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The DramaBook shop re-opened, thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda and others. New location near Times Square, 266 W. 39th St. Lots of places to sit, read, have coffee. Lovely!
2024
JANUARY
continuing through January 7 CHRISTIAN WALKER: THE PROFANE AND THE POIGNANT revelatory exhibition of a gay Black American artist whose work chronicled queer life through a complex aesthetic lens. Leslie Lohman Museum of Art.
5-21 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL returns in multiple venues! Lots of great sounding stuff, much of which I've never heard of. Which is the way it should be. But do check out Sister Sylvester's THE EAGLE AND THE TORTOISE.
9-20 LIVE ARTERY a concentrated series of amazing stuff, mostly designed for presenters but you can go too if you act fast! Recommended: WEATHERING (see below) and FAMILY HAPPINESS (Juliana May). NYLA and elsewhere.
9-13 WEATHERING Fay Driscoll's feast of physicality returns to New York Live Arts. One of the most invigorating pieces I saw last year. Utterly unique and engrossing.
10-16 WORKS & PROCESS at The Guggenheim Museum presents UNDERGROUND UPTOWN DANCE FESTIVAL with commissioned street and social dances in the Frank Lloyd Wright designed theater at the Guggenheim. I'm particularly interested in January 14, with Lloyd Knight, Jack Ferver and Jeremy Jacob, as well as Company Stefanie Batten Bland.
10-20 PIONEERS GO EAST COLLECTIVE OUT FRONT! FESTIVAL
LGBTQ Community Center and Abrons Arts Center
12-21 DEVISED THEATER WORKING GROUP STUDIO SUITES 5 new pieces by a cohort of artists. The list of alums from this program (started by Under the Radar in 2014) is very impressive. This year's cohort: Amara Janae Brady, Dahlak Brathwaite, Jaime Cepero, Clarissa Marie Ligon, Eli Nixon, and One Whale’s Tale the company of Ellpetha Tsivicos + Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez. Shiva Theater at The Public Theater.
17-Feb 18 PUBLIC OBSCENITIES written/directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury. First presented by Soho Rep. Deep dive into the complexities of a family and communication. So fascinating with brilliant performances. Now at Theatre for a New Audience!
23-28 SOL INVICTUS Compagnie Hervé KOUBI "a production of breaking, martial arts, capoeira, and acrobatic feats." Composer Mikael Karlsson, with excerpts by Steve Reich and Maxime Bodson. The Joyce joyce.org
25-Feb 4 ARISTOTLE THINKS AGAIN. Directed/choreographed by Dan Safer (Witness Relocation)with original text from Chuck Mee, music composed by Julia Kent, set designed by Sara Brown, lighting by Jay Ryan, costumes by Alicia Austin, and sound design by Attilio Rigotti, and performed, co-created, and co-choreographed by maura nguyen donohue, John Maria Gutierrez, Valois Mickens, Kim Savarino and Guest Artist Marcus McGregor. Great Jones Repertory at La Mama
26- March 24. OH, MARY! a new play by and featuring Cole Escola. As Mary Todd Lincoln! Directed by Sam Pinkleton. Featuring, in addition to Cole, James Scully, Conrad Ricamora, Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht, Hannah Solow, Peter Smith. Lucille Lortel Theatre.
FEBRUARY
cont. through 11 ARISTOTLE THINKS AGAIN. Directed/choreographed by Dan Safer (Witness Relocation)with original text from Chuck Mee, music composed by Julia Kent, set designed by Sara Brown, lighting by Jay Ryan, costumes by Alicia Austin, and sound design by Attilio Rigotti, and performed, co-created, and co-choreographed by maura nguyen donohue, John Maria Gutierrez, Valois Mickens, Kim Savarino and Guest Artist Marcus McGregor. Great Jones Repertory at La Mama
cont through May 5. OH, MARY! a new play by and featuring Cole Escola. As Mary Todd Lincoln! Directed by Sam Pinkleton. Featuring, in addition to Cole, James Scully, Conrad Ricamora, Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht, Hannah Solow, Peter Smith. Lucille Lortel Theatre.
cont. through 25 PUBLIC OBSCENITIES written/directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury. First presented by Soho Rep. Deep dive into the complexities of a family and communication. Fascinating with brilliant performances. Discount code: SOHO now at Theatre for a New Audience!
