live performance

GRAFFITI MEETS DANCE IN BELLA ABZUG PARK

Imani Gaudin and Jakob Vitale will premiere site-specific work October 3 in Bella Abzug Park

jakob & imani
Bella Abzug Park, Hudson Yards
Enter between West Thirty-Fourth & Thirty-Fifth Sts. along Hudson Blvd. East
Thursday, October 3, free, noon-3:00 and 4:00-7:00
646-731-3200
baryshnikovarts.org

Baryshnikov Arts takes it outside with the world premiere of jakob & imani, a site-specific piece conceived by choreographer Imani Gaudin and visual artist Jakob Vitale for Bella Abzug Park at Hudson Yards. Commissioned with the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance, the durational work explores the symbiotic relationship between graffiti and dance. It will be performed by Gaudin, Vitale, and Marcus Sarjeant, with a set by Gaudin, Vitale, and Louis James Woodworks and photography by Sinematic Studios; Gaudin and Vitale, both graduates of Purchase, also created the sound score and the costumes.

Gaudin, who was born and raised in New Orleans and is artistic director of the Brooklyn-based Gaudanse Inc., seeks “to create a collaborative space for all artists alike while exploring what it means to delve deep into how movement languages bring forth new ideas and translates into what we call dance.” The company has presented such previous pieces as nanibu, 二時二分（2:02), and mamihlapinatapai. The Bronx-born Vitale, who is based in New York and Los Angeles, states that “art can reach in any direction, but in its most basic form it can either steer an observer into fantastical distractions or it can build off of life and evoke a thought/reaction to the prevalence of the real. . . . It comes down to the viewer to determine the significance of the art and evoking its effectiveness towards making the world fair and peaceful.”

Admission to jakob & imani, which takes place October 3 from noon to seven with a one-hour break at three, is free. Baryshnikov Arts’ fall season continues with such other programs as Oliver Tompkins Ray’s Woolgathering, featuring Patti Smith, with choreography by John Heginbotham; PRISMA’s Origins, with ARKAI and SPIDERHORSE; and the Charles Overton Group in a salon-style concert.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

INDRA’S NET

Meredith Monk’s Indra’s Net at Park Ave. Armory is a multimedia marvel (photo by Stephanie Berger)

INDRA’S NET
Park Avenue Armory, Wade Thompson Drill Hall
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
Through October 6, $45-$185
212-933-5812
www.armoryonpark.org

Meredith Monk, the grand doyenne of experimental music, theater, film, and dance, completes her trilogy exploring the interconnectedness of humanity and the natural environment and the universe with the gorgeous Indra’s Net, making its North American premiere at Park Ave. Armory through October 6. The eighty-one-year-old MacArthur Fellow and National Medal of Arts honoree began the three-part work with 2013’s On Behalf of Nature, followed by 2017’s Cellular Songs. Conceived for the armory’s massive Wade Thompson Drill Hall, The piece starts with a preamble; as the audience enters the space, they are greeted by “Rotation Shrine,” projections of Monk and members of her vocal ensemble in silhouette, their bodies floating across the screen. Meanwhile, four dancers to the right and four to the left pose in spotlights as droning music plays.

The audience is then seated in rafters around a large circle on the floor with eight small chairs lined horizontally in a row; at the east end of the hall is a moonlike flat screen hovering above the performance space, facing the audience, its curved upper limit mimicking the arched ceiling. The eight dancers (Tomas Cruz, Jodi Gilbert, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Anaïs Maviel, Luisa Muhr, Paul Pinto, Sarah Rossy, Chanan Ben Simon), known as the mirror chorus, take seats on cushions along the outer edge of the circle, then Monk and the vocal ensemble (Paul Chwe MinChul An, Theo Bleckmann, Gideon Crevoshay, Allison Easter, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, music supervisor Allison Sniffin) sit on the chairs. They move their arms and legs in synchronized motion to begin the piece as the sixteen-piece orchestra, eight on each side and dressed in shades of blue, perform the lovely score, led by Fifi Zhango on piano, Laura Sherman on harp, Ethan Cohn on double bass, Michael Raia on clarinet, and Karl Ronneburg and John Hollenbeck on percussion.

