THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents:
the MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION OF:
THE WHITE BLACKS
EXTRA PERFORMANCES at 7:30 PM on NOVEMBER 30, DECEMBER 1 & 2
November 10 – 27, 2022 — Extension November 30, December 1 & 2
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM Extra matinee performance Saturday, November 26 at 3 PM No showtime on Thanksgiving Day, November 24
JOHNSON THEATER
Tickets
To have the most diverse and inclusive gathering possible, we are selling tickets at various price points.
• General Admission is $20
• If you need a little help to attend, choose our “Pay What I Can,” half-priced ticket.
• If you are able to help us pay the talented cast and crew while offsetting the cost for those who need a little help, choose a “Pay It Forward” option (with our gratitude.)
• Rush tickets at any price may be available at the Box Office 30 minutes before each show.
Each price is for one ticket/one seat only.
Ticket Options:
• Pay It Forward $100 (one ticket)
• Pay It Forward $50 (one ticket)
• General Admission $20 (one ticket)
• Pay What I Can $10 (one ticket)
Box Office (212) 254-1109
Two hours and 30 minutes; with an intermission
Theater for the New City is pleased to bring back for a MAINSTAGE SHOWCASE**:
Melanie Maria Goodreaux’s THE WHITE BLACKS: In 1970s New Orleans, a Black “Creole” family is torn apart by members who ‘pass for white’ while others build Black Power and the matriarch clings to racial ideals that are fading fast. Inspired by the playwright’s own family, the story offers an insider’s look at the common but largely untold story of Southern Creoles’— a culture proud of its Black heritage but plagued with grief over those “passing” to flee racism and achieve status and opportunity. Love lives long here in the gumbo of acerbic wit, romance and pain, abandonment and longing, hiding, personal authenticity and the complexities of “coming home.”
Written and Directed by Melanie Maria Goodreaux
Cast
Justine J. Hall*
Kristina Rose King*
Marsha-Ann Hay*
Christine Sloan Stoddard*
Tiffany Adams
Christian Miranda
Hollie Harper
India Stachyra
Carlos Carrillo
Danielle Hauser
Dave Baez
Linda Greene
Anthony Harper
Albert Elias
Fernanda Garcia
Dan Kelley
Jonathan Duran
Stacey Griffin
Jada Bennett
Alex Yuille
*Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
*Equity Approved Showcase
Behind the Scenes
Director – Melanie Maria Goodreaux
Stage Manager – Mollie Frankel
Set/Props – Lytza Colon
Lighting Design – Alex Bartenieff
Video/Projectionist – Dave Baez
Sound Design – Luke Santy
Costume/Styling- Devyn Mackey
Co-Producer – Mark Holloway
Co-Producer – Nadya Okamoto
Production Staff and Consultants
Bruce Morrow, Linda Greene, Anthony Harper, Justina Mejias, Greg Dove, Brian Sidney Bembridge, Janice Lowe, Mark Holloway, Nadya Okamoto, Diane Sullivan, Tim Fielder
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:
TNC Street Theater Summer Tour “Teacher! Teacher! or PS I Love You”
August 6 – September 18, 2022
Free! In The Streets!
Saturday and Sundays @ 2 PM; Friday Performance in Coney Island @ 6:00 PM (full schedule below)
Writer and Director, Crystal Field Composer, Peter Dizozza
Rip-roaring musical tours City’s streets, parks and playgrounds
In parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs.
Free to the public. Audience info (212) 254-1109
Runs 1:15. Critics are invited to all performances.
Photos are available at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CRnVRWxkrKx6EaQZA
B-roll of past TNC street theater productions is available upon request.
Photo by Jonathan Slaff
NEW YORK – Theater for the New City‘s award-winning Street Theater Company will open its 2022 annual tour Saturday, August 6 with “Teacher! Teacher! or PS I Love You,” a rip-roaring original musical which tells the story of a struggling teacher in an underserved neighborhood who puts her life on the line for her kids. Free performances will tour parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs through September 18. Book, lyrics and direction are by Crystal Field; the musical score is composed and arranged by Peter Dizoza. (Schedule follows at bottom of this document.)
“Teacher! Teacher! or PS I Love You” is the story of the heavy hand of history on two teachers and a beleaguered principal. These educators teach against the background of the January 6th attempted coup, the desperate war in Ukraine, the constant threat of gun violence and the terrible mistakes of the Supreme Court. They see a growing consciousness in their students and a desire to take action. The educators, who endure the dilemma of teaching standard lessons in a time of crisis, now face the prospect of being asked to carry a gun! Their students bring to the classroom the debates heard around the kitchen tables in their homes. The principal finds a place for activism in school through a vivid dream that is the turning point of the play. The musical also celebrates the joys of a good book report, the brilliance of a Mother’s Day poem, an eloquent essay blasting climate change, and the ultimate triumph of graduation.
