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SEASON 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.
FEBRUARY 18 TO MARCH 7
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"MOMENTS AND LEMONS"
LIST: THEATER
Thom Fogarty directs "Moments and Lemons," the Theater for the New
City debut of playwright Fred Giacinto. The play, about the mishaps of an unfortunate
man named Casper, is an "essential theater" production for two character
actors, one of whom plays Casper at all the stages of his life. The other plays
his jail cellmate and all the women in his life.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/moments_lemons.htm
MARCH 4 TO 21
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"REVOLUTION!"
(LIST: THEATER)
This theatre spectacle, featuring Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre and
guest artists, examines revolutions throughout the history of mankind as a backdrop
for the extraordinary peaceful 1989 Velvet Revolution in former Czechoslovakia.
It wil be performed in the tradition of Central European medieval street and
traveling circus shows, using puppetry, object theatre and circus arts. Czech
and Czech-American theatre artists join together to offer their particular perspectives
on the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and an overview of the very idea of revolution
through the ages. The piece is written and directed by Pavel Dobruský
and Vít Horejš. Guest artists from The Czech Republic will include Michal
Bumbálek, Bára Milotová and Sergej Sanza (Facka/The Slap
Theater members), Pavel Strouhal (Project WINGS Director), and Hana Kalousková.
Supported by Agentura Dell’arte (Czech Republic) and GOH Productions (NYC).
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/revolution!.htm
MARCH 4 TO 21
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"LIVING IN A MUSICAL"
(LIST: OFF-OFF BROADWAY)
"Living in a Musical," with book and lyrics by Tom Attea, music by
Arthur Abrams and direction by Mark Mercante, is a contemporary story of a young
man who is a song-and-dance talent in the tradition of Fred Astaire or Gene
Kelly. Not surprisingly, finds that today’s rock- and rap-dominated world has
no place for him. To console himself, he creates an imaginative world
in which he lives: the world of the classic American musical. We see his
comforting but fragile illusion most clearly by his apartment, where photos
and mementos from the musical world of the 1930's and 1940's abound. The
musical explodes dramatically when the world of heavy-metal rock unexpectedly
intrudes on his otherwise rather placid life, in the persons of two new neighbors,
a man and woman, who are having a raucous argument in the hallway just outside
of his apartment. He rescues the woman from her lover's verbal and physical
mistreatment, setting the stage for a conflict not only in terms of love interest
but also between styles of singing and dancing, between the elegant life as
portrayed in the musicals of the 1930’s and 1940’s and the earthier life of
today’s rock-and-rap world.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/living_musical.htm
MARCH 11 to 28
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"WONDER BREAD"
(LIST: THEATER)
So that one of his daughters could see the world, the father of Polish-born actress Danusia Trevino had to work hard, save and borrow. To get Danusia her first airline ticket to New York, he bribed the ticket clerk (a lady with a purple beehive and a golden tooth) with a pig. The first time Danusia arrived here to visit relatives in Valley Stream, NY, she ate a peck of fresh fruit and drank a gallon of Tropicana (no pulp). She couldn't sleep wondering if she would put her Wonder Bread in the toaster the next morning, or eat it soft. Her story of coming to America, and coming into herself here, is "Wonder Bread," a solo show.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/wonder_bread.htm
MARCH 25 TO APRIL 11
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"THIRST; MEMORY OF WATER" (WORKING TITLE)
(LIST: OFF-OFF BROADWAY)
Puppet theater has an uncanny ability to take on big themes, and such will be
the case when Jane Catherine Shaw, co-director of the Voice 4 Vision Puppet
Festival, takes on world drought in "Thirst: Memory of Water," her
newest puppet theater work. It's a big subject, but Shaw is trying to make it
manageable by concentrating on themes of women and water because, as she writes,
"around the world women are carrying (literally) the burden of
maintaining life by walking for water." The piece is based on such literary
sources as first-person writings about Ethiopia, testimonials from Haiti, Tanzania,
the Jenin Camp on the West Bank, Taiwan and Japan; newspaper accounts from Saudi
Arabia; the Hindu Deluge Story, Leonardo Da Vinci's Treatise on Water and Book
Six (The River Styx) of The Aenead. Features elevated rod puppets (with puppeteers
dancing underneath), shadow puppets, a giant inflatable baby puppet and images
from the NYC Sand Hogs (who are digging the third giant NYC water tunnel as
you read this). Texts have been assembled through The Common Language Project,
1h2o.org, wateraid.org, a Chinese women's org, an activist named Kathy Kelly
and the cast. Music composed by David Patterson. Choreography by Hillary Spector.
Lighting design by Jeff Nash Lighting Design. Set design by Gian Marco Lo Forte.
Puppets, costume design and construction, script and concept by Jane Catherine
Shaw in collaboration with the all woman cast of Sophia Remolde, Ora Fruchter,
Spica Wobbe, Margot Fitzsimmons, Kristine Haruna Lee and Cybele Kaufmann.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/thirst.htm
APRIL 16 TO MAY 2
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"SCYTHIAN STONES"
LIST: THEATER AND WORLD MUSIC
Yara Arts Group will summon ancient epics and rituals from traditional weddings
in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan for "Scythian Stones," a new, experimental
World Music-Theatre piece with choreography. The piece features the famed Ukrainian
singer Nina Matvyienko and musicians from Kyrgyzstan. Virlana Tkacz directs.
