2PM – MIDNIGHT 7:15PM – 9:30PM The Chop Shop Live Theater
FREE
Donations Gratefully Accepted
Director, Crystal Field Assistant Directors, Erika Staniule, Eric Alexie Cruz, Roy Chang, Donna Mejia and Brian Park Press, Jonathan Slaff Website Design, David Arthur Aronson
With help from Bill Bradford, Alex Bartenieff, Susan Hemley,Dan Kelley, Mark Marcante, Emily Pezzella, Mackenzie Surbey,Jimmy Walker, Jon Weber, Richard Weber and John David West
Do you DARE look into your future? Get your free readings from expert Phyllis Yampolsky. On Halloween day and Evening, October 31, your destiny will be unveiled!
Include your name and any other biographical info that you would like to share.
Your question should be short and specific!
HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR READING:
On October 31, your answer will be posted on our Website, Facebook, and Instagram. On our website, head to the tab “Halloween Costume Ball”, then click on (the category) “Phyllis Yampolsky, THE I-CHING READER.”
Candice Burridge (L) and David Zen Mansley (R) in their own version of “American Gothic,” a Hellsoul act prepared for Theater for the New City’s Village Halloween Costume Ball. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.
Chop Shop Theater
LIVE performances outside of the TNC shop garage doors on 10th Street. Standing room only and masks required! There will be stage lights, a backdrop, a piano, and two microphones! This event will also be streaming on TNCs website at 7:15PM.
Scene from The House of Horrors in the theater’s basement, an exploration of possession and descent into madness designed and run by David Zen Mansley, in which revelers are put through a maze and duly horrified. Photo by Jonathan Slaff, October 31, 2014.
Screening via Zoom of a performance of BROKEN BODYby CHILEAN BUTOH COMPANY RUTA DE LA MEMORIA
Live introduction by Director Natalia Cuéllar
Broken Body tells the story of three pregnant women who disappeared during the Pinochet dictatorship of Chile.
44 minutes
Directed and Choreographed by Natalia Cuéllar
Performed in 2019 at the Camilo Henríquez Theater in Santiago, Chile
Lighting Design Raimundo Estay
Filmed by: Camera by Fabián Rueda / Edition by, Nicolás Medina
List of performers:
Ursula Campos
Belén Espinosa
Alvaro Pizarro
Natalia Cuéllar
Ruta de la Memoria, directed by Natalia Cuéllar, is a company from Santiago, Chile that mixes theater, butoh, and dance. Natalia Cuéllar, actress and choreographer, develops her artistic career in Butoh, with a language that investigates political discourse, to create her poetics and discursive aesthetics. Natalia Cuéllar, Actress and dancer, studied theater in Chile, and continued her artistic training in Europe, following the lineage of Grotowski. Later, she moved on to Butoh, studying with different masters such as butoh dancers Makiko Tominaga and Minako Seki. In 2008, she founded the Ruta de la Memoria Company in Santiago, Chile, a company that focuses on the issues of gender, human rights, and memory. Cuéllar’s works have been critically acclaimed in Chile and dubbed “amazing” (Fabian Escalona), “impressive” (Marietta Santi ), “intense and shocking” (Pedro Labra Herrera – El Mercurio), and “spine-chilling” (Leopoldo Pulgar Ibarra). Since 2014, she has directed and organized the celebrated International Butoh Festival in Chile (FIBUTOH). www.fibutoh.com
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Virtual Performances
June 26 – June 28
BARBARA KAHN, Curator
All performances will be displayed throughout the weekend of Friday, June 26 – Sunday, June 28 on Theater for the New City’s homepage.
Theater for the New City (TNC), in its 50th season, joins the LGBT community, family and friends in celebrating the 51st anniversary of Stonewall and the 50th anniversary of LGBT Pride. TNC, since its founding, has been accessible to artists and audiences of all races, religions, ethnicity, ages, sexual orientation and identity. TNC has presented work by Maria Irene Fornes, Harvey Fierstein, H.M. Koutoukas, Charles Busch, Moises Kaufman and other LGBT playwrights.