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.
TNC Street Theater’s leading actor is and has been Michael David Gordon, a teacher and performer with Irondale Theatre Company who is also bandleader of a performance group which plays classic rock in the subways. In this year’s show, he plays the school principal.
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 last year with “Critical Care, or Rehearsals for a Nurse.”
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 is known for his simple, cheerful music with a Gershwinesque flair. He began writing plays with music for La Mama’s Experiments 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). He appeared regularly 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 has also provided scripts and scores for a wide range of independent projects of the Cinema VII collective including “A Question of Solitude” and “TentagatneT,” an experimental play produced by La MaMa in its Experimenta! 2007 Program. His song settings include poems and texts by Shakespeare, T.S.Eliot and Thomas Hardy. He has accompanied plays by Maria Micheles (including “Night Park” at TNC), Leah Maddrie, Myron D. Cohen, Bruce Jay Friedman, Helen Slayton Hughes and Richard Vetere. He wrote an oratorio score for the legendary “Legs Like These,” Neil Ericksen’s adaptation of the myth of Atalanta. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild, The Lambs Club and The New York Composers Circle and Chair of the New York City Bar Association Entertainment Committee.
SCHEDULE (AS OF AUGUST 5th)
Saturday, Aug 6 @ 2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Outside Theater for the New City at E. 10th Street & 1st Ave.
Sunday, Aug 7 @ 2:00 PM: BRONX — St. Mary’s Park, at East 147th Street and St. Ann’s Ave.
Saturday. Aug 13 @ 2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Turtle Park, 117 West 90th Street
Sunday, Aug 14 @ 2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Central Park Bandshell, 72nd Street Crosswalk
Friday, Aug 19 @ 6:00 PM: BROOKLYN — Coney Island Boardwalk @ W. 10th Street
Sat, Aug 20 @ 2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Abe Lebwohl Park @St. Marks Church, E. 10th St. & 2nd Ave.
Sunday, Aug 21 @2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Jackie Robinson Park, W. 147th St. & Bradhurst Ave.
Saturday, Aug 27 @ 2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Washington Square Park
Sunday, August 28 @ 2:00 PM: QUEENS — Travers Park, 34th Avenue Between 77th and 78th Street
Saturday, Sept 10 @ 2:00 PM: BROOKLYN — Sunset Park, 6th Ave. & 44th Street
Sun, Sept 11 @ 2:00 PM: BROOKLYN — Ft. Greene Park, Myrtle Ave. bet. N. Portland Ave. & St. Edwards St.
Saturday, September 17 @ 2:00 PM: STATEN ISLAND — Tappen Park at Canal, Bay and Water Streets
Sunday, September 18 @ 2:00 PM: MANHATTAN — Tompkins Square Park at E. 7th St. & Ave A
A successful salesman displays competency to gain your confidence, and employs empathy to earn your trust. It’s the latter you have to beware of. While selling an expensive siding job in “A Healthy House,” the salesmen insinuate themselves into the lives of Tim and his elderly father, through issues such as the father’s battle with cancer and recently being widowed, and Tim’s failed dream of being a screenwriter and suffocating marriage. When the sales team breaks the trust, embroiling father and son in a scam, it makes for an explosive scenario, with the future of the home hanging in the balance, and the father’s care in question. The wickedly funny, and emotionally powerful “A Healthy House,” is at once deeply personal, while exploring themes that are universal, family, the march of time, life and death.
CAST
Robert Arcaro* as the Father
Brendan Mulhern as Tim
Steve Gamble as the Project Manager
Andy Spinosi as the Salesman
PRODUCTION
Writer: Tom Diriwachter
Director: Jonathan Weber
Set Design: Mark Marcante
Lighting Design: Alexander Bartenieff
Asst. Set & Props Design: Lytza Colon
* Denotes member of Actor’s Equity
COVID Protocol:
As of August 17 2021, people 12 and older are required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or WHO.
Starting January 29, 2022, children ages 5 to 11 must also show proof of full vaccination. They must show they have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
Proof of vaccination may include the NYC Vaccination Record, CDC Vaccination Card (or photo), Excelsior Pass or NYC COVID Safe App.
All patrons must be vaccinated in order to see shows. Please provide proof before purchasing and picking up tickets.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Crystal Field, Executive Director, with
The LES Committee, Presents:
The 27TH Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
FREE!!!
