live performance

BATTERY DANCE FESTIVAL FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY

BATTERY DANCE FESTIVAL
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, Battery Park City
20 Battery Pl.
August 12-14 online, August 15-20 in person, free, 7:00
batterydance.org

The Battery Dance Festival has a lot to celebrate this month. Not only is the free summer festival celebrating its fortieth anniversary, but it will be doing so with a series of live, in-person presentations in addition to virtual performances from around the world. “Dancing in the open air, with the river and sky in the background, is always a blissful Battery Dance Festival experience,” Battery Dance president and artistic director Jonathan Hollander said in a statement. “This year, it will be even more exhilarating as people come out of isolation to witness the entrancing performances at Wagner Park. Before the action starts onstage, three nights of truly riveting dance films from many corners of the globe will be screened. Creativity was running high during the pandemic, and we have harvested a heady mix from voguing on a mountaintop in Lebanon to swing dancing in South Korea, from commedia dell’arte in Mexico to birdlike flocking in the Netherlands.”

The festival will screen sixteen dance films online August 12-14 at 7:00, followed by forty live and livestreamed performances taking place August 15-20 at Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park in Battery Park City, including thirty-two premieres from fifty-three companies. Below is the full schedule.

International Dance Film Festival: Online Only at 7:00

Thursday, August 12
We Arnhem, Chapter II, Introdans, Jurriën Schobben & Alberto Villanueva Rodríguez (the Netherlands)

Uninhabited Island, Dance Troupe Braveman (South Korea)

MI blanco, MI Negro, Chilaquiles Rojos Colectivo, Vladimir Campoy (Mexico)

A Moment — Wakati, Nantea Dance Company (Tanzania)

Los Perros del Barrio Colosal, Boca Tuya, Omar Román De Jesús (Puerto Rico/NYC)

Friday, August 13
As Part of Lindy Hop Evolution, Team AJC, Andy Seo (South Korea)

WalkINN, Jiva Velázquez (Paraguay)

Downriver, Bollwerkfilm (Switzerland)

Our Stories, Arabesque Dance Vietnam (Vietnam)

The Circadian Cycle, Australian Dance Theatre (Australia)

Saturday, August 14
The Bait, Chenglong Tang (China)

Free Pita & Nilydna, Jill Crovisier (Luxembourg)

Fall Back, Abhilash Ningappa (India)

Groundworks Alcatraz (excerpts), Dancing Earth Creations (United States)

Goat & Al Jurd, Hoedy Saad (Lebanon)

Näss (People) (excerpt,) Massala Company, Fouad Boussouf (France)

Fortieth annual Battery Dance Festival will take place outside in Wagner Park and online (photo by Darial Sneed)

In-Person and Livestreamed Festival Performances at 7:00

Sunday, August 15: India Independence Day
Kathak: Parul Shah Dance Company

Bharatanatyam: Kasi Aysola & SaiSantosh Radhakrishnan, Water
Kuchipudi: “Ananda Tandavam”

Bharatanatyam: Maya Kulkarni presents two world premieres

Musical Interludes: Eventually Epic, with musicians Sachin Premasuthan and Debarun Bhattacharjya

Sutradhar (Narrator): Rajika Puri

Monday, August 16: Young Voices in Dance
The Stoic Bridge, Kate Louissaint & Nhyira Asante

