Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

Infinity Dance Theater – Kitty Lunn, Artistic Director

Frida Kahlo and the Dance with Death

September 15 & 16, 2023
Friday & Saturday at 8:00 PM
Run Time: One hour, no intermission
(a talkback with the artists will follow each performance)
Tickets: $15
$10 for students, seniors, people with disabilities and their personal care attendants
Box Office: 212-254-1109

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets)
JOHNSON THEATER

General Event Inquiries: info@infinitydance.com

Join Infinity Dance Theater in September for the world premiere of Kitty Lunn’s Frida Kahlo and the Dance with Death at Theater for the New City. The engagement is Infinity’s first major concert presentation at the East Village venue since 2013. Infinity’s  performances will debut a new dance floor by Showfab that strengthens the accessibility of Theater for the New City, making the venue a much-needed new resource for the New York City dance  community – especially for small-to-midsize dance companies and performing artists with disabilities.

Frida Kahlo and the Dance with Death is performed by Artistic Director Kitty Lunn, who choreographed the work, and Artistic Associate and company member Luísa Righeto, with narration by Jim Trainor. The piece, about one-hour in length without an intermission, features an original score composed by Music Director William Catanzaro.

Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a woman of extreme magnetism and originality. Her sensual vibrancy grew from her own personal history and experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age 18 that left her disabled, in terrible lifelong pain, and unable to bear children; and her tempestuous marriage to Diego Rivera, the famous muralist. Frida Kahlo knew intense passion and loss throughout her life.

Through Frida Kahlo and the Dance with Death, Kitty Lunn will explore the latter part of the artist’s life, and four movements comprise the work. At first blush, one would think that Frida Kahlo and Kitty Lunn, a Scottish-American born in New Orleans, have nothing in common. Lunn was just four years old when the artist died in 1954; however, they have more in common than meets the eye. Both suffered life-altering spinal cord injuries from accidents that rendered them unable to bear children. Both endured years of painful treatments with very little result. Above all, they share resilience and a dedication to the art that kept them going – Kahlo through painting and Lunn through dance. Through their art, they have thrived.

William Catanzaro has collaborated with Kitty Lunn for years by composing scores for several of her dance works over Infinity’s history, with themes as varied as Stardust and Ghosts in the Machine. For the creation of this new score, the affinity between Kitty Lunn and Frida Kahlo became a source of inspiration, yet also an immense challenge. Catanzaro shares, “Months of research and several sketches later, I was able to move the choreography musically in the direction Kitty envisions. Of all the scores I’ve created for Kitty, this has proven to be one of the most heartbreaking and heartwarming of all.”

Founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Kitty Lunn, INFINITY DANCE THEATER is committed to expanding the boundaries of dance by featuring dancers with and without disabilities and changing perceptions of what a dancer can be. Infinity’s ensemble performs throughout the New York City metropolitan area and New York State, across the country, and around the world. Notable Infinity performance appearances include, among others, New York City’s Riverside Theatre (2019), Gibney (2016), Theater for the New City (2013), Judson Memorial Church (2012), and Joyce SoHo (2004, 2006, 2009); the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Green Show (2015); the Kennedy Center (2000, 2004); 1999 VSA arts International Art & Soul Festival in Los Angeles, CA and 2004 International Festival in Washington, D.C.; Festival of Wheelchair Dance in Boston, MA (1997); the 1st Cultural Paralympiad at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, GA; and overseas programs in Italy (1999-2001, 2010) and Scotland (1996, 2002).

Since 2007, Infinity Dance Theater has led tuition-free weekly dance classes, choreography workshops, and private lessons for adult dance students with physical disabilities. Infinity also provides professional development opportunities for dance educators and other dance professionals. Rather than introducing a separate system, Infinity’s renowned curriculum enables participants to begin transposing work they are already covering in class. The 2022 National Dance Education Organization’s Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia presented an Infinity workshop titled, “Transposition of Classical and Modern Dance Techniques for Students with Disabilities.”

KITTY LUNN began her study of ballet at an early age, and at 15 she was dancing principal roles with the New Orleans Civic Ballet, where she made her professional debut as Swanilda in Coppélia. Her work in New Orleans led to a scholarship to the Washington Ballet, where she studied and worked with both Mary Day and the great ballet master Edward Caton. Numerous ballets in which Lunn danced include Swan Lake, Giselle, Les Sylphides, and The Nutcracker. In Washington, she worked with such dance legends as Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille, José Limón, and Erik Bruhn. While preparing for her first Broadway show, Lunn slipped on ice, fell down a flight of stairs, and broke her back. Now a paraplegic using a wheelchair, she works diligently on behalf of performing artists with disabilities. She is a Registered Dance Educator and a frequent guest teacher at New York University among other institutions.