Memorial Day Weekend. MAY 27, 28, 29 2022 – Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (btw 9th & 10th Street)
www.theaterforthenewcity.net, 212-254-1109
FRIDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 27 6:00 PM – TALENT DAVIS AND THE RESISTANCE BAND 6:32 PM – “AUNT SUSAN AND HER TENNESSEE WALTZ” 6:44 PM – YIP HARBURG RAINBOW TROUPE 6:56 PM – INFINITY DANCE THEATER, “CHANT” 7:08 PM – CHINESE THEATER WORKS 7:20 PM – ROD RODGERS DANCE COMPANY, “AFRICAN MEMORIES” 7:42 PM – SARAZINA STEIN 7:54 PM – THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS 8:06 PM – “BO” by G.C. Sullivan-WillieAnn Gissendanner 8:18 PM – DECEUS DANCE COMPANY 8:30 PM – OYU-ORO 8:42 PM – “SOME FELLAS STILL DON’T GET IT” by Peter Welch 8:54 PM – FACEBOY 9:06 PM – “A SAVING GRACE” by Lyle Kessler 9:18 PM – CITIZENS UNITED PROTEST BAND 9:30 PM – DAVID AMRAM 9:52 PM – CAROL TANDAVA 10:04 PM – SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT by The Drilling Company 10:16 PM – “THE COLONEL AND THE WOMAN TAKE TEA IN THE RUBBLE” by Lissa Moira 10:33 PM – ARTHUR ABRAMS 10:45 PM – MICHAEL VAZQUEZ 10:57 PM – ZERO BOY 11:09 PM – ROBERT GONZALES JR. 11:21 PM – THE DAME & BABE aka ALISA KILLZ AND LUIGI BABE
FRIDAY EVENING IN THE CABARET – MAY 27 6:36 PM – STAR ‘69 7:08 PM – “DRINKING MY OWN JUICE” by Alicia Foxworth 7:20 PM – “IS THERE A PULSE” by Gha’il Rhodes Benjamin 7:32 PM – LEI ZHOU 7:44 PM – DON ARRINGTON 7:56 PM – RICHARD WEBER 8:03 PM – LADY CLOVER HONEY 8:15 PM – “THE UNAMERICAN” by Claude Solnik 8:27 PM – DAWOUD KRINGLE 8:39 PM – PETER DIZOZZA 8:51 PM – MAUDE LARDNER BURKE 9:03 PM – MARY TIERNEY WORKSHOP 9:25 PM – EGO ACTUS, “ALMOST 13” 9:37 PM – MELANGE 9:49 PM – ARIANA JOHNS 10:01 PM – NELSON GONZALEZ 10:13 PM – “SOMEWHERE BETWEEN MARS & VENUS” 10:25 PM – STAN BAKER 10:37 PM – ORTENCIA 10:49 PM – “CHEESECAKE” by Darpan Joshi 11:01 PM – ELLEN STEIER 11:13 PM – DAVID W. JACOBSEN
SATURDAY AFTERNOON YOUTH PERFORMANCES JOHNSON THEATER COORDINATOR: DONNA MEJIA HOSTED BY JOHN GRIMALDI 2 PM–4:30 PM – MAY 28 2:00 PM – “THE WIZARD OF OZ: A JAZZ MUSICAL FOR ALL AGES” 2:25 PM – COBU KIDS 2:16 PM – THE FUNIKIJAM SHOW 2:45 PM – MOVE.MAKE.BLOOM. DANCE STUDIO 3:15 PM – MICHAEL LEE, MAN OF MAGIC 3:30 PM – SWEDISH COTTAGE MARIONETTES 4:05 PM – MOVE.MAKE.BLOOM. DANCE STUDIO WITH CHOREOGRAPHY BY MICHELLE LAUREN SIEGEL
FILM PROGRAM 2022 – MAY 28 CABARET THEATER, 1 PM – 11 PM
SATURDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 28 6:00 PM – mister pablo 6:32 PM – “LOVE SMART” by Justine J. Hall 6:44 PM – YUBO ZHONG 6:56 PM – LORCAN OTWAY 7:08 PM – BENNETT POLOGE 7:20 PM – E-DANCE 7:32 PM – JILL O’HARA 7:44 PM – KAORU IKEDA/MOUSTACHECAT DANCE, “WADATSUMI-THE VOICES FROM THE SEA” 7:56 PM – “A JOURNEY THROUGH PLAGUE AND WAR” by Barbara Kahn 8:08 PM – JUDY GORMAN 8:30 PM – WISE GUISE 8:42 PM – CHARLIE SUB & SOUND DOGS 8:54 PM – “HAMLET IN HARLEM” (selection) by Alberto Ferreras 9:06 PM – “I WILL LEAVE WHEN THE RAIN STOPS” by Bina Sharif 9:23 PM – TBA 9:30 PM – “A HEALTHY HOUSE” (excerpt) by Tom Diriwachter 9:42 PM – DAVID LEWIS 9:54 PM – HOLLIE HARPER
