SEPTEMBER 28 TO OCTOBER 21
VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN AND AROUND NYACK, NY
SECOND ANNUAL PHOENIX LIVE ARTS FESTIVAL
Building on the success of its critically-acclaimed inaugural festival
in 2022, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, led by Artistic Director Elise Stone
and Executive Director Craig Smith, will present its Second Annual Phoenix
Live Arts Festival from September 28 to October 21, 2023 in and around
Nyack, NY. The festival features world-class theater, music, dance, family
shows and one-of-a-kind performances. There will be four indoor and outdoor
productions, partnerships with Children’s Shakespeare Company and Emotions
Physical Theatre, and special events all over downtown Nyack. Phoenix
Theatre Ensemble is a prominent producer of classical theater which was
founded in NYC in 2004 and now makes Rockland County its second artistic
home.
The presenters aspire to create an arts festival to rival the national
arts festivals, celebrating classical theater, classical music and the
community of Nyack. Presented during the Hudson Valley Fall Foliage season,
the festival features immersive theater and live performance programs,
all in nontraditional spaces. These include a stage version of "Crime
and Punishment" by Dostoevsky, four solo plays, one dance work, an
improvised Regency Era production, two plays by and for kids, a staged
reading, a musical concert, a poetry slam and a community theater "Dracula."
INFO: https://liveartsinnyack.com/
and www.jsnyc.com/season/nyack.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xSS7bBH19s7w4syx8
OCTOBER 1 TO 29
EARTHCHXRCH, 36 AVE. C
REV. BILLY & THE STOP SHOPPING CHOIR IN "WELCOME TO THE EARTHCHXRCH!"
As a follow-up to Climate Week, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir
will perform “Welcome to the Earthchxrch!” a protean hour
of rousing song and moving political satire, each Sunday in October (10/1,
8, 15, 22, 29) at 3:00 PM in Earthchxrch, their Lower East Side performance
space-- a converted bank located at 36 Avenue C (Loisaida Ave., at E.
3rd Street). Each performance will be a one-of-a-kind show aimed
at confronting climate grief, inspiring activism and building community.
The ensemble is winner of numerous awards. The shows are directed
by Savitri D.
“Welcome to the Earthchxrch!” combines activism and highly
responsive entertainment. The show includes songs, rituals, testimonials
from the audience, and a 15-minute sermon by Bill Talen as the energetic,
charismatic revivalist preacher Reverend Billy. Each show is different
but all are motivated by a profound imperative - to strengthen individual
connection to the Earth, develop pathways to social change and hold financial
institutions and policy makers accountable for their role in the Climate
Crisis.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Chxrch.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UjcRVFcdiZ1nmh9j6
OCTOBER 2
EDISON BALLROOM, 240 W. 47TH STREET
NEW FEDERAL THEATRE GALA
Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre (NFT), led by Artistic Director
Elizabeth Van Dyke, will hold a 53rd Anniversary Celebration October 2,
2023 at Edison Ballroom, 240 West 47th Street. The event will honor Woodie
King, Jr., Gabrielle Kurlander and Sade Lythcott and is chaired by director
Kenny Leon and actor Lynn Whitfield. Its honorary benefit committee includes
Dee Davis Enterprises, Frankie Faison, Heather Beal, Ron Himes, Ruben
Santiago Hudson, Delroy Lindo, Jonathan McCrory, John Rankin, Norman A.