It’s no mere coincidence that the cast is made up of groups of eight, a number that, in various mathematical, religious, mystical, and numerological meanings, represents regeneration, prosperity, and the search for balance between the spiritual and material worlds.

Soon the vocal ensemble is wandering the stage, breaking off into duets and trios as if they are having conversations, although no actual words are spoken, instead creating their own language. Occasionally, a live overhead camera projects the movement on the screen, providing breathtaking visuals. At one point, the vocal ensemble, in all white, and the mirror chorus, in all black, interact as projections of tree branches evoking arteries appear on the floor and screen, interweaving humans with nature. The costumes and set are by Yoshio Yabara, with whispery, echoing immersive sound by Daniel Neumann, evocative, sometimes spooky lighting by Joe Levasseur, mesmerizing cinematography by Ben Stechschulte, and engaging projections by Jorge Morales Picó.

Meredith Monk completes eleven-year trilogy with dazzling Indra’s Net (photo by Stephanie Berger)

In the program, Monk explains that the title of the eighty-minute piece, Indra’s Net, comes from an “ancient Buddhist/Hindu legend [in which] an enlightened king, Indra, stretches an immense, boundless net across the universe with an infinitely faceted jewel at every intersection. Each jewel is unique yet reflects all the others, illuminating the principle of interdependence among all living things.”

Metaphorically, the net and jewels refer to the interdependence between the performers and the audience, celebrating each individual, but on the way out after the show it morphs into a poetic reality as the audience encounters “Offering Shrine,” a video of sixteen people, including many of the vocalists and dancers, opening their hands to reveal such objects as a baseball, keys, a toy car, Scrabble letters, and animal sculptures, representations of which are arranged on a long table below the screen. It’s a compelling way to pay tribute to the little things that, together, help shape an existence that encircles us all.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

YOUR TABLE IS READY — ARE YOU?

Table 17 goes back and forth in time as a couple looks at their past, present, and future (photo by Daniel J. Vasquez)

TABLE 17
Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater
Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space
511 West Fifty-Second St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Through September 29, $60-$150
mcctheater.org

Writer Douglas Lyons and director Zhailon Levingston have followed up their sweet and savory 2021 Broadway debut, Chicken & Biscuits, with another culinary collaboration, MCC Theater’s Table 17, although this one is more appetizer and dessert, skipping the main course.

The eighty-five-minute play was inspired by Lyons’s admiration of Black rom-coms, including Love & Basketball, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Poetic Justice, and Love Jones; posters of various films line the hallway lobby. Each audience member gets a pseudo menu for a restaurant called Bianca’s, which has information about the show and “Today’s Special,” a message from Lyons that asks everyone to “unbutton your top button, the pants too, and let yourself be. When the characters ask you for advice, don’t be shy, talk to ’em.”

Jason Sherwood’s set features sixteen glowing white tables surrounding a round platform where another table sits under a disco ball; at the back of the stage is a long wall with compartments that can open, changing from windows to plush cushions to bars with glasses and bottles, with embedded LED and neon lighting by Ben Stanton.

The incomparable Kara Young, who has been nominated for three Tonys in successive years, 2022, 2023, and 2024, as Best Featured Actress for Clyde’s, Cost of Living, and Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, winning for the last one, stars as Jada Cory, a frantically harried young woman who enters to Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” and asks the audience whether she should change her outfit as she gets ready to meet her ex-fiancé for the first time in two years. “Him calling outta the blue caught me off guard,” she explains. “But, I know Dallas. His pride would not allow him to reach out to me unless he missed me. And I mean, why wouldn’t he?”