Kitty Lunn was described by Phyllis Goldman, writing in Backstage, as “a marvelous creature, an exquisite dancer with an upper body of seamless fluidity, a touching emotional tone in her movement quality, and a complete mastery of her instrument. Did I mention that she performs from a wheelchair? … She has made a friend and partner of her wheelchair, and the results are both creative and gratifying.” Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times has described her as “radiant.”

Facebook and Instagram
infinitydanceny

Web
www.infinitydance.com

Infinity Dance Theater is supported by generous contributions from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and through the CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund;
National Endowment for the Arts;
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation; and
Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation among other supporters

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

THE CHESAPEAKE CHICKS

A one act play written and directed by Peter Zachari

October 5-22, 2023
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Running Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets: $18, Students and Seniors $15

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets)
COMMUNITY SPACE

“If I die tomorrow, know that someone here killed me.”

Roommates Ann, Rita, Gertrude, Alice and Carrie are former players of the all-female baseball team, The Chesapeake Chicks. When they return from Ann’s funeral, their caretaker Matthew presents them with Ann’s found journal, with that cryptic final message.

The entire house is turned upside down as everyone tries to figure out who did it – will they discover the truth before the killer strikes again?

Come join the madness in this new rollicking comedy written and directed by Peter Zachari.

CAST
Peter Coleman*
Andrew Cuccaro
Nora Falk
Karen Lynn Gorney*
Rebecca Hoodwin*
Margo Singaliese*

PRODUCTION
Writer – Peter Zachari
Director – Peter Zachari
Set Design – Mark Marcante
Lighting Design – Michael Clark Wonson
Set Decorator and Props – Lytza Colon
Stage Manager – Hollyanna Mathews*
Assistant Stage Managers – Michelle Pomponio, Antonio Manto

*Actors appear courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

 

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

TWISTED!

A dark comedy with music

By Joel Greenhouse
Directed by Joe John Battista
Music by Peter W. Dizozza
Choreography by Sevin Ceviker

September 28, 2023 – October 15, 2023
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Running Time: 1:45 hours, No Intermission
Tickets $18, Students and Seniors $15

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
JOHNSON THEATER

1962. Last stop on the road to nowhere. Life imitates art for washed up Grade Z movie actress and “Queen of the Twist,” Renee “a go-go” Flame, now on the run from a daughter she pinned a murder on, a double-crossing boyfriend and an ancient religious cult out for revenge. It all culminates in blackmail, human sacrifice, and dancing!

Welcome to the world of “Twisted,” a fast and funny train ride through hell that pays homage not only to exploitation films of the early sixties but to the “twisted” underground theater of the past.

CAST
Penny Balfour – Renee Flame
Brian Belovitch – Lavinia Monteblanc De Lacroix
Robert Z Grant – Romaine Monteblanc De Lacroix
Maude Lardner Burke – Phoebe Flame
Andrew Ryan Perry – Sinclair Monteblanc De Lacroix
Christine Weiss Beidel – Ida May, Nurse Frieda
Larry Fleischman – Eddie
Evan Laurence – Dr. Schultz, Hustler, Truck Stop Waitress
Tony Del Bono – Priest, Vito, Emcee
Sevin Ceviker – Lead Dancer, Ensemble
JC Augustin – Jesus, Professor Watson, Ensemble

PRODUCTION
Producer – Hillary Wyatt/Paw Print Productions
Costumes, Props – Wendy Tonken
Set – Mark Marcante
Lights and Sound – Brian Park
Assistant Director – Mari Tompkins
Publicity – David Gibbs/DARR publicity (Press Rep)

 

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.

Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents:

TNC Street Theater Summer Tour
LIFE ON THE THIRD RAIL or, A SUBWAY DELAY TO THE FUTURE

August 5 – September 17, 2023

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 – Joseph Vernon Banks

8/5 • 2pm • Manhattan • TNC at E. 10th St. & First Ave.
8/6 • 2pm • Bronx • St. Mary’s Park at 147th St. & St. Ann’s Ave.
8/12 • 2pm • Manhattan • Sol Bloom Playground, W. 91st Street betw. Columbus Ave & Central Park West
8/13 • 2pm • Manhattan • Central Park Bandshell, 72nd Street Crosswalk
8/18 • 5pm • Brooklyn • Coney Island Boardwalk at W. 21st St.
8/19 • 2pm • Manhattan • St. Marks Church at E. 10th St. & Second Ave.
8/20 • 2pm • Manhattan • Jackie Robinson Park at W. 147th St. & Bradhurst Ave.
8/26 • 2pm • Manhattan • Washington Square Park
8/27 • 2pm • Queens • Travers Park at 34th Ave. betw. 77th & 78th Sts.
9/9 • 2pm • Brooklyn • Sunset Park at 6th Ave. & 44th St.
9/10 • 2pm • Brooklyn • Fort Greene Park, Myrtle Avenue & St. Edwards Street
9/16 • 2pm • Staten Island • Tompkinsville Park, at Bay St. and Victory Blvd.
9/17 • 2pm • Manhattan • Tompkins Square Park at E. 7th St. & Ave. A