Small, John E. Scutchins, Diane Stiles, Elizabeth Van Dyke and Claude
Winfield.s
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/NFT_gala_2023.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CBj5jcNzmgKukkj6A
OCTOBER 7 TO 22
OVER 60 PRESENTATIONS IN 17 VENUES IN AND AROUND NYC
PRELUDE '23 FESTIVAL
The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center of CUNY Graduate Center will present
its 20th annual PRELUDE Festival, titled "Re: Generation." The
event brings together artists, thinkers, activists, and presenters from
New York City and beyond in free performances and panels to explore the
many ways in which new forms of theater and performance are taking place
today. The festival will offer over 60 free presentations in 17 venues
in and around New York City. This festival is the annual flagship event
of the Segal Center. Traditionally, it is dedicated to artists at the
forefront of contemporary NYC theater, dance, interdisciplinary and mediatized
performance and offers an array of short performances, readings, and screenings
-- a survey of the current New York moment and the work being prepared
for the next season and beyond, plus new commissions and panel discussions
with artists, scholars, and performers.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/PRELUDE.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mdMSbqwZXx6WFVKJ7
OCTOBER 11 TO 29
GENE FRANKEL THEATRE, 24 BOND STREET
"SCRAMBLED EGGS" BY REGINALD L. WILSON
In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Faithsteps Productions
and 24 Bond Arts Center present "Scrambled Eggs," a new six-character
fictional work by Reginald L. Wilson, directed by Fulton C. Hodges, that
reveals the underpinnings and dynamics of domestic violence. It's a compelling
story that can incite conversation on this difficult issue, build understanding
and inspire advocacy. Audience members are encouraged to wear purple to
demonstrate support and show survivors they are not alone. (Across the
country, people will “Go Purple” on October 20 to spread awareness.)
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/scrambled_eggs.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wVG4TAZHjvoe8kSj7
OCTOBER 18 TO NOVEMBER 12
NEW FEDERAL THEATRE AT ASP/CASTILLO THEATRE, 543 W. 42ND STREET
"TELLING TALES OUT OF SCHOOL"
Following an enthusiastically received work-in-progress of the play last
May, New Federal Theatre (NFT) will present the world premiere of "Telling
Tales Out of School," a new play by Wesley Brown. The piece offers
a unique perspective on the Harlem Renaissance by providing a character
study of four of its most-noted female prime movers--Zora Neale Hurston,
Nella Larsen, Jessie Fauset and Nancy Cunard--revealing their ambitions,
longings and resentments and illuminating the feminine energy they brought
to the movement. Director is Woodie King, Jr., founder and Producing Director
Emeritus of NFT and an iconic figure of Black Theater. King and NFT received
a 2020 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre and the Off-Broadway Alliance
named him a "Legend of Off-Broadway."
It's June, 1954 and a memorial service for Alain Locke, architect of
the Harlem Renaissance, is being held at Abyssinian Baptist Church in
Harlem. Among the attendees are the four writers. Not having seen one
another in over twenty years, they gather at the Hotel Theresa after the
funeral. Over tea, an afternoon of boundless praise of Locke unravels
into disturbing revelations about the great man and the four women who
have come to honor him. With Richarda Abrams as Jessie Fauset, June Ballinger
as Nancy Cunard, Petronia Paley as Nella Larsen and Elizabeth Van Dyke
as Zora Neale Hurston.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/tales.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lk6C7F1WbpGUfxek9
OCTOBER 24 TO 30
MORNINGSIDE PLAYERS, 100 LASALLE STREET, MANHATTAN
"HEDY: THE LIFE & INVENTIONS OF HEDY LAMARR"
Heather Massie will perform her solo play, "HEDY!
The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr," at Morningside Players,
100 La Salle Street, Manhattan, for general audiences October 25 to 29
and for special school groups October 24 and 30. The award-winning play
celebrates the unexpected scientific genius of Hedy Lamarr, the Viennese-born
Hollywood film star of the 1930s-1950s. Leslie Burby directs.
Known as 'the most beautiful woman in the world,' Hedy Lamarr spent
her spare time in Hollywood inventing new technology. She had stored away
knowledge of munitions while married to an Austrian arms dealer in the
thirties, and employed this knowledge to support the US Navy’s war
effort during WWII by inventing (with composer George Antheil) Frequency-Hopping
Spread Spectrum Technology. At the time, it was to be used as a secret
communication system for making torpedoes more accurate. Today it is used
in cell phones, WiFi, CDMA, GPS and Bluetooth.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/hedy.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wj6sNCFJoTXUUi8L7
OCTOBER 31
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
VILLAGE HALLOWEEN COSTUME BALL
On October 31, Theater for the New City will present its 47th annual Village
Halloween Costume Ball, a celebration that is mounted annually to delight
its community, young and old, and celebrate the creativity that comes
with the season. For the second year, it will be a mixed indoor/outdoor
affair. A large outdoor frolic will be held from 3:15 PM to 8:00 PM on
East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues (or if it rains, in
a big tent), featuring performances, a costume competition and dancing
to swing and Latin bands. This will be followed by indoor performances
from 8:00 PM to midnight in TNC's large Johnson Theater, and from 9:00
PM to 1:30 PM in the adjacent Community Space Theater. Admission is free
for the outdoor program and $20 for the indoor festivities.
