At Vicar’s Gate” written by James Sweeney and Matt Tanzosh; directed and designed by James Sweeney, Matt Tanzosh and Ben Fletcher

“Pulling It All Into The Current” written by Letta Neely, created by Greg Allen and Letta Neely, directed by Greg Allen

“roller rink death kink sex cult” written by Skylar J. Beirne

“Tongs and Bones Shakespeare: Tempestuous Amusements, Interludes, Noises, and Drollery” written by Bob Shuman, directed by Frank Farrell

“The Void” directed by Kristen Keim, written by Jonathan G Galvez, fight and movement director Emily Anne Davis

“The Waiting Room” written by Vel Grande, directed by Dennis Oliveira

Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents:

TNC Street Theater Summer Tour
THE SOCIALIZATION OF A SOCIAL WORKER or JUSTICE IN A TIME OF NEED

August 3 – September 15, 2024

Free! In The Streets!
Saturdays and Sundays @ 2 PM; Friday Performance in Coney Island @ 5:00 PM (full schedule below)

Writer and Director – Crystal Field
Composer – Peter Dizozza

8/3 • 2pm • Manhattan • TNC at E. 10th St. & First Ave.
8/4 • 2pm • Bronx • St. Mary’s Park at 147th St. & St. Ann’s Ave.
8/10 • 2pm • Staten Island • Tappen Park btw. Canal & Water Streets
8/11 • 2pm • Manhattan • Central Park Bandshell, 72nd Street Crosswalk
8/16 • 5pm • Brooklyn • Coney Island Boardwalk at W. 10st St.
8/17 • 2pm • Manhattan • St. Marks Church at E. 10th St. & Second Ave.
8/18 • 2pm • Manhattan • Jackie Robinson Park at W. 147th St. & Bradhurst Ave.
8/24 • 2pm • Manhattan • Washington Square Park
8/25 • 2pm • Queens • Travers Park at 34th Ave. btw. 77th & 78th Streets
9/7 • 2pm • Brooklyn • Sunset Park at 6th Ave. & 44th St.
9/8 • 2pm • Brooklyn • Fort Greene Park, Myrtle Avenue & St. Edwards Street
9/14 • 2pm • Manhattan • Sol Bloom Playground, W 91st Street btw. Columbus Ave & Central Park West
9/15 • 2pm • Manhattan • Tompkins Square Park at E. 7th St. & Ave. A

NEW YORK, July 2 – Theater for the New City’s award-winning Street Theater Company will open its 2024 annual tour Saturday, August 3 with “The Socialization of a Social Worker or The Fight for Social Justice,” a rip-roaring original musical which tells a story of a humanitarian case worker learning to overcome despair and find strength for today’s challenges through people power. Book, lyrics and direction are by Crystal Field, Artistic Director of Theater for the New City (TNC). The musical score is composed and arranged by Peter Dizzoza. Free performances will tour parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs through September 15.

In the play a social worker, transferred to a New York City hospital, burns with hope that he will help make things better for the growing immigrant population which is being cast upon New York. But he is surrounded by red tape in every direction. He is tempted to give up when he meets a bunch of New York City activists who are campaigning for the future of homeless children. They show him that even among the homeless population there is power for change, but that no one can do it alone, and that the power to instill change lies within our neighborhoods. They lead him through an odyssey of homeless life in the subways, the horror and terror of the January 6 insurrection, the heroism of the DC Police, and the causes of women’s rights, abortion and affordable housing. He learns that politicians are not perfect, even the good ones, and that they can be swayed by collective people power. Ultimately, he learns that change is driven by civil society mobilization. This means that every day is a new day and that everyone must vote when election time comes, learn the lessons of January 6, and not succumb to the hatred and resentment.

The production will be staged with an elaborate assemblage of trap doors, giant puppets, smoke machines, masks, original choreography and a huge (9′ x 12′) running screen or “cranky” providing continuous moving scenery behind the actors. The company of 22 actors, ten crew members, two stage managers, three assistant directors and five live musicians (led by the composer at the keyboard) will share the challenge of performing outside and holding a large, non-captive audience. The music will vary in style from Bossa Nova to Hip Hop to Musical Comedy to classical Cantata. The play is a bouncy joyride through the undulations of the body politic, with astute commentary couched in satire, song and slapstick.