ニ時二分 (2:02), Imani Gaudin

Repentino, Spencer Everett & Isabella Aldridge

This Is 22!, Brian Golden

Shiva Panchakshara Stotram, Ramya Durvasula

Mine, Yours, Ours, Lily Summer Gee

Garden Tongues, Grace Yi-Li Tong

Untitled, Kanyok Arts Initiative

Tuesday, August 17
A Little Old, a Little New, Luke Hickey

Warsaw, Graciano Dance Projects

Voila Viola, Company | E

John 4:20, Baye & Asa

The Underground, Rohan Bhargava/Rovaco Dance Company

Solstice, Jon Lehrer Dance Company

Observatory, Battery Dance

Wednesday, August 18
Od:yssey, Dancing Wheels

Donor, Will Ervin — Erv Works Dance

Radio Days, Demi Remick & Dancers

On the Waterfront, MorDance

The Liminal Year, Battery Dance

Honky Tonk Angels, William Byram

Thursday, August 19
Virtuoso, CHR Project

Deliver Us, Christian Warner

846 (Rite of Spring), Jamal Jackson Dance Company

Rondo & Size of the Sky, New York Theatre Ballet

Full Stop. Start Again., Akira Uchida, Maddy Wright, Joshua Strmic

The Prayer of Daphnis, Christopher Williams

It will happen again tonight, Dolly Sfeir

Ode to Yma, Battery Dance, Razvan Stoian & Jillian Linkowski

Friday, August 20
Alegrías, Flamenco Vivo II

Maps, Ohiole Dibua

Michoacán Suite, Ballet Nepantla

Flower, Stasis

Cuesta Abajo, Galletto y Guzmán

Yemaya: Rebirthing to Existence, Beatrice Capote

Untitled, Battery Dance

THEATRE FOR ONE: HERE IS FUTURE

Here Is Future takes place in a mobile container for one actor and one audience member at a time (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

HERE IS FUTURE
Manhattan West Plaza
395 Ninth Ave. between 31st & 33rd Sts.
Thursday – Sunday through August 22, 1:00 – 7:00; free tickets available Monday mornings at 10:00
theatreforone.com

During the pandemic lockdown, Theatre for One’s Here We Are was my lifeline to live theater. On Thursday nights in October, TFO presented eight free online microplays written, directed, and performed by BIPOC women (with one exception), short works in which the solo actor and solo audience member both have their camera and audio on, able to see and hear one another. There was even a virtual lobby where people could type in their thoughts as they waited for shows to begin.

In the “before time,” pre-Covid 19, TFO performed its intimate works in a mobile four-by-eight-foot repurposed equipment container. Now TFO artistic director Christine Jones has gone back to the setting they originally used for the project to bring us Here Is Future, six new microplays between five and ten minutes each in which one actor performs for one audience member, seated on either side of the container, separated by a plexiglass sheet. Free tickets become available Monday mornings at 10:00 for that week’s performances, so you need to book them quick.

Several Here We Are creators are back for this follow-up, which takes place in the Manhattan West plaza on Ninth Ave. past the new Penn Station and is focused on where we go from here. The program consists of Jaclyn Backhaus’s The Curse, directed by Rebecca Martinez and starring Angel Desai; Lydia R. Diamond’s Turtle Turtle and That Which We Keep Telling Ourselves Is Over Now, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene and starring Gillian Glasco; DeLanna Studi’s The Golda Project, directed by Martinez and starring Tanis Pareneau; korde arrington tuttle’s the love vibration, directed by SRĐA and starring Denise Manning; Stacey Rose’s Gravita 4 Para 0, directed by Greene and starring Joanie Anderson or Myxy Tyler; and Regina Taylor’s The Transformed Returns, directed by Taylor and starring Lizan Mitchell. The costumes are by Hahnji Jang, with lighting and sound by Josh Higgason.

I’ve seen four of the plays so far, and they were all poignant and moving. In The Transformed Returns, Mitchell portrays a grandmother dealing with the coronavirus crisis, desperate to squeeze the cheeks of her new grandchild, whom she cannot visit in person, while dealing with relatives who refuse to get vaccinated. The play begins with Mitchell sanitizing her side of the container, reminding us of what we’re still going through. (The insides of the container are thoroughly cleaned after each performance.)

Anderson is spectacular in Gravita 4 Para 0, in which the container is set up like a waiting room in a clinic, actor and audience member sitting side-by-side (separated by the glass), facing the same direction. She plays a woman from a large family who engages you in conversation, nervously talking about her history with parents, siblings, lovers, and abortions. She is so convincing that you’ll feel like you know her, and care about her, when it’s over.

In Turtle Turtle and That Which We Keep Telling Ourselves Is Over Now, you’re sitting at a table opposite a frenetic recent divorcée (superbly portrayed by an intoxicating Glasco) who is both anxious and excited to be finally going on an in-person date during the pandemic. Glasco positively glows as her character worries about allergies and Covid-19.

And in The Curse, Desai is engaging as a woman who believes terrible things have been happening to her and everyone around her because she is cursed — and she’s concerned for you too.

