Who: Quiara Alegría Hudes, Sean Ortiz, Sean Carvajal, Dominic Colón, Kenyatta Emmanuel, Suave Gonzales, Renee Goust, David Zayas, Kenyatta Emmanuel, Renee Goust, Jamie Maleszka, more What:Installation and pop-up events Where:Signature Theatre, the Pershing Square Signature Center Lobby, 480 West Forty-Second St. at Tenth Ave. When: June 29 – July 24, Tuesday – Sunday, noon – 5:00, free Why: Last summer, the Signature Theatre reopened with the immersive installation The Watering Hole, which included Vanessa German and Haruna Lee’s “This Room Is a Broken Heart,” part of which involved choosing a postcard designed by an incarcerated individual and sending a note to someone living behind bars. This summer the Signature has taken that a step further by teaming with the Fortune Society and Emancipated Stories to present an installation focusing on words and art by incarcerated people. Founded in 1967, the Fortune Society’s mission is “to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities . . . through believing, building lives, and changing minds.” Emancipated Stories was started by prison reform activist and playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes and her cousin Sean Ortiz, who spent ten years behind bars, as a way for incarcerated people to have their voices heard through handwritten letters that are shared on Instagram and in special installations.
Hudes, the Signature’s premiere writer-in-residence and author of such works as In the Heights,Water by the Spoonful,Daphne’s Dive, and Miss You Like Hell, explained in a statement, “The thing that’s fun and safe about theater is that the basic rule of engagement is one of listening. The fundamental contract is: I’m going to listen, I’m going to pay attention. Similarly, what we’re seeking to create is a communal space of sharing and openness. Within this installation and the events we’ve planned, the lines between audience and performer are more porous; it’s more of a gathering, and there’s no fourth wall, and we put the original letters in people’s hands. When you hold someone’s piece of paper and it’s handwritten — and you feel the grooves — it’s like holding someone’s hand. It’s an instant connection that’s part of the liveness of it. Surprising heart doors come open in these moments.”
“The Fortune Society is thrilled to be in community and collaboration with Signature Theatre and Quiara Alegría Hudes to help bring this insightful and moving project to life,” Fortune Society director of creative arts Jamie Maleszka added. “The goal of Emancipated Stories is to center and celebrate the full humanity of community members who are currently and formerly incarcerated and to grow meaningful connections through storytelling. The project perfectly aligns with our mission to build people, not prisons, and invest in more just collective futures.”
“SigSpace: Emancipated Stories” will be open in the theater lobby Tuesday through Sunday from June 29 through July 24, from noon to 5:00; admission is free. In addition, there will be four pop-up events, free with advance RSVP, featuring actors, artists, activists, musicians, writers, and members of the Fortune Society activating the installation, which was designed by Yazmany Arboleda with Emmanuel Oni, through music, discussions, readings, and writing letters in response to those from incarcerated individuals.
Wednesday, June 29 Kick-off, with actors David Zayas and Sean Carvajal, artist and activist Suave Gonzales, and Felix Guzman and Daniel Kelly of the Fortune Society, hosted by playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, free with RSVP, 5:00 – 7:00
Wednesday, July 13 Music Night, with composer Kenyatta Emmanuel, singer-songwriter Renee Goust, writer and actor Dominic Colón, and others, hosted by Quiara Alegría Hudes, free with RSVP, 5:00 – 7:00
Sunday, July 17 Family Day, with Fortune Society community members and actor Sean Carvajal, moderated by Fortune Society director of creative arts Jamie Maleszka and Quiara Alegría Hudes, free with RSVP, noon – 2:00
Wednesday, July 20 Quiet Writing Time,free with RSVP, 5:00 – 7:00
Who: Sixty companies and more than three hundred and fifty artists from around the world What: Virtual Dumbo Dance Festival Where:White Wave Dance online When: June 23-26, $15 per performance, $20 for finale, $100-$250 for gala Why: The twenty-first annual Dumbo Dance Festival will take place online June 23-26, kicking off with the gala featuring speakers Gerald Appelstein, Danni Gee, Jennifer Muller, Ludo Scheffer, Thera Marshall, Pascal Rekoert, and Young Soon Kim and presentations by Buglisi Dance Theatre, A.L.A.H., Limón2, Hyonok Kim Dance Arts, achagmu center|KIM / MEA JA, UBIN Dance|Na-Hyun Lee, and WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company. Performances continue June 24-26, along with a free Zoom dance class and a family-friendly program.