10:06 PM – BOBBIE HOROWITZ 10:18 PM – LOUISA BRADSHAW 10:30 PM – PETER DIZOZZA 10:42 PM – LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE CLUB 10:54 PM – ELISA BLYNN 11:06 PM – LEX AND THE CULT OF SPIRITS 11:18 PM – JON WEBER 11:30 PM – TERRY LEE KING as THE LEGENDARY AMAZ’N GRACE
SUNDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 29 6:00 PM – COBU, “DRUM LIKE DANCING, DANCE LIKE DRUMMING” 6:32 PM – ART LILLARD QUARTET 6:49 PM – “SHOPPING BOOGIE” by Akiko 7:01 PM – NATIONAL YIDDISH THEATRE FOLKSBIENE, “GHETTO TANGO” (selections) 7:13 PM – MALACHY MCCOURT 7:25 PM – KINDING SINDAW 7:37 PM – JOHN GRIMALDI 7:49 PM – “TARANTALA-SPIDER DANCE” 8:01 PM – JONATHAN FOX POWERS 8:13 PM – ASHLEY LIANG DANCE COMPANY 8:35 PM – “FINISHED” by Anne Lucas 8:47 PM – KT SULLIVAN 9:01 PM – YARA ARTS, “SLAP!” (selections) 9:18 PM – “THE LAST PANDEMIC” (scene) by Eduardo Machado 9:35 PM – AUSTIN PENDLETON 9:47 PM – RICHARD WEST 9:59 PM – “NEW WORK IN PROGRESS” by Sabura Rashid 10:11 PM – 13TH STREET REP 10:23 PM – “SOMETIME CHILD” 10:35 PM – NEW YIDDISH REP 10:47 PM – VALERY OISTEANU 10:59 PM – “THE BALLAD OF IMMORAL EARNINGS” 11:11 PM – TYM MOSS 11:23 PM – AZIZA 11:35 PM – LE SQUEEZEBOX CABARET
SUNDAY EVENING IN THE CABARET 7:24 PM – JANE BYAELA 7:36 PM – MICHAEL LEE 7:48 PM – EVAN LAURENCE 8:00 PM – BOB HOMEYER 8:12 PM – LORETTA AUDITORUM 8:24 PM – JANE BYAELA 8:36 PM – MARY HURLBUT/ANDREW BOLOTOWSKY 8:48 PM – EVE PACKER 9:00 PM – BURNING CITY ORCHESTRA 9:12 PM – FROM SCRATCH PERFORMANCE COMPANY, “COLTRANE IN JAPAN” (excerpt) by Robert Liebowitz 9:24 PM – YUBO ZHONG 9:36 PM – “DARKNESS AFTER NIGHT” by Stephan Morrow 9:48 PM – PAOLA LEHMAN-CABRERA 10:00 PM – ELIZABETH RUF 10:12 PM – METROPOLITAN PLAYHOUSE, “I’M WAITING FOR MY MAN” 10:24 PM – ROMAN PRIMITIVO 10:36 PM – VICTOR VAUBAN, JR. 10:48 PM – TANYA SOLOMON 11:00 PM – ERIC KUZMUK
COVID Protocol:
As of August 17 2021, people 12 and older are required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or WHO.
Starting January 29, 2022, children ages 5 to 11 must also show proof of full vaccination. They must show they have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
Proof of vaccination may include the NYC Vaccination Record, CDC Vaccination Card (or photo), Excelsior Pass or NYC COVID Safe App.
All patrons must be vaccinated in order to see shows. Please provide proof when entering the building.
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave (at E. 10th Street)
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM
$18 gen. Adm., $15 seniors & students
Box office: www.theaterforthenewcity.net, 212-254-1109
Photos are available at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NVd2P8Ki8kqj9SmV8
Press Release: Smokey_Stevens_PR3
Critics are invited on or after January 7.
I Just Want To Tell Somebody has been extended through February 6. Additional show Wednesday February 2
Video On Demand tickets are $10.