On behalf of Theater for the New City, Donald Arrington, Ayana Lowe, Barbara Kahn,Terry Lee King, Peter Zachari, Robert Gonzales Jr. and Nicky Paraiso wish everyone Happy Pride 2020.
Don Arrington remembers his years in NYC since 1966, the Stonewall Revolution and all of those we will always love, here or absent, in his song, “Back Again,” from Back Again: On the Block. Keys Dionne Mcclain-Freeney.
Ayana Lowe is a regular at Greenwich Village’s 55 Bar, who brings her unique style to “I Am What I Am” and her original song “Free, Black and 61.”
Barbara Kahn’s plays are produced annually at TNC. Amanda Boekelheide performs an excerpt from “Cyma’s Story.”
Terry Lee King is a beloved performer and choreographer at TNC. As “The Legendary Amaz’n Grace,” Terry portrays “What Is America to Me.”
Peter Zachari’s “Coming In at Theater for the New City” featuring Peter, Lori Funk and Joey Mirabile, is a hilarious play about parents’ distressing news from their son.
Robert Gonzales Jr., a regular performer at TNC and emcee at the Lower East Festival of the Arts, will be singing “Stars and the Moon,” from Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown.
Nicky Paraiso is Programming Director for The Club at La MaMaand Curator for La MaMa Moves! He is a longtime friend of Theater for the New City and performer at the annual LES Festival of the Arts.
www.theaterforthenewcity.net
Performers and musicians who are among the scores participating in the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, (L-R): Lissa Moira, Barbara Kahn, Crystal Field, Michael Vazquez, Penny Arcade, Richard West, David Amram.
Photo by Jonathan Slaff
Coronavirus will not quench the artistic output of this fabled neighborhood.
NEW YORK, May 21 — With the roster still building, Theater for the New City has currently scheduled over 150 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and film makers for its 25th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which will be mounted virtually for the first time May 22 to 24, 2020. All events and performances will be seen on the theater’s website, www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
Events will stream from 6:00 PM Friday, May 22 to 11:59 PM Sunday, May 24. Attendees will be able to select disciplines and artists from the website’s online timetable and index.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND GROUPS
THEATER (Drama)
13th Street Repertory Theatre, selection from “Handicapped God”
Toby Armour, “They Will Come” with Richard Quint
Charles Busch, TNC Play Excerpts
Susana Cook and Timo Hughes, “Are You There?”
Walter Corwin, “Curse of the Aging Fortune Teller”
Selection from “The White Blacks” by Melanie Maria Goodreaux
“The Disputation,” a play by Hyam Macoby, directed by Robert Kalfin, starring Theo Bikel
Barbara Kahn, ”The End of Time” performed by Jenne Vath
John Jiler, “His High School French Teacher”
La Mama, Nicky Paraiso in “Song from a Tropicland”
Anne Lucas, an original monologue
Eduardo Machado, “Another Time When the World Fell Apart”
Ed Malin
A selection from “Ella the Ungovernable” by David McDonald