TNC’s free Street Theater productions are delightfully suited for family audiences, since complex social issues are often presented through children’s allegories, with children and neighborhood people as the heroes.

Michael David Gordon heads the cast of 25, with Michael Vazquez sharing top honors on August 16, 17 and 18. The five-piece band is led by composer Peter Dizozza.

Theater for the New City has mounted a new musical for a five borough tour each year since 1976. In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 lockdown, TNC’s Street Theater production, “Liberty or Just Us: a City Park Story,” was an oratorio that live streamed for an eight week, 14 performance run. Each performance payed tribute to the park or other location it had been originally scheduled for. The popular tradition returned to live, in-person performances the following year.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Author/director Crystal Field began writing street theater in 1968 as a member of Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. She wrote and performed her own outdoor theater pieces against the Vietnam War and also curated and performed many poetry programs for the Philadelphia Public Schools. There she found tremendous enthusiasm and comprehension on the part of poor and minority students for both modern and classical poetry when presented in a context of relevancy to current issues. She realized that for poetry to find its true audience, the bonds of authoritarian criticism must and can be transcended. Her earliest New York street productions were playlets written in Philadelphia and performed on the flatbed truck of Bread and Puppet Theater in Central Park. Peter Schumann, director of that troupe, was her first NY artistic supporter.

In 1971, Ms. Field became a protégé of Robert Nichols, founder of the Judson Poets Theater in Manhattan, and of Peter Schuman, founder of Bread and Puppet Theater. It is an interesting historic note that “The Expressway” by Robert Nichols, directed by Crystal Field (a Street theater satire about Robert Moses’ plan for a throughway to run across Little Italy from the West Side Highway to the FDR Drive) was actually the first production of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival. Nichols wrote street theater plays for TNC in its early years, but as time went on, wrote scenarios and only the first lines of songs, leaving Field to “fill in the blanks.” When Nichols announced his retirement to Vermont in 1975, he urged Field to “write your own.” The undertaking, while stressful at first, became the impetus for her to express her own topical political philosophy and to immerse her plays in that special brand of humor referred to often as “that brainy slapstick.” Her first complete work was “Mama Liberty’s Bicentennial Party” (1976), in honor of the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Field has an associate’s degree in Dance from Juilliard and a BA in Philosophy from Hunter College.

Field has written and directed a completely new opera for the TNC Street Theater company each successive year. She collaborated for eleven years with composer Mark Hardwick, whose “Pump Boys and Dinettes” and “Oil City Symphony” were inspired by his street theater work with Ms. Field. At the time of his death from AIDS in 1994, he was writing a clown musical with Field called “On the Road,” which was never finished. One long-running actor in TNC street theater was Tim Robbins, who was a member of the company for six years in the 1980s, from age twelve to 18.

The Village Halloween Parade, which TNC produced single-handedly for the Parade’s first two years, grew out of the procession which preceded each Street Theater production. Ralph Lee, who created the Parade with Ms. Field, was chief designer for TNC’s Street Theater for four years before the Village Halloween Parade began.

Field has also written for TNC’s annual Halloween Ball and for an annual Yuletime pageant that was performed outdoors for 2,000 children on the Saturday before Christmas. She has written two full-length indoor plays, “Upstate” and “One Director Against His Cast.” She is co-founder and Artistic Director of TNC.

Composer Peter Dizozza was composer/musical director of TNC’s 2022 Street Theater tour, “Teacher! Teacher! or PS I Love You.” He appeared frequently in 2020-2021 in TNC’s weekly “Open ‘Tho Shut” walk-by theater productions, which demonstrated the theater’s ability to serve its neighborhood culturally during the lockdown. He is known for his simple, cheerful music with a Gershwinesque flair.  He began writing plays with music for La Mama’s Experimenta Series in 1997 and became a regular composer for productions directed by George Ferencz. Among his TNC credits are his scores for Toby Armour’s plays “Aunt Susan and Her Tennessee Waltz” (2022) and “155 Thru the Roof” (2014). His song settings include poems and texts by Shakespeare, T.S.Eliot and Thomas Hardy. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild, The Lambs Club and The New York Composers Circle.