NEW YORK – Theater for the New City‘s award-winning Street Theater Company will open its 2023 annual tour Saturday, August 5 with “Life on the Third Rail, or A Subway Delay to the Future,” a rip-roaring original musical which tells a story in which a violent hurricane floods the subways, sending a heroic subway crew into a new world. 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 Joseph Vernon Banks. Free performances will tour parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs through September 17.

The musical is the saga of a Train Operator and a Subway Conductor in an emergency flood situation. A violent hurricane, spurred by global warming, has inundated the subways and so the MTA is moving all its trains out of underground tunnels and stations. The duo have been been driving a car for repair that somehow got left behind. Will they make it to the train yards?!

The emergency is reflected in their dreams as they wait for rescue. In watery tunnels, the elements of Planet Earth now cry out for sustenance. Water, Air, the Green of the Plants, the Electricity of Light, and the Torrential power of the Ocean come alive, dancing before their eyes as the Conductor and Train Operator, with the help of a Subway Tracker, try to back their #2 train into Central Station for repair. Will the Earth survive man’s destruction and exploitation? Will the Life Force continue to make us feel the beauty of today and the promise of tomorrow? Will the support necessary for the survival of the planet materialize? “Life on the Third Rail…” addresses these questions with the grace and strength of an activist’s mission.

The musical questions the future of NYC and the planet together, starting with climate change but rippling through many other economic and social challenges, from subway surfing to affordable housing, that weigh on our City’s ultimate survival.

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.

The production features Michael David Gordon as the Train Operator, Cheryl Gadsdon as the Conductor and Yesenia Ortiz as the Subway Tracker.

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 Joseph-Vernon Banks has written original music for the TNC street theater productions “Liberty or Just Us: a City Park Story,” “No Brainer or the Solution to Parasites,” “SHAME! Or The Doomsday Machine,” “Checks and Balances, or Bottoms Up!,” “Teach it Right, or Right to Teach,” “EMERGENCY!!! or The World Takes A Selfie,” “99% “Reduced Fat, or, You Can Bank On Us,” “Bamboozled, or the Real Reality Show,” “Tap Dance,” “State Of The Union,” “The Patients Are Running The Asylum,” “Bio-Tech,” “Code Orange: on the M15,” “Social Insecurity,” “Buckle My Shoe” and “Gone Fission: Alternative Power” and “Critical Care, or Rehearsals for a Nurse,” all with book and lyrics by Crystal Field. His other TNC productions include music and lyrics for “Life’s Too Short To Cry” by Michael Vazquez. His awards include a Meet The Composer Grant, the ASCAP Special Awards Program, and a fellowship from the Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at NYU. His musical “Girlfriends!” premiered at The Goodspeed Opera House. He has been a composer–in-residence in The Tribeca Performing Arts Center Work and Show Series and is a member of The Dramatists Guild.

 

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

The 28^TH Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

FREE!!!

LISTEN TO THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY’S LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS PROMO

 

Memorial Day Weekend. MAY 26, 27, 28 2023 – Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (btw 9th & 10th Street)
www.theaterforthenewcity.net, 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 28th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts. Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.

This year, the festival is mounted with a theme addressing climate change: “The Heat Is On” followed by an exhortation taken from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Act Now in the Living Present.” The subject will be addressed in some of the playlets and acts written for the festival.

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.

You can check out the Gallery Guide here: Global Warming: The heat is on gallery exhibit

FRIDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 26
6:00 PM – COBU
6:32 PM – BARBRA HERR, “TRANSMISSION”
6:44 PM – OYU-ORO
6:56 PM – “MARTIN’S TRUTH” (excerpt) —Written by Victor Vauban Júnior
7:08 PM – YIP HARBURG RAINBOW TROUPE
7:20 PM – “HAMLET IN HARLEM” by Alberto Ferreras
7:32 PM – ROD RODGERS DANCE COMPANY, “BLACKNESS, BODY, A MOTHER’S LOVE”
7:54 PM – “ISSUE #9” by Briana Bartenieff
8:06 PM – CHINESE THEATER WORKS
8:18 PM – INFINITY DANCE THEATER, “ETUDE”
8:30 PM – “ROMEO AND JULIET, A TRIBAL ROCK MUSICAL” by William Electric Black
8:42 PM – “PEARLS AND SWINE/THIS BODY IS MINE” by WillieAnn Gissendanner
8:54 PM – CONSTELLATION MOVING COMPANY
9:06 PM – THE DRILLING COMPANY
9:17 PM – LORCAN OTWAY, “THE FATE OF THEATER 80”
9:24 PM – KT SULLIVAN
9:36 PM – DAVID AMRAM
9:48 PM – RICHARD WEST
10:00 PM – MARLAIN ANGELIDES, “CYVELLA”
10:12 PM – “BLISS STREET, A NEW ROCK MUSICAL” (Song excerpts)
10:24 PM – INMA HEREDIA
10:36 PM – “RAYMOND’S SECOND WIFE” by Anne Lucas
10:48 PM – MICHAEL VASQUEZ
11:00 PM – PENNY ARCADE
11:12 PM – “TWISTED” (Song excerpts)
11:24 PM – THE LEGENDARY AMAZ’N GRACE AND JESSIE ORTIZ
11:36 PM – “HUMAN” by Bryce Payne
11:48 PM – LEX AND THE CULT OF SPIRITS