“Earth’s Renaissance Circle” A Satirical Sci-Fi written by Lissa Moira, performed by Zen Mansley, Lissa Moira, Susan Mitchell, Louisa Bradshaw, and J. Alan Hanna
Stephan Morrow, “The Assassination of J. Kaisaar & the Rise of Augustus – TheSopranos Meet Mad Max” and “Rock Tavern – Portrait of a Young Artist as a Young Man – From Gotham”
Eve Packer in “Ms. Martha Says,” written and directed by William Electric Black
Bennet Pologe, “Shakespeare and His Editor”
Viktoriya Papayani, an excerpt from “Clara: Confessions”
Austin Pendleton and Katharine Cullison in “Playing Sinatra” by Bernard Kops
Elizabeth Ruf in “Room with Stars”
Yolanda Rodriguez, “The Prince From West 157th Street”
Tabula RaSa NYC Theater/Bae Kwan Gong Theater, Selection from “Good at Heart”
John Talerico and Susan Mitchell in “Danny and The Deep Blue Sea”, directed by Lissa Moira
Textile Theater Company in “The Messenger” by Claude Solnik
Jennifer Tuttle, “Immigration Story” (a CUNY production)
“House of Spirits” by David Willinger (a CUNY production)
“Family Business” by Tom Diriwachter, directed by Jonathan Weber, with Greg Mullavey
THEATER (Plays)
Roman Primitivo Albear, “UBU REX” and “Sandman”
Ana-Maria Bandean and Gemma Forbes, “Stop Kiss”
Walter Corwin, “Little Red/Little Pink” directed by Dan Kelley
DADAnewyork in “Eight Republicans” by Jason Sturm and Robert Hieger. Featuring Joanie Fritz Zosike, Lois Kagan Mingus, Be LaRoe and Robert Hieger
The Drilling Company, Artistic Director: Hamilton Clancy, in “A Midsummer Night’s Zoom – Shakespeare in the Zooming Lot” with Brad Frost, Kathleen Simmonds, Mary Linehan and Eddie Shields
Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater in “Einstein/Weinstein” by Dzigan and Schumacher
Metropolitan Playhouse, scene from “The Rope” by Eugene O’Neill, Artistic Director Alex Roe, featuring Talia Cuomo, Jamahl Garrison-Lowe, Marty McDonough, and David Logan Rankin
Nuyorican Poets Café, Rome Neal in a scene from Ishmael Reed’s “The Preacher and the Rapper”
Bina Sharif, “The Award” with Sharif and Kevin Mitchell Martin
Chris Simmons, “Evans Dog Hospital”
“Kitchenette” by Ronald Tavel (Theater of the Ridiculous)
Teatro Theatre Group, scene from the play “Casa Mañana” performed by co-writers Jerry Soto, Zac Jaffee and Zahydé Pietri
Textile Theater Company, “The Birthday Present” by Claude Solnik
“Toshiba” by Peter Welch, with Eva Dorrepaal, Michael Gentile and Larry Fleischman. Directed by Peter Welch.
Xoregos Performing Company, “Passing Fancies” by Donna Spector, with Kristin Devine and Seth Leighton Hale, directed by Shela Xoregos
“Coming In” by Peter Zachari
SPECIAL LIVESTREAMED “SIT AROUND” – Saturday Evening, May 23
Individual performances at 8:00 PM, group discussion at 9:00 PM
Crystal Field (intro)
David Amram
Phoebe Legere
Austin Pendleton
Penny Arcade
F. Murray Abraham
Charles Busch
William Electric Black
THEATER (comedy)
Stan Baker
Izzy Church
Trav S.D.
Wise Guise, “The Zoom Meeting”
The Experimentals, “Double D” by C.S. Hanson, directed by George Ferencz, with John Andrew Morrison and Jenne Vath.