 

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

AUGUST STRINDBERG REP

Miss Julie 1925 New Year’s

Translator/director Robert Greer transports Strindberg’s greatest masterpiece from a Swedish manor house in 1888 to a Long Island country estate in 1925.

January 9 – 26, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets: $20 General, $15 Students and Seniors
Run Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

“Miss Julie” by August Strindberg centers on a proud, neurotic daughter of the degenerate aristocracy who is willing to sink her pride in a frenzied attempt to satisfy her love of sensation. Strindberg originally set the play in a Swedish manor house in 1888. From January 9 to 26, Theater for the New City will present Strindberg Rep in a production, translated from the Swedish, adapted and directed by Robert Greer, that transplants Strindberg’s story to a Long Island country estate in 1925.

 

It’s an Americanized retelling of Strindberg’s classic drama. The engagement of the Governor’s daughter, Julie, to the County District Attorney has just been broken off. It’s New Year’s Eve and an extravagant party is underway, parallel to the midsummer festivities in Strindberg’s play. Julie, a young woman of privileged birth, is headstrong, domineering and emotionally volatile. On this particular evening, she engages in flirtatious and provocative behavior with the servants, particularly Jean, her father’s butler. The pair dance and drink at her insistence. Their dynamics are complex and fraught with tension, driven by a mix of attraction, power play, and deep-seated class resentments. Jean discloses that he has been obsessed with Julie since childhood. As the night progresses, their interactions become increasingly intimate and manipulative. She, despite her upper-class status, reveals her vulnerability and desperation. He, ambitious and cunning, sees an opportunity to exploit her emotional instability to elevate his social standing.

Hearing the Governor’s roughneck field hands singing a lewd song about them, they hide in Jean’s room to avoid being discovered by these rowdies. Leaving the room, it is revealed that Jean has seduced Julie there. They plan to flee to Mexico and open a hotel and she steals her father’s cash box to pay for the trip. But the power balance has shifted. Julie’s initial authority over Jean crumbles as he begins to assert dominance, revealing his contempt for her aristocratic pretensions and her emotional weakness. Ultimately their plan is thwarted when Jean’s fiancée, Christine (the cook), announces that she, enroute to church, will tell the chauffeur not to give anybody the car keys should they try to get away before the Governor comes home.

Moving Strindberg’s play, with its extreme class consciousness, to an American setting might seem surprising, but it’s a peek into our American social hierarchy that cautions us against the 21st century redistribution of wealth which is becoming hardened in our society. The notion that America is a classless society has always been more myth than reality. In the jazz age, rich sections of Long Island, such as the Gold Coast, were known for their opulent mansions and wealthy residents, starkly contrasting the working-class individuals who served them. So the setting provides a backdrop of class distinction, mirroring the original play’s focus on class struggle.

CAST
Natalie Menna* (Julie)
Mike Roche* (Jean)
Holly O’Brien* (Christine)

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

Menna recently appeared at TNC as Vivien Leigh in “Orson’s Shadow,” written by Austin Pendelton and co-directed by Pendelton and David Schweizer. Menna and Roche last appeared together at TNC in the Strindberg Rep production of “Hedda Gabler” in 2022 (she as Hedda, he as Judge Brack).

PRODUCTION
Lighting Design – Alexander Bartenieff
Costume Design – Billy Little
Jose F. Ruiz – Stage Manager

Robert Greer (translator/director) is Artistic Director of August Strindberg Rep, which is a resident company of TNC. He has staged 18 Strindberg plays with the company to-date as well as English-language premières of contemporary Scandinavian playwrights, including Denmark’s Stig Dalager; Sweden’s Kristina Lugn, Marianne Goldman, Helena Sigander, Cecilia Sidenbladh, Hans Hederberg, Oravsky and Larsen, and Margareta Garpe; and Norway’s Edvard Rønning. He has also directed classics by Henrik Ibsen, Victoria Benedictsson, Laura Kieler, Anne Charlotte Leffler, and Amalie Skram. His productions have been presented at the Strindberg Museum and Strindberg Festival, Stockholm; Edinburgh and NY Fringe Festivals; Barnard College, Columbia University, Rutgers, and UCLA; Miranda, Pulse and Theater Row Theaters, La MaMa, Manhattan Theatre Source, Tribeca Lab, Synchronicity, TSI, and BargeMusic in NY; and The Duplex in LA. He has directed plays by Mario Fratti, Sartre and Corneille here in New York. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Actors’ Equity Association and Swedish Translators in North America. (www.Strindberg.org)