FRIDAY EVENING IN THE CABARET – MAY 26
7:00 PM – STAR ‘69
7:32 PM – TIERNEY TNC THEATER WORKSHOP
7:44 PM – ED MALIN
7:56 PM – “WALKING BACKWARDS”
8:08 PM – MAUDE LARDNER BURKE
8:20 PM – BEI BEI YUBO ZHONG
8:32 PM – “THE VERY LAST DANCE OF HOMELESS JOE” by Richard Courage
8:44 PM – JOE BENDIK
8:56 PM – DARPAN JOSHI, “BASIC CABLE METHOD ACTING”
9:08 PM – PETER DIZOZZA
9:20 PM – STAN BAKER AKA THE HUMAN TELEVISION
9:32 PM – WENDY STUART
9:44 PM – ERIC KUZMIK
9:56 PM – ALICIA FOXWORTH
10:08 PM – ELLEN STEIER
10:20 PM – TEXTILE THEATER COMPANY
10:32 PM – “I AM NEZAHUALCOYOTL” by Roman Primitivo

SATURDAY AFTERNOON YOUTH PERFORMANCES
JOHNSON THEATER
COORDINATOR: DANIELLE HAUSER
HOSTED BY JOHN GRIMALDI
2 PM – 4:10 PM – MAY 27
2:00 PM – JOHN GRIMALDI
2:20 PM – SONGS FROM THE “WIZARD OF OZ”
2:45 PM – TNC ARTS IN EDUCATION, “CHANGES & TIME”
3:00 PM – COBU KIDS JAPANESE TAIKO DRUM GROUP
3:15 PM – MOVE. MAKE. BLOOM DANCE STUDIO
3:35 PM – KALAVANT CENTER, SITAR DUET WITH TABLA
4:00 PM – CITY KIDS!

 

FILM PROGRAM 2023 – MAY 27
CABARET THEATER, 1 PM – 11 PM

SATURDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 27
6:00 PM – mister pablo
6:32 PM – KINDING SINDAW
6:44 PM – “FREEDOM SUMMER” by Toby Armour—Directed by Joan Kane
6:56 PM – SMOKEY STEVENS, “I JUST WANT TO TELL SOMEBODY”
7:08 PM – GLITTER KITTY, “LES FEST-MAISON”
7:20 PM – CAROL TANDAVA
7:32 PM – QUICKSILVERDANCE, “LAST GASP!”
7:44 PM – THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS, “ HETA HASHSHUK“ – GRASS DANCERS
7:56 PM – YARA ARTS GROUP
8:08 PM – ASHLEY LIANG DANCE COMPANY
8:30 PM – JOHN GRIMALDI
8:42 PM – JUDY GORMAN
9:04 PM – ALESSANDRA BELLONI
9:16 PM – “THE PHANTOM OF THE METAVERSE” by Barbara Kahn
9:28 PM – “EXPLORING JAZZ”—Directed by Bennett Pologe and Michael Lewis
9:40 PM – TYM MOSS
9:52 PM – WISE GUISE
10:04 PM – ZERO BOY
10:16 PM – “WHO MURDERED LOVE?” (song excerpts)
10:28 PM – HOLLIE HARPER
10:40 PM – NEW YIDDISH REP
10:52 PM – NICKY PARAISO
11:04 PM – ROBERT GONZALES JR.
11:16 PM – ALISA KILLZ & LUIGI BABE
11:28 PM – NUYORICAN POETS CAFE
11:40 PM – SOPHIA GUTCHINOV, “SOPHIA”
11:52 PM – TORTAS Y TACONES, “IN CROCODILE’S LAIR” (excerpt)

SUNDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 28
6:00 PM – FIDDLER AND THE CROSSROADS
6:32 PM – ART LILLARD QUARTET
6:54 PM – “LIGHTHOUSE”
7:04 PM – FACEBOY
7:16 PM – WICK SIMMONS AND KAORU IKEDA
7:28 PM – SABURA RASHID
7:40 PM – RASVAN STOIAN, “THE LIVING ROOM”
7:47 PM – “THE SUN ALSO SETS” by James Stanton
7:59 PM – “9:48” by Tom Diriwachter—Directed by Jonathan Weber
8:11 PM – CHARLY WENZEL
8:23 PM – EVAN LAURENCE
8:35 PM – VINIE BURROWS
8:47 PM – “ABSOLUTE LOVE! SONGS BY CHARLES DREW & LOWE”
8:59 PM – AKIKO TOKUOKA
9:11 PM – LIZ MAGNES
9:23 PM – THE LOVE SHOW—Directed by Angela Harriell
9:35 PM – STEVE EPSTEIN
9:47 PM – AUSTIN PENDLETON
9:59 PM – “ALL AMERICAN DREAMERS” by Matt Morillo
10:11 PM – LISSA MOIRA, “EARTH: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT. DEMOCRACY: USE IT OR LOSE IT”
10:23 PM – “READER AS A GOAT” by Melanie Marie Goodreaux
10:35 PM – DAVID ELYHA
10:47 PM – ADRIAN TOMBY, “ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE”
10:59 PM – MICHAEL LADERMAN
11:06 PM – DOMINGO DIAZ JR.
11:18 PM – LE SQUEEZEBOX CABARET

SUNDAY EVENING IN THE CABARET – MAY 28
7:00 PM – VELVETTE
7:32 PM – LOWER EAST SIDE PERFORMING ARTS
7:44 PM – COSMIC ORCHID
7:56 PM – DADAnewyork, “DADA-KONZERT MIT DANSA”
8:08 PM – “A HAPPY LITTLE THING” (excerpt) by Emily Cohen (poetry) and Steven J. Harris (script)
8:20 PM – “THE SIXTH COLUMN: UKRAINE. INTRIGUE. SACRIFICE. LOVE.” by Stephan Morrow
8:37 PM – CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATER, “KACHA AND THE DEVIL”
8:49 PM – BURNING CITY ORCHESTRA
9:01 PM – TIERNEY TNC THEATER WORKSHOP
9:13 PM – TOMMY J. MOORE
9:25 PM – MATT ANGEL
9:37 PM – MELANGE—Richard West on guitar; Susan Mitchell on violin
9:49 PM – AARON DALLA VILLA
10:01 PM – CHRISTINE STODDARD
10:13 PM – THE DEBBIE DONNAS
10:25 PM – RICHARD WEBER
10:32 PM – THOMAS DEAN BAKER

 

TNC WORKING ON LES

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

in association with Sound Dog Properties

Presents

Bliss Street

Extended performances to May 18, 19, 20

April 27, 2023 – May 14, 2023  May 20, 2023
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes with 10 minute intermission
Tickets $18, Students and Seniors $12

Previews April 27 & 28. Critics are invited on or after April 29 (opening date).
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/f8Kq7Do2EPhKjLDu6
Bliss Street Official Press Release

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02vskmSnBRp4nXJNHa3iff8GXnsfBtJXmZSUvxTLor5ZEwQF8EbmnFe9mXa1LtYFL5l&id=100050926987849&mibextid=qC1gEa

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
JOHNSON THEATER

“Bliss Street” is a new musical recounting a significant chapter of New York’s iconic 70’s Rock & Roll history. It documents the life and legacy of Paul Sub, who founded and ran a succession of New York music clubs in the 1970’s. These included the short-lived Popcorn Pub (1972-3) and the more enduring Coventry on Bliss Street in Queens (1974-76), where artists such as Kiss, The Ramones and The New York Dolls debuted. Written by Abra Bigham from a concept by Rich Brotman, with songs by Charlie Sub, directed by Lissa Moira, it is both an homage to Paul and a coming of age story of his son, Charlie, who grew up in the “revolutionary” 60’s and 70’s in the gritty atmosphere of his father’s clubs. Creatively stymied in his own musical career, Charlie moved to California to find his purpose but ultimately came back to NY and his father’s milieu to find his Rock ‘n Roll voice as leader of the band Charlie Sub & Sound Dogs.

In “Bliss Street,” this family story of the Subs will be staged inside an intricate and powerful multimedia milieu designed by Andrew Levin of StageTrip Industries using virtual scenery by Carlos Almonte of MotionBlur. The idea is for audiences to be visually immersed in a unique era of the Big Apple’s history as seen through the eyes of Charlie Sub, an introverted teenager whose true feelings were only expressed in his songs. Music is from the repertoire of Charlie Sub & Sound Dogs, played by the actual six-member band but re-imagined for theater, with lead vocals sung by the actors. The saga is narrated by Ethyl, an all-seeing character who is the dramatic personification of the spirit of the club.

