THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Crystal Field, Executive Director, presents:
ENDANGERED ENVIRON EAST RIVER PARK
An Art Loisaida Foundation & East River Park Action Online Exhibit….
Click Here for Art!
Click Here for Artist Statements!
Archives: Shows
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Crystal Field, Executive Director, Presents:
44th Annual
Virtual Village Halloween Costume Ball
Saturday, October 31, 2020
ONLINE ONLY
theaterforthenewcity.net
www.facebook.com/theaterforthenewcity
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
Start Watching Now!
Costume Contest
- Upload a TikTok type of video performance in your original costume to enter the contest.
- Winners will be featured on our website and receive a Surprise Prize.
- Send your video submission to info@theaterforthenewcity.net
I-Ching readings
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!
HOW IT WORKS:
- Submit your question via email to info@theaterforthenewcity.net with the Subject Line: “I-CHING READER.”
- 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.”
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.
For the full 44th Annual Village Halloween Costume Ball Press Release, please click here!
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Crystal Field, Executive Director, Presents:
TNC PRIDE 2020
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 MaMa and 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
OVER 150 PERFORMANCES ARE SET FOR
TNC’S 25TH LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
MAY 22-24, 2020
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 – The Sopranos 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 with Courtney 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
- TADA! Youth Theater, Producing Artistic Director: Janine Nina Trevens, Associate Artistic Director/Resident Choreographer: Joanna Greer
- Brooklyn Irish Dance Company, Directors: Erin O’Donnell, Stacey Cox, Mallory Silliere, Alexandra Owensby
- 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 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.
# # #
For photos of recent productions of TNC Emerging Playwrights, go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/iFZw9TF8ztn7McMBA