THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents
Four Evangelists Walk into a Fog
by Douglas Lackey
Founding of a major new world religion is an occasion for intellectual dark comedy.
May 1 – May 18, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets $20 tickets, $15 Students and Seniors
Run Time: 1 hour 15 minutes plus intermission
JOHNSON THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote four differing gospels and created Christianity. These four evangelists actually never met, but they do–as members of a comedic literary synod –in “Four Evangelists Walk into a Fog” by Douglas Lackey. The results are hilarious and profound. Theater for the New City (TNC), which has been Lackey’s theatrical home since 2003, will present the work’s premiere run May 1 to 18, directed by Mark Harborth.
Playwright Douglas Lackey has two lives, as a playwright and a philosophy professional. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Yale and is a Professor of Philosophy at Baruch College, CUNY, where he has taught since 1972. As a playwright, he specializes in serious portraits of historical/intellectual figures in moral dilemmas, including Ludwig Wittgenstein, Giulio Caesare Vanini (a free-thinking physician-philosopher of 17th century Italy), Bertrand Russell, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, and General Heywood Hansell (who advocated for a strategy of daylight precision bombing over saturation bombing in WWII). All of Lackey’s previous plays at TNC have been praised for their deft mixtures of philosophy, romance and politics. He has also written several other historical plays that he calls “comedies of ideas.” This is one of them.
It was inevitable, perhaps, that Mr. Lackey would take up the subject of contradictions among the Gospels, which is quite popular in theological, academic, and secular circles. It has been widely discussed for centuries and remains an active topic in biblical studies, apologetics, and skeptical critiques of Christianity. The four Gospels differ on key details, which include Jesus’ genealogy, his final words on the cross and the timing of the resurrection appearances. Mark and John omit the virgin birth. Paul’s letters, written earlier than these four accounts, rarely mention Jesus’ earthly life and contradict Gospel accounts on the resurrection’s witnesses and Jesus’ teachings on the Law.
These various disagreements provide food for fun and amicable debate in the play, with the contradictions providing natural comedic tension. It could be mistaken for a debate between philosophy professors in the faculty lounge of an American college. The foursome are aware that their writings will become the foundation of a major world religion, so their tone is collegial and good-natured. If there is any intellectual critique, it is based on logic. Comedic anachronisms heighten the satire as the evangelists struggle with the weight of shaping a new faith, bickering over details while Mary Magdalene, their “reality check,” cuts through their abstractions with raw lived experience. It’s done with rapid-fire dialogue, shifting alliances and moments of deep introspection. Think “No Exit” meets “The West Wing” with a theological twist.
Lackey even manages to inject some backstage humor, as in this argument:
John: The psalms say the Messiah’s bones shall not be broken. No broken legs. Let’s move on to the Resurrection.
Matthew: We have problems with the resurrection. Lots of skepticism. Many Jews say the body was stolen from the tomb. Some even say that the followers of Jesus hired an actor to go around Judea pretending to be Jesus. The actor put holes in his hands to make it real.
Mark: Who would believe that? No actor will put holes through his hands just to get paid.
Luke: Apparently you don’t know many actors.
Douglas Lackey has a 22 year relationship with Theater for the New City, which has presented all his plays to-date. His first play, “Kaddish in East Jerusalem” (2003), dealt with issues of the Second Intifada. His “Daylight Precision” (2014) was a historical drama examining “just war” theories through an unsung hero of World War II, Gen. Haywood Hansell. Lackey’s “Arendt-Heidegger: A Love Story” (2018) dramatized the unlikely romance between Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt. His “Ludwig and Bertie” (2019) charted the forty-year love/hate relationship between Bertrand Russell and his most famous student, Ludwig Wittgenstein. His “The Wayward Daughter of Judah the Prince” (2021) was a sort of a philosopher’s “Thelma and Louise” in which the daughter of Judah the Prince (compiler of The Mishnah–the core section of The Talmud) runs off with her Christian slave girl lover to measure herself against the conflicting philosophies of the period. His “Spies for the Pope” (2023) charted the tragic career of Giulio Caesare Vanini (1585-1619), an Italian philosopher recruited by the Vatican (in Lackey’s telling) for an impossible mission: averting the Thirty Years War by reconciling the Catholic and Protestant antagonisms in key European countries. All these plays have been critically praised as explosive dramas of ideas, romance and politics.
Lackey writes, “I am grateful to Crystal Field and Theater for the New City for encouraging me to present this story. TNC is willing to take on my ‘comedies of ideas’ and these are quite different from the contemporary obsession with plays of jumbled identities and failed relationships. Kudos to a theater that will buck the mainstream.”