Playwright, filmmaker, and actor Biko Eisen-Martin (soft, 3rd and Palou) is Dallas Thompson, a would-be smooth operator who thinks he looks great in corduroy and enters to Usher’s “Nice & Slow.” “Do I miss her? I can’t say I don’t,” he says. “But, if I was saying I did, I’d wanna know she missed me first, before I admitted it. Though, this ain’t me admittin’ it — so, chill out.”

Dallas Thompson (Biko Eisen-Martin) and Jada Cory (Kara Young) rehash old times in MCC world premiere (photo by Daniel J. Vasquez)

And Michael Rishawn, who originated roles in Handjob and Ain’t No Mo’, takes on multiple roles, from snarky restaurant host River Wilks to a cocky bartender who brags about his success with women to Eric, a flight attendant colleague of Jada’s.

As Jada and Dallas play a kind of cat-and-mouse game in the present over whether they are still attracted to each other, the narrative is interrupted by flashbacks to their meet cute, blossoming romance, and eventual breakup. It’s also interrupted by River, who has to be their server as well that evening, offering such pearls of wisdom as “Life sucks, don’t it?” and, when Jada asks him to recommend a dish, “No, I work here. I don’t eat here.”

Young is a delight to watch, even when she goes over the top; she is a master of physical comedy and hilarious facial expressions. Eisen-Martin is steadfast as Dallas, who thinks he’s a lot more cool, calm, and collected than he really is. And Rishawn is a barrel of energy switching among his parts, although he too often takes things too far, the comic relief becoming too absurd.

Like so many rom-coms, Table 17 is light fare that goes down easy, a tasty eighty-five-minute morsel that doesn’t have a lot of meat on its bones but is still yummy.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

LOOKING IN THE MIRROR AND SEEING WHAT WE WANT TO SEE

Jimmy Mako (Sam Simahk) has trouble in mind in See What I Wanna See (photo © Thomas Brunot)

SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE
154 Christopher Street
Through September 29, $64-$93
www.ootbtheatrics.com

“We only see what we want to see; we only hear what we want to hear. Our belief system is just like a mirror that only shows us what we believe,” spiritual teacher and author Don Miguel Ruiz said.

When an early version of Michael John LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See, then called R Shomon and based on three short stories by Japanese writer Ryünosuke Akutagawa, debuted at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 2004, audiences saw a stellar cast consisting of Audra McDonald, Henry Stram, Michael C. Hall, Tom Wopat, and Mary Testa. When the musical moved to the Public the next year, it featured Idina Menzel, Marc Kudisch, Stram, Aaron Lohr, and Testa, garnering Drama Desk nominations for outstanding music and lyrics. Audiences must have been seeing what they wanted to see, hearing what they wanted to hear.

Out of the Box Theatrics’ current revival at 154 Christopher, particularly the second act, is hard to watch. Each act begins with a snippet from Akutagawa’s “Kesa and Morito,” about a pair of doomed lovers portrayed by Marina Kondo and Sam Simahk as well as small Japanese puppets. “Tonight I kiss my lover / for the last time,” Kesa announces at the start.

In the first act, R shomon — based on Akutagawa’s “In a Grove,” which was adapted by Akira Kurosawa into the classic film Rashomon — takes place in New York City, as thief Jimmy Mako (Simahk) sets his sights on bedding a nightclub singer (Kondo) and robbing her wealthy husband (Kelvin Moon Loh) in Central Park. What eventually happens is told from multiple perspectives, by a janitor (Zachary Noah Piser), the thief, the wife, and the husband, channeled through a medium (Ann Sanders). It’s a lurid tale, also told with puppets, that quickly becomes confusing and annoying, the characters’ actions and motivations difficult to believe. Kurosawa crafted the story into a brilliant exploration of a rape and murder as seen through the eyes of four witnesses from four different angles; LaChiusa focuses more on the actions themselves, creating a distance between audience and performer.

