This Week In New York

undergroundzero festival

A FESTIVAL OF THEATER ARTISTS
P.S. 122
150 First Ave. at East Ninth St.
Tuesday, July 6, through Sunday, July 25
Tickets: $15-$20
212-352-3101
www.ps122.org/undergroundzero

The fourth annual undergroundzero festival, presented by East River Commedia as a place where artists are encouraged to experiment as part of a creative summer lab experience, returns to P.S. 122 on July 6 for three weeks of innovative, unique, and rather strange theater. Adding an international flavor, this year’s productions come from Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Wales, and New York. Among the shows are Fabiana Iacozilli’s ASPETTANDO MIL (WAITING FOR NIL), a wedding drama inspired by WATING FOR GODOT; Alexandru Mihaescu’s futuristic THE CONCRETES (AFTER VLADIMIR SOROKIN); Dermot Bolger’s timely THE PARTING GLASS, about Ireland’s attempt to qualify for the 2010 World Cup; John Wesley Zielmann playing Andy Warhol in FOREVER ART; Eliza Bent, Jasmin Hoo, and Elizabeth Stevenson’s multimedia BLUE DRESS REDUCTION; FROM DAWN TILL NIGHT (THE EARTH IS UNINHABITABLE LIKE THE MOON), Dangerous Ground’s adaptation of Fassbinder’s apocalyptic IN A YEAR WITH 13 MOONS; and Performance Lab 115’s THE RING CYCLE: Part 1, set in the world of professional wrestling. You’ll also be able to find Butoh, Henry Miller, magic, James Dean, suicide clubs, Jean Cocteau, a vegan’s foray into the world of meat, Jayne Mansfield, burlesque, Dwight Eisenhower, a Zen garden, and other interesting and unusual themes and characters. In addition, the festival includes three “playgroundzero” staged readings, the most intriguing being Saviana Stanescu’s POLANSKI, in which Grant Neale plays the controversial Polish film director interviewing himself. Every Tuesday night will feature a “commonground” theatrical cultural talk show, and on Fridays at 11:00 the “latenightzero” dance party gets the weekend going in style.