Produced by Octopus Theatricals and presented by Arts Brookfield, Here Is Future runs through August 22; walk-up slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis if there are no-shows. Masks are required of the audience, but the performers will be unmasked. Even in this rather small venue, it’s great to be experiencing live theater again, especially at this high quality, and for free. Sign up and see as many of the plays as you can, a terrific prelude to the upcoming fall theater season.

PUPPET WEEK NYC

THE INTERNATIONAL PUPPET FRINGE FESTIVAL
The Clemente Center, 107 Suffolk St.
Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave.at 104th St.
August 11-15 live, August 16-31 online, most events free
puppetfringenyc.com
www.theclementecenter.org

“I could never be on stage on my own. But puppets can say things that humans can’t say,” British comedian, actress, and ventriloquist Nina Conti once explained. You can see a bevy of puppets this month at the International Puppet Fringe Festival, running August 11-15 in person at the Clemente on the Lower East Side, with a few special programs at the Museum of the City of New York, then moving online August 16-31. The fest, hosted by Teatro SEA and the Clemente, is part of the inaugural Puppet Week NYC and features a wide range of programming involving puppets, including live presentations, book readings, workshops, panel discussions, exhibition openings, and panel discussions, most of which are free. “The Clemente is a fitting home for the festival’s events, as puppetry found an early home here in the 1990s and we continue to foster diverse puppet performances in our theater spaces,” Clemente executive director Libertad Guerra said in a statement. “Our hope is that Puppet Week NYC draws attention to this thriving and evolving art form uniting theater with all the visual arts and attracting people of all ages, backgrounds, and cultural identities.”

International Puppet Fringe Festival founder and producer Dr. Manuel Morán added, “During the pandemic, when our curtains couldn’t go up, our roster of puppet makers and puppeteers were eagerly preparing to enthrall audiences with their creative talents, and we can’t wait to finally share their work with you.” This year’s honoree is Vincent Anthony, founder of the Center for Puppetry Arts. Below is the full schedule. Oh, and don’t forget what writer and illustrator Guy Davenport once warned: “I’ve carved the puppet, and I manipulate the strings, but while it’s on stage, the show belongs to the puppet.”

Wednesday, August 11
“Dream Puppet” Making Workshop with Marina Tsaplina, El jardín del paraíso Community Garden, noon – 8:00
Papier-Maché in a Two-Day Workshop, part 1, $50, 2:00
“Puppets of New York: Downtown at the Clemente” exhibition opening, 5:00
Puppet Celebrity Red Carpet, 5:30
Opening Remarks and festival’s dedication to Vincent Anthony, 6:00
The Triple Zhongkui Pageant by Chinese Theatre Works, 6:30
Los Grises/The Gray Ones by SEA, 7:00
The Shari Lewis Legacy Show by Mallory Lewis and Lamb Chop, 8:00

Thursday, August 12
Construction and Hybrid Puppets Manipulation Workshop by Carolina Pimentel, $50, 10:00 am
“Dream Puppet” Making Workshop with Marina Tsaplina, El jardín del paraíso Community Garden, noon – 8:00
Títeres en el Caribe Hispano: Episode 1: Cuba, Episode 2: Dominican Republic, Episode 3: Puerto Rico, 1:00
Papier-Maché in a Two-Day Workshop, part 1, $50, 2:00
Puppet Celebrity Red Carpet, hosted by Mallory Lewis and Lamb Chop, 6:00
“Puppets of New York” Opening Celebration, Museum of the City of New York, 7:00
Los Grises/The Gray Ones by SEA, 7:00
Muppets Take Manhattan (Frank Oz, 1984), $15, 8:00

Friday, August 13
Construction and Hybrid Puppets Manipulation Workshop by Carolina Pimentel, $50, 10:00 am
“Dream Puppet” Making Workshop with Marina Tsaplina, El jardín del paraíso Community Garden, noon – 8:00
Out of the Shadows Panel: A Conversation about the Henson Festivals, with Leslee Asch, Cheryl Henson, Dan Hurlin, Manuel Moran, and Michael Romanyshyn, 4:00
Karagoz by U.S. Karagoz Theatre Company, 4:00
Salt Over Gold and other Czech & Slovak fairy tales with strings by Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre, 5:00
Handmade Puppet Dreams: Dreamscapes, short films for adults, 5:00
La Macanuda by Deborah Hunt, 6:00
The Triple Zhongkui Pageant by Chinese Theatre Works, 6:30
Los Grises/The Gray Ones by SEA, 7:00
Puppet Slam / Cabaret: Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner, with Bruce Cannon, Piedmont Bluz, and Valerie and Benedict Turner, 8:00