DANCE
Katherine Adamenko, “Shelter in Place: Something for Your Mind”
Ashley Liang Dance Company, “Flowing Colors of Charming Flowers”
Alessandra Belloni with Danielle Hartman, Francesca Silvano, Peter de Geronimo, Fabiana Eramo, Danielle Lindsay, Juliet Gentile, and the Silver Cloud Native American Singers and Drummers honoring the memory of Kevin T. Tarrant
Sue Bernhard Danceworks withCourtney Lopes and Elisa Schreiber in “Perilune”
Constellation Moving Co., “The Journey of the Birds,” an aerial dance created and directed by Maia Ramnath, choreographed and performed by Michelle Arvin, Susana Morehouse, Susan Voyticky Zepe
Dixon Place, selections from “Dance Quarantine”
Glitter Kitty, “Desert Roses” choreography by Emily Vetsch, with Desira Barnes, Chelsea Retzloff, Emily Vetsch
H.T. Chen & Dancers in “South of Gold Mountain”
Kinding Sindaw
The Love Show & .357 Lover, “SEVERED: The Tragic Loves of Frankenstein’s Monster (excerpt)”
Wendy Osserman Dance Company, “Furious”
Rod Rodgers Dance Company, Choreography by Kim Grier-Martinez, Artistic Director. Rachel Lubell, General Manager
Sarazina Joy Stein and Emily La Rochelle, “Moon Map”
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, “Returning Vets and War Trauma”
Zullo/RawMovement in “Our Garden/ How Exquisite Eternity/ The Piers”
MUSIC
David Amram
Arthur Abrams
Matt Angel
Donald Arrington
Alessandra Belloni
William Electric Black
Louisa Bradshaw
Maude Lardner Burke
Cobu
Peter Dizozza
Downtown Music Productions in “La Creation Du Monde” by Darius Milhaud & Dance Cuba, composed by Isabelle Gann with soprano Darcy Dunn
Michael David Gordon and The Pocket Band in “Come Together”
Judy Gorman
Frances Rae Key, “Earth Cry” (great-granddaughter of Francis Scott Key, author of our national anthem)
Dawoud Kringle
Micha Lazare
Phoebe Legere
Art Lillard Jazz
Mark Marcante
Luba Mason (in performance with Al Jarreau)
Susan Mitchell
Marissa Mulder
Eric Nicolas
Mr Pablo Latin Party Band
Chloe Perrier
Ruby Lynn Reyner
Stuff We Like with Brian and Ashley Gonzales and special guest Jenay Puckett
Kalle Toivio, Organ Improvisations
Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe
Robert Varkony and Star 69
Chris Wade
Wise Guise
THEATER (Musicals)
“American Soldier,” lyrics and music by James Rado, book by James Rado & Theodore Radomski, arrangements & music production by Marteen
“Cyberbabies,” book, music and lyrics by Craig Silver, directed by Lissa Moira
“Lady of the Castle,” a chamber opera by Mira J. Spektor, directed by Lissa Moira, arias performed by Amanda Yachechak
Cheryl Gadsden singing “The Death of Women,” a scene from Theater for the New City’s Street Theater: “SHAME or the Doomsday Machine,” lyrics C. Field, score Joseph Vernon Banks
Douglas McDonnell and Jonathan Fox Powers, selections from “Tom Jones” composed by John Taylor Thomas, lyrics by John Taylor Thomas and Lissa Moira, Directed by Lissa Moira
“No Brainer or The Solution to Parasites,” book & lyrics C. Field, music Joseph Vernon Banks
Yara Arts Group, “Winter Songs on Mars” created & directed by Virlana Tkacz
CABARET
KT Sullivan
Eric Yves Garcia
Bobbie Horowitz
Evan Laurence, “Gender Screwed Ya”
Le Squeezebox Cabaret curated by David F. Slone, Esq.
