CURRENT & UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS
A Seasonal Press Calendar

Publicity photos for most shows are available for free download.

Closed productions have been removed from this list.
If you need info or photos for a production which has closed, please email us.

LIMITED RUNS

FEBRUARY 21 TO MARCH 10
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"CATAPULT!"
A male plumber and a female woodworker take the the art world by storm in "Catapult!" by Matthew James Fitzgerald.  The piece is a subversive commentary on the pretensions and 'artspeak' of the gallery scene. Fitzgerald is an actor, author, union carpenter, furniture designer and sometime history/english teacher.

The two-act comedy starts out in a gallery under renovation, with a charming and loquacious plumber, placing an assembly of pipes on a sculpture pedestal created by a sassy and articulate female woodworker.  She embellishes this "sculpture" with a lipstick-kissed fragment of mirror and the plumber mockingly christens it "Fluidic Rapture."  It is harmless fun until a wealthy, matronly trendsetter sweeps into the gallery, pronounces their assemblage a  conceptual masterpiece and insists on adding it to her collection.  The two construction workers are thereby catapulted into the stratosphere of the art market, assisted by the  opportunistic gallery owner.  The ensuing play becomes a comedy on the jargon and puffery of the art scene.

COMPLETE INF0: www.jsnyc.com/season/catapult.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wjdKs2CjbS24L7YY7

FEBRUARY 28 TO MARCH 31
CASTILLO THEATRE, 543 WEST 42ND STREET
WOODIE KING, JR.'S NEW FEDERAL THEATRE PRESENTS "LOOKING FOR LEROY" BY LARRY MUHAMMAD
What is black theatre? How is it defined and by whom? What is the relationship between the black dramatist, their creation and the black community at large? "Looking for Leroy" by Larry Muhammad explores these questions through the career of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, arguably the most important black playwright of the 20th century and one who intended his art have social impact. A poet, novelist, essayist and music critic probably best known for his plays, Baraka’s intellectual development from Beatnik to black nationalist to Marxist was reflected in his art. In this two-character olay, a young theatre intern struggles to comprehend the artistic metamorphoses of his hero, a great playwright at the pinnacle of his powers. While the acolyte assists with play development, his casual observations infuriate his mentor and the two heatedly debate theatre fundamentals, examining the fungible nature of aesthetics, questioning whether artistic expression is ever nonideological and weighing the added responsibility of artists of color. Patronia Paley directs.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Leroy.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kK6iFfGsiSzSHUNC6

FEBRUARY 28 TO MARCH 17
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"COLORSTRUCK" BY DONALD E. LACY, JR.
Prominent comedian/actor/broadcaster Donald E. Lacy Jr. performs the New York debut of his one man show, "ColorStruck." The piece 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 and morphs into an interactive experience that uses comedy, music, spoken word, dance and images to stimulate conversation on one of America's most intractable challenges, institutionalized racism. The play 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 presented twice for the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus. Director is Sean San Jose; soundscape and music are by Grammy nominee Tommy Soulati Shepherd.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/ColorStruck.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/esuTokvNnYydJ5hS9

MARCH 19
CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
"HEALING JOURNEYS WITH THE BLACK MADONNA"
Alessandra Belloni and her I Giullari di Piazza performance troupe will return to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., with a concert, "Healing Journeys With The Black Madonna," and an accompanying book launch. The launch is for Belloni's book, "Healing Journeys With The Black Madonna" (Inner Traditions - Bear & Company), which is presently No. 1 on Amazon pre-sales in the category of Folk Dances. The book is an experiential guide to the ancient healing rituals surrounding the Black Madonna legend, which can be traced to pre-Christian times. It contains a forward by bestselling author Matthew Fox.

An ensemble of nine will perform live versions of healing chants, ritual drumming and trance dance ceremonies that are found on the CD accompanying the book.  These include rites of the Tammorriata, the transgender rite of Femminielli, and the erotic "spider dance" of the Tarantella, which has been used for centuries in the Mediterranean for healing.

COPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Belloni2019.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BMfo8GWaJGh69MXb7

MARCH 21 TO APRIL 7
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"JOHANNES DOKCHTOR FAUST, A PETRIFYING PUPPET COMEDYE"
Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) re-imagines its perennially popular "Johannes Dokchtor Faust, a Petrifying Puppet Comedye," translated and directed by Vit Horejs. The story of the learned Johannes Faust, who sold his soul to the devil for ultimate knowledge, is staged with age-old technical tricks of Czech puppetry, including fire and thunder, hellish gargoyles and underwater creatures. A classic of the Czech marionette repertoire, it traditionally contains satires to make fun of a king or a local mayor. The company's adaptation was initially developed in 1990 and its topical references will be updated for current times.

The script is the first definitive American translation of the classic Czech text by the author known today only as "A.B." The main Mephistopheles puppet, about 26 inches high and about 100 years old, was fashioned in Kladno, Bohemia by Karel Krob, a mason and shoemaker. There are three copies of Mephisto, differently-sized, used to make him shrink and grow as he gains and loses power.  Faust is a copy of a folk puppet originally crafted in a Czech-American company over 200 years ago. The balance of the 20-or-so puppets in the show come from the troupe's repertory, notably century-old Czech puppets discovered in 1990 in a hidden storeroom at the Jan Hus Church on East 74th Street. Recommended for ages 6-106.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/vitfaust2019.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PQQsLQeFg2jqYKsx7

ONGOING SHOWS

EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 8, 2019
HARLEM REPERTORY THEATRE
TATO LAVIERA THEATRE, 240 E. 123RD STREET
"THE WIZARD OF OZ: A JAZZ MUSICAL FOR ALL AGES "
Harlem Repertory Theatre stages "The Wizard of Oz: a Jazz Musical for All Ages," co-produced by the Yip Harburg Foundation, for young (and young-at-heart) audiences. This production of the classic musical has a multi-racial cast, a jazzy underscore and authoritative dramaturgy by representatives of the Yip Harburg Foundation. Director/choreographer is Keith Lee Grant, Artistic Director of Harlem Rep, who is in the midst of a four-year project of presenting four classic musicals that have lyrics by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who was known in his lifetime as the "social conscience of Broadway."

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/oz.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KTXnAJaAgtPQDSW12

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