(cont. through March 23) JOB by Max Wolf Friedlich. Directed by Michael Herwitz and featuring Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon. Connelly Theater. The reviews are great. Connelly tends to do very tight and focused work.
1-18 THE FOLLOWING EVENING a collaboration between The Talking Band (Ellen Maddow, Paul Zimet, two married theatre artists in their 70/80's) and 600 Highwaymen (Abigail Browde/Michael Silverstone, two married theatre artists in their early 40's) at the PAC/Perelman
Good piece about it in NY Times
1-March 9 SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE a new solo from Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Neel Keller. Rattlestick Theater. Dael is a beautiful writer/performer with a riveting focus and intensity. "SpiritusTM" for 20% discount.
3-24 BETWEEN TWO KNEES The 1491s. Intertribal sketch comedy. Directed by Eric Ting in co-pro with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Rep. PAC/Perelman Performing Arts Center
5 FIRST MONDAYS Reading. Sarah Schulman's monthly event. Vivian Gornick, Saeed Jones, Radhika Sainath. works-in-progress. PSNY 7pm Free!
5-10 BARK OF MILLIONS Lyrics and Direction by TAYLOR MAC. Music and musical direction by Matt Ray. Costumes by Machine Dazzle. The incredible team of Taylor, Matt and Machine is back with a new (only) 4-hour extravaganza. At BAM Harvey. Co-directed by Nigel Smith. Co-directed/choreography by Faye Driscoll. Expect the best kind of excess.
6-March 9 ON SET WITH THEDA BARA The utterly unique (and 6x Obie winner!) David Greenspan in a show written by Joey Merlo and directed by Jack Serio. The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Ave. Brooklyn "In this hallucination of a one-person show, a genderqueer teen who goes missing and their gay detective father come face-to-face with the supernatural and consciousness-devouring Theda Bara, the real-life vamp and silent film star of the 1910s...part gothic coming-of-age story and part campy melodrama about identity consumption and the horror of not knowing who you are." David's performance is symphonic in range and musicality, and the staging (sit at the table!) is perfect. Discount tickets Tuesday/Wednesday
17-March 17 REMEMBER THIS TRICK Target Margin Theater in "an exploration of antisemitism, stories of Jewish survival, conspiracy theories, and the trickster spirit that will save us all" Directed by David Herskovits at The Doxsee, 232 52nd St. Brooklyn
20-March 16 THIS IS NOT A TIME OF PEACE a play by the fantastically talented Deb Margolin. Directed by Jerry Heymann and featuring Charlotte Cohn, Roger Hendricks Simon, Simon Feil, Ken King, Frank Licato, Steven Rattazzi, Richard Hollis. "the play centers on the relationship between a father and daughter as they try not to spin out in the aftermath of the Red Scare." Presented by New Light Theater Project at Theatre Row.
23-March 10 EXISTENTIALISM The Talking Band members Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow, created and directed by Anne Bogart w/ Paul and Ellen playing (I think) Jean Paul Sartre and Simone De Bouvier. LaMaMa
MARCH
(cont. through March 23) JOB by Max Wolf Friedlich. Directed by Michael Herwitz and featuring Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon. Connelly Theater. The reviews are great. Connelly tends to do very tight and focused work.