Greg Dubin
Michael Lee
Aziza, “Left Out In The Rain” – Late Night – Put the kids to bed
Epstein and Hassan – Late Night – Put the kids to bed
Peter Zachari and Lori Funk, “The Confession” – Late Night – Put the kids to bed
William Electric Black, “Dance, Dance, Dance, In Your Underpants” – Late Night – Put the kids to bed
POETRY (curated by Lissa Moira)
Bob Rosenthal
Malik Work
Briana Bartenieff
Chocolate Waters
Coni Koepfinger
Elizabeth Ruf
Bina Sharif
Howard Pflanzner
Jim Feast
Vít Hořejš
Jonathan Fox Powers
Paige Cutrona
Lissa Moira
Larry Myers
Lois Kagen Mingus
Lola Rodriguez
Prince A. McNally
Richard West
Ron Kolm
Thelma Blitz
Michael Sanders
Susan Yung
Toni Hart
Tsaurah Litzky
Valery Oisteanu
W.H. Jiggers Turner
Joanie Fritz Zosike
Robert Hieger
Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
Yael Haskal, Video Poetry
PUPPETRY
Bread and Puppet Theater
Arlee Chadwick
Chinese Theatre Works (Kuan Yu Fang and Steve Kaplan)
Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre
Jane Catherine Shaw
Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, “Peter Pan”
Yuko Uchida
FILMS
A selection of feature-length films and shorts, curated by Eva Dorrepaal
“Arlene’s World Famous” by Jorge Torres Torres
“Box of Nails” by Mark Borkowski
“Choke Artists,” written by T.D. White, directed by Chad Gardella
“Ding-a-ling-LESS” by Onur Tukel
“Don’t Be Like Roy” by Julianna Schley
“Elegy” by Chad Gardella
“Every End is a New Beginning” by David McDonald
“Final Position” by Nelson Farber
“Inside the Cage” by Kenichi Nakajima and Yuko Uchida
“Neverland” by Erik Wegner
“Park 51” by Christopher Capelluto
“Mr Hyde Transformation” Directed by David Zen Mansley
“Puta Libre” by Kevin Haefelin & Blaise Villars
“Safe Harbour Amsterdam” by Jack Luceno
“Scumbag” by Mars Roberge
“The Lessons by Alberto Ferreras”
“The Poet and the Professor” by Ariel Kavoussi
“Tru Romance” by Celine Dayan-Bonilla
CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL (curated by Donna Mejia)
Harlem Repertory Theatre (Keith Lee Grant, Artistic Director) and the Yip Harburg Lyrics Foundation (Deena R. Harburg, Executive & Artistic Director), Wizard of Oz: A Jazz Musical for All Ages
Rod Rodgers Dance Company Youth Program, Artistic Director and Choreographer: Kim Grier-Martinez, General Manager: Rachel Lubell
SFP Alvernian Drama Society, Director: Donna Mejia
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, Director: Louis Mofsie
FunikiJam Music, Director: Brian Barrentine
COBU Kids, Director: Yako Miyamoto
Sophie Star, Choreographers: Andye J and Ryan Heffington
Theater for the New City After School Cultural Arts Program, Directors: Juan Villegas and Michael-David Gordon
Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, Presents “Peter Pan” City Parks Foundation, Executive Director: Heather Lubov, Executive Artistic Director: Erika Elliott, Artistic Director: Bruce Cannon
John Grimaldi, Big Apple Circus Clown Care Hospital Unit, Juggler
SPEAKERS
Tribal Elder Nii Gaani Aki
Michael Musto (columnist)
Brad Hoylman (NY State Senator)
Carlina Rivera (New York City Council Member)
Candice Burridge (Gardening & Composting)
The Hour of Lateral Thinking, a WBAI production – Janet Coleman and David Dozer, with Chris Cerf, David Finkel, Maggie Paley, and Bob Auld
VISUAL ART (curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe)
Works in various media by:
Anne Stanner
Anura Thamardt
Barbara Jaye Wilson
Carolyn Ratcliffe
David Barish
Dorine Oliver
Eileen Doster
Gilda Pervin
Ian Knife
Joan Meyer
Kathy Creutzburg Enos
Klay-James Enos
Kris Enos
Lindley Farley
Lorraine Forte
Marina Reiter
Mario Bustamante
Meg Boe Birns
Onno DeJong
Pat Arnow
Patricia Melvin
Peter Welch
Randy Jones
Ruth Oisteanu
Sally Young
Stephan Morrow
Surge V
Susan Strande
Susann Ferris-Jones
Valery Oistenau
LESPA – Mary Hurlbut, Soprano, Andrew Bolotowsky, Flute, performing “Five-Petal Proportion” from Elodie Lauten’s “The Two-Cents Opera”
SPECIAL EVENT
On Saturday, May 23 at 8:00 PM, there will be a live concert of performances by David Amram, William Electric Black, Phoebe Legere, F. Murray Abraham, Penny Arcade, Austin Pendleton and Charles Busch. Following their performances, these major LES artists will do a virtual “sit around” and discuss Theater, Politics and “where we go from here.”