Natalie Menna (Julie) has appeared at TNC in lead roles in five Strindberg plays: Hedda in “Hedda Gabler,” Elise in “Pelican/Isle of the Dead,” Laura in “The Father,” Tekla in “Creditors” and Alice in “Dance of Death, Parts 1 & 2,” all in new translations by Robert Greer. She is also a playwright and TNC has presented her plays “Hiroshi Me-Me-Me,” “Zen A.M.” and “Occasionally Nothing.” (www.NatalieMenna.com)

Mike Roche (Jean) has appeared at TNC in Strindberg Rep productions of “Hedda Gabler ” (as Judge Brack) and “Creditors” (as Gustav). Other credits include “Occasionally Nothing” by Natalie Menna (TNC), “The Hook” by Arthur Miller (American premiere at Brave New World Rep), “Night Over Taos” (INTAR, dir. Estelle Parsons), and “Billy the Kid” (Flea Theatre, dir. Jim Simpson). He is a member of Godlight Theatre Company (2010 Drama Desk Award). (www.MikeRoche.net)

Holly O’Brien (Christine) has appeared in the TNC productions of “Hiroshi-Me, Me, Me” and “Occasionally Nothing” by Natalie Menna. She played Belle in “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” and Goldie in “Two By Two,” directed by Martin Charnin. Other regional credits include “Norma Jean Enlightened,” “The Teffetas,” “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” “The Iceman Cometh,” “The Fantastiks” and “Noises Off.” She sang Glinda in a “Wicked” Broadway concert with the Rockland County Choral Society. (www.HollyEOBrien.com)

Strindberg Rep, under the direction of Robert Greer, is committed to productions of Nordic plays in new translations and interpretations that illuminate the works for today’s American audience. That is why TNC has taken this repertory into its family. Mr. Greer writes, “The Strindberg Rep is deeply grateful to Crystal Field for having made us a resident company. Ms. Field’s support of new plays (and plays newly translated) has been a godsend to us. Her knowledge and experience of theater is a beacon guiding us and her unflagging devotion to the art of the drama and its artists is a role model for leaders of all cultural institutions.” (https://Strindbergrep.com)

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

VILLAGE PLAYWRIGHTS ONE ACT PRIDE FESTIVAL

June 15th and 16th, 2024
Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets: $18
Run Time: 75 minutes, No intermission
CABARET THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

VILLAGE PLAYWRIGHTS PRESENTS: THE ANNUAL PRIDE PLAY FESTIVAL
Join Village Playwrights, an intergenerational queer playwrights’ collective since 1985, for four one-act plays to celebrate the Pride holiday.

MOSS by Dr. Catalina Florina Florescu
Featuring: Carol Mennie, Jessie Kahme. Directed by Uni Coglioni.
Trying to prevent what happened to her, an old woman reveals stories from her past.

Radar by Uni Coglioni
Featuring: Frankie Rocco, Rafael Lyrio, Sarah Clark, Skyler Forrester Brown, Silvana Mastro, Robert Quinn, Sean McCaffery, Clara Zwirble, Joe Marshall. Directed by Uni Coglioni.

Tea Towels by Drew Pisarra
Featuring: Zachary Seekins, Uni Coglioni, Rafael Lyrio. Directed by Uni Coglioni.
A love triangle emerges on a nudist gay cruise culminating in an unexpected, intergenerational throuple.

Production Manager: Olivia Hunt

 

COVID Protocol:
Wearing of masks is suggested in the lobby, restrooms and performance spaces at Theater for the New City, but they are not required.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Kasturba vs Gandhi

June 13 – June 30, 2024
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets: $18 General
Run Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
COMMUNITY SPACE

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

“Within the intricate tapestry of global history, Kasturba Gandhi emerges as a beacon of resilience and defiance against societal norms. Often depicted in the shadow of her husband, Mahatma Gandhi, Kasturba’s journey speaks to women worldwide who have challenged conventions and fought for their rights.

