Tag Archives: theater for the new city

LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS: THE MT. OLYMPUS OF LES LOVE! and more

festival of the arts

Who: Charles Busch, Phoebe Legere, Penny Arcade, Austin Pendleton, David Amram, F. Murray Abraham, William Electric Black, more
What: Live concert and summit (and many other events)
Where: Theater for the New City
When: Saturday, May 23, free, 8:00 (festival runs May 22-24)
Why: Since 1996, Theater for the New City’s annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts has been a harbinger of summer, three days of multidisciplinary performances taking place in and around the organization’s East First St. home. But the twenty-fifth anniversary of the popular weekend event goes virtual because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean it’s slowed down in the least. From May 22 to 24, the festival, whose theme is “Renaissance: Arts Alive 25,” will feature 250 participants providing music, dance, theater, discussion, and more, all for free. The centerpiece occurs on May 23 at 8:00 with “The Mt. Olympus of LES Love!,” a concert with an amazing lineup consisting of Charles Busch, Phoebe Legere, Penny Arcade, Austin Pendleton, David Amram, F. Murray Abraham, and William Electric Black, followed by a summit that attempts to answer the question “Where do we go from here?”

The three-day celebration will feature such speakers as Nii Gaani Aki, Michael Musto, Brad Hoylman, Carlina Rivera, and Candice Burridge; theater excerpts with Barbara Kahn, Anne Lucas, Eve Packer, Greg Mullavey, the Drilling Company, Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater, Nuyorican Poets Café, and others; comedy from Reno, Stan Baker, Trav S.D., Wise Guise, Izzy Church, Epstein and Hassan, and Ana-Maria Bandean with Gemma Forbes; dance with Ashley Liang Dance Company, Constellation Moving Co., Dixon Place, H.T. Chen & Dancers, Wendy Osserman Dance Company, Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, and Zullo/RawMovement; music by Donald Arrington, Allesandra Belloni, Michael David Gordon and the Pocket Band, Art Lillard, and Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe; cabaret with KT Sullivan, Marissa Mulder, Eric Yves Garcia, Aziza, and Peter Zachari; and poetry readings by Coni Koepfinger, Tsaurah Litzky, Lola Rodriguez, Bob Rosenthal, Lissa Moira, and Brianna Bartenieff; along with puppetry, film screenings, children’s events, and visual art, all for free, although donations are gladly accepted.

CATHERINE CABEEN/HYPHEN: GIVE ME MORE

Catherine Cabeen/Hyphen presents the world premiere of Give Me More at Theater for the New City January 25-27 (photo by MAP)

Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. at Tenth St.
January 25–27, $17-$20, 8:00
www.catherinecabeen.com
www.theaterforthenewcity.net

In a December post on her blog, “. . . and another thing,” about her sixth evening-length work, Give Me More, and how it evolved from her thinking about the connective tissue known as fascia, Catherine Cabeen wrote, “The many scientists and somatic practitioners who are advocating for a more holistic view of the body are doing so at the same time that intersectional feminism has come to the fore of socio-political conversations. The current US administration has an impressively wide-reaching ability to hurt people, places, and things that I, and many in my community, care about. It occurred to me in the wake of the 2016 election, that shifting our perspective on our bodies from being a collection of disparate parts, to being a whole composed of diverse yet interrelated movements, could shed light on a helpful way to look at our society in general, and the Resistance in particular.” Dancer, artist, teacher, and choreographer Cabeen — who previously was a member of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Richard Move/MoveOpolis! — and her Hyphen company, which she founded in Seattle in 2006, will be presenting the world premiere of Give Me More at Theater for the New City January 25-27 at 8:00. The three-part piece about identity, inequality, fabric, drag, the nervous system, waste, and other concepts begins with the comedic duet “Glitter in the Gutter,” performed by Cabeen and Kristina Berger. The middle section is “This American Koan,” set to an original score by Mark Katsaounis and performed by Cabeen, Nya Bowman, Darby Canessa, Hector Cerna, Sarah Lustbader, Kathryn Maclellan, and Trebien Pollard on an interactive set featuring two hundred pounds of recycled clothing donated by the faculty, staff, and students of Marymount Manhattan College. Give Me More concludes with “. . . yet again,” a Cabeen solo with music by composer and multi-instrumentalist Westin Portillo. As Cabeen also notes on her blog, “So . . . a piece about gender, consumption, and environmental destruction has emerged from a meditation on fascia.” Just connect the dots. . . .