“This is a festival about opportunities,” Young Soon Kim said in a statement. “The DUMBO Dance Festival — now virtual — provides an opportunity for over 350 performing artists to showcase their work. Further, it offers New York and global audiences the chance to experience one of the most diverse displays of leading-edge choreography and excellence at an affordable price.” Among the dozens of other participating troupes are Jody Oberfelder Projects, David Appel, Ballaro Dance, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, Meg Kirchhoff, Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, and Taylor Graham from New York, Flamencodanza Aylin Bayaz from Spain, Ramona Sekulovic from Germany, Lisa D. Long and Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company from California, Theatre Mucheon from Korea, and Cristina Ruberto from Italy.
Blakely White-McGuire (photo by Nan Melville) and Buglisi Dance Theatre (photo by Deb Fong) bring world premiere to Chelsea Factory this week
Who:Buglisi Dance Theatre What:World premiere dance Where:Chelsea Factory, 547 West Twenty-Sixth St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves. When: Wednesday, June 22, and Thursday, June 23, $15-$40, 7:30 Why: This week Buglisi Dance Theatre presents the world premiere of The Threads Project #1 “Universal Dialogues,” taking place June 22-23 at 7:30 at Chelsea Factory. The sixty-minute piece is a collaboration between founding artistic director Jacqulyn Buglisi and choreographers Alexander Anderson, Jennifer Archibald, Sidra Bell, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Daniel Fetecua, Loni Landon, Jesse Obremski, and Blakeley White-McGuire, searching for poetic truths, gaining hope and inspiration from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The work will be performed by White-McGuire, Ben Schultz, Lauren Jaeger, Jessica Sgambelluri, Ashley Merker, Greta Campo, Aoi Sato, Rayan Lecurieux-Durival, Sierra Sanders, Zachary Jeppsen, Kate Reyes, Esteban Santamaria, Gabrielle Willis, Isabella Pagano, and Jai Perez, with costumes by Lauren Starobin, projections by Joey Moro, and sets and lighting by Jack Mehler. The June 22 show will be followed by a talkback with members of the company, while there will be a reception for gala ticketholders after the June 23 performance.
soft
Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater, the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space
511 West 52nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through July 17, $39-$68 mcctheater.org/tix/soft
As Donja R. Love’s gorgeous, hard-hitting soft began, I couldn’t help but notice that the crowd at MCC’s Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater was about eighty percent Black and brown, which thrilled me, a white cis male. For the last ten years, I have been closely observing the racial makeup of New York City audiences, particularly as the breakthrough success of so many Black and brown playwrights and directors is helping theater become more diverse. In such works as David Harris’s Tambo & Bones, Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’, and Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Fairview, the fourth wall gets shattered as the characters acknowledge and confront, in serious and/or comic ways, what is most often a significantly majority white audience.
Love’s play transpires over the course of a semester in a classroom in a correctional center for juveniles, offering them the opportunity to excel in schoolwork and avoid going to prison. Mr. Isaiah (Biko Eisen-Martin) is the caring teacher, determined to help his students thrive. Antoine (Dharon Jones), Dee (Essence Lotus), Bashir (Travis Raeburn), Kevin (Shakur Tolliver), Jamal (Dario Vazquez), and Eddie (Ed Ventura) are realistic Black, Afro-Latino, and Dominican teenagers dealing with drug and alcohol abuse, homophobia, poverty, systemic racism, and other societal ills. Mr. Cartwright (Leon Addison Brown) is the no-nonsense superintendent who advises Mr. Isaiah not to get too involved with the kids.