Kasturba’s narrative transcends cultural boundaries, resonating with women everywhere who have navigated the complexities of patriarchal expectations. From her humble beginnings in Gujarat, India, to her pivotal role in shaping the concept of ‘Satyagraha,’ Kasturba embodies the universal struggle for equality and justice.

As the story unfolds, Kasturba’s relationship with Mahatma Gandhi is portrayed with nuance and complexity. While deeply respectful of his ideals, she grapples with the challenges of reconciling his ideology with her own convictions. Their dynamic reflects the intricate dance of partnership amidst differing worldviews, highlighting the complexities of love, commitment, and individuality within marriage.

Through Kasturba’s journey, women from diverse backgrounds find inspiration to reclaim their voices and assert their agency in a world shaped by male-dominated paradigms. Her courage, resilience, and unwavering commitment to her beliefs serve as a rallying cry for women across generations to stand firm in the face of adversity.

In honoring Kasturba’s legacy, her narrative becomes a testament to the enduring power of women’s voices in shaping history. Her story resonates as a reminder that, regardless of cultural or geographical divides, women have always been at the forefront of movements for change, challenging norms, and reshaping the world for the better.”

CAST
Mehdi Hadim
Drishti Manju
Ajay Bhullar
Bella kouds
Rupaalii Sonwani

PRODUCTION
Costume Designer – Palak Jha
Stage Manager – Leia Jacoutot
Assistant Director – Drishti Manju
Production Manager – Ajay Bhullar.

 

COVID Protocol:
Wearing of masks is suggested in the lobby, restrooms and performance spaces at Theater for the New City, but they are not required.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field, with
The LES Committee, Presents:

The 29^TH Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

FREE!!!

Memorial Day Weekend. MAY 24, 25, 26 2024 – Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue. (btw E 9th and E 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
212-254-1109

Theater for the New City has currently scheduled over 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and film makers for its 29th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.

Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.

Indoor performances will take stage from 6:00 PM to midnight each day, utilizing two of TNC’s four theaters. From 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will set up in the closed-off block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues.

ARTISTS IN THE LES FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS EXHIBIT – CHECK OUT THE GALLERY GUIDE HERE: DEMOCRACY: USE IT OR LOSE IT

BACKGROUND

The first festival, presented June 14 to 16, 1996, was a three-day, indoor and outdoor multi-arts festival, organized by TNC and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders. The aim was to demonstrate the creative explosion of the Lower East Side and the area’s importance to culture and tourism for New York City. It employed two theater spaces at TNC plus the block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues, featured over 100 attractions, drew favorable press and attracted crowds from all around the City. Its success prompted TNC to continue the festival annually on Memorial Day Weekend. For 28 years it has been presented free each year to an average attendance of 4,000. (In 2020 it was held online due to pandemic concerns).

The concept of the festival was developed by Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director of TNC and Esther Cartegena (d. 2006), President of Loisaida, Inc., to portray the Lower East Side (LES) as a haven for artists and artistic creation. The region is a unique multi-ethnic community with an unusually high level of artistic vitality. Large populations with differing languages and cultures coexist there successfully and a large artistic population helps glue the neighborhood together. Its theaters are also an unprecedented source of tourism. Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Buried Child,” was commissioned and first produced by TNC. The committee envisioned an event that would demonstrate the region’s cultural fervor, its large artistic population and its multiplicity of ethnic influences to contradict the neighborhood’s stereotype as a dangerous refuge for drug dealers and criminal activity.

Disciplines presented have always included theater, music, dance, poetry, puppetry, cabaret, visual art, film and children’s programming.

 

SPECIAL CREDITS

Festival Director is Crystal Field. Assistant Directors are Sammy Ferber, Sarah Iles and Dianne Ramirez.