Saturday, August 14
Little Red’s Hood by Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, 11:00 am
Penguin in My Pocket by Kurt Hunter, 11:00 am
Handmade Puppet Dreams: Kidscapes, short films for children, noon
NIMA-USA Symposium: Conversations on Puppetry, Social Justice, and Diversity: Part 1, with Jacqueline Wade, Kuang-Yu Fong, and Ginew Benton, moderated by Claudia Orenstein, noon
2-D Puppet Workshop for kids by Junktown Duende, 1:00
Los Colores de Frida / The Colors of Frida by SEA, 1:00
The Marzipan Bunny by A Couple of Puppets, 1:00
Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup by WonderSpark Puppets, 1:00
Títeres en el Caribe Hispano: Episode 1: Cuba y Episode 3: Puerto Rico, 2:00
Teatro SEA’s Theatre Book Series Presentation, 2:30
Beautiful Blackbird: An African Folktale by Lovely Day Creative Arts, 3:00
Once Upon a Time in the Lower East Side . . . by JunkTown Duende, 4:00
Karagoz by U.S. Karagoz Theatre Company, 4:00
Puppet States by Paulette Richards, 5:00
Salt Over Gold and other Czech & Slovak fairy tales with strings by Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre, 5:00
La Macanuda by Deborah Hunt, 6:00
The Triple Zhongkui Pageant by Chinese Theatre Works, 6:30
Los Grises/The Gray Ones by SEA, 7:00
The Puppetry Guild of Greater NY presents . . . The Bawdy Naughty Puppet Cabaret, 8:00

Sunday, August 15
Little Red’s Hood by Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, 11:00 am
Beautiful Blackbird: An African Folktale by Lovely Day Creative Arts, 11:00 am
The Marzipan Bunny by A Couple of Puppets, 11:00 am
Giant Puppet Encounter & Mascot Encounter, 11:30 am
Handmade Puppet Dreams: Kidscapes, short films for children, noon
Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup by WonderSpark Puppets, 1:00
2-D Puppet Workshop for kids by Junktown Duende, 1:00
Penguin in My Pocket by Kurt Hunter, 1:00
Títeres en el Caribe Hispano: Episode 2: República Dominicana and Episode 3: Puerto Rico, 2:00
The Pura Belpré Project by SEA, 3:00
Harlem River Drive by Bruce Cannon, 3:00
Karagoz by U.S. Karagoz Theatre Company, 4:00
Once Upon a time in the Lower East Side . . . by JunkTown Duende, 5:00
Salt Over Gold and other Czech & Slovak fairy tales with strings by Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre, 5:00
La Macanuda by Deborah Hunt, 6:00
The Triple Zhongkui Pageant by Chinese Theatre Works, 6:30
Los Grises/The Gray Ones by SEA, 7:00
Puppet Dance Party, 8:00

Tuesday, August 17
A Conversation with Vincent Anthony, hosted by Dr. Manuel Morán and John Ludwig, 7:00

Thursday, August 19
Puppetry 101 with Aretta Baumgartner, 7:00

Friday, August 20
Handmade Puppet Dreams: Kidscapes, short films for children, noon
Handmade Puppet Dreams: Dreamscapes, short films for adults, 5:00

Saturday, August 21
Puppetry Museums around the World Panel, noon

Tuesday, August 24
Puppetry and Its Healing Properties in Therapy, hosted by Erica Scandoval and Karen Ciego, 7:00

Thursday, August 26
UNIMA-USA Symposium: Conversations on Puppetry, Social Justice, and Diversity: Part 2, with Monxo Lopez, Paulette Richards, Jungmin Song, and Edna Bland, moderated by Claudia Orenstein, 7:00