Mr. Isaiah is returning their papers on Othello, noting that several students are improving by being tutored by Kevin. Antoine gets lost in his drawings — “I’m Picasso out this bitch,” he tells Mr. Isaiah — while Eddie sleeps in the back and Bashir gets angry at just about everything. Jamal is disappointed when he doesn’t get the highest grade on the essay; that honor belongs to Kevin, who brags, “I’m so smart my genius transcends. Like, I prolli analyzed Othello better than Shakespeare dead ass could ever analyze Othello.”
When Mr. Isaiah asks Mr. Cartwright for new textbooks to replace the dilapidated old ones, even suggesting to dig into his own salary to afford them, the latter explains, “I’ve seen your paychecks. So no pay cuts for you, kid. Look, I know we call this place a juvenile boarding school to try and get whatever grants we can but don’t be fooled; this is a correctional center that houses delinquents. . . . Just like you are now, every teacher here, at some point, was . . . hopeful. But hope, Isaiah, can be a very dangerous thing if you let it. It can blind you from reality. You can get lost in hope.”
That sense of hope changes dramatically after one of the students commits suicide, causing the others to reevaluate who they are and where they are going in life as Mr. Isaiah desperately attempts to hold it all together, for him and them.
The play is beautifully directed by Whitney White (On Sugarland,Our Dear Dead Drug Lord), allowing each character to develop at their own pace and making room for Love’s poetic language to build organically; at times it is choreographed like a dance, with aggressive movement juxtaposed with tender moments. The cast is exceptional, from the six young students to the steadfast Eisen-Martin (In the Southern Breeze,Strange Courtesies) and the unshakable Addison Brown (“Master Harold” . . . and the boys,The Train Driver).
Adam Rigg’s set is a horizontal classroom, with the audience sitting in three rows of seats facing each other across the two long, open sides. This is the third play this year I’ve seen that takes place in an open-sided classroom, all exploring racial and ethnic identity and broken-down systems: Sanaz Toossi’s English deals with four Iranians learning English for various reasons, while Dave Harris’s Exception to the Rule is a Beckett-esque twist on The Breakfast Club as six Black teenagers are trapped in detention.
In soft, flowers separate the stage from the seats, as if a barrier of love, inspired by Kehinde Wiley’s series of paintings of young Black men stretched out on beds and couches, surrounded by colorful flowers on the wallpaper and sheets and floating through the air (Femme Piquée par un Serpent II,The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia). Love writes in the script, “They stretch as far as the eyes can see. It’s all we see. We should get so lost in their beauty that we forget this is a play. Until . . . Flower petals start to fall from the sky.”
Cha See’s lighting allows everyone to see each other in the theater, which in a play such as soft is an added bonus, especially the night I went, when there was a clear divergence between the white and Black/brown audience members; the latter were vocal in response to numerous sharp lines and powerful situations, calling out in agreement — or disagreement — and snapping when a character made an important point. When I saw MJ on Broadway, I was not happy that the family sitting behind me was munching away on noisy potato chips and talking throughout the first act, but what was happening at soft felt so right, so natural. I also knew that I should not participate in the snapping and vocalizing, that it was definitely not my place. (The sound is by Germán Martínez, with original music by Mauricio Escamilla.)
That feeling was increased during a fourth-wall-breaking magic-realism coda in which the racial makeup of the audience was made central and magnified. It was only during the postshow talkback with White that I realized it was Black Theater Night; White pointed out that the coda is very different on other nights, when there are far fewer Black and brown people in the audience. The sense of exclusion of the white playgoers was made even more palpable when White explained that they should not speak during the discussion, should not ask a question or share their experience of the play. (The next Black and Brown Theater Night is June 17; the June 18 matinee will be followed by a mental health awareness conversation, and there will be a free Spoken Word Open Mic on June 18 at 5:30 addressing the question “What does softness mean to you?”)