Director Mark Harborth was Producing Artistic Director of Gallery Players in Brooklyn, where he has staged “Ragtime,” “Dreamgirls,” “Gypsy,” “Evita,” “Rent,” “It Shoulda Been You,” “A Few Good Men,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Chess” and “Run For Your Wife,” among others. His regional credits include “Hello Dolly,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “High Spirits,” “Chicago,” “Children of a Lesser God,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Pirates of Penzance.” He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
CAST
Zephyr Caulfield (Matthew)
John Gionis (Mark)
Nick Freedson (Luke)
Matthew Foley (John)
Andy English (Paul)
Barbara McCulloh (Mary Magdalene)
PRODUCTION
Set design is by Jerry Mittelhauser
Lighting design is by Scott Cally
Costume design is by Joey Haws
Stage manager is Cassidy Byron
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field, with
The LES Committee, Presents:
The 30TH Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
FREE!!!
Memorial Day Weekend
MAY 23, 24, 25, 2025 – Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (btw E 9th and E 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
212-254-1109 Directions
Listen to our LES promo on 1010 WINS!
Theater for the New City has currently scheduled over 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and film makers for its 30th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.
Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.
Indoor performances will take stage from 6:00 PM to midnight each day, utilizing two of TNC’s four theaters. From 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will set up in the closed-off block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues.
The festival has been presented annually since 1996, although in 2020 it was produced online due to pandemic concerns. A cohort of theater, dance, performance, music, film, literary and visual artists are participating on all three days. Multidisciplinary indoor performances will take stage from 6:00 PM to midnight each evening, utilizing two of TNC’s four theaters. From 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will line the closed-off block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues. On Saturday afternoon inside in the Johnson Theater, there will be performances by and for children, curated by T. Scott Lilly, Danielle Hauser and Miguel Loyola, emceed by John Grimaldi. A fine art show, curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe, will be hanging throughout the fest in the theater’s lobby gallery. A film program will be presented Saturday from noon to 10:00 PM in the Cabaret Theater, featuring works by auteurs from the Lower East Side/East Village along with works that reflect the essence of the neighborhood. Over 25 films curated by Burak Tatar will be screened, accompanied by talkbacks with a number of the film makers. On Saturday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, an Outdoor Stage adjoining the theater will offer music and multi-discipline performances curated by Richard West, assisted by Didi Champagne. On Sunday from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM in TNC’s Community Theater, there will be a “Poetry Jam with Prose on the Side” curated by Lissa Moira.
This year, the festival is mounted with the theme “We will not be silenced, speak up for democracy.” The subject will be addressed in some of the playlets and acts written for the festival.
As of this writing, the performers’ roster includes such luminaries as David Amram, Austin Pendleton and Penny Arcade. City council member Carlina Rivera will speak on Saturday, May 24 at 6:30 PM.
Performing ensembles participating will include Bond Street Theater, Chinese Theatre Works, Cobu, The Drilling Company, Ego Actus, Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater, Kinding Sindaw, Le Squeezebox Cabaret, New Yiddish Rep, Textile Theater Company, Wise Guise, Tilted Axes, Oyu Oro and many more.
There will be original writings (many penned exclusively for the festival) by Anne Lucas, Barbara Kahn, David Willinger, Douglas Lackey, Eduardo Machado, Elizabeth Ruf, Ishmael Reed, Lissa Moira, Larry Littany Litt, Miguel Loyola, Pamela Enz, Toby Armour, Tom Diriwachter, and Victor Vauban Jr.
Excerpts of plays performed will include works by Toby Armour, Briana Bartenieff, Stephan Morrow; Peter Welch, and Roman Primitivo, Stephan Morrow, projects of Mary Tierney’s TNC Theater Workshop, and songs from TNC’s 2024 Street Theater.
Individual performers appearing will include Austin Pendleton, Bryce Payne, Jeff Davis, John Grimaldi, Lei Zhou, Stan Baker, Terry Lee King (Amazin’ Grace), Thomas Baker, Tym Moss, Zero Boy, Ed Malin and JC Augustin.
Dance performances will include works by Ashley Liang Dance Company, Carol Tandava, Charly Wenzel, Infinity Dance Theater, Rastro Dance Company (Julieta Valero), Rod Rodgers Dance Company and Thunderbird American Indian Dancers. Aerial dance will be performed by Constellation Moving Co.
Musical performers appearing will include Alessandra Belloni, Art Lillard Quartet, Citizens United Protest Band, David Amram, Ejyp Johnson, Joe Bendik, Judy Gorman, Louisa Bradshaw, Maude Lardner Burke, Michael A Green, Michael David Gordon, Mimi Block, Mister Pablo, Noam Finegold: Burning City Orchestra, Peter Dizozza, Rew Starr, Richard West, Robert Gonzales Jr. and Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe.