CAST
Blaize Adler-Ivanbrook – Charlie Sub
Marlain Angelides* – Ethyl
JC Augustin
Thomas Deen Baker
Ella Baldwin
Zach Birdsall
Jef Canter* – Paul Sub
Tyler Egesdal
Alisa Ermolaev
Patrick Kenner*
Milo Longenecker
Sarah MacDonnell* – Ethyl on two nights, 4/28 and 5/13
Alyson Reim*
Felice Rose*
Amelia Sasson*
Toni Renee Taylor
Fang Tseng

PRODUCTION
Director – Lissa Moira
Book and additional lyrics – Abra Bigham
Music and Lyrics – Charlie Sub
Concept and Story – Rich Brotman and Charlie Sub
Music Supervisor – Paul Guzzone
Set Design – Mark Marcante
Set Decoration and Props – Lytza Colón
Lighting Design – Alexander Bartenieff
Choreography – Sage Buchalter
Musical Director – Jonathan Fox Powers
Costume Design – Billy Little
Assistant Director/Production Stage Manager – Charles C. Casano
Virtual Scenery – Carlos Almonte of MotionBlur
Video Production and Projection – Andrew Levin of StageTrip Industries
Art Design – Taylor Cardamone and Andrea Perry of Total Boar
Audio Support – Nick Graci of Northstream Live
Assistant Stage Manager – Samantha Green
Video loops and image research – Tommy James
Additional marketing – Scott Bayer

Musicians of the Bliss Street Show Band
Jonathan Fox Powers – Bandleader, Piano
Charlie Sub – Rhythm Guitar
Pat Branci – Bass
Richie Brotman – Keyboard
James Wormworth – Drums
Paul Jacobs – Guitar
Kevin Hunter – Lead Guitar
Arno Hecht – Reeds

Book writer Abra Bigham is an award-winning actor, singer, playwright, lyricist and poet, George London grantee, two time Heideman Finalist and veteran of America-in- Play, sometimes known as Georgia James. Her works include the film “White Lies” and the plays “Mary S.” (a gothic chamber musical about Mary Shelley), “Stone Rabbit” (semi-finalist Beverly Hills Theater Guild/Julie Harris Award) and “The Last Battle of Olustee” (part of a triad that explores the aftershocks of the American Civil War in three different centuries). Other works have been staged at 78th Street Theater Lab, The Duplex, Westbeth, HOME for Contemporary Music and Art, HERE, Upstairs at O’Neill’s, Laurie Beechman Theater, Barrington Stage Company (MA), Moonwater Theater (TX), and National Musical Theater Network.

Director Lissa Moira is a playwright, screenwriter, director, artist and poet. Her last TNC production,”Who Murdered Love?” (February, 2023), which she directed and co-wrote with Richard West, was a Dadaist musical comedy. Front Row Center (Ed Kliszus) called it “a delight from start to finish.” Steve DiLauro wrote in Village Sun, “Calling all commercial producers. This show has legs. Man, does it ever.” Moira is two-time Jerome Foundation grantee and an OOBR Award-winning actress. She directed and was dramaturg of “Siren’s Heart, Norma Jean and Marilyn in Purgatory” by Walt Stepp, which enjoyed a seven-week run at TNC in 2011 and then played 14 months Off-Broadway at the Actors Temple starring Louisa Bradshaw. The following year, she directed “Skybox,” also by Walt Stepp, at TNC. Richmond Shepard (lively-arts.com) described Moira’s “The Seduction of Time” (TNC, 2014) as “a fascinating mixture of text, music, song and dance exploring a personification of the mythic relationship between nature and time as they mate.” Her direction of “Cocaine Dreams” at the Kraine was described by the NY Post (Chip Deffaa) as “inspired.”

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

Katy and Jennifer vs. The Flasher on New Year’s

March 16 – April 2, 2023
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Running Time: 75 minutes
Tickets $20

Sundays – Pay What You Can
Online sales have various prices to choose from

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
CINO THEATER

The play is set on the first New Years Eve after 9/11, when Generation X had their whole lives ahead of them but every moment was colored by the shock of the attacks. At this unique time, Katy and Jennifer are savoring their breakthrough into young adulthood and independence. They had both intended to ring in the new year with their boyfriends, celebrating with erotic raptures. But earlier in the evening, Jennifer’s boyfriend had turned her off by immature and inappropriate behavior. So as the ball was dropping, he’d gotten the boot. Katy’s casual partner, Bobby, has accidentally anesthetized himself with a generous helping of the meds he takes to stave off his PTSD from the attacks. He is zonked out in her bedroom. Slamming the front door to shut out the flasher, Katy and Jennifer look to this now-somnolent example of manliness for protection, with hilarious consequences.