NEW YORK, December 1 — Smokey Stevens (https://www.smokeystevens.com), one of Broadway’s great musical comedy performers, has adapted his autobiographical novel, “I Just Want to Tell Somebody: The Autobiography of Ronald Smokey Stevens,” into a one-man, two character theater production. The play dramatizes Stevens’ lifelong battle with drugs in which he, at long last, prevailed. “Smokey” plays both himself and his nemesis, a sarcastic doppelganger called “D MAN.” The play ushers us through modern moments of theater history that were Smokey’s triumphs and the journey through drug usage that was nearly his undoing. Theater for the New City will present the New York premiere of the work January 6 to 23, 2022, directed by Stephen Byrd.
Smokey Stevens
Mr. Stevens earned a place on Broadway thanks to raw talent and his wits, becoming a featured ensemble member of such productions as “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” “Inacent Black,” “Dreamgirls,” his own musical, “Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A.,” and tours of “One Mo’ Time” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” His films include “The Wiz” (as one of the Crows performing with Michael Jackson), “The Cotton Club” and “Times Square.” He danced with such greats as tap master Charles “Honi” Coles, Lucille Ball, Cab Calloway and Gregory Hines, to name a few. He’s now Artistic Director of Capital City Readers Theatre in Washington, DC, recipient of The @NAACP 11th Annual Theater Arts Award, and a documentary filmmaker.
Smokey Stevens in “Bubbling Brown Sugar”
COVID Protocol and Etiquette:
As of August 17 2021, people 12 and older are required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or WHO.
Children ages 5 to 11 are now required to have proof of vaccination. They must show they have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Starting January 29, 2022, children ages 5 to 11 must also show proof of full vaccination.
Proof of vaccination may include the NYC Vaccination Record, CDC Vaccination Card (or photo), Excelsior Pass or NYC COVID Safe App.
All patrons must be vaccinated in order to see shows. Please provide proof before purchasing and picking up tickets. Face masks must be worn throughout the building and for entry into the theater.
The theater will be open if you want to see the show in person.
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00 PM; Sundays at 3:00 PM
(Yes, there will be performances Xmas Eve & Day and New Year’s Eve & Day.)
Runs 2 hours including intermission.
Tickets $15.00
If you decide not to attend in person, all performances will be Live Stream for only $10. Live Stream means the show will be performed in real time, the same time as the performance in person.
“The Slave Who Loved Caviar” offers a hefty corrective ….to the way(s) that Basquiat has been and continues to be (re)presented.”
— John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards www.thinkingtheaternyc.com
“Reed’s absorbing, fascinating play The Slave Who Loved Caviar, ….is a self-proclaimed ‘theatrical investigation.’ Heavily awash with symbolism and highly respectful of its subject matter, it is as enlightening as it is entertaining, ….ambitious and poetic….and important on both historical and cultural levels. It may have been 33 years since Jean-Michel Basquiat’s passing, but as Reed’s unique interpretation proves, the artist’s story is more important to 2022 as it ever was.”
“–a complex social history of art creation versus commodity marketing, racial identity and economic advantage, personal integrity and the lure of fame and fashion, encompassing the existential paradoxes of the outsider. Ishmael Reed’s play is structured like a case study, combining forensic investigation with a parallel satire in the style of a noir vampire play.””
–“Beate Hein Bennett in nytheatre-wire.com
“This is more than a play….. It’s an artistic, historic expose of Warhol and his ruthless, cannibalistic culture vultures. I learned things I never knew.” — Felipe Luciano, WBAI 99.5 FM
NEW YORK, November 20 — Playwright Ishmael Reed uses satire to explore aspects of American culture and history overlooked by others. His newest play, “The Slave Who Loved Caviar” is a theatrical investigation into the relationship between Jean-Michel Basquiat and the art world. It challenges the widespread notion that Basquiat was merely Andy Warhol’s “mascot.” Theater for the New City will present its world premiere December 23, 2021 to January 9, 2022, directed by Reed’s frequent collaborator, Carla Blank.
Basquiat’s legacy has been intricately entwined with Warhol’s since their collaborations in the mid-1980s. At that time, Warhol was an arts world insider and “elder statesman.” Basquiat was an edgy talent rising from the graffiti scene. They collaborated intensely in 1984 and 1985, with Warhol assuming an almost parental role in Basquiat’s life. Basquiat’s father was born in Haiti; his mother was born in Brooklyn to parents of Puerto Rican descent. Jean-Michel became a graffiti artist, pop icon, musician and neo-expressionist painter. He unified street art with painting, bridging modes that were historically considered high and low art. Warhol’s studio assistant, Ronny Cutrone, remembered, “It was like some crazy-art world marriage and they were the odd couple. The relationship was symbiotic. Jean-Michel thought he needed Andy’s fame, and Andy thought he needed Jean-Michel’s new blood. Jean-Michel gave Andy a rebellious image again.”