Comedy performers will include Hollie Harper, Joan Reinmuth and others TBA.
“Poetry Jam with Prose on the Side,” curated and hosted by Lissa Moira, will take stage Sunday, May 26 from 4-7pm in TNC’s Community Space Theater. Wordslingers are TBA. An open mic will follow as time permits.
Throughout the festival, an art show curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe will grace the TNC lobby spaces. This art show will have its own free, special opening Wednesday, May 21 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Curtis Widem, who’ll be performing as the “Free Art Dude” in the lobby and in front of TNC this Friday 5/23 from 6pm- 8pm.
Emcees will be Crystal Field, Robert Gonzales Jr., Danielle Aziza, Melanie Goodreaux and Sabura Rashid (in the Johnson Theater) and David F. Slone Esq. and Joan Kane (in the Cabaret Theater). The film program will be emceed by Burak Tatar.
Specialty curators of the festival include Lissa Moira (poetry), Burak Tatar (film), T. Scott Lilly and Danielle Hauser (kids’ performances), Carolyn Ratcliffe (visual art) and Richard West and Didi Champagne (outdoor theater-dance-music). The whole festival is run by the LES committee (see below) and chaired by Crystal Field.
Lower East Side Festival of the Arts Exhibit
LES: We Will Not Be Silent-Speak Up For Democracy
FRIDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 23
6:00 PM – COBU
6:22 PM – A Play by Richard Ploetz
6:34 PM – CONSTELLATION MOVING COMPANY
6:46 PM – Thunderbird American Indian Dancers
6:58 PM – PENNY ARCADE
7:20 PM – Glitter Kitty
7:32 PM – Rita Constanzi (Harp)
7:44 PM – Rod Rodgers Dance Company
8:06 PM – Folksbiene
8:18 PM – The Shine Challenge by Ishmael Reed
8:30 PM – Julieta Valero (Dance)
8:42 PM – Scammed Into Love by Briana Bartenieff
8:54 PM – KT Sullivan
9:06 PM – A Play by Anne Lucas
9:18 PM – Mister Pablo (Music)
9:30 PM – Inma Heredia (Dance)
9:42 PM – Jose Francisco Ruiz
9:54 PM – Sylvain Leroux (Flute)
10:06 PM – Austin Pendleton
10:18 PM – Boxcutter Collective
10:30 PM – Louisa Bradshaw
10:42 PM – Ejyp Johnson
10:54 PM – Hollie Harper
11:06 PM – Drilling Company
11:18 PM – Gravity
11:30 PM – Bryce Payne
11:42 PM – Rocco George
11:54 PM – Terry Lee King w/ Billy Little
FRIDAY EVENING IN THE CABARET – MAY 23
6:30 PM – Star ’69 (Rob Varkony)
6:52 PM – Catalina Beltran
7:04 PM – Hija de la Tierra by Yenny Sanchez
7:16 PM – Devorah Shubowitz
7:28 PM – Viktoriya Papayani
7:40 PM – Miguel Loyola
7:52 PM – Stan Baker
8:04 PM – Textile Theater Collective (Claude Solnik)
8:16 PM – Clara (Ego Actus)
8:28 PM – David Jacobsen
8:40 PM – Anita Daswani
8:52 PM – Stefan Harris
9:04 PM – Michael A. Green
9:16 PM – Evan Laurence
9:28 PM – Larry Litt
9:40 PM – Ed Malin (Monologue)
9:52 PM – William Electric Black
10:04 PM – Wendy Stuart
10:16 PM – Elisa Blynn
10:28 PM – Dana II by Jasmine Hyman
10:40 PM – Luke Grande
10:52 PM – Loretta Auditorium
11:04 PM – Ellen Steir
11:16 PM – Lady Clover Honey
SATURDAY AFTERNOON YOUTH PERFORMANCES
JOHNSON THEATER
Coordinators: Danielle Aziza & T. Scott Lilly
Hosted by John Grimaldi
2-5 PM
2:00 PM JOHN GRIMALDI
2:15 PM MOVE. MAKE. BLOOM
2:30 PM MARTIAL ARTS FAMILY STUDIO
2:45 PM TNC ARTS IN EDUCATION
3:00 PM THE ZYLIK BROTHERS
3:15 PM COBU “NEXT GENERATION”
3:30 PM THE YIP HARBURG RAINBOW TROUPE
3:45 PM SOCIETY OF AMERICAN MAGICIANS YOUTH, MILES WEINBERG
4:00 PM EAST SIDE DANCE COMPANY
4:15 PM PS 166 AMAZING ATHLETE’S CIRCUS
4:30 PM FAIRY TALE MARIONETTES
SATURDAY FILM PROGRAM 12 PM – 10 PM
The Cabaret Theater (downstairs) seats about 65
Curator: Burak Tatar
Technical Director: Roy Chang
Hosted by Burak Tatar and Eva Dorrepaal Q&A After each block.