(cont. through March 9) ON SET WITH THEDA BARA The utterly unique (and 6x Obie winner!) David Greenspan in a solo show written by Joey Merlo and directed by Jack Serio. The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Ave. Brooklyn "In this hallucination of a one-person show, a genderqueer teen who goes missing and their gay detective father come face-to-face with the supernatural and consciousness-devouring Theda Bara, the real-life vamp and silent film star of the 1910s...part gothic coming-of-age story and part campy melodrama about identity consumption and the horror of not knowing who you are." David's performance is symphonic in range and musicality, and the staging (sit at the table!) is perfect. Discount tickets Tuesday/Wednesday
cont. through May 5. OH, MARY! a new play by and featuring Cole Escola. As Mary Todd Lincoln! Directed by Sam Pinkleton. Featuring, in addition to Cole, James Scully, Conrad Ricamora, Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht, Hannah Solow, Peter Smith. Lucille Lortel Theatre.
cont. through 16 THIS IS NOT A TIME OF PEACE a play by the fantastically talented Deb Margolin. Directed by Jerry Heymann and featuring Charlotte Cohn, Roger Hendricks Simon, Simon Feil, Ken King, Frank Licato, Steven Rattazzi, Richard Hollis. "the play centers on the relationship between a father and daughter as they try not to spin out in the aftermath of the Red Scare." Presented by New Light Theater Project at Theatre Row.
(cont. through 10) EXISTENTIALISM The Talking Band members Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow, created and directed by Anne Bogart w/ Paul and Ellen playing (I think) Jean Paul Sartre and Simone De Bouvier. LaMaMa
(cont. through 9) SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE a new solo from Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Neel Keller. Rattlestick Theater. Dael is a beautiful writer/performer with a riveting focus and intensity. "SpiritusTM" for 20% discount.
(cont. through 17) REMEMBER THIS TRICK Target Margin Theater in "an exploration of antisemitism, stories of Jewish survival, conspiracy theories, and the trickster spirit that will save us all" Directed by David Herskovits at The Doxsee, 232 52nd St. Brooklyn
cont. through July 28. THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND TRANSATLANTIC MODERNISM exhibition at The Met Museum. Making up for notorious 1969 show that managed to have no Black painters or sculptors.
2-23 ILLINOISE Sufjian Steven's classic pop work staged by Jackie Sibbles Drurie and Justin Peck. We saw it at Bard last year and it is one of the most joyous and captivating live pieces I've experienced in a while. The music beautifully brings forth Sufjian's original. Park Avenue Armory
4 FIRST MONDAYS, Sarah Schulman's excellent reading series at Performance Space NY "Noted memoirist, novelist and screenwriter BRIDGETT M DAVIS will preview her new work about her sister, forthcoming from Harper Collins, BILL GOLDSTEIN - the biographer of Larry Kramer will provide a much awaited look at this highly anticipated work. RASHEED NEWSON's last book was a speculative/historical fantasia about AIDS and Black life." Free (but RSVP)! 7pm
7-10 UNSTILL LIFE co-created by Rinde Eckert, Risa Jaroslow, Margaret Jenkins, Jon Kinzel, Vicky Schick. Legendary dancer/choreographer/musicians from NYC and SF get together. Arts on Site, 12 St. Mark's Pl. Manhattan
15-24 MARIUPOL PHOTOGRAPHY: EXHIBITION AND PERFORMANCE at Howl! Happening, 6 E. 1st. St. "Yara Arts Group presents a multi-media event that includes a photography exhibition by Pulitzer Prize winners Evgeniy Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov, as well as a performance, Mariupol: Diaries of War and the Tree of Life, that fuses documentary material, poetry, song, dance, and puppetry to tell the story of this city in Eastern Ukraine. Performances at 6pm Fri-Sun
15-30 LENI'S LAST LAMENT Jodie Markell's one-woman evocation of Leni Reifenstahl. Written by Gil Kofman and directed by Richard Caliban. This comes highly recommended by Lawrence Weschler. Received best actor, director, play in United Solo Festival last year. The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn ticks/info
19-APRIL 22 BATHHOUSE.PPTX by Jesús Valles. 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize. Directed by Chay Yew with set by You-Shin Chen. The Flea. "follows Presenter, a gay latiné high school student, who is thrust into the landscapes of queer intimacy, colonialism, and communal spaces for pleasure. Somewhere between lecture, re-enactment, and cruising ground lies a meditation on queer longing, queer grief, and all our queer worlds that will come to pass, that will come to be."