People wait for a miracle in Central Park in Michael John LaChiusa revival (photo © Thomas Brunot)

The second half, “Gloryday,” is a retelling of Akutagawa’s “Dragon: the Old Potter’s Tale,” in which a priest sets up a practical joke that becomes something much more than he ever could have expected. In LaChiusa’s version, a priest (Piser) has lost his faith following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “My life, now, is . . . is like . . . a sentence in which every word seems to be missing a letter,” he says to an offstage monsignor. He argues with his aunt (Sanders), an avowed socialist and atheist who declares there cannot be a G-d because of all the war, crime, graft, and “stupid new TV shows.”

The priest decides to pull a prank on New York, delivering a message that announces, “In three weeks / on Tuesday / at one P.M. sharp / a miracle will occur / here in Central Park / Before our very eyes / from the depths of the pond / Christ will rise! / Believe! / And be free! / Believe and be free!” In the park he meets a CPA (Loh), an actress (Kondo), a reporter (Simahk), and others who are all looking for more out of life and hoping that this promised miracle might be their way forward. But it turns out the joke is on the priest.

LaChiusa, whose previous shows include The Wild Party, Queen of the Mist, and The Gardens of Anuncia, and director Emilio Ramos never get a firm grasp of the narrative, resulting in clunky staging. The hand-operated marionettes in the first act are cute and add Japanese flavor, but the shadow puppets in the second feel unnecessary. Also unnecessary is the actors being miked in such a small, intimate theater, furthering the distance between audience and performer. (The sound is by Germán Martínez, with moody lighting by Kat C. Zhou, effective costumes by Siena Zoë Allen, unmemorable choreography by Paul McGill, and puppet design by Tom Lee.) Emmie Finckel’s set is anchored by a Central Park arch lined with LED tape.

Maybe in 2004, during the Iraq War, the second act was timely, but in 2024, twenty-three years after 9/11, it feels dated and manipulative; New Yorkers will never forget what happened, but we have also moved on. These days we are searching for other kinds of miracles as we fall prey to new forms of practical jokes primarily over social media, where we see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

REVELATION READING: ANOTHER MEDEA

Tom Hewitt gives an unforgettable performance in Aaron Mark’s mesmerizing ANOTHER MEDEA (photo by Aaron Mark)

Tom Hewitt gives an unforgettable performance in Aaron Mark’s darkly mesmerizing Another Medea (photo by Aaron Mark)

ANOTHER MEDEA
Sheen Center for Thought and Culture
Frank Shiner Theater
18 Bleecker St. between Mott & Elizabeth Sts.
Tuesday, October 8, $53-$78, 7:30
Medea: Re-Versed continues through October 13
www.redbulltheater.com

In conjunction with its presentation of Medea: Re-Versed, Luis Quintero’s hip-hop reimagining of the Euripides tragedy, Red Bull is hosting a one-night-only special Revelation Reading encore performance of Aaron Mark’s Another Medea, taking place October 8 at the Sheen Center. “Funny, insightful, and haunting, it is a fascinating contemporary play about a disarming psychopath and also a twisted love letter to classical theater,” Red Bull founding artistic director Jesse Berger said in a statement. “With the inimitable Tom Hewitt as our guide to this labyrinth, audiences are in for a deceptively simple and revelatory theatrical journey.”

Below is my original review of the show when it ran in October 2013 at the All for One Solo Theater festival at the Cherry Lane; it was originally produced earlier that year at the Duplex in the West Village and then New York Theatre Workshop at Dartmouth and later played at the Wild Project.

Aaron Mark’s Another Medea is as intense and gripping a show as you’re ever likely to see, a harrowing examination of Euripides’s Medea myth, set in modern-day New York City. The eighty-minute one-man show is spectacularly acted by Tom Hewitt, in a 180-degree turn from his Broadway resume, which includes such villainous musical characters as Dr. Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Scar in The Lion King, and Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar. Hewitt plays an actor determined to meet fellow thespian Marcus Sharp, who is in prison for committing a horrific crime. For most of the show, Hewitt is seated behind a small table, retelling the story that Sharp told his onetime understudy when they finally met.