4:30 – 5:30 PM : FILMMAKER NETWORKING PARTY
5:30 PM – (block of 6 films)
[1-6 / #15] Lovearthcam
[2-6 / #16] Clock Shop
[3-6 / #17] Brooklyn
[4-6 / #18] Not So American
[5-6 / #19] The Bad Daughter
[6-6 / #20] PRIME REAL ESTATE
6:58 PM – (block of 4 films)
[1-4 / #21] The Gender Symphony
[2-4 / #22] The Price of Gum
[3-4 / #23] Moonlight in the Bronx
[4-4 / #24] The Voyage Back – Lovers scene
7:45 PM [#25] A Phantom Song
8:45 PM – (block of 4 films)
[1-4 / #26] Stalled
[2-4 / #27] Launch at Paradise
[3-4 / #28] Don’t Forget You Are A Boy
[4-4 / #29] Out to Run: A Tale of Blood Velvet
SATURDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 24
6:00 PM – Tilted Axes (Procession in)
6:22 PM – John Grimaldi (Juggler)
6:34 PM – A Play by Douglas Lackey
6:45 PM – Councilmember Carlina Rivera
6:51 PM – Councilmember Gale Brewer
6:58 PM – Infinity Dance Theater
7:10 PM – Yara Arts (Ukranian Theater)
7:22 PM – A Meeting of Minds by Crystal Field
7:34 PM – Sunscreen by Amy Coleman
7:45 PM – Judy Gorman
8:02 PM – Mimi Block
8:14 PM – Ego Actus
8:26 PM – Carol Tandava (Belly Dance)
8:38 PM – Rainbow Troupe
8:50 PM – Ashley Liang (Dance)
9:12 PM – Chinese Theater Works
9:24 PM – A Play by Tortas Y Tacones (JC Augustin)
9:36 PM – Zylik Brothers
9:48 PM – Artichoke Dance Company
10:00 PM – David Amram
10:22 PM – A Play by Victor Vauban
10:34 PM – TNC Street Theater
10:46 PM – Peter Dizozza
10:58 PM – Tym Moss
11:10 PM – Bennet Pologe (Opera)
11:22 PM – The Wise Guise
11:34 PM – A Play by Eduardo Machado
11:46 PM – The Prior 55 by Andrea Fulton
11:58 PM – Ms. Phillip
SUNDAY EVENING IN THE JOHNSON – MAY 25
6:00 PM – Oyu Oro
6:22 PM – Joan Reinmuth (Comedienne)
6:34 PM – Here I Am by Toby Armour
6:46 PM – Zero Boy
6:58 PM – A Play by Tom Diriwachter
7:10 PM – Lex and the Cult of Spirits
7:22 PM – Charles Krezzel
7:34 PM – Alessandra Belloni
7:46 PM – Barbara Kahn (Excerpt from The Road Ahead)
7:58 PM – Charly Wenzel
8:10 PM – WillieAnn Gissendanner
8:22 PM – Melange
8:34 PM – Kinding Sindaw
8:46 PM – David Mandelbaum – New Yiddish Rep
8:58 PM – Kanpai
9:20 PM – Toni Renee Taylor (Dance)
9:34 PM – The India Center
9:46 PM – Art Lillard Quartet
9:58 PM – A Play by Barbara Kahn
10:20 PM – Rori Nogee
10:32 PM – Zen Mansley
10:44 PM – Lily James Roberts
10:56 PM – Robert Gonzales Jr. (Music)
11:08 PM – A Play by Stephan Morrow
11:20 PM – Valery Oisteanu (Poet)
11:32 PM – Darling Toby
11:44 PM – Le Squeezebox Cabaret (David Slone)
SUNDAY EVENING IN THE CABARET – MAY 25
6:30 PM – Burning City Orchestra
6:52 PM – Maude Lardner Burke
7:04 PM – LES Performing Arts
7:16 PM – Anwar Suleiman
7:28 PM – J Dolan Byrnes
7:40 PM – Richard Weber
7:52 PM – Joe Bendik
8:04 PM – Peter Welch
8:16 PM – Roman Primitivo
8:28 PM – The Head Peddlers (Elizabeth Ruf and Karl Bateman)
8:40 PM – Rew Starr
8:52 PM – Michael Sanders
9:04 PM – Beth Griffith
9:16 PM – Sarah Lilly
9:28 PM – Dante Jayce
9:40 PM – Thomas Goggans
9:52 PM – Randy Mchaney
10:04 PM – Justine Hall
10:16 PM – Christine Stoddard
10:28 PM – Levi Frazier
10:40 PM – Dada NY
10:52 PM – Thomas Baker
BACKGROUND
The first festival, presented June 14 to 16, 1996, was a three-day, indoor and outdoor multi-arts festival, organized by TNC and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders. The aim was to demonstrate the creative explosion of the Lower East Side and the area’s importance to culture and tourism for New York City. It employed two theater spaces at TNC plus the block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues, featured over 100 attractions, drew favorable press and attracted crowds from all around the City. Its success prompted TNC to continue the festival annually on Memorial Day Weekend. For 28 years it has been presented free each year to an average attendance of 4,000. (In 2020 it was held online due to pandemic concerns).