It reminded me of an earlier work directed by White to which only Black and brown critics were invited because of the subject matter. It also brought me back to one of my most unforgettable nights at the theater, at the Flea in 2015, during the Bats’ participatory Take Care. Audience members were assigned varied actions, and I was given the task of telling all the Black and brown people in the audience to gather in a corner. You can only imagine how that went.
There’s a reckoning happening in theater, and it’s long overdue. I’m not about to complain about feeling excluded, given the shameful history of racial injustice and LGBTQIA+ discrimination in this country. I’m also not going to complain when the reparative work results in such marvelous and meaningful productions as soft, the title of which refers to the hope and joy, the basic humanity, that can be found even in hard times. Love, a queer Black Philadelphia native living and “thriving” with HIV, is a phenomenal playwright with his finger on the pulse of this transformation, as shown in such previous impressive works as one in two and Fireflies. I’m excited to see whatever Love and White do next, no matter how inclusive or exclusive it may be.
Who: Harambee Dance Company, Jason Reynolds, Roxane Gay, Roger Reeves, Jennifer Mack Watkins, Akwaeke Emezi, A. J. Verdelle, Linda Villarosa, Jacqueline Woodson, more What:Schomburg Literary Festival Where:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd. at 135th St. When: Saturday, June 18, 10:30 am – 5:00 pm, free Why: The fourth annual Schomburg Literary Festival takes place on Saturday, June 18, with poetry readings, live music, workshops, discussions, book signings, and more on Malcolm X Blvd. Among the highlights are appearances by Jason Reynolds, Roxane Gay, Jennifer Mack Watkins, and Jacqueline Woodson. Below is the full schedule; all events are free. In addition, the Marketplace features booths from the Center for Fiction, the Reading Team, Subsume, Harlem Writers Guild, Total Equity Now, Countee Cullen Library, New York Urban League, and others.
Woke Baby! Festival, with Theo Gangi, Cathy Linh Che, Max Michael Jacob, Soré Agbaje, Stephanie Pachecho, Miah Prescod, Oluwatoyin Kupoluyi, Ayonnah Sullivan, and Jasmine Dabney, curated and hosted by Mahogany L. Browne, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Stage, 10:30
Reading, an Act of Rebellion and Joy, procession and discussion with Harambee Dance Company, Jason Reynolds, and Roxane Gay, Langston Hughes Auditorium, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 11:00
Workshop: The Art of Creating Historical Fiction, facilitated by Minnette Coleman, American Negro Theatre, 12:00
Poetry for Our Time, with Kemi Alabi, Zora Neale Hurston Stage, 12:15
Mateo Askaripour, with moderator Rahshib Thomas, Aaron Douglas Reading Room, 12:30
Health and Racism in America, with Linda Villarosa, moderated by Rebecca Carroll, Langston Hughes Auditorium, 12:45
Poetry for Our Time, with Akwaeke Emezi, Zora Neale Hurston Stage, 12:45
Literary Monuments, Friendship, and Toni Morrison, with A. J. Verdelle, moderated by Tiphanie Yanique, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Stage, 1:00
Elevator Repair Service will celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Ulysses at Symphony Space on June 16
Who:Elevator Repair Service What:Bloomsday on Broadway Where:Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 2537 Broadway at Ninety-Fifth St. When: Thursday, June 16, $17-$28, 8:00 Why: Last year, walking on the Lower East Side, I bumped into Scott Shepherd, longtime member of Elevator Repair Service (ERS), which has been presenting unique, experimental theatrical works since 1991. I asked him what he was up to and he said, “Just wait to see what we’re doing for Bloomsday at Symphony Space.” That day has arrived. On June 16, in honor of the centennial of the publication of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses, ERS will be doing something different at Symphony Space, which has been celebrating the novel for decades by having all-star marathon lineups reading the book on June 16, the day in 1904 in which the story takes place.