L-R: Robert Turner as Abstractionist artist Jack Brooks, Raul Diaz as the vampire Baron De Whit, Roslyn Fox as Chief of Detectives Mary Van Helsing. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.
Ishmael Reed is author of twelve novels, nine collections of essays, fifteen anthologies of criticism and ten plays of which this is the latest. The New Yorker has labeled him “America’s most fearless satirist” and his exposés often attract bitter criticism. A firestorm of comments, often ferocious, appeared in The New York Times and Broadway World in response to his “The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda” (Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 2019), which deconstructed the Broadway play’s abolitionist portrayal of the founding father with incisive, impeccably-researched satire. The play portrayed a naive, defensive Miranda awakening to the sins of the Founding Fathers. Writing in The New York Times, Elizabeth Vincentelli characterized it as “classic activist theater” and “a cross between ‘A Christmas Carol’ and a trial at The Hague’s International Criminal Court.” Reed’s eighth play, “Life Among the Aryans” (Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 2018), envisioned a future when the downtrodden denizens of the Alt Right realize they’d be better off if they were Black. His latest anthology, “Bigotry on Broadway,” co-edited with Carla Blank, was published this fall by Baraka Books. His best-known novel, “Mumbo Jumbo” (1972), was cited by Harold Bloom as one of the 500 great books in the Western Canon. His newest poetry collection, “Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues: Poems 2007-2020,” was released from Dalkey Archive Press in November 2020. He is also a publisher, songwriter, cartoonist, public media commentator, lecturer, teacher, and founder of the Before Columbus Foundation and PEN Oakland, non-profit organizations run by writers for writers.
Carla Blank is a director, dramaturge, writer and editor. After debuting as a dancer and choreographer as part of the Judson Dance Theater Workshop performances in the 1960s, she devoted a portion of her life to working with youth to aged adults in community arts projects. The performance arts handbook, “Live On Stage!,” that evolved out of this work was adopted in school districts throughout the US and Canada. From 2003-2012 she directed productions of Wajahat Ali’s “The Domestic Crusaders.” A collaboration with director Robert Wilson, “KOOL- Dancing in my Mind,” an homage for Japanese choreographer Suzushi Hanayagi, premiered at NYC’s Guggenheim Museum in April 2009. She directed “News from Fukushima,” a multimedia performance work by Yuri Kageyama, at La MaMa in 2015 and Z Space in San Francisco in 2017. A documentary film of the 2017 performance is receiving international acclaim. She directed Ishmael Reed’s “Mother Hubbard” in Xiangtan, China in 2016.
Rome Neal, Director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, is Production Coordinator
Starring:
Jennifer Blue ———————— Kenya Wilson
Baron De Whit ——————— Raul Diaz
Agent Antonio Wolfe ————- Jesse Bueno
Detective Mary Van Helsing —- Roz Fox
Forensic Expert I (Grace) ——- Laura Robards / Kenya Wilson
Forensic Expert II (Raksha) —- Monisha Shiva
Jack Brooks ————————- Robert Turner
Young Blood ———————— Brian Simmons
Richard Pryor of the Dream – Maurice Carlton (Voiceover); Kenya Wilson (Shadow Dancer)
Director —————————— Carla Blank
Production Coordinator ——— Rome Neal
Stage Manager ———————- Michael Durgavich
Assistant Stage Manager ——— Juan Carlos Augustin
Set Design ————————– Mark Marcante
Assistant Set Design ————- Lytza Colón
Light and Sound Design ——– Alexander Bartenieff
Costume Design —————— Diana Adelman
Projection Design —————- Miles Shebar
Light/Sound Board Operator — Brian Park
COVID Protocol and Etiquette:
As of August 17 2021, people 12 and older are required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or WHO.
Children ages 5 to 11 are now required to have proof of vaccination. They must show they have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Starting January 29, 2022, children ages 5 to 11 must also show proof of full vaccination.
Proof of vaccination may include the NYC Vaccination Record, CDC Vaccination Card (or photo), Excelsior Pass or NYC COVID Safe App.
All patrons must be vaccinated in order to see shows. Please provide proof before purchasing and picking up tickets. Face masks must be worn throughout the building and for entry into the theater.
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)
Previews November 6 and 7,Opens Wednesday November 10.
Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM. No shows Wednesday November 24 and Thursday November 25 Thanksgiving
Tickets $18 general admission. $15 Students & Seniors
Author’s agent: Katie Langridge at Knight Hall Agency Ltd. (London)
Runs 1:30. Critics are invited on or after November 10.