Sharp shares his tale in precise, exacting detail, using multiple voices as he talks about his relationship with a wealthy British doctor named Jason, one that ends in heartbreaking tragedy. Writer-director Mark (Commentary, Failed Suicide Attempts, Random Unrelated Projects) wrote the show specifically for Hewitt, who is performing it at the third annual All for One Theater Festival at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (and for the first time without the script in front of him). Hewitt is nothing short of breathtaking, immersing himself in the role of an extremely complex and conflicted character whose crime is unfortunately all too familiar in these difficult times. His mastery of the material is stunning, poetically delivered without calling attention to itself. Brutal and beautiful at the same time, Another Medea is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience that deserves to have a longer life in a bigger venue.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

STAGED READING: SOMEONE IS SENDING A MESSAGE

Who: Roberta Wallach, Penny Fuller, James Naughton, Michael Citriniti
What: Staged reading
Where: Ethical Culture Society, 2 West Sixty-Fourth St., Ceremonial Hall, 646-366-9340
When: Thursday, September 26, $25, 2:00
Why: “Life goes on. With or without you. You can either shut down or join in,” Nick Springer once said. On September 26 at 2:00, the life of the Paralympic gold medalist will be honored with a staged reading of the new play Someone Is Sending a Message, taking place at the New York Society for Ethical Culture’s Ceremonial Hall. Springer, a quadriplegic who won his gold in wheelchair rugby at the 2008 Beijing Games, died in April 2021 at the age of thirty-five; he had contracted meningococcal meningitis in 1999 but led a courageous fight to make the most of his life. “A lot of people look at me like I’m fragile,” he told the New York Times in 2003. “Sports gives me a chance to get out there and bang myself up.”

Written by Susan Charlotte, directed by Antony Marsellis, and presented by Cause Célèbre, the play features Drama Desk nominee Roberta Wallach, Tony nominee Penny Fuller, two-time Tony winner James Naughton, and Michael Citriniti in a story about an artist friend of Nick’s who must face her future without him as well as her brother, who also passed away in his thirties. Tickets are $25 for this special event.

AXIS COMPANY ENCORE ENGAGEMENT: TWELFTH NIGHT

Axis puts a dark spin on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (photo by Pavel Antonov)

TWELFTH NIGHT
Axis Theatre Company
One Sheridan Sq. between West Fourth & Washington Sts.
Wednesday – Saturday, September 25 – October 26, $11-$44, 8:00
866-811-4111
www.axiscompany.org

Following its initial run earlier this year, Axis’s dark and involving theatrical adaptation of Twelfth Night is back at the company’s Sheridan Square home for an encore engagement running September 25 to October 26. Below is twi-ny’s original review from May.

I described the last two productions I saw of William Shakespeare’s 1601–02 Twelfth Night as “light and lively,” “ecstatic,” “a joy to behold,” and “a pure delight.” I would not use any of those words to describe Axis Theatre Company’s streamlined new production, but that won’t stop me from heartily recommending it.

Shakespeare professor Marc Palmieri’s adaptation focuses on the darker side of this mistaken-identity romantic comedy about unrequited love, which has been trimmed to a fast-paced ninety minutes. David Zeffren’s lighting remains dim throughout on director Randall Sharp’s haunting stage, where actors are surrounded by large rectangular blocks and shadowy entrances; in one corner, guitarist and sound designer Paul Carbonara and pianist Yonatan Gutfeld (the keyboards are embedded in one of the blocks) perform Carbonara’s subtle Baroque-like score. Karl Ruckdeschel’s costumes — men’s suits and long coats, women’s gowns — are muted grays, lavenders, and earth tones; even Malvolio’s socks are a subdued yellow, not as garishly ridiculous as usual.