Helmed by ERS artistic director John Collins, the two-hour presentation features ERS ensemble members Shepherd, Dee Beasnael, Kate Benson, Maggie Hoffman, Vin Knight, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Stephanie Weeks performing excerpts from each of the book’s eighteen episodes, bringing the tale to life as only ERS can. ERS has previously brought its unpredictable style to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (the eight-hour Gatz), William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, and Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (The Select). The set design is by dots, with costumes by Enver Chakartash, lighting by Mark Barton, sound by Ben Williams, and props by Patricia Marjorie. It all begins with “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.” For more on the centenary of the novel, be sure to head over to the Morgan Library to see the new exhibit “One Hundred Years of James Joyce’s Ulysses.”
PTDC artistic director Michael Novak is deep in thought during rehearsal for Joyce season (photo by Whitney Browne)
PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
June 14-19, $71-$91 (Curtain Chat follows June 15 show)
212-645-2904 www.joyce.org paultaylordance.org
Growing up in a Chicago suburb, Michael Novak initially tried his hand at sports, but when that didn’t go very well he soon found his muse in musical theater and dance, as both a performer and a disciplined student. Dance became a form of expression that helped him through a severe speech impediment when he was twelve.
He was an artistic associate at the Columbia Ballet Collaborative at Columbia University, where he performed Paul Taylor’s solo from Aureole and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2008. He made his debut with Paul Taylor Dance Company in 2010-11 — Taylor created thirteen roles on him — and, on July 1, 2018, was named the artistic director designate.
At the time, Taylor announced, “I know that Michael is the right person to lead my company in the future. I look forward to working with him to continue my vision.” However, Taylor died that August at the age of eighty-eight, leaving Novak to take on his mentor’s legacy.
Having guided PTDC through a two-year pandemic lockdown, Novak is now ready to present three special programs at the Joyce, running June 14-19, offering something different from the company’s usual seasons at City Center. The schedule consists of Taylor’s Events II (1957), Images and Reflections (excerpt; 1958), Fibers (1960), Aureole (1962), Tracer (1962), and Profiles (1979), along with a pair of PTDC commissions: the world premiere of Michelle Manzanales’s Hope Is the Thing with Feathers and the New York premiere of Peter Chu’s A Call for Softer Landings.
On the eve of opening night, Novak, who is married to award-winning Broadway choreographer Josh Prince, shared his thoughts on transitioning from dancer to artistic director, navigating through the coronavirus crisis, and planning the future of a beloved, legendary troupe.
twi-ny: You performed with Paul Taylor Dance Company for nine years and were named artistic director designate only a few months before Mr. Taylor’s passing. What were the initial challenges of maintaining his legacy, especially with him no longer there?
michael novak: One of my goals as artistic director is to both preserve Mr. Taylor’s art, legacy, and values while also innovating to push the art form forward driven by my own beliefs and vision. Initially, many of the challenges were centered on how to hold space for the death of a founder and simultaneously move forward, bringing tens upon tens of thousands of people along with us.
But we did it, launching the Celebration Tour in 2019 — a multiyear international retrospective of the most celebrated and captivating dances by Paul Taylor — and creating PTDF Digital, a platform that created a host of unique digital engagements during the pandemic.
twi-ny: How was your transition from dancer to artistic director?
mn: The transition from dancer to artistic director was, overall, smooth. I have always had a passion for arts administration, dance history, and graphic design, so those passions have served me well, as has my education from the Columbia University School of General Studies.
twi-ny: Just as you’re establishing yourself as artistic director, the pandemic hits. What was lockdown like for you, both personally and professionally?
mn: The initial phase of lockdown was extraordinarily unsettling because I was very concerned about our dancers’ safety and company’s sustainability. Simply, we worked nonstop . . . on revamping our educational platforms, rethinking social media strategy, building new ways to engage with patrons and audiences, and, most importantly, getting our dancers back in the studio as soon as possible. We knew that if we wanted to thrive in such a volatile environment, adaptability and sustained momentum were essential.