Friday, August 27
Handmade Puppet Dreams: Dreamscapes, short films for adults, 8:00

Saturday, August 28
Conversations with Puppet Fringe Artists and Troupes in English, noon

Tuesday, August 31
“Glocal” Rethinking, American Puppetry: Opening Eyes Wider by UNIMA-USA’s World Encyclopedia Puppetry Arts, with Karen Smith and Kathy Foley, 7:00

SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY

Bruce Springsteen helps reopen Broadway with revival of Tony-winning one-man show (photo by Rob DeMartin)

SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY
St. James Theatre
246 West 44th Street between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Tuesday – Friday/Saturday through September 4, $75-$850 (Lucky Seat lottery four days before each show)
www.jujamcyn.com
brucespringsteen.net/broadway

On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, Bruce Springsteen was driving in Sea Bright, New Jersey, smoke from the fallen Twin Towers visible in the distance, when an unidentified man pulled up alongside him and called out, “We need you, Bruce.” He responded with The Rising, a 2002 record that intelligently explored personal and communal loss, celebrated heroes, and looked to a brighter future. This spring, amid debates about how and when Broadway would reopen following the long pandemic lockdown, Jujamycyn president and Boss fan Jordan Roth contacted Bruce and asked if he would revive his intimate one-man show, Springsteen on Broadway, for a limited run over the summer. Broadway needed him. The musician and author responded with a slightly reconfigured update of the show, which had been awarded a special Tony for a “once-in-a-lifetime theatergoing experience”; in his acceptance speech, Springsteen said, “This is deeply appreciated. Thank you for making me feel so welcome on the block. Being part of the Broadway community has been a great thrill and an honor and one of the most exciting things I have ever experienced.”

The 140-minute show has moved from the 975-seat Walter Kerr to the St. James, which has nearly double the capacity at 1,710. I caught Springsteen on Broadway twice in its original form, each show somewhat different, with Bruce’s wife, Patti Scialfa, appearing at one of them, which alters the setlist. For this revival, Springsteen has made several key changes, from one of the songs he sings with Patti, which he had hoped Elvis Presley would record (the King died before hearing it), to the finale, a tune from his latest album, Letter to You, a bittersweet eulogy to lost friends, relatives, and E Street Band members that feels even more appropriate given the suffering of the last sixteen months.

Bruce Springsteen shifts between guitar and piano in slightly revamped revival (photo by Rob DeMartin)

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice, Springsteen has also added “American Skin (41 Shots),” his 2001 song about the police killing of unarmed Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York City in 1999. When I saw Bruce and the E Street Band perform the song at Shea Stadium in October 2003, numerous people in the crowd, as well as police officers and some security staff, stood and turned their back to the stage. There were no such protests at the St. James (although there were a handful of anti-vaxxers outside the theater on opening night calling the show discriminatory because all attendees had to be vaccinated).

This time around, Springsteen on Broadway, which is adapted from his bestselling 2016 memoir, Born to Run, is a much more emotional affair. The night I saw it, July 6, Bruce had to pause and wipe away tears at least four times; there was weeping throughout the theater as well. Springsteen spoke poignantly about Walter and Raymond Cichon from the 1960s Jersey Shore band the Motifs, Walter going to Vietnam and never coming home; his working-class father, who struggled with mental illness and often hid behind alcohol; late E Streeters Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici; and, most heartrending, his beloved mother, Adele, who is now ten years into dementia but, Bruce shared, still recognizes him when he sees her and perks up when she hears music. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Bruce, at the piano, sang, “If Pa’s eyes were windows into a world so deadly and true / You couldn’t stop me from looking but you kept me from crawlin’ through / It’s a funny old world, Ma, where a little boy’s wishes come true / Well, I got a few in my pocket and a special one just for you.” The story evoked the heartbreak of so many who were unable to visit their elderly parents in nursing homes during the crisis, saying farewell via cellphone if at all.

As tender and stirring as those moments were, Bruce also injects plenty of humor, mostly of the self-deprecating type, particularly about his November 2020 arrest for drunken and reckless driving. “I had to go to Zoom court,” he says. “My case was the United States of America vs. Bruce Springsteen. That’s always comforting to hear, that the entire nation is aligned against you.” The charges were later dismissed, but the police theme is a playful new thread in the narrative.