“If music be the food of love, play on / Give me excess of it,” Duke Orsino (Jon McCormick) declares as the show begins. The story is familiar to Shakespeare aficionados: In faraway Illyria, the wealthy countess Olivia (Katy Frame) rejects all suitors, including Orsino, who is in love with her. Her loyal steward, Malvolio (Axis producing director Brian Barnhart), also harbors a secret passion for the noblewoman. Twins Viola (Britt Genelin) and Sebastian (Eli Bridges) survive a shipwreck and wash up onshore, each ignorant that the other is still alive. One of the duke’s gentlemen, Curio (Robert Ierardi), explains to Viola, who has now disguised herself as a man named Cesario, that Olivia keeps repulsing Orsino’s advances. Viola quickly decides that she will convince Olivia to see Orsino in order to secure a place for herself in the duke’s employ.

Sebastian was rescued by Antonio (Jim Sterling), a sea captain who requests to be his servant. Believing his sister to be dead, Sebastian disguises himself as Roderigo and heads to the court of Orsino, where Antonio is not welcome.

Meanwhile, a group of conniving drunks hover around Olivia: her uncle, the raunchy Sir Toby Belch (George Demas); Sir Toby’s friend, the faux-elegant squire Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Andrew Dawson), who Sir Toby presents to Olivia as a potential suitor; Olivia’s chambermaid, Maria (Dee Pelletier); Olivia’s fool, Feste (Spencer Aste); and her servant Fabian (Brian Parks). “You must confine yourself within the modest limits of order,” Maria warns Sir Toby, who replies, “Confine! I’ll confine myself no finer than I am: these clothes are good enough to drink in; and so be these boots too.”

Axis Theatre Company’s Bard adaptation is back for an encore engagement (photo by Pavel Antonov)

After Malvolio chastises them for their ill behavior, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Feste, and Fabian, under Maria’s lead, concoct a plan to embarrass Malvolio in front of everyone. Maria explains, “Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind and affectioned ass / the best persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks / with excellencies, that it is his grounds of faith / that all that look on him love him / and on that vice in him will my revenge find / notable cause to work.”

It all comes to a head in a grand finale that, while not as boisterous as in other iterations, is as satisfying in its exactitude.

Axis refers to Twelfth Night as “Shakespeare’s most painful comedy,” and that’s just what Sharp, Palmieri, and the superb cast deliver. The company’s dungeonlike space on Sheridan Square is tailor-made for eerie, chimeric stories bathed in gloom, doom, and gothic and apocalyptic humor. In such previous works as High Noon, Dead End, Last Man Club, and Worlds Fair Inn, Axis founding artistic director Sharp has presented stark, compelling productions heavy in dark atmosphere but not without comic moments.

In this Twelfth Night, Olivia is fretful, often edgy with anxiety. She has no friends, only those who want her wealth or favor. Many of the characters, from Malvolio and Olivia to Feste and Sir Toby Belch, have a slightly pathetic bent to them. When Sir Andrew proclaims, “Shall we set about some revels?” and Sir Toby replies, “What shall we do else?,” the revelries that follow are not exactly a fanciful, fun frolic. Feste sings “O Mistress mine where are you roaming?” and “When that I was and a little tiny boy (With hey, ho, the wind and the rain)” and Carbonara and Yonatan Gutfeld’s music ramps up, accompanied by Lynn Mancinelli’s period choreography, but it’s not quite a royal ball. A subtle cloud of desperation hangs over the festivities. In fact, sometimes it feels like a night on the Bowery. Even the revelation scenes are kept relatively low key.

Twelfth Night demonstrates precisely what Sharp and Axis do best, whether offering an original play or a fresh take on an old chestnut. As always, they also include a related window display at the bottom of the theater entry stairs, this time providing added ambience and some shipwreck Easter eggs but no cakes and ale.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]