19 the great chronicler of downtown NYC performance and art, CYNTHIA CARR, reads from her brand new book about CANDY DARLING! And KATE BORNSTEIN will be a guest, so this should be revelatory. Rizzoli Bookstore 1133 Broadway. Free but limited seating so reserve. 6pm
23 THE AMERICAN TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION PLAY by James Scruggs. The last work I saw by James was an installation/performance that was savage, disturbing and brilliant in its examination of racism. This one is a "radically interactive online experience exploring America’s history with the enslavement of Africans and the resulting contemporary issues of racism. Audience members are immediately thrust into the role of the jury in this exploration and trial of The American Experiment itself. The ‘judge’ is an AI entity that the audience will create in real time to embody the attributes that THIS audience decides is appropriate to lead them forward." 2pm via HERE's digital platform Tickets/info
28-May 5 SALLY & TOM new work by Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. In Association with The Guthrie Theater Public Theater
29-April 7 SWIMMING WITH LESBIANS Marga Gomez at LaMaMa. Directed by David Schweizer "multi-character romp set aboard “The Celesbian” the most notorious cruise ship on the seas."
APRIL
cont. through 7 SWIMMING WITH LESBIANS Marga Gomez at LaMaMa. Directed by David Schweizer "multi-character romp set aboard “The Celesbian” the most notorious cruise ship on the seas."
cont. through May 5 BATHHOUSE.PPTX by Jesús Valles. 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize. Directed by Chay Yew with set by You-Shin Chen. The Flea. "follows Presenter, a gay latiné high school student, who is thrust into the landscapes of queer intimacy, colonialism, and communal spaces for pleasure. Somewhere between lecture, re-enactment, and cruising ground lies a meditation on queer longing, queer grief, and all our queer worlds that will come to pass, that will come to be." Very engaging staging by Chay Yew, and the performance by the narrator, Sam Gonzalez, is particularly strong.
ont. through May 5. OH, MARY! a new play by and featuring Cole Escola. As Mary Todd Lincoln! Directed by Sam Pinkleton. Featuring, in addition to Cole, James Scully, Conrad Ricamora, Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht, Hannah Solow, Peter Smith. Lucille Lortel Theatre.
cont through May 26 SALLY & TOM new work by Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III In Association with The Guthrie Theater Public Theater smart take on that weird relationship, managing to find the pathos and bathos and brutality of it through the romanticized screen. The kind of writing/rewriting of history that brings us closer to something resembling truth. Beautifully performed and staged.
cont. through July 28. THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND TRANSATLANTIC MODERNISM exhibition at The Met Museum. Making up for notorious 1969 show that managed to have no Black painters or sculptors.
3-21 NOT NOW by David Ireland. Directed by Max Elton with Matthew Blaney and Stephen Kennedy. 59E59 Theaters. Ireland wrote the very strong CYPRUS AVENUE. Produced by 19th Street Productions and Finborough Theatre.
5-6 THE ABSOLUTE FUTURE Raja Feather Kelly and his company the feath3r theory. NYU Skirball. "a devised dance-theatre performance about a group of friends who attempt to watch The Great American Eclipse and miss it. This passionately human and humorously charged work is furious, sensitive, and pulsates with a heart that is desperate to find a connection in a world evolving to keep us divided. The central question: “Do we make culture or does culture make us?” Raja has done some of the best theatre choreography I've seen in recent plays at Soho Rep and elsewhere. Have not seen his company yet!