Yara Arts Group has made multiple trips to both Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan to create
interdisciplinary dramatic pieces based on regional epics. This piece will be
developed in Kiev from March 5 to 27, after which the company will return to
NYC and rehearse here with Yara Artists.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/scythian.htm
APRIL 22 TO MAY 2
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"PANDIBULAN (BATHING BY THE MOONLIGHT)"
LIST: DANCE
A new work by Kinding Sindaw, led by Potri Ranka Manis: a company that re-creates
the traditions of dance, music, martial arts, storytelling, and orature of the
indigenous peoples of the Philippines. This piece is based on folklore from
the Yakan people of Southern Philippines. A Yakan woman, half a world from home
dreams of tales from her youth as she works as a caregiver to others. Tales
of her ancestors, stories of the sea, dazzling dreams of dragons who swallow
the sun and magical struggles for the earth and sky at once sustain her and
make her long for the simple pleasures of her village and home. The piece is
a unique interweaving of traditional Yakan tales with the contemporary issues
of modern life for a caregiver with her feet on two continents.
Please check back for more info.
APRIL 30 TO MAY 23
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"LAUGHING IN THE WIND: A CAUTIONARY TALE IN MARTIAL ARTS"
(LIST: OFF-OFF BROADWAY)
Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America (www.yangtze-rep-theatre.org) presents
"Laughing in the Wind: a Cautionary Tale in Martial Arts," based on
a book by Jin Yong which is one of the Chinese-speaking world's best known martial
arts novels. The play is adapted and directed by Joanna Chan, Artistic Director
of Yangtze Repertory Theatre. It exposes the tragic consequences of ruthless
power struggles. Jin Yong is China's most popular writer of the Martial Arts
genre.
No further info is available as of this writing.
MAY 6 TO 23
LA MAMA E.T.C.
WITNESS RELOCATION IN "FIVE DAYS IN MARCH" BY TOSHIKI OKADA, TRANSLATED
BY AYA OGAWA, DIRECTED BY DAN SAFER
(LIST: THEATER)
Witness Relocation (www.witnessrelocation.org), "A dance-theater anarchist's
Utopia" (Performing Arts Journal), adapts a noted recent work by Toshiki
Okada that is a winner of the prestigious Kishida Kunio Drama Award. Okada,
founding director of "chelfitsch" (always spelled with a small "c")
theater company of Japan, creates plays in slangy Japanese with a unique choreography
that is described as a "noisy" corporeality. This play is the story
of two Japanese hipsters who meet in a post-rock show during the days before
the U.S. began its war in Iraq. They engage in a one night stand that stretches
into a five-day love tryst, oblivious to the world-shaking events about to happen.
Their obsession over a love affair succinctly captures the irony and impotency
of Generation Y in Japan today. A unique fusion of forms connects Witness Relocation
and Okada's chelfitsch company. In this production, Witness Relocation will
apply its uniquely American pop culture dance/theater methodology to make the
play resonate for an American audience. Cast of seven; music by Dave Malloy.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/5days.htm
MAY 6 TO 16, 2010
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"GENERATION (BU)Y"
(LIST: OFF-OFF ROADWAY)
Written and directed by Philip Suraci, "Generation (bu)Y" will be
written and performed for an audience of both adults and children over the age
of 9. The intent of this production is to raise awareness of the effects of
and spur reflection upon marketing and advertising to children. Adults will
be asked to think about the future they will create by regarding children as
consumers and our culture’s relentless materialism. "Generation (bu)Y"
will examine strategies used by marketers such as the belittlement of parents
and adults (parent/child alienation) and the exploitation of child needs of
acceptance by peers.
While pursuing a masters degree in educational theater (NYU 2004), Suraci was deeply impressed by the depth and complexity of thought of relatively young people (ages 10-13). When these students and their words were placed in a dramatic context, Suraci found the result to be powerful, provocative and beautiful. Society pays little heed to the personal beliefs of children. Though children are often unencumbered by fears and obstacles encountered by adults, their views, their purity of thought and purpose, are disregarded by the jaded, realist perspectives of their elders. In this sense, children are the most ordinary of people—voices overwhelmed by society’s power structure.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/generation_buY.htm
MAY 14 TO 16
THEATER 80 SAINT MARKS
"A PALO SECO" WITH REBECA TOMÁS
(LIST: DANCE)
Rebeca Tomás, an emerging Flamenco dancer and piano player, will make
her solo debut with "A Palo Seco," an evening of Flamenco
and innovative music. The production will be performed by Tomás, two
dancers, two singers and four musicians. Rebeca Tomás, a Manhattan-based
performer, has freelanced as a solo dancer and company performer and produced
her own original works. She has been deemed as "a fierce performer"
(Explore Dance) and "a postcard image of the feminine Flamenco dancer"
(Kansas City Metropolis). Since summer 2008, she has been touring with the internationally
renowned company Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/rebeca_tomas.htm
MAY 27 TO JUNE 6
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"RED MOTHER" (LIST: THEATER)
"Red
Mother" is a one-woman show written and performed by the acclaimed Muriel
Miguel, co-founder of Spiderwoman Theater. It is the story of Belle who, with
her horse and companion, Blue Fred, travels across what was once Indigenous
land. Based on Brecht’s "Mother Courage," it weaves traditional
dance with humor and satire, Brechtian themes with Kuna demon and ghost stories,
exploring legacy and memory through the eyes of an old Indigenous woman. Murielle
Borst directs. The 60-minute piece is full of earthy humor, yet stinging pathos.