BACKGROUND
This event started in 1996 as a three-day, indoor and outdoor multi-arts festival intended 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. For the past 24 years, it has been organized by TNC and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders and presented free to an average attendance of 4,000. This year, with obligatory separation caused by Coronavirus, it is being mounted entirely on TNC’s website, with the possibility of sharing it with the world for the first time.
The 2020 festival is dedicated to essential workers: the frontline professionals who preserve our daily lives. These include professionals in the healthcare sector (doctors, nurses, EMT), government services (including fire, police, sanitation, mass transit, National Guard); public utilities, post office and other delivery services; private industries including eldercare, airports, food service workers, grocery store clerks and workers in such jobs as cashiers, stock clerks, security, airport, gas station attendants, pharmacists, funeral home workers, news providers, homeless services, food pantry workers and volunteers, janitorial staff, radio and TV engineers, communications network providers and more.
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.
The first festival, presented June 14 to 16, 1996, featured over 100 attractions, drew favorable press and attracted crowds from all around the City. Its success prompted TNC to continue the festival as an annual event.
Disciplines presented have always included theater, music, dance, poetry, puppetry, cabaret, visual art, film and kids’ programming.
SPECIAL CREDITS
Festival Director Crystal Field. Assistant Director Tegan Georges. Emcees of the 2020 Festival: Crystal Field, Robert Gonzales Jr., Alberto Minero, Sabura Rashid and Susan Hemley. Curators: Crystal Field (Theater and Dance), Lissa Moira (Poetry), Carolyn Ratcliffe (Fine Arts), Donna Mejia (Kids’ Performances) and Eva Dorrepaal (Film). Technical staff: David Aronson, John David West, Brian Park, Roy Chang, Alexander Bartenieff, and Mackenzie Surbey
The LES Festival is created and organized by The LES Committee: David Aronson, Alex Bartenieff, Briana Bartenieff, Roy Chang, Robert Chin, Walter Corwin, Katharine Cullison, Eva Dorrepaal, Myrna Duarte, Carol Dudgeon, Crystal Field, Matthew Fitzgerald, Andrea Fulton, Tegan Georges, Robert Gonzales Jr., Melanie Maria Goodreaux, Robert Greer, J. Alan Hanna, Susan Hemley, Barbara Kahn, Dan Kelley, Anne Lucas, Ed Malin, Donna Mejia, Lissa Moira, Stephan Morrow, Brian Park, Emily Pezzella, Richard Ploetz, Carolyn Ratcliffe, Liana Rosario, Ramiro Sandoval, Ed Shea, Jonathan Slaff, David F. Slone, Esq., Claude Solnik, Mackenzie Surbey, Mary Tierney, Jenne Vath, Juan Villegas, Jimmy Walker, Jonathan Weber, Richard Weber, Peter Welch, John David West, Richard West, Suki Weston & Steve Hansen.
Press Representative: Jonathan Slaff
# # #
PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE at https://photos.app.goo.gl/FZwNmzr82ERSUwDQA.
Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Director presents
Monday, February 17th, 7pm
$5 suggested
BAD GIRLS RUST BELT by Peter Welch
This reading is directed by Peter Welch
BAD GIRLS RUST BELT is a dark comedy about two Akron, Ohio based stick up gals whose criminal and sexual partnership has come to an end despite the fact that neither has figured out how to survive moving forward. It’s also about the ghost of a former, abusive boyfriend who claims to hold no grudges even though the two women shot his head off at point plank range. In this context the play humorously explores the stark choices faced by those who contemporary society has left behind, not to mention a slice of the country that will likely decide national elections for years to come.
