The Teabaggers will present “The TNC Tea Party” at this year’s Lower East Side Festival of the Arts (photo by Alex Smith)
Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Saturday, May 29, and Sunday, May 30
Admission: free
www.theaterforthenewcity.net
The fifteenth annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts continues on Saturday on Sunday with two days of free live performances both inside the Theater for the New City and outside, where a cultural fair will be held. On Saturday from 2:00 to 5:00, magicians, musicians, dancers, and more will entertain children in the Johnson Theater, anchored by Supercute playing at 4:30. Adult entertainment takes over after that, with the Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company, Bleecker Street Opera, David Amram, Joe Franklin, and others. Meanwhile, Yana Schnitzler’s Human Kinetics Movement Arts will perform a site-specific installation in the lobby beginning at 7:00. Films will run from noon to midnight in the Cabaret Theater, including Rome Neal’s BANANA PUDDIN JAZZ, Buck Heller’s THROUGH THEIR EYES, and Roger Corman’s BUCKET OF BLOOD. And the outdoor street festival will feature live music, poetry readings, performance art, dance, and comedy by Jessica Delfino, the Drama Bums, Domingo’s Dominion, the Vox Pop Players, Jessica Friedlander, and others. On Sunday night, KT Sullivan, Tammy Grimes, the Silvercloud Singers & Drummers, Phoebe Legere, Penny Arcade, and Tokyo Penguin are among those scheduled in the Johnson Theater, with theatrical performances taking place in the Cabaret Theater. In addition, the Community Space Theater will host a poetry program at 4:00 with special guest Joan Durant and nearly fifty participants. And all weekend long, the lobby will be home to visual art curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe. It’s a great festival that has something for everyone, and, yes, it’s all free.