The LES Committee for 2024 is: Crystal Field, JC Augustin, Joe John Battista, Alex Bartenieff, Walter Corwin, Eva Dorrepaal, Myrna Duarte, Carol Dudgeon, Alberto Ferraras, Andrea Fulton, Robert Gonzales Jr., Melanie Goodreaux, Robert Greer, Philip Hackett, Alan Hanna, Barbara Kahn, Anne Lucas, Lissa Moira, Stephan Morrow, Emily Pezzella, Richard Ploetz, Michael Scott Price, Carolyn Ratcliffe, Ramiro Sandoval, Jonathan Slaff, David F. Slone Esq., Mary Tierney, Jenne Vath, Jimmy Walker, Jonathan Weber, John David West, Richard West, Roman Primitivo, Miguel Loyola and Lewis Widoff.  Press Representative is Jonathan Slaff.

# # #

 

PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE at https://photos.app.goo.gl/jBxNqitcV4zg8nHX9

 

 

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

and American Indian Artists (AMERINDA)

Presents

FRYBREAD QUEEN

TNC to host memorial for actor Vinie Burrows May 11

1 PM to 3 PM

 

COVID Protocol:
As of September 26th, 2022, we are no longer requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for our audience upon entry.
Wearing of masks is suggested in the lobby, restrooms and performance spaces at Theater for the New City, but they are not required.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

BRING THEM BACK

A Meta Dark Comedy
Written and Directed by David Willinger

May 9 – 19, 2024
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets: $18 General, $15 Students and Seniors
Run Time: 1 hour 50 minutes, 10 minute intermission
JOHNSON THEATER

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

In the meta dark comedy Bring Them Back, screenwriter Paul is still sheltering in place long after the Covid threat, only sometimes visited by his schleppy older family friend, Trudy. Now of a certain age, Paul realizes that more people he has known are dead than alive. With amusing desperation, and against Trudy’s better judgement, Paul resolves to bring them back using a medieval Cabalistic ritual that never works due to his countless mistakes. Nevertheless, random affinity groups of dead former friends, family, lovers, and enemies begin to appear. Is it all in his mind? Is it on the page? How do these unorthodox methods satisfy Paul’s desire to resolve unfinished business?

David Willinger (playwright/director) A native New Yorker, David Willinger has been active in the theatre since the age of nine, when he played Ado Annie’s father in a day-camp production of Oklahoma. There followed 17 years of acting, during which he performed at The Theatre East, The Mercer Arts Center, The Manhattan Theatre Club, the Provincetown Playhouse, the Mahopac Playhouse, the Dorset Playhouse, and in college productions, among others. Then he exchanged acting for directing and writing. Non-musical self-authored plays, which he has also directed, include: Existence, Andrea’s Got Two Boyfriends (published by DPS and performed all over the country – and even in Poland), Malcolm’s Time, Frida y Diego, Bombing the Cradle, Caprichos, and The Trail of Tears: A Drama from the Historical Record, written with Peggy Dean. His play Out of Their Minds about James Joyce’s eccentric daughter Lucia and her affair with the young Samuel Beckett, was produced at New Media. He has adapted and directed such novels as Joseph Conrad’s Secret Agent, Camus’s The Stranger, Carson McCullers’s Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Paul Willems’ The Wound, Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit, Ibarguengoitìa’s The Dead Girls, and William Saroyan’s novel Rock Wagram under the title The Upper Lip. Has written the book and lyrics for the musical The Open Gate with music by Arthur Abrams, based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s epic novel, The Manor, and for a musical version of Thomas Hardy’s famous novel called Casterbridge with Christopher Beste. He also wrote book and lyrics for The Tale of Teiresias and the Idiot that ran at Hartley House Theatre as well as an opera based on Hugo Claus’s The Life and Works of Leopold II with Hellmuth Dusedau, composing. He has directed at TNC, La Mama, Interartheatre, HERE, the Laurie Beecham Theatre, the Avalon Repertory Company, and the Cubiculo, all in New York, as well as for the Ambassador Theatre in Washington D.C. He has directed world premières of Eduardo Machado’s Don Juan in NYC, Serge Goriely’s The Sorcerers, Adrienne Kennedy’s Diary of Lights as well as co-directing her Solo Voyages together with Joseph Chaikin. On Jewish subjects he has directed René Kalisky’s Jim the Lionhearted as well as Hanoch Levin’s Job’s Passion and Winter Wedding. As professor of theatre at City College of NY, he has directed such large-scale productions as King Lear, Richard III, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, Mary Gallagher’s De Donde? Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, Gorky’s Enemies, Edward Ravenscroft’s The London Cuckolds, and such musicals as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Promenade, The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors. He has co-authored the screenplay for the film Take the Bridge and both written and directed the full-length feature movie Lunatics, Lovers, and Actors. He has 9 published anthologies of play translations from French and Dutch to his credit, and also recently published Ivo van Hove Onstage with Routledge. He has won two Fulbright fellowships, three Jerome Foundation Grants, A Drama-Logue Award, a BAEF fellowship, a Peg Santvoordt Foundation grant, a Translation Center award, etc. He studied and worked with Joseph Chaikin, with Arlen Digitale, at HB Studios and, chiefly with Eve Shapiro, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