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/halwn2023.htm
PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/RaQKK8C5mjqE3wsx5
NOVEMBER 9 TO 26
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"SPIES FOR THE POPE"
Playwright Douglas Lackey takes us back to the 17th century and introduces
a forgotten hero: the philosopher and biologist Giulio Caesare Vanini,
who was garroted on a false charge of atheism in Toulouse in 1619. In
the lead up to the Thirty Year's War, Vanini and a young companion zig-zagged
across Europe, emerging at religious flashpoints in unsuccessful attempts
to maintain the peace. Lackey's play takes on culture and politics and
the great war that produced the modern structure of Europe. Alexander
Harrington directs.
JANUARY 9 TO 21, 2024
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS POW-WOW AND DANCE CONCERT
Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, presents its 49th annual Thunderbird
American Dancers Pow Wow and Dance Concert. There will be dances, stories
and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest
and Great Plains regions. The event has become a treasured New York tradition
for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans.
TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for
Native American students.
VIDEO ON DEMAND
"USED AND BORROWED TIME" BY SOPHIA ROMMA
"Used and Borrowed Time," written and directed by
Sophia Romma, is now available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Roku and the
Vyre Network. This experimental avant-garde film, a psychological drama
phantasma, has amassed over 45 festival awards and 26 festival film selections.
An interracial couple's idyllic love rises above the hatred of a vengeful
white supremacist family in segregationist Alabama during the 1960s. The
film pays homage to the French New Wave films of Goddard, Truffaut and
Agnès Varda. It has been translated from its original English into
Greek, Spanish and Italian.
COMPLETE INFO: www.usedandborrowedtime.com
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY & NEW YIDDISH REP PRODUCTION
OF "THE DYBBUK"
"The Dybbuk" is arguably the most well-known play in the Yiddish
theater lexicon. It was premiered on December 9, 1920 by the Vilna Troupe
at the Eizeum theater in Warsaw. Its success catapulted that company onto
the International stage. It has since been translated into 27 languages
and performed worldwide. From December 9-13, New Yiddish Rep celebrated
the play's 100th birthday with a live performance streamed from Theater
For The New City. A recording of the production has now been released
for the general public to view on Vimeo.
MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Dybbuk.htm
"FEATHERS OF FIRE--THE MOVIE"
CINEMA VERSION OF AWARD-WINNING ANIMATION SHADOW PLAY, "FEATHERS OF
FIRE"
Fictionville Studio has completed "Feathers of Fire--The Movie,"
a cinema version of its live animation shadow play, "Feathers of Fire."
This ingenious production of theater-on-film, conceived and directed by
Hamid Rahmanian, is readying for a multi-platform release.
"Feathers of Fire" is the most elaborate shadow theater experience
ever created, and this recording, captured on an actual theater stage,
transforms it into a video-on-demand production for all ages. The story
is adapted from Shahnameh (the Persian Book of Kings) and tells the action-packed
tale of two star-crossed lovers of old Persia. Zaul, an outcast albino
boy, is brought up by a bird-goddess and grows up into a wise ruler. He
enters into a forbidden love with Rudabeh, a princess who is the granddaughter
of the dreaded Serpent King. Their young, impetuous romance survives many
precarious adventures before they finally receive blessings for their
union. When they ultimately have a child, it is Rostam, "the Hercules
of Iran." Aspects of the story are reminiscent of "Romeo and
Juliet," "Rapunzel," "The Firebird" and "Jungle
Book."
The piece is created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim
fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist living in Brooklyn. It is endorsed
by Francis Ford Coppola, who called the production "Fantastic! One
of the greatest epics of all time and my favorite Shahnameh brought to
life in a spectacular fashion by Hamid Rahmanian with shadow puppets design
and cinematic wizardry."
COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/feathers.htm
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