The concept of the festival was developed by Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director of TNC and Esther Cartegena (d. 2006), President of Loisaida, Inc., to portray the Lower East Side (LES) as a haven for artists and artistic creation. The region is a unique multi-ethnic community with an unusually high level of artistic vitality. Large populations with differing languages and cultures coexist there successfully and a large artistic population helps glue the neighborhood together. Its theaters are also an unprecedented source of tourism. Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Buried Child,” was commissioned and first produced by TNC. The committee envisioned an event that would demonstrate the region’s cultural fervor, its large artistic population and its multiplicity of ethnic influences to contradict the neighborhood’s stereotype as a dangerous refuge for drug dealers and criminal activity.
Disciplines presented have always included theater, music, dance, poetry, puppetry, cabaret, visual art, film and children’s programming.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents
THE ROAD AHEAD
April 10 – April 27, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets $20 tickets, $15 Students and Seniors, TDF accepted
Run Time: 75 minutes
CINO THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
THE ROAD AHEAD was inspired by Rod Serling’s classic television series “The Twilight Zone.” A married couple on a nighttime journey is transported by a GPS gone amok to a mysterious destination in place and time. They are welcomed by a guide, who presents three vignettes, performed by her and her assistants. The vignettes, like traditional fables, portray a moral and a lesson for living life with courage while attempting to right a wrong in the world. And each contains hope for a better life.
Photo by Victor Vauben Jr.Photo by Victor Vauben Jr.Photo by Victor Vauben Jr.
CAST
Kristen Gabrielle
Sania Hyatt
Jenna Levere
Lisa Monde
Steph Van Vlack
and the voice of Samuel Williams
PRODUCTION
Set and Light Design by Jason Sturm
Costume Design by Billy Little
Sound Design by Joy Linscheid
Props by Lytza Colon
Photo and Video by Victor Vauban Jr.
Graphic Design by Virginia Asman, illuminage studio
Stage manager/board operator Geoffrey Kinsey
BARBARA KAHN received the 2024 Village Preservation Award. Excerpts from the presentation at the historic Cooper Union Great Hall: “Barbara Kahn is a pivotal figure in the New York City theater scene. Her plays have been produced since 1994 by that great platform for new drama, Theater for the New City, and her works have been a cornerstone of the theater’s seasons ever since. Theater for the New City has a rich history deeply intertwined with the cultural fabric of New York City, and Barbara’s plays have been a leading force in its mission to embody the vision of a cultural center for new and innovative theater arts that is truly accessible to the community and its experimental theater artists.
Barbara Kahn is a playwright who has produced dozens of works rooted in history, especially the history of New York and marginalized or oppressed people, with a frequent focus on the experience of women, LGBTQ+ people, and personal trauma. Her award-winning plays have been produced at the Theater for the New City since 1994, though she has produced plays throughout New York, Paris, and London, and her career as a playwright stretches back decades.
BARBARA is a member of The Dramatists Guild, Honor Roll! advocacy for women playwrights over 50, SAG-AFTRA, The Jewish Theater Circle, and The Entertainment Community Fund (aka The Actors Fund) Performing Arts Legacy Project. https://performingartslegacy.org/kahn/
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents
REMEMBRANCE
A PLAY ABOUT THE VICTIMIZATION OF THE CAREGIVER.
“My mother has Alzheimer’s so therefore so do I.”
March 20 – April 6, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
There will be a “Talk Back” session from a representative of The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America on April 3rd @ 8 PM. (Jennifer Reeder)
Tickets: $20, Students & Seniors $15
Run Time: 70 minutes
CABARET THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
Plays and movies about Alzheimer’s Disease tend to focus on the patient. However “Remembrance,” a new play by Patricia Goodson, centers on their caregivers. A product of Theater for the New City’s Emerging Playwrights Program, it’s Ms. Goodson’s second produced play and her second one to be inspired by her mom’s twelve-year journey with the disease. Her first play, “Aging is Not a Fairy Tale,” debuted last season at TNC. It was a delightful rumination on aging, told with once-young fairy tale characters who have ripened into their dotage. “Remembrance” is a drama meant to educate and inspire the caregivers of the world, whether they are fighting for a person with Alzheimer’s or any other chronic or fatal disease.