In “The Dark Outside” by Bernard Kops, a birthday celebration for a one-armed East London tailor, who is in a life crisis, brings home his three grown children. All are facing traumatic changes. It falls to his wife–the family matriarch and unfailing strength–to hold the clan together. Songs and poetic outbursts are inspired because plain speech is insufficient for the family’s powerful feelings. This piece is the latest work for the stage by one of England’s greatest contemporary playwrights and is thematically similar to his most recent works of poetry. Theater for the New City (TNC), 155 First Ave., will present its world premiere November 6 to 28, starring Austin Pendleton as the tailor and New York actress Katharine Cullison, for whom the part was written, as his wife. Jack Serio directs.
Bernard Kops is an English playwright, novelist, and poet born on November 28, 1926, in London, England, known for his works of unabashed sentimentality.
Kops left school at the age of 13 and worked at various odd jobs before beginning to write. He established himself with his first play, The Hamlet of Stepney Green (1959), a reversal of the family relationships depicted in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, ending happily in an affirmation of the human spirit. Among his other plays were The Dream of Peter Mann (1960), an apocalyptic drama in which much of the action occurs as a dream, and Playing Sinatra (1991), which centers on a brother and sister obsessed with the legendary performer. Kops’s early life of poverty and his Jewish background informs much of his work, including Enter Solly Gold (1961), in which a con artist convinces a Jewish millionaire that he is the Messiah in order to steal his money, the surrealistic drama Ezra (produced 1981), based on the personality of the American poet Ezra Pound, and Dreams of Anne Frank (1998).
Kops’s novels included Awake for Mourning (1958), The Dissent of Dominick Shapiro (1966), and The Odyssey of Samuel Glass (2012). He also wrote the autobiographies The World Is a Wedding (1963) and Shalom Bomb (2000) as well as several radio and television plays. Barricades in West Hampstead (1988) and Love, Death, and Other Joys (2018) were among Kops’s many collections of poetry.
Katharine Cullison (Helen) received her BA in Theatre at Grinnell College and studied classical American realism at HB Studios with Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, Anne Jackson, and Austin Pendleton. In London, she trained with the late Doreen Cannon, former head of acting at RADA. Credits include Sandra in “Playing Sinatra” by Bernard Kops opposite Austin Pendleton (Theater for the New City), “Dirty Linen” directed by Edward de Souza (Arts Theater, West End), “Rogues and Vagabonds” (JW3, London), “Rumcake” (Trilogy Theater, Off Broadway); “Ways and Means” (Spectrum Stage), and numerous productions at HB Playwrights Foundation. Ms. Cullison also gave voice to the Federal Theatre Project’s “Hallie Flannigan” (opposite Tim Robbins and Simon Callow) on Art for the Millions for BBC Radio 4. In 2011, she served as a judge for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and in 2018 was a guest artist at Grinnell College. She played Helen in the reading of “The Dark Outside” at London’s National Portrait Gallery.
Austin Pendleton (Paul) is an actor, a director, a playwright and a teacher of acting at HB Studio in New York, where he studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof. His most recent New York appearance as an actor has been in “The Minutes” by Tracy Letts, which will reappear this spring. His first Broadway appearance was as Motel in the original cast of Fiddler on the Roof; his first off-Broadway appearance was in “Oh Dad, Poor Dad…” by Arthur Kopit. Both of these were directed by Jerome Robbins. He is a member of the Ensemble in Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. He has appeared in several hundred movies and on TV in such shows as “Homicide,” “Oz” and “Law and Order.” He has directed Tony-nominated shows on Broadway (“Spoils of War,” “The Little Foxes”) and directed extensively at other theaters, notably the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where he apprenticed and got his start under the guidance of its Artistic Director, Nikos Psacharopoulos. His plays are “Booth,” “Uncle Bob” and “Orson’s Shadow,” each of which has been published and produced extensively.
Ben is played by Jesse McCormick.
Sophie is played by Brenna Donahue.
Penny is played by Kathleen Simmonds.
Director Jack Serio most recently directed Misha Brooks in “solo happy & grateful” at Ars Nova. Born and raised in Boston, he was the founding Artistic Director of The Boston Teen Acting Troupe, a nationally recognized professional teen theatre company. As an assistant director, he has worked under Austin Pendleton, Alex Timbers, Lee Sunday Evans, Jason Eagan, Knud Adams, Rory McGregor, Gabriel Barre and DJ Mendel. He was an assistant in Tom Kirdahy Productions for the Broadway productions of “It’s Only A Play” and “The Visit” by Terrence McNally. He is an artistic consultant to actor/comedian Aasif Mandvi and occasionally writes for HowlRound. He earned a BFA at NYU and is a member of the 2019 Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the 2019-2021 SDC Foundation Observership Class.
