MARCH 7 TO 16
LA MAMA E.T.C. (ELLEN STEWART THEATRE, 66 E. 4TH STREET)
YARA ARTS GROUP IN "THE MAGIC OF LIGHT"
Yara Arts Group creates visually stunning original theatre pieces that explore overlooked cultures of the East, especially Ukraine, through our diverse perspectives. This one is a devised piece on how projections brought Ukrainian epics to life 150 years ago, interweaving puppetry, language, music and poetry to illustrate the cultural and spiritual awakening of an artist in the 1870s in Ukraine. Performed with an intimate, transforming puppet stage by bandura master Julian Kytasty and puppeteer Tom Lee. Directed by Virlana Tkacz.

A story of art is told with beautiful music, ancient texts, poetry, and mesmerizing visuals. We re-visit the concert that introduced Ukrainian epic songs and the bandura to an international urban audience in 1875. That concert was performed by a blind minstrel, Ostap Veresai (1803-1890), who is now called the last bard in the Homeric tradition. While Veresai performed these songs, Porfiry Martynovych (1856-1933), then an art student at the Imperial Art Academy, bedecked the performance with drawn images projected with a magic lantern. Martynovych was so captivated by the artistry of Veresai (and Ukraine's other homeric singers) that he dedicated the rest of his life to conserving them in drawings and to preserving their songs, lyrics and poetry by transcribing and memorizing them. This was a defiance of the Czarist suppression of Ukrainian culture at the time. He later became a prominent Ukrainian ethnographer and folklorist.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/magic.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aHRML98nVhKT8f557. These include photographs of Ostap Veresai and Porfiry Martynovych and paintings and pencil drawings by Martynovych.

MARCH 13 TO 23
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"ABOVE GROUND - NOT EXACTLY A COMEDY"
In "Above Ground - Not Exactly a Comedy," ten senior actors reflect on how they deal with the undeniable fact of getting old, regaling the audience with improvised personal experiences of maturity, illness and loss mixed with childhood memories. The show is a proof-of-concept showcase of Real-Time Acting, a new convention and acting technique for postmodern theater that has been developed by Paul Binnerts and Nancy Gabor. It is performed by members of You're Never Too Old to Play, an acting workshop at Westbeth for seniors 65 and older.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/above_ground.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KTyWbAHDvRA2MsSbA

MARCH 20 TO APRIL 6
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"REMEMBRANCE" BY PATRICIA GOODSON
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.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/remembrance.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aAiou7JXP5xmo8Jk8

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" 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