GREAT KILLS

Robert (Peter Welch), Tim (Robert Homeyer), and Mr. G (Joe Pantoliano) concoct a crazy scheme in GREAT KILLS (photo by Rosalie Baijer)

Theater for the New City, Community Space
155 First Ave. between Ninth & Tenth Sts.
Wednesday – Sunday through April 12, $20
212-254-1109
www.theaterforthenewcity.net

Tom Diriwachter captures the zeitgeist of the borough that never changes, Staten Island, in his involving new play, Great Kills, making its world premiere at Theater for the New City in the East Village. When you first encounter Mark Marcante’s set, you’re likely to think the story takes place in the 1970s, as the appliances in the kitchen are old, the décor static, with books stacked all over the floor, issues of National Geographic strewn about, and an ancient television front and center. But as soon as the TV is turned on and a sportscaster (voiced by director Jonathan Weber, who runs the New York Mets blog The Ballclub) announces that Mets pitcher Jason deGrom is facing Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, it becomes apparent that the time is the present, as characters reach into their past to prepare for the future. Robert Homeyer stars as Tim, a tall, awkward, bearded forty-year-old former adjunct professor now working at a local B&N. An angry and desperate ne’er-do-well, Tim lives with his father, Mr. G (Joey Pantoliano), a gruff, grizzled drunk who’s been a painter at the Meadowbrook state institution for thirty-seven years, but the facility will be closing following a series of investigative reports that depicted it as a “horror show.” (That part of the plot was inspired by Geraldo Rivera’s real-life reporting on Staten Island’s Willowbrook facility.) When Tim finds out that Meadowbrook has apparently discarded a huge amount of cabinets, he decides to take them off their hands and make a fortune reselling them, claiming he’s seen similar items going for eighteen hundred bucks in the Village. So he calls in his childhood friend Robert (Peter Welch), a successful restaurateur, to help with the scheme. Wearing a sharp suit, Robert is suspicious of Tim and the plan, but he’s willing to listen, for reasons that eventually become apparent. And through it all, Mr. G just keeps on drinking and grumbling.

Emmy winner Joe Pantoliano is a hoot as an aging drunk in play set in Staten Island (photo by Rosalie Baijer)

Great Kills is built around a suspect, questionable premise, and although it all makes sense in the end, it works best as a character study of three very different men. The way they interact with one another — Robert with Tim, Tim with Mr. G, Mr. G with Robert — is what drives the play, which features dark humor and gritty, rapid-fire dialogue with clever wordplay from lifelong Staten Islander Diriwachter. Robert: “We’re friends.” Tim: “We are friends.” Robert: “We’ve been friends a long time.” Tim: “We used to ride bikes together.” Robert: “I’d take a bullet for you.” Tim: “I’d . . . wrestle a bear for you.” Robert: “I don’t know why you’d ever have to do that.” Tim: “I’m just saying.” Robert: “But business is business.” Robert is cool and self-confident, Tim edgy and unnerving, Mr. G a grunting widower who serves as comic relief, but each one has surprises in store as the plot unfolds in real time. The Hoboken-born Pantoliano, who won an Emmy for his role as Ralphie Cifaretto on The Sopranos, starred with Rosie Perez on Broadway in Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, and has appeared in such other films as Memento, The Matrix, and Risky Business, is a hoot as Mr. G, just wanting to be left to his baseball and booze. He is practically one with his comfy chair, getting up only to grab another beer or a shot. Indie film actor, writer, and director Welch, who is also a fine art photographer, gives just the right edge to Robert, who keeps hanging around even as the plan gets more complicated. And Theater for the New City regular Homeyer plays Tim as a man uncomfortable in his own skin, believing that the world owes him a whole lot more. It might be Mamet-lite, but this tale of losers, idealists, and never-will-bes is an engrossing look at modern men and the American dream, with a sharp Staten Island tang.

NEGATIVE IS POSITIVE

David (Joshua Zirger) and Simone (Karen Eilbacher) deal with a surprise medical diagnosis in Christy Smith-Sloman’s NEGATIVE IS POSITIVE (photo by Magali Charron)

Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. between Ninth & Tenth Sts.
Thursday – Sunday through November 30, $15
212-254-1109
www.negativeispositivetheplay.com
www.theaterforthenewcity.net

It’s rarely a good sign when you go to the theater and there are as many people in the audience as there are actors in the cast. It doesn’t help when the stage is surrounded by sheets of plastic that make it look like it is still under construction, not ready for the public yet. And then you have to sit through an opening scene that is so dreadful you’re looking for the emergency exits, wondering how you can sneak out without being noticed. (You can’t.) But then something happens, and you remember why you love going to the theater in the first place. In this case, it’s the entrance of Joshua Zirger, who commands his role with such a genuineness that you’re willing to forgive many of the shortcomings of Negative Is Positive, a new work by Christy Smith-Sloman, directed by Andreas Robertz, running at the Theater for the New City through November 30. The play is set in 2010, with Simone (Karen Eilbacher) getting diagnosed with HIV by a dentist (Fulton C. Hodges) using a rather questionable experimental procedure. Instead of seeking a second opinion — a serious flaw in the story — Simone rails against her husband, David (Zirger), accusing him of cheating and attacking him unmercifully, reevaluating their life together no matter how much he swears he’s innocent and that he loves her. When their best friends, Brianna (Vivienne Jurado) and George (David M. Farrington), arrive for dinner, Simone gets in an even fouler mood, with fireworks flying that get only more intense in the second act.