10-13 FOR ALL YOUR LIFE Leslie Cuyjet at The Chocolate Factory "a performance event, film, and social experiment that investigates the value of Black life and Black death; scrutinizing the mechanism of life insurance through the prism of the underwriting process. An accompanying website (forallyourlife.com) will serve as both an online archive of the project and a literal marketplace – extending the life of the project beyond the dates of its physical performance"
12-13 NAIL BITER: BETH GILL NYU Skirball
13. DBR LAB PRESENTATION Daniel Bernard Roumain/DBR presents class/collective of young performers and their new works from Arizona State University. 5pm National Sawdust. With guest artists Paola Prestini, Jeff McMahon, Adriannna Mateo
17-June 16 HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES latest work by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project. New York Theatre Workshop Fascinating, intricate and moving study of the power of found photographs, in this case of the flip side of Auschwitz. The play is in line with recent film THE ZONE OF INTEREST in examining the power of denial, of moving the camera away from horror. Very strong media design that emphasizes the very frontal address form of the play.
20 A PYRAMID HOMECOMING performance and readings by those who were there back when the Pyramid was such a thing. John Jesurun and Company (maybe some new episodes of CHANG IN A VOID MOON???, Holly Hughes, Ann Magnuson, Lydia Lunch, Edgar Oliver, John Kelly and a lot more. 6:30pm at the original location 101 Ave A (now called The Knitting Factory at Baker Falls) All in honor of the new book, We Started a Nightclub: the Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It. Which will be available for purchase. Ticks
MAY
cont through 26 SALLY & TOM new work by Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III In Association with The Guthrie Theater Public Theater smart take on that weird relationship, managing to find the pathos and bathos and brutality of it through the romanticized screen. The kind of writing/rewriting of history that brings us closer to something resembling truth. Beautifully performed and staged.
cont. through June 16 HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES latest work by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project. New York Theatre Workshop Fascinating, intricate and moving study of the power of found photographs, in this case of the flip side of Auschwitz. The play is in line with recent film THE ZONE OF INTEREST in examining the power of denial, of moving the camera away from horror. Very strong media design that emphasizes the very frontal address form of the play.
cont. through May 5 BATHHOUSE.PPTX by Jesús Valles. 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize. Directed by Chay Yew with set by You-Shin Chen. The Flea. "follows Presenter, a gay latiné high school student, who is thrust into the landscapes of queer intimacy, colonialism, and communal spaces for pleasure. Somewhere between lecture, re-enactment, and cruising ground lies a meditation on queer longing, queer grief, and all our queer worlds that will come to pass, that will come to be." Very engaging staging by Chay Yew, and the performance by the narrator, Sam Gonzalez, is particularly strong.
1-19 SHIMMER AND HERRINGBONE Talking Band Written by Ellen Maddow and Paul Zimet in collaboration with Olivera Gajic. Directed by Paul Zimet. Choreography by Sean Donovan. Featuring Ebony Davis James Tigger! Ferguson, Ellen Maddow, Lizzie Olesker, Tina Shepard, Louise Smith, Jack Wetherall. MabouMines@122CC, 150 First Ave. "Drawing inspiration from Gajic’s costume designs, Ellen Maddow and Paul Zimet wrote Shimmer and Herringbone (set in a clothing store by that name)... a farce of chance encounters in which people tired of their old selves hope to find the clothes that will fit their new ones."
3-15 JO ANDRES: BEFORE YOUR EYES. A solo exhibition spanning 40 years of Jo's interdisciplinary film/performance/choreographic performance. The Old School, 32 Prince St. Curated by Stephanie Acosta, Laurie Berg, and Christina Massey, and produced by Before Your Eyes with Anna Adams Stark. Opening reception May 2, 6-9pm and closing reception May 15, 6-9pm. Open daily* Mon - Sun, 12-6pm, by appointment only on May 6, 7, and 13
8-June 16 THE FIRES world premiere of a play written and directed by Raja Feather Kelly. Music by Emily Wells