Top (L-R): Kkuumba Siegell, David Odukoya. Bottom (L-R): Zane Julia, Beth Griffith, Bryn Eva O’Connor. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.
The story traces a daughter’s long and arduous journey with her mom who has Alzheimer’s. It follows the mom’s deterioration and shows their physical and mental effects on her daughter through the latter’s sessions with a psychiatrist. The play aims to reveal the victimization of the caregiver, as exemplified by a statement in the play’s opening dialogue which says, “my mother has Alzheimer’s so therefore do I.” Five actors play six characters: the patient (Mom), her daughter (present and past), two doctors (a Geriatrician and an Alzheimer’s specialist), and a brilliant middle-aged Caribbean woman who is a professional caregiver, Lincoln Center usher, dancer and deeply religious woman. The play is staged in three playing areas: the doctors’ offices, the patients’ room and the family’s living room. The play tells us that a caregiver is not alone in this world: that there are people and forces that will help them through their difficult task and that positive things can come out of a seemingly helpless situation. As her Mom declines, she inspires her daughter with a proverb about butterflies as symbols of hope. She says, “when you see butterflies, you see Angel wings and it means God is looking after you.” While dealing with serious issues like survivor’s guilt, “Remembrance” is also filled with hope. Goodson writes, “We all have our stories of frustration, our feelings of loneliness and helplessness. We feel we have no control, no defense, but we do. Our caring is our control and our bonds of love and the appreciation of the patient for our efforts are our weapons of defense.”
CAST
David Odukoya
Zane Julia
Beth Griffith
Bryn Eva O’Connor
Kkuumba Siegell
PRODUCTION
Playwright – Patricia Goodson
Director – Joan Kane
Set Designer – Jonas Harrison
Lighting Designer – Bruce A! Kraemer
Sound Designer – Joy Linscheid
Prop Designer – Lytza Colon
Costume Designer – Billy Little
Stage Manager – Dana Vincent-Robbins
Playwright Patricia Goodson made an auspicious playwriting debut at TNC last season with “Aging is Not a Fairy Tale.” A heavy subject treated with a light heart, directed by Robert Liebowitz, it was also inspired by her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. Goodson realized that no one is ever prepared for their end-of-life crisis. So she wrote a fairy tale comedy to answer the question of what would happen to characters of our bedtime stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Three Little Pigs, etc.) as they get older. Edward A Kliszus,wrote in Front Row Center, “The play is a delightful, charming, humorous admixture of favorite fairy tales and characters. Repartee was well crafted and sophisticated, and the cast masterfully executed the many subtle and less subtle jabs with splendid, natural timing and assurance.”
Ms. Goodson made her living for the past 25 years as a retail manager at Macy’s, JFK Airport and The Smithsonian. She has been a writer and story teller since grade school and has always been an avid theatergoer, which nurtured her desire to work behind-the-scenes. For the past four years, she has volunteered at Theater for the New City, assisting Executive Artistic Director Crystal Field. Her experiences there led to her participation in TNC’s Emerging Playwrights Program, fusing her passion for writing with her love for the theater. This 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. Ms. Goodson writes, “Theater for the New City is an extremely important vehicle for keeping real theater alive. It is about theater as an art form. Crystal Field enables artists, be they scenic or costume designers or budding playwrights like myself, to collaborate and create theatrical magic. Her support, with her vast experience, gives a newbie a strong foundation upon which to build their art.”
Director Joan Kane has recently helmed four plays by Toby Armour at TNC, “Susan B.” (2022), “Aunt Susan and her Tennesee Waltz” (2022), “Freedom Summer” (2023) and “Meltdown” (2024). She is also a playwright, dramaturg, actor, educator and Founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus (https://egoactus.com/). Her varied directing resume includes “Sycorax, Cyber Queen of Qamara” by Fengar Gael at HERE, “Play Nice!” by Robin Rice at 59E59 Theaters, “I Know What Boys Want” by Penny Jackson on Theatre Row, “Six Characters in Search of an Author” in Oslo, Norway and “Kafka’s Belinda” in Prague. She was awarded Best Director in the 2016 United Solo Festival and was named to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. In the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she received a five star review for her solo show, “Almost 13,” and four star reviews for her productions of “Safe” and “What Do You Mean.” She graduated from the High School of Performing Arts, studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner and earned an MFA in Directing from The New School and an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College. She is a member of SDC, DG, NYWITF and LPTW. She thanks Crystal Field and Mark Marcante for their support and their passion for keeping theater alive during the maddening days we are living in. (JoanKane.us)
March 6 – March 8, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM
Tickets: $12 General and $10 Students and Seniors
CABARET THEATER
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
A special TNC presentation for three days only of a staged reading with costumes and set of a new Anne Frank play not about the time leading up to the arrest in the annex, but starting with the arrest, when the diary is found overlooked, ignored and abandoned on the floor. This powerful new play tells the story of how this journal went from a pile of pages to one of the world’s best known and best loved books. Through forward storytelling and flashbacks, we watch how Otto Frank struggles with what to do, essentially meeting his daughter Anne for the first time in a new way in these pages. We watch skeptical editors, until the book becomes embraced by editors, and even secretaries at a publisher. A timely, trenchant play about a girl’s, a father’s and a book’s incredible voyage being presented even as an Anne Frank exhibit unfurls elsewhere. Discover new aspects of a story you thought you already knew.