Negative Is Positive made headlines recently when former New York Rangers forward, Vogue intern, and model Sean Avery, who was originally supposed to play George, abruptly quit the show amid an argument over pizza. Smith-Sloman, who is also a journalist, and Robertz, the artistic director of OneHeart Productions, have, dare we say, turned a negative into a positive with Avery’s last-minute replacement, Farrington, who displays a natural ease in the role and clearly works well with others. Eilbacher is at her best when she unleashes several massive screams, but it’s Zirger who’s the one to watch here, even during the last moments of intermission, as his character examines his board of notes — David’s taken a year off from his sports job to write a screenplay — trying to decide what comes next. For Zirger, hopefully it’s bigger and better things onstage.

WENDY OSSERMAN DANCE COMPANY: APPETITE

Wendy Osserman’s APPETITE will feed hungry dance fans at Theater for the New City April 4-7

Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. at Tenth St.
April 4-7, $10-$15
212-254-1109
www.wendyossermandance.org
www.theaterforthenewcity.net

New York City–raised dancer, choreographer, and teacher Wendy Osserman is following up last year’s politically infused Compromised with a new evening-length piece, Appetite. Running April 4-7 at Theater for the New City, Appetite examines the acquisitiveness of the body and mind through music and movement, exploring different ways of experiencing pleasure and conflict. The seventy-five-minute work will be performed by Osserman, Lauren Ferguson, and Emily Vetsch, with Briana Bartenieff, Hallie Hayne, Liliana Kelson, and Laurie Bennett, the dancers ranging in age from eleven to seventy. The score is by Skip La Plante, who builds homemade instruments out of trash and junk, with lighting design by Alex Bartenieff and costumes by longtime company dancer Cori Kresge.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: JUST SEX

Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. between Ninth & Tenth Sts
Tuesday – Sunday through April 15, $25
212-868-4444
www.justsexplay.com
www.theaterforthenewcity.net

A sell-out hit at last summer’s Dream Up Festival, Brandt Johnson’s Just Sex is back at Theater for the New City for a limited return engagement through April 15. Just Sex follows the passion and desires of married couple Katherine (Tasha Lawrence) and William (Johnson), who have the hots for Kurt (director Alex Kilgore) and Amanda (Meghan Miller). As they explore ways to satisfy their lust — including going online — they come to some revealing truths about themselves and their love.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Tickets for Just Sex are going fast, with some dates already sold out, but twi-ny has two pairs to give away for free. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and favorite sexy romantic comedy to contest@twi-ny.com by Wednesday, April 4, at 12 noon to be eligible to win. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; two winners will be selected at random. If you don’t win the tickets, you can save twenty percent by using code RRMGEN when you visit here or call 212-868-4444.

LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS 2011

Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
May 27-29, free
www.theaterforthenewcity.net

The sixteenth annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts runs May 27-29, three days of experimental, cutting-edge, and campy performances based at the Theater for the New City. You can catch just about any kind of artistic discipline you want, from music, dance, and poetry to film, comedy, theater, and puppetry, and it’s all free. Held in TNC’s Cabaret Theater, Johnson Theater, Community Space Theater, and lobby as well as outside on East Tenth St., the festival includes Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith performing songs from his upcoming play Woody Guthrie Dreams, Tony-winning actress-singer Tammy Grimes, Maariana Bekerman Dance Company, Ben Harburg singing Songs of Social Comment by his grandfather Yip Harburg, spoken word by Jennifer Blowdryer, Unstuffy Divas Mary Riley and Jennifer Gelber, Reno, Barbara Kahn’s The Book of Merman, Kalpulli Atl-Tlachinolli re-creating an Aztec dance ritual, an excerpt from Jonathan Slaff’s The Adventures of Siggy and Carl about Freud and Jung, an Urban Aerial Fairytale by Suspended Cirque, an excerpt from Stephen Adly Gurgis’s The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Josh Fox’s documentary Gasland, Lei Zhou and Natalia Korablina in Alan Ball’s The M Word, Elijah Black’s Fresh Fruit Festival, Micha Lazare’s Lazer Lady and the Buddha Babies, Robert Adanto’s film Pearl on the Ocean Floor, and an unpublished one-act play by Lanford Wilson in addition to the New York School of Rock, JT Lotus Dance Company, Supercute, Yana Schnitzler’s Human Kinetics Movement Arts, the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir’s James Solomon Benn, John J. Zullo Dance, David Amram, the Constellation Moving Company, Roger Manning, Jessica Delfino, Penny Arcade, Taylor Mead, KT Sullivan, the one and only Joe Franklin, and dozens more.