Peter Welch is a New York City based multidisciplinary artist with significant professional credits as an actor, playwright, filmmaker and fine art photographer. To date he has had four full length plays produced in New York- Two Alone/Too Together, Autumn Stage, Don’t Tell Mother and Thelonious as well as a dozen short plays. He is currently working on two new full length plays- Larry & Lucy & Bad Girls Rust Belt. In addition to playwriting Peter has also acted in dozens of plays, films and television shows including leading roles on A&E’s critically acclaimed Fugitive Chronicles and the Cannes Film Festival award winning short A Bike Ride. Currently Peter is developing The House Arrest Rooneys- a new sitcom for network television featuring talk show legend Jerry Springer, three time TONY winner John Cullum and international drag icon & Drama Desk winning playwright Charles Busch. Examples of his fine art photography can be seen on his new website https://www.peterwelchphotosales.com/shop-art. You can also now watch his internationally released feature length film Three Long Years on line for free, which was posted on YouTube after playing on several VOD platforms: THREE LONG YEARS (full movie) – a film by Peter Welch.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, Presents:
Colorstruck
From February 27 to March 15, Theater for the New City (TNC) will present comedian/actor/broadcaster Donald E. Lacy Jr. updating his one man show, “ColorStruck,” a bittersweet examination of how cultural assumptions drive American society. Since national politics provide a never-ending supply of new material, the piece is continually reshaped. The velocity of change since TNC presented the show’s New York debut last year (Feb-March, 2019) has inspired Lacy to initiate a new version that reflects pressing current events.
Lacy’s gift is in using humor as an icebreaker to bring all races to the racial colloquy. Paul Berss (NY Theatre Wire) characterized last year’s production as “a seamless ride from hate and injustice to funny and heartwarming, all artfully blended and delivered by a master entertainer who is at once an actor, a comedian, a thinker and an activist.”
The piece is undergoing development as of this writing. New topics will include Lacy’s surprise lessons from participating in the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) prison reform summit in Philadelphia. In a surprising act of bipartisanship, this group helped get thousands of nonviolent offenders released around Thanksgiving. Other new subjects will probably include the impeachment, the fragile situation in the Middle East, tribal symbolism in the upcoming national election and the racial context of Megan and Harry leaving the Royal Family. There is also much new multimedia: the piece now begins with a live five-minute prologue by spoken word artist VinDesh about the status of free thought in 2020 America and a brief video talk by Jane Elliott, pioneer of the Blue Eye/Brown Eye Experiment in 1968, discussing racism as a mental illness.
The piece was born in California’s Bay Area and has been presented on college campuses around the country and at the National Black Theatre Festival. It was performed twice for the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus. It begins as a comedic autobiography of a sensitive, light-skinned African American man growing up in Oakland during the height of the Black Pride movement. It recounts how, as a child, Lacy was shunned by some people in the black community for not being dark enough and ostracized by some members in the white community for being too dark. It develops into an examination of how cultural assumptions underlie institutionalized racism. Director is Sean San Jose; soundscape and music are by two-time Grammy nominee Tommy Soulati Shepherd.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, Presents:
Jonathan Slaff – 55 Perry Street (1M) NYC 10014 – 212/924-0496 – Representing:
Theater for the New City’s 17th annual Love ‘n Courage gala Feb. 24 will benefit its Emerging Playwrights program. Gala evening with performances at The Players honors James Rado, composer and co-author of “Hair.”
NEW YORK, January 20 — Theater for the New City’s Emerging Playwrights Program will be beneficiary of the theater’s 17th Annual Love ‘n Courage benefit Monday, February 24, 2020 at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South. The evening honors James Rado, the Tony and Grammy Award winning, actor, playwright, composer and co-author of the musical “Hair.”