"Red Mother" explodes the fiction of Indigenous women as virtuous,
noble, "earth mothers," a stereotype that has been perpetuated both
by the dominant culture and the Native population for centuries. Belle, the
Red Mother, speaks for and to the failed mothers, the prostitutes, and the addicts:
women living on the fringe whose very existence contradicts the myth of the
Native "earth mother."
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/red_mother.htm
JUNE 3 TO 27
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"MY BOYFRIEND IS A ZOMBIE," WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY WILLIAM ELECTRIC
BLACK
(LIST: OFF-OFF BROADWAY)
This is a new 1950's bopping musical, a kind of "Grease meets Zombieland"
about a girl named Paula who falls in love with a zombie. Book, lyrics and direction
by William Electric Black, music co-composed by William Electric Black and Gary
Schreiner.
Author/director William Electric Black directed TNC's sensational "Lonely Soldier Monologues: Women at War in Iraq" last season. The play is being revived by La MaMa Feb. 5-7 this year. Too bad if you missed his previous musical at TNC, "Betty and the Belrays" (2007), in which three white female singers challenged a racially divided society by singing for a black record label.
Since 1999, Black has penned and directed a series of "jazzicals" in which classical and modern stories were adapted with modern music. These have been produced at TNC and La MaMa. His theater projects have also been produced in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Writing as Ian Ellis James, Black has won seven Emmies as a writer for "Sesame Street." His educational TV projects have also been produced by Topstone Productions, Lancet Media, Nickelodeon, Scholastic Productions, Warner Cable, and Winchester TV & Film, London. Black composed songs for Queen Latifah, Erykah Badu, Patti Labelle, and Arrested Development when they made special guest appearances on Sesame Street. He has received several Best Play Awards, been published by Benchmark Education, The Dramatic Publishing Co., Smith & Krauss, and received a Bronze Apple for directing (National Educational Video Award). Black has had two film scripts optioned, "Slave Ball" for Silver Pictures/Warner Brothers and "Road Runner" for MCA Records, Jerome Ade, Producer. He has also written, directed, and produced two independent features.
Black is curator of the Poetry Electric reading series at La MaMa, which fuses music, movement, sound, and dance with the spoken word. Black is also an adjunct professor at NYU's Tisch School, where among other things, he teaches techniques performance of plays based on literary works.
No further info on "My Boyfriend is a Zombie" is available as of this writing.
JUNE 11 TO 28
"WUTHERING HEIGHTS," THE MUSICAL
MINT THEATER
(LIST: THEATER)
Paul Dick's musical drama is based on Emily Bronte's timeless tale of starcrossed
love. The passion of Heathcliff and Cathy is set to a semi-operatic score; book,
music and lyrics are by Mr. Dick. Matt Gurtschick directs. Musical director
is Michael Sheetz.
Paul Dick is author of over 15 musicals; many are based on classic sources, including "Madame Bovary" (directed by Elizabeth Falk, 2007), "A for Adultery" (based on The Scarlet Letter) and "Knock at the Door" (based on the Sean O'Casey novel). Others are based on more contemporary sources, such as "Tania" (based on Patty Hearst, presented by NY Theatre Workshop), "White Widow" (based on the play "Mafia" by Mario Fratti) and "Anytime, Anywhere" (a story of gay soldiers in Vietnam). Mr. Dick is an Off-off Broadway original; his earliest works were presented by the WPA Theater when it was located on 333 Bowery. (Does that take you back?) He participated in Lehman Engel's BMI Workshop and his musicals were championed by Alan Schneider.
No further info is available as of this writing.
AUGUST 8 TO SEPTEMBER 5, 2010
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
DREAM UP FESTIVAL
From August 8 to September 5, 2010, Theater for the New City (TNC), under the
direction of Crystal Field, Artistic Director, will present its first "Dream
Up Festival," a theater festival that is open to submissions from artists
across the country and abroad. It is curated by the theater's Literary Manager,
Michael Scott-Price. The festival will be a month long anthology of wide-ranging
and original theatrical visions embracing drama, poetry, music and dance. The
festival hopes to offer at least 20 shows on its lineup. Up to now, Theater
for the New City has primarily served local theater artists. The Dream Up Festival
opens up the theater to the country at large and to artists from overseas. Its
founders feel this is especially needed now in a time of declining donations
to the arts, grants not being awarded due to market conditions, and arts funding
cuts on almost every level all across the country and abroad.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/dream_up.htm
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