Scenic Designer is Walt Spangler.
Lighting Designer is Keith Parham.
Sound Designer/Composer is Nick T. Moore
Costume Designer is Ricky Reynoso.
Props Manager is Kathryn (China) Hayzer.
Stage Manager is Helen Thornton.
Production Coordinator / Assistant Stage Manager is Paulina Tobar.
COVID Protocol and Etiquette:
As of August 17 2021, people 12 and older are required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or WHO.
Proof of vaccination may include the NYC Vaccination Record, CDC Vaccination Card (or photo), Excelsior Pass or NYC COVID Safe App.
All patrons must be vaccinated in order to see shows. Please provide proof before purchasing tickets.
Everyone must wear a face mask for entry into the theater or when moving around.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY’S VILLAGE HALLOWEEN COSTUME BALL MOVES OUTSIDE OCTOBER 31
NEW YORK, September 24 — Theater for the New City (TNC) has presented its Village Halloween Costume Ball annually since 1976. With safety paramount this year, the fete will take place October 31 as an open-air celebration outside the theater, on East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues. A large tent will provide rain protection. Performances, a costume competition and dancing to the music of swing and Latin bands are planned. Events are scheduled from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted. No reservations are necessary. The entire public is invited.
LISTEN TO THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY’S HALLOWEEN PROMO
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
2:00 PM
A sizzling hour of entertainment begins with Cobu, the all-female Japanese Taiko drumming and dance troupe led by Yako Miyamoto with Ayaha Otsuka, Mayu Yamashita, Micro Fukuyama and Kana Matsui. Also: musical selections from this summer’s TNC Street Theater; Belly Dance with Carol Tendava; Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe; Elizabeth Ruf; Glitter Kitty; Justine J. Hall; Reverend Billy; Wycherly Sisters. A table of face-painting will be provided to keep the children happy. Trick-or-treaters will receive wrapped candy.
3:00 PM
Dancing in the street with Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band, a 17 piece swing orchestra.
4:30 PM
Costume judging and prizes with the “Monsters and Miracles Costume Parade.” All costumed attendees are invited to march past a panel of celebrity judges. Winners will receive one-year passes to TNC and a bottle of Moet Chandon champagne. Attendees will be judged in such categories as “Most Booster-Shot,” “Most Stimulus Packaged,” “Most Flood Controlled,” “Most Welcoming,” “Most Ozoned,” “Most Demilitarized,” “Most Solar,” “Most Herd Immunity” and “Most Economical.” Emceed by T. Scott Lilly.
5:30 PM
Dancing with Mr. Pablo’s Latin Dance Band.
7:15 PM
“The Red and Black Masque,” an annual Medieval ritual show written by Arthur Sainer, scored by David Tice and directed by Crystal Field which is performed by torchlight. The audience will be invited to participate.
7:30 – 10:30 PM
Chop Shop Theater– a succession of free, live, 10-minute performances staged in the theater’s set shop for audiences outside who watch through an open garage door on East Tenth Street. The theater’s set shop is outfitted with an elaborate set by Mark Marcante and Lytza Colon, full stage lighting by Alexander Bartenieff and a four-mic sound system. This attraction was invented last year for TNC’s Halloween celebration and played 23 weekly installments throughout the winter. The growing list of performers includes Cobu, Peter Dizozza, Vinie Burrows, Lei Zhou, Ben Harburg, Bina Sharif, Inma Heredia, Ian Gordon, Katherine Adamenko, F Murray Abraham*, David Lewis, Lissa Moira, Carol Tandava, Zero Boy, Danielle Aziza.
10:15 PM
The Tell-Tale Heart: A Film by Danny Ashkenazi
REFRESHMENTS
From 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM, attendees can enjoy libations of beer, wine, cider and water (with or without chips) from an inside bar that will be selling through doors on East Tenth Street to the sidewalk, where a section will be roped off with chairs for revelers’ seating.
Neighborhood bars and restaurants are devising new original drinks–$3 to $5 TNC Halloween Specials–for patrons who can show a TNC Halloween Program. TNC’s neighbors are always in the mix!
NEIGHBORHOOD GIVEAWAYS
Neighbors will display objects to be given away free, including children’s toys, baby clothes and household items. Donations optional. TNC will have its own giveaway table. Donations are always appreciated.
COME SEE AND BE SEEN AND CELEBRATE THE DAY OF DAYS AND NIGHTS OF NIGHTS!