CAST
Paul Korzinski (Paul)
Carole Forman* (Trudy)

*Appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association. AEA Showcase

PRODUCTION
Set Designer: Lytza Colon
Lighting Designer: Alexander Bartenieff
Costume Designer: Sarah Shah
Video Designers: David Willinger and Roy Chang
Video Graphics: Kayla Lessard
Production Stage Managers: Christopher Bello and Dianne Ramirez
Publicity: Paul Siebold OFF OFF PR

Paul Korzinski (Paul) is a NYC actor and performance artist. He has worked in such TV shows as The Black List, The Deuce, etc. He recently acted in Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love and Terry Lee King’s Liv’n Dead. He has performed Vaudeville, English Music Hall, Commedia Del and songs from the great American song book with Theater For The New City’s Art Of Comedy workshops under the direction of Mark Marcante and co-sponsored by the Yip Harburg Lyrics Foundation. He’s worked and trained with Jerzy Grotowski and Zbigniew Cyngutis of the Polish Lab Theater. He is a founding member and tenor saxophonist of the Avant Garde musical ensemble Transgendered Jesus, and has performed along with Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Jayne County, John Zorn, Vijay Iyer and Jonas Mekas at many of the New York Film Makers Coop Benefit Concerts. He has studied acting with Gene Frankel, Caymichael Patten, Ted Brunetti, and Fred Waggoner. He earned an MA in playwriting from Smith College under the guidance of Len Berkman. He is pleased to be working in Bring Them Back.

Carole Forman* (Trudy) is an actor, writer, and Jewish spiritual storyteller. She was in the Broadway production of Strider based on the story by Tolstoy and directed by Robert Kalfin. Other roles include Betty in Touch by Lori Goodman at New Circle Theater, NYC; the Prophetess Miriam in the Voice of Our Mothers by Carol Fox Prescott; Die Alte in A Bright Room Called Day by Tony Kushner, at Episcopal Actor’s Theater, NYC, and Grace in the sci-fi play Clear Cold Place at Black Box Theater, Queens, NY. Carole’s film work includes Bubbe in 40 Nichols, Miss Ruby in Key Lime Pie, Fegele in Clara, and Mamale herself in Mamale. Carole has brought story programs to people of all ages and backgrounds around the U.S. and Canada. She’s edited the posthumous writings of her late husband Yitzhak Buxbaum to be published by Ben Yehuda Press. Carole lives in Brooklyn, NY. AEA, SAG-AFTRA. carolefor@msn.com.

 

COVID Protocol:
Wearing of masks is suggested in the lobby, restrooms and performance spaces at Theater for the New City, but they are not required.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Until

April 25 – May 12, 2024
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets: $15
Run Time: 1 hour, no intermission
CABARET THEATER

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003

A couple that promises themselves to each other until the end of time, finally reach the end of time. However, when face to face with the unknown they begin to question their identity, their past, and their grief for what could have been.

CAST
Person #1: Elizabeth Dutton
Person #2: Jordan Chin
Shadow #1: Abbey Rice
Shadow #2: Florence Glavin

PRODUCTION
Director : Téa Einarsen
Playwright: Elijah Vazquez
Stage Manager: Natalie Thomas
Scenic Designer: Maren Prophit
Sound Designer: Daniel Degeorges
Lighting Designer: Grayson Sepulveda
Costume Desginer(s): Olivia Button and Kate Shoulders

COVID Protocol:
As of September 26th, 2022, we are no longer requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for our audience upon entry.
Wearing of masks is suggested in the lobby, restrooms and performance spaces at Theater for the New City, but they are not required.