REVIEW New York Theatre Wire

CAST
Emily Lappi – Katy
Bree Ogaldez – Jennifer
William John Burns – Bobby, Katy’s boyfriend

PRODUCTION
Writer – Matt Morillo
Director – Phoebe Leonard-Dettmann
Set Design – Mark Marcante
Social Media Coordinator – Jenna Leigh Miller
Press Representative – Jonathan Slaff
Graphic Designer – Kiff Scholl, AFK Design

Playwright Matt Morillo, originally a film maker, made an auspicious theatrical debut in 2006 with “Angry Young Women In Low Rise Jeans With High Class Issues.” The comedy was presented by TNC in 2007 and had an Off-Broadway run in NYC, multiple engagements in Hollywood and Sydney (Australia) and TNC return engagements in 2009, 2010 and 2011, but never seemed to exhaust its audience. It was followed by a thoughtful comedy, “All Aboard the Marriage Hearse” (TNC, 2008), and Morillo’s first serious play, “American Soldiers” (TNC, January 2010), a family drama about a woman war veteran’s return to her home in Long Island. In 2011, Morillo returned to TNC in comic form with “The Inventor, The Escort, The Photographer, Her Boyfriend and His Girlfriend,” a sex comedy of five people barricaded in one apartment building with a fierce snowstorm outside, looking for love in all the wrong places. It subsequently went on to an acclaimed Los Angeles run and won the Teapot Award for Outstanding Theater Performance at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His serio-comedy “Allen Wilder 2.0 ” (TNC, 2016) was a comedy of bungled romance in Levittown, LI between two mid-lifers: one who ran away and one who stayed. His last three projects have all debuted on the West Coast: “All American Sex Addict Woke/AF” (2018), “If We Run” (2019) and a comedy web series, “Mister Harmac,” which is currently airing on YouTube. He has also taken up standup comedy; his appearance schedule is on Instagram at @mattmorillo.

Morillo’s “Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High Class Issues,” “All Aboard the Marriage Hearse” and “American Soldiers” have all been published by Samuel French Inc.

Prior to his theatrical shift, Morillo was a fixture on the New York independent film scene for ten years. He debuted at age 23 with his romantic comedy, “The Pretenders,” a film with a cast of unknowns and a non-existent budget that became an enjoyable, funny and ultimately touching film about twenty-somethings struggling with life’s ups and downs. His next project, “Good Tidings,” was a fifteen-minute short film about a young girl suffering through her parents’ divorce. It received great praise at film festivals for its realism and honesty. Morillo’s third film, “Maid Of Honor,” was a true breakthrough. A twenty-five minute comedy about a simple guy trying to hook up with the maid of honor at a wedding, it was a hit on the festival circuit, winning three awards, playing to sold-out theaters and leaving audiences laughing and begging for copies of the film. He returned to on-camera productions with an “Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High Class Issues” web series in 2013.

Director Phoebe Leonard Dettmann is an actor, writer, director and founding member of Randomly Specific Theatre (randomlyspecifictheatre.com). She was born and trained in Australia and became an American citizen four years ago. Dettman first met Matt Morillo in 2007 when she appeared in the Australian Premiere of “Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans With High Class Issues.” She writes that Morillo entrusted his latest play to her “after fifteen years of fast friendship and countless all you can eat sushi and saki nights” through which he became cognizant of her wit and great good humor. Her Australian theater credits include: “Stairwell” (Actor/Writer) at Old Fitzroy in Sydney. Her New York credits include “Secondary Pitch,” “Learning To Skip,” “Accumulated Heartbreak Disorder” (Actor/Writer), “Koalas Are Dicks,” “Arbuckle Syndrome” and “Fistful of Cake Pocketful of Miracles” (Director) for Randomly Specific Theatre and “Othello: The Panther” and “Salome: Princess of N’Orleans” at Rebel Theatre.

Bree Ogaldez (Jennifer) is an Afro-Caribbean, NYC-based actress and singer who recently appeared as Abe Lincoln in “Hair” (Cortland Repertory Theatre) and Assata/Lotus in “Lotus and the Unlikely Crew” at NYTF Winterfest. Recent screen credits include indie film “Someone Somewhere” and the pilot spec “Shadow Cast.” (www.breeogaldez.com)

Emily Lappi (Katy) is making her NYC debut. She graduated from South Coast Repertory’s Acting Intensive Program in 2014 and recently made her Equity principal debut as Shelby in “Steel Magnolias.” California credits include “A Christmas Carol” at South Coast Repertory, “Heaven on Earth “at La Jolla Playhouse and “Moon Over Buffalo” (Rosalind) at STAGEStheatre (OC Weekly Best Ensemble of 2017). Films include the indie horror film “One Night in Ravenwood,” the web series “Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High Class Issues” and the indie pilot “Cut Loose.” (www.emilylappi.com)

William Burns (Bobby) recently appeared in “We Will Rock You” with Theater Workshop of Nantucket and “Staten Island! The Musical” at The Tank Theater with ThisIZZit Productions. He is an ensemble member of Open Hydrant Theater Company @ The Point, located in the Bronx.