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
An African American public defender faces a crisis. She has been helping defendants plea bargain for years. Now she wants a win, but is this the right case? A realistic play inspired by attorney Tasha Lloyd’s experience, this is a play about justice, injustice and just doing the right thing.
CAST
Perry Gaffney
Patricia Magno
Chaz McCormack
James R. Ward
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents
Alison Cook Beatty Dance: An Evening of Modern Dance
April 4 – April 5, 2025
Friday & Saturday at 8:00 PM
Tickets: $20, Students & Seniors $18
Run Time: 1 hour 20 minutes including intermission
THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
PROGRAM A: Performance on April 4th at 8 PM
(25 min) WORLD PREMIERE
(3 min ) “Bist du bei Mir, Through The Panes”
Intermission
(20 min) “Heroic Departure”
Pause
20 “Central Park Field #4”
Q&A session, 10-15 minutes
PROGRAM B: Performance on April 5th at 8 PM
(30 min) WATER NYC Premiere & FIRE World Premiere
Intermission
(20 min) “Heroic Departure”
Pause
(3 min ) “Bist du bei Mir, Through The Panes”
(16 min) “Whale”
Q&A session, 10-15 minutes
*Please note there is a Silent Auction set up in the lobby before, during intermission and after the shows. Silent Auction will include artworks from collaborating artists such as resident visual art Carol Davis, award winning photographer Sam DeRosa-Farag and more.
CAST
Ava Trochiano
Gion Treichler
Hannah Dillenbeck
Ioanna Ioannides
Maddelaine Burnett
Plus additional guest artists
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
JOHNSON THEATER
Pay what you can! Suggested Donation $5 – $10
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
“Afterwards” is based on the true story of Françoise Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve’s older sister who burned to death in a car crash following an argument with her boyfriend who’d stormed away only to hear shortly after that she had died.
Her lover was the son of Sam Shaw, famous photographer and producer, who became mired in a lawsuit of biblical proportions with his only male child before he passed away.
Using information freely shared in real time and spiritually imparted Enz’s “Afterwards” explores the generations of suffering these people’s stories hold along with the sanctifying power of their mythic love.
The director Sarah T. Schwab and playwright Pamela Enz are eager to work on a truly unplugged piece where text and relationships are not overwhelmed by the often too spectacular technology presently available.
The plan for “Afterwards” as a full production is to use a simple actor propelled apparatus that Pamela’s brilliant long time collaborator Ève Laroche-Joubert designed to transport characters between decades and states of being.
An adult-maze-roundabout with various wall heights Ève’s design offers limitless varieties of human interactions that metaphorically suggest the complexity of relationships depending on how the actors move about and place their bodies in relation to one another. Additionally it supports the displacement of past and present and moments that exist outside of time.
Austin Pendleton starred in “City Girls & Desperadoes” Enz’s play he’d generously shepherded for years up until its Theater for the New City premiere Jan. 2018 after which Pamela became increasingly interested in revisiting City Girls’s characters wondering how they might have fared after its grand denouement.
Hearing Austin Pendleton sing as part of TNC’s Lower East Side Festival of the Arts 2024 which like his writing, directing and acting was a tour de force provided her the necessary connecting thread between the past and futures of these characters.
Elliott Randall, a blessed long time collaborator, is composing a song for Austin and an aural playground to support Afterwards themes of love and longing that transcend time.
Inspired by Edward Snowden’s BitCoin2024 address, itself a yowling howl of a reaction to an increasingly technological world we’ve little power to decide how much we might want to be subsumed by Afterwards ends with a plea for kindness.
Like the whole of Ms. Enz’s recent work particularly the film AIRTIME co-written with Alexandra Guerineaud the play posits the importance of a resurgence of empathy.