Once again, in New York City’s time of need, Springsteen has responded, helping us deal with a devastating health crisis that has so far claimed more than 610,000 American lives, even as a deadly variant makes its way through the country at this very moment. It’s the right show at the right time, with only two cast members, no set changes, and Bruce’s trusted guitar tech (Kevin Buell). All ticket holders must provide proof of vaccination in order to enter the theater. When I saw the show, masks were optional, and very few wore them, but masks are now required for everyone. Springsteen has taken a few weeks off while his daughter, Jessica, competes in equestrian jumping at the Tokyo Olympics (winning a team silver medal), but he and Patti will be back August 17 for the last run of performances, lighting up what has been a dark, empty Broadway. Bruce has responded yet again when New York City called.

RESTART STAGES: LOOK WHO’S COMING TO DINNER / BECOMING OTHELLO / DARK DISABLED STORIES

RESTART STAGES
Lincoln Center, the Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza
Company SBB//Stefanie Batten Bland, Look Who’s Coming to Dinner
Tuesday, August 3, free with RSVP, 7:00
Debra Ann Byrd, Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey
Wednesday, August 4, free with RSVP, 7:00
Ryan J. Haddad, Dark Disabled Stories
Thursday, August 5, free with RSVP, 7:00
www.lincolncenter.org

Lincoln Center’s ambitious Restart Stages program, welcoming back audiences with free outdoor multidisciplinary performances, continues this week with one-time-only shows by three distinct creators, available through the TodayTix lottery. On Tuesday, August 3, at 7:00, Company SBB//Stefanie Batten Bland serves up Look Who’s Coming to Dinner, a new take on Stanley Kramer’s 1967 film, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. The movie, which was nominated for ten Oscars and won for Best Actress and Best Original Story and Screenplay, is about an interracial couple portrayed by Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton who are celebrating their engagement by visiting her parents, a liberal couple played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn who are not exactly thrilled at first to see who their daughter will be marrying. SBB has been busy during the pandemic, presenting such works as Kolonial for BAC, This Moment for Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Unnatural Contradictions for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and Mondays at Two, exploring safe spaces, isolation, racial injustice, and the coronavirus crisis, in addition to a three-week residency at the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard that culminated in the dance-theater installation Embarqued: Stories of Soil.

Debra Ann Byrd brings her one-woman show, Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey, to Restart Stages this week (photo by Christina Lane / Shakespeare and Company)

If you missed Debra Ann Byrd’s Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey at Shakespeare & Company’s Roman Garden Theatre earlier this month, you can catch it on Wednesday, August 4, at 7:00 on the Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage at Hearst Plaza at Lincoln Center. Directed by Tina Packard, the one-woman show of song and text details Byrd’s experiences as a Black woman attempting to be a classical actress, detailing a life that has included foster care, teen pregnancy, trauma, abuse, and single parenting on a path to play Othello (while also becoming the founding artistic director of the Harlem Shakespeare Festival).

In February 2021, Ryan J. Haddad’s one-man show, Hi, Are You Single?, streamed from Woolly Mammoth, where it was filmed live onstage in front of a limited, socially distanced, masked audience made up of members of the staff and crew, one of the first to do that; the bittersweet autobiographical piece follows Haddad, who has cerebral palsy and requires a walker, as he searches for love in all the wrong places. Haddad can currently be seen in “Wings and Rings,” a short film he made with set designers Emmie Finckel and Riccardo Hernández for Lynn Nottage and Miranda Haymon’s installation The Watering Hole at the Signature. In the ten-minute work, Haddad relives a terrifying moment from his childhood involving swimming in a pool. On Thursday, August 5, at 7:00, at Restart Stages, Haddad will premiere his latest solo show, Dark Disabled Stories, in which he discusses a crosstown bus, a bathroom stall, and Gramercy Park as he encounters strangers and confronts ableism wherever he goes.