Michael Novak performs in Paul Taylor’s Concertiana (photo by Paul B. Goode)
twi-ny: In some ways, dance thrived during the coronavirus crisis, unlike other art forms, leading to innovation in online productions. PTDF Digital included the 2021 gala benefit “Modern Is Now: Illumination.” Can you describe that title and what it has been like creating digital works?
mn: I believe modern is a movement, not just a moment. So, “Modern Is Now” is another way of creating an awareness of our present moment to create and experience something new. Being modern has been the foundation of our past and it is what propels us into the future. It has been a very thrilling opportunity to step into the digital world and reach audiences in new ways. At the same time, it has made me realize the poignancy and preciousness of live performances where audiences and artists are in the same space experiencing art together.
twi-ny: In March, PTDC returned to the stage and live audiences at the City Center Dance Festival. What was that experience like?
mn: It was wonderful to be back on the New York stage for our audiences, and at City Center, where so much of our history was made. It was emotional on both sides of the curtain.
twi-ny: The City Center shows saw Michael Apuzzo’s final bow as a dancer, and Jessica Ferretti and Austin Kelly have joined the troupe. What does it take to be a Paul Taylor dancer?
mn: Taylor dancers are known for their athleticism, power, transcendence, and, most importantly, their individuality. They are also known for their emotional range — from the comedic to the horrific, and everything in between.
twi-ny: In preparing for the Joyce season, what Covid-19 protocols were in place, and how did that impact rehearsals?
mn: Covid protocols have changed constantly over the past two years. Our board of directors has been relentless in supporting the company at every stage of this recovery, from daily testing, mask wearing, building upgrades, rehearsal schedule adjustments, etc.
twi-ny: The Joyce season includes the sixtieth anniversary of Aureole, which was a major turning point in Taylor’s career as he reexamined dance as an art form. How do you approach such a piece in 2022? You yourself danced the solo when you were studying at Columbia.
mn: This lyrical, joyful work was a controversial departure from the norm of modern dance in 1962, and it catapulted the then-thirty-two-year-old choreographer to the forefront of the dance world — a position he never relinquished. This is a seminal work that is as impactful now as it was on its premiere. We work diligently with alumni to ensure that its poignancy remains steadfast while also encouraging each artist to find their own voice within the work. It’s balancing both preservation and interpretation.
twi-ny: The three Joyce programs include major works from more than fifty years ago, a New York premiere by Peter Chu, and a world premiere by Michelle Manzanales. What was the impetus behind these specific selections, and how do they differ from the company’s usual Lincoln Center shows?
mn: As artistic director my goal is to curate theatrical experiences that celebrate both our ever-expanding dance repertory and the unique venues we perform in. I have been interested in presenting a series of performances that link early, foundational works from the Taylor canon with new works for a very long time. I am thrilled to present premieres by two of today’s most captivating choreographers, Peter Chu and Michelle Manzanales, at the Joyce.
My vision is to juxtapose the past and future of our company in one of the most intimate dance theaters in our city so audiences will understand — more than ever — how our company sits at a fascinating intersection of radicalism and beauty. These early dances by Paul Taylor were made on small ensembles, and audiences will benefit greatly from their proximity to the stage. It will be up close, visceral, and vibrant.
twi-ny: Four years after taking over as artistic director, what do you see as the next chapters for the company?
mn: The Paul Taylor Dance Company is one of the most innovative, athletic, and expressive dance companies in the world. Our next chapter takes us into celebrating seventy years of bringing the best of modern dance to the broadest possible audience.
We will continue to bring Paul Taylor’s great dances to stages around the world; curate great modern dance from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; invest heavily in the creation of new work by our resident choreographer, Lauren Lovette, and other compelling choreographers and designers; and expand our educational programming and outreach initiatives.
Modern dance is born out of a desire to innovate, rebel against convention, liberate the human body, and to express the freedom of the emotions of the soul. The need for this never subsides, and our company will never stop innovating and responding to our experiences in the world.