CAST
Austin Pendleton
Heather Litteer
Marlon Xavier
Elizabeth Yeoman
Annette Fox
Kim Savarino
Juanita Castro-Ochoa
Pamela Enz – A Hybrid Collaborative Theatrical Collagist my creative heart is best fed and firmly planted in the joyful act of storytelling whether through visual art, film, performance art or most profoundly, theater. Earliest cherished credit: Inclusion in The Guinness World Book’ of Records’ certified longest line of tap dancers on Broadway in NYC that besides copious colorful material provided me insight into the endless space that is the human heart.
A recipient of Edward Albee Fellowships, PEN grants, The Tennessee Williams One Act Play Award, Franklin Furnace Emerging Performance Award, the centerpiece of @aCall2Arms thenewtownproject, refining my art and finding my voice performing nascent pieces on the steps of Metropolitan Museum with Anna Deavere Smith I aim to create compelling narratives that explore the miracles we wish for and sacrifices we make in the name of love and survival.
Sarah T. Schwab is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer, as well as the president of Cardinal Flix, an independent film production company. Currently, she is in pre-production for two narrative features and one narrative short, all slated for filming in 2025. Sarah’s directorial work includes three feature films: “Crybaby Bridge” (2025) starring two-time Emmy nominated actress Sydney Mikayla (“General Hospital”), “A Stage of Twilight” (2024) starring Karen Allen (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and William Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption”), and “Life After You” (2022) starring Florencia Lozano (“Narcos”). She is also a member of the playwright/directors unit at the Actors Studio in New York City.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Executive Director, Crystal Field
Presents
The Best Brother
The bonds of brotherhood are tested by devastating consequences of war, religious indoctrination and personal transformation.
February 6 – February 23, 2025
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets: $20, Students & Seniors $18
Run Time: 1 hour 45 minutes, no intermission
CINO THEATER
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003 Directions
“The Best Brother” begins in the 1980’s. Two pre-teen African-American boys–models of brotherly closeness– are being raised in Harlem by an American mother and a righteous, religious African-born father who violently resists his wife’s ambition to become a professional singer. When these parents are forced by their cultural differences to divorce, their boys are separated. The elder son, Daniel, must go with his father to Angola, where the father dies fighting in the Civil War. The younger boy, Paolo, must remain here with his mother, who loses her operatic voice and descends into alcoholism. Twenty-two years later, the older son, now a religious man, finds the means to return to America and reconnect with his long-lost family. To his despair, he finds that his mother has died and his beloved brother is nowhere to be found. Although repatriated, Daniel does not understand the new America and finds himself in another war trying to restore closeness with his long-lost brother. The play asks, “Under what circumstances does brotherly love allow itself to thrive?” It was originally titled “Brother Sou – 1980.” The title “Brother Sou” means, “Brother I am.” The word “Sou” in Portuguese, a main language of Angola, means, “I am.”
The heart of the play lies in the emotional journey of these two brothers, who are separated by circumstances beyond their control but bound by an enduring, if complicated, attachment. Its narrative structure, with flashbacks between the 1980s and the present day, gives it a cinematic feel, weaving together different times and perspectives to explore how events and experiences shape family bonds over time. Its global scope (Harlem, Angola, and the larger African-American experience) adds depth and intrigue to the storytelling.
CAST
Christal Alexander
Yvette Quintero
Victor Vauban Júnior
Obi Nwako
Caleb Streety
PRODUCTION
Lighting design: Alexander Bartenieff
Set design: Victor Vauban Júnior
Set Design Consultant: Lytza Colon & Mark Marcante
Set Design Decoration: Lola Saenz
Costume Design: Everett Clark
Assistant Stage Manager: Lola Lukas
Lighting operator – Geoffrey Christopher
Victor Vauban Júnior (playwright/director), born in Brazil, has lived in the US for 20 years. He is a former circus performer who discovered a new passion in writing for the theater. His plays have appeared at the Writer’s Guild and in The Guild magazine, and readings of his plays have been presented in the Classical Theater of Harlem’s workshop. He has participated since 2012 in “Writers in Performance” at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, under the tutelage of Mario Giacalone. His plays “Martin’s T.R.U.T.H” and “LEAVES” have been featured at the Strawberry Play Festival Competition in Manhattan, collecting several awards and nominations. He has been an instructor at Cirque du Soleil’s social program, Cirque du Monde, and he has toured with well-known international circus companies such as UniverSoul Circus, Gran Circus Norte-Americano, the Beto Carrero Show, Gran Bartholo Circus and Circus Amok.
“The Best Brother” is a production of Theater for the New City’s Emerging Playwrights Program. This 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. Playwright Victor Vauban Júnior writes, “How excited I am to bring my new production to the Theater for the New City, the birth place of so many great artists and productions in NYC. I feel blessed and grateful for having such an opportunity, as I am trying to find my voice and place in the American Theater universe. Much appreciation.”
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