MOBILE UNIT’S SUMMER OF JOY

THE PUBLIC THEATER’S MOBILE UNIT
Multiple locations in all five boroughs
July 31 – August 29, free
publictheater.org

The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit is back on the road after being sidelined by the pandemic lockdown last year, bringing free pop-up Shakespeare to locations across the five boroughs. “I always felt that we should travel,” Public founder Joseph Papp said once upon a time. “I wanted to bring Shakespeare to the people.” The Public has been doing just that in one form or another since 1957; this summer the Mobile Unit, in its tenth year, will be bringing two productions to plazas and squares from July 31 to August 29. Each presentation begins with the National Black Theatre’s Stage for Healing and Resilience, which will provide a space for reflection, meditation, and sharing. That will be followed by Verses @ Work — The Abridged Mix, Mobile Unit in Corrections artist Malik Work’s one-man show that incorporates verse, video, live music, musical theater, jazz, hip-hop, spoken word, and dance. Coproduced by the Public with NBT and directed by Vernice Miller, the autobiographical piece, inspired in part by Homer’s Odyssey, was nominated for a 2017 Audelco Award for Best Solo Performance and was turned into a film; Work has also staged a one-man adaptation of Timon of Athens and teaches Shakespeare, acting, and hip-hop theater. The free afternoon concludes with the hourlong Shakespeare: Call and Response; conceived by director Patricia McGregor, it features Sofia Jean Gomez, Teresa Avia Lim, Reza Salazar, and Work interacting with the audience through text, music, dance, and improv, playing multiple roles anchored by an MC and DJ duo rapping in iambic pentameter, with scenic design by Diggle, costumes by Katherine O’Neill, sound by Jorge Olivo, and choreography by Paloma McGregor (Patricia’s sister).

“The Mobile Unit is the purest expression of the Public’s conviction that the culture belongs to everyone. Our return this summer is a thrilling and responsive artistic expression born from this historical moment. We are responding to the call of community and creating a unifying embodiment of theater for this city,” Public artistic director Oskar Eustis said in a statement. Mobile Unit director Karen Ann Daniels added, “It is essential for the Mobile Unit to build something that could speak to the moment — a unique format that would reinvigorate our communal spaces and our connection to each other. We all came to the table with a strong sense that it is only through the creation of our art, and inviting our community’s participation in it, that we could offer healing, resilience, and the unbridled joy of the simple act of gathering.” The tour begins July 31 and August 1 at Astor Plaza, moving August 5-6 to Roberto Clemente Plaza, August 7-8 to Johnny Hartman Plaza, August 12 and 28-29 to Osborn Plaza, August 13 and 20 to Albee Square, August 14-15 to 125th Street Plaza, August 19 and 26-27 to Minthorne Street, and August 21-22 to Myrtle/Wyckoff Plaza; all shows are at 4:30 except for August 7-8, which start at 2:00. Also joining in the “Summer of Joy” will be the People’s Bus, a community-led initiative that repurposes a retired NYC prisoner transport vehicle into a mobile center that provides “resources and education to restore and build trust in our democracy.”

FREE UPTOWN SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: SEIZE THE KING

Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Seize the King offers a unique update on the Bard’s Richard III (photo © Richard Termine)

SEIZE THE KING
Marcus Garvey Park, Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Through July 29, free (no RSVP necessary), 8:30
www.cthnyc.org

There’s a lot you won’t find in Seize the King, Will Power’s modern-day reimagination of Shakespeare’s Richard III, being staged by the Classical Theatre of Harlem at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park through July 29. There’s no mention of a discontented winter, proving to be a villain, or horses to trade for a kingdom. Writer Power and director Carl Cofield have streamlined the timeless story about the hunger for power to ninety minutes, performed by five actors portraying more than a dozen and a half roles; don’t wait around for Clarence, the Duchess of York, Queen Margaret, Sir William Catesby, Sir James Tyrrell, Henry Tudor, or the Archbishop of Canterbury to take the stage. But what you will find in the triumphant production is an exciting updating of a tale that’s all too familiar and one that keeps repeating itself. “When he comes back, will thou be ready?” the audience is asked at the end. “Can you keep the devil down in the hole?”