Morillo writes, “TNC has afforded me the opportunity that is the dream of every artist. To be able to hone my abilities in an environment where they support, promote, nurture and inspire you to push, grow, and stretch all of your abilities to levels that perhaps even you yourself do not think are possible. I can’t explain how happy I am to be back here…at home!”

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

LOVE N’ COURAGE

Theater for the New City’s Annual Benefit for its Emerging Playwrights Program

 

Monday, February 13, 2023
at The Players Club • 16 Gramercy Park South

Honoring New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera
and
Playwright, Director and Teacher Eduardo Machado

Cocktails at 6:00pm
Seated Dinner 6:45pm
Performances 8:00pm

Tickets $200
Table of Ten $1,750

 

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

The Time Travelers Club Manhattan Division

A play by Barbara Kahn

February 23 – March 12, 2023
Thursday, Friday, Saturday @ 8:00PM, Sunday @ 3:00 PM
Running Time: 1 hour, 55 minutes including intermission
Tickets $15, Seniors/Students $12
Groups 10 or more use discount code TIME26 online for $10 each

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
CINO THEATER

Time perception changed for many during two years of isolation as online communication replaced attendance at the theater. I was inspired by the (temporary) change in my lifestyle to research and write The Time Travelers Club, Manhattan Division, my 26th production at Theater for the New City.
Time travel has long been a subject in popular culture. My play sends a woman named Dolly from the present on a journey to 1870 Greenwich Village. An equipment malfunction leaves her stranded in the past, where she encounters real-life characters while attempting to find her way home. Poet Emma Lazarus was at the beginning of her prestigious career. Composer Georgina Schuyler was a descendant of Alexander Hamilton and early Dutch settlers. The nature of the close friendship of these unmarried women from disparate backgrounds leaves room for speculation. Famous actress Charlotte Cushman and her “wife” sculptor Emma Stebbins stopped in New York en route to Boston where Charlotte sought treatment for breast cancer. Sarah Smith was a widowed African American school teacher who boarded in a building on 13th Street—a building that survives but is threatened with demolition in today’s rush to gentrify our historic neighborhoods. When Dolly fails to return home, her wife Alice attempts to rescue her and bring them both ‘back to the future.’
The play is my gentle homage to my favorite movie—“The Wizard of Oz.”

CAST
The Present
Alice, Arianne Banda.
Dahlia, called Dolly. Alice’s wife. Jamie Coffey
John. A clerk. JC Augustin
A reporter. Selear Duke.

The Past (1870)
Emma Lazarus, Nikki Monson
Georgina Schuyler, Jenna Levere
Sarah Smith, Rebekah Wilson
Charlotte Cushman, Steph Van Vlack
Emma Stebbins, Charlotte Cushman’s ‘wife.’ Isa Goldberg

PRODUCTION TEAM
Barbara Kahn (Playwright/Director)
Mark Marcante (Set Designer)
Alexander Bartenieff (Lighting Designer)
Lytza Colon (Set Decorator and Prop Designer)
Billy Little (Costume Designer)
Joy Linscheid (Sound Designer and Board Operator)
Selear Duke (Stage Manager)
Joe Bly (Photographer and Videographer)
Virginia Asman (Graphics Designer)

 

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
With the support of Suite 524

NOT ABOUT ME

Written and Directed by Eduardo Machado

January 13 – February 5, 2023
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM,  Sunday at 3:00 PM
Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes with intermission
Tickets $18, Seniors/Students $10 – Box Office (212) 254-1109

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
COMMUNITY SPACE

Not About Me is a memory play that takes audiences on a haunting journey through the mind of a playwright during Covid-19 lockdown. Long buried memories of friends lost to a mysterious “gay” disease come crashing into the present, and he is compelled to examine his artistic and political life in the theater. This play is a bittersweet meditation on how tragedy can unearth pain along with the treasures buried in the past.

The cast features
Mateo d’Amato
Michael Domitrovich
Crystal Field
Ellis Charles Hoffmeister
Charles Manning
Drew Valins
Heather Velazquez

Creative Team
Mark Marcante (Scenic Design)
Sean Ryan (Production Design)
Alex Bartenieff (Lighting Design)
Kelsey Charter (Costume Design)
Bird Rogers (Projection Design?)
Emily Irvine (Puppet Designer/Maker)
David Margolin Lawson (Sound Design)
Original music by Michael Domitrovich

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.