Theater for the New City (TNC) is a four-theater complex at 155 First Avenue. Its awards include the Pulitzer Prize, 43 Village Voice OBIE Awards, eight Audelco Awards, two Bessie Awards, five ASCAP Awards, 10 Rockefeller Playwrights Fellowships, The Mayors Stop the Violence Award, the Manhattan Borough President’s Award for Public Service and Artistic Excellence in Theater, and a NY City Council Proclamation that pays tribute to TNC’s contributions to improving the quality of life in the City by its “rich tradition of bringing theater to people in multi-cultural neighborhoods.”
The Emerging Playwrights program is integral to the theater’s mission, which includes being a center for new and innovative theater arts, discovering relevant new writing and nurturing new playwrights. TNC does not believe that readings are enough help for an artist to grow into the American playwriting mainstream. So the theater gives emerging artists full productions, with a minimal run of three weeks, full lighting, sets, costumes and overall good production values. The theater staff does marketing to make sure they have audiences, and ticket prices are kept low to ensure good attendance.
Each year there are between 20 and 30 emerging playwrights presented. No other theater approaches the volume of work by emerging playwrights that TNC has presented in the 50 years since its founding.
Playwrights are selected for the quality of their work and their historical and social vision. Executive Director Crystal Field declares, “That is our ballast. Everything else is just decoration.” Many colleges have playwriting programs, but the process at TNC is different from what happens in university theaters because at TNC, the playwright is involved in all aspects of the production and has final say on everything including budget, casting, designers and choice of director. The producer cannot fire the writer and there is no censorship in any way. It’s a nurturing relationship in which the author is also invited to create a new work for the following season.
Emerging playwright productions get to use the theater’s set and costume shops and its vast inventory of set pieces. Each theater space is fully equipped and this year, TNC has added a projector and sound mixer.
“Love ‘n Courage” will be hosted by songwriter/playwright/performer Phoebe Legere and playwright/director Matt Morillo. They will be joined on the dais by Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director of TNC and Mary Tierney, Chairperson of the benefit. Performers will include: Cobu (all-women Taiko dance and drum group), Penny Arcade, Phoebe Legere, James Rado (accompanied by David Lewis), TNC’s Street Theater Company featuring Michael David Gordon, Earth Cry led by Frances Key (great-granddaughter of Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote our national anthem), the Chorus of TNC’s After School Cultural Arts Program, The Yip Harburg Foundation’s Rainbow Troupe. Robert Gonzales, Jr., Louisa Bradshaw, John Grimaldi and Human Kinetics Movement Arts.
The benefit committee includes Mary Tierney (Chair), F. Murray Abraham, David Amram, Tom Attea, Alexander Bartenieff, Patricia Bosworth, Jean Buchalter, Vinie Burrows, Charles Busch, Janet Cooper-Piontek, Eric Alexie Cruz, Myrna Duarte, Carol Dudgeon, Crystal Field, Matthew Fitzgerald, Andrea Fulton, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Robert Gonzales, Jr., Robert Greer, Margaret Guarino, Philip Hackett, Alan Hanna, Deena & Ernie Harburg, Celia Kornfeld, David Lewis, Anne Lucas, Eduardo Machado, Nancy Manocherian, Mark Marcante, Audrey Heffernan Meyer, Alberto Minero, Louis Mofsie, Lissa Moira, Stephan Morrow, Richard Ploetz, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Tim Robbins, Liana Rosario, Gerald E. Rupp, Esq., Michael Scott-Price, Edward Shea, David F. Slone, Esq., Jean-Claude van Itallie, Betsy von Furstenberg (in memoriam), Jenne Vath, Joel Vig, Jonathan Weber, Patricia & Dr. Jay Weiner and Frank Zuback.
Cocktails are at 6:00 PM with a seated dinner at 6:45. Performances begin at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $200 and $1750 for a table of ten, available online at www.theaterforthenewcity.net. For info call (212) 254-1109. RSVP by February 17. Festive dress is required.
Costume Contest
I-Ching readings