Seize the King begins with the death of the beloved King Edward IV, leaving his young son, Edward V (Alisha Espinosa), as heir to the throne. Edward’s brother, Richard (Ro Boddie), the Duke of Gloucester, was named to be the twelve-year-old Edward’s Lord Protector, but Lord Hastings (RJ Foster) doesn’t trust him, with good reason, as Richard believes that he should be the next king. Hastings tells him, “Edward intended for you to be Lord Protector / Still, his true intention is to insure that his son in two years’ time / Be crowned the reigning king of all, none other but him.” Richard answers curtly, “Of course.” Hastings emphasizes, “Only him.” Richard responds, “Yes, only him,” but he is already plotting his nephew’s demise.

Sides are drawn, with Lord Hastings defending Edward V and his mother, Queen Woodville (Andrea Patterson), while Richard eventually convinces an unsure Lord Buckingham (Carson Elrod) to join him. Richard attempts to woo Lady Anne Neville (Espinosa), the widow of Edward, Prince of Wales, to his cause, addressing her while she is taking a bath. “Sweet you are, love I my syrup thick / Allow me to pour this sweet over your / Stack Pancakes, but much more than pleasures,” he says. The wealthy Lady Anne is on to him immediately but is ready to make a deal. “What need I for you? / Come now, let’s talk bidness. / What offer you?” she declares. “You thought your sweet words would be enough? / Please, I got big jocks jockin’ all the time for these vast lands.”

As all roads lead to Bosworth Field, Power sprinkles in references to Fat Albert, Stairmaster, eating sushi with a fork, birth control, and Mother Teresa as well as to other Shakespeare plays and contemporary politics. “England first,” Buckingham proclaims to the people as if he’s speaking to a MAGA crowd. He crows, “Since good Edward Four ascended to / Heavenly orbs. Now what surrounds us? / Foreign heathens that take ours / Immigrants invade while we sit jobless / They up up up the ladder, up the stairs / While we, at dreadful base, now we step — oh / Now the stairs rickety, they are unusable / Cracked is the wood, trapped are we at base / We now at foot and they at head / Imagine the crown worn by them / And we rebuild stairs for them to ascend.”

Power (Stagger Lee, Steel Hammer), an actor, rapper, teacher, and hip-hop theater pioneer, and actor, teacher, and director Cofield (One Night in Miami, Dutchman), the associate artistic director of the company, previously collaborated on Power’s play The Seven, and they are in sync on Seize the King, balancing the old and the new with an occasional slip toward pedagogy and goofiness. The play, which had its world premiere in August 2018 at La Jolla Playhouse, takes place on Christopher and Justin Swader’s crooked stage, effectively lit by Alan C. Edwards, evoking rampant corruption and Richard’s state of mind; Brittany Bland’s projections range from scenes of war and protest to shimmering water and emphasis on a large crack in the back wall. Samantha Shoffner’s props, including a bathtub, a topiary, and a memorial table, are wheeled on and off by either the actors or dancers Daniela Funicello, Tracy Dunbar, Jenny Hegarty Freeman, Hannah Gross, and Alisa Gregory, who perform Tiffany Rea-Fisher’s lovely choreography to interstitial music by sound designer Frederick Kennedy, from Baroque to hip-hop.

Mika Eubanks seems to have had a ball designing the costumes, especially Queen Woodville’s — she’s styled like Beyoncé — and Richard’s coronation robe, which gets its own scene, proudly exhibited by Greygor the tailor (Foster), who explains, “Look this, crimson cloth of maggot Kermes / Peeled from trees of oak to retrieve the reddish juice / Insect bodies dried out to produce dye / Human bodies dried out to produce cloth / Blood-red pure crimson death to give life / All sacrifice for him no matter cost.”

Boddie plays Richard with a limp but is always standing tall, not hunched over, and is more handsome than the wicked Gloucester is usually portrayed. Foster is terrific as Hastings, a steadfast and honest man, Reverend Shaw, whose piety is for sale, and Greygor, who appears to have walked out of an episode of Pose. Patterson and Espinosa delight in their characters’ verbal battles with Richard, but it’s Elrod who nearly steals the show in multiple roles, from the well-meaning Buckingham and the chorus to a wise gardener and a royal servant who has an unusual message for Hastings and the Queen: “Uh, well, I wasn’t supposed to deliver nothing further but I did hear him say ‘The Queen ain’t shit! I’ma prune her ass’ or something to that effect.” You won’t find that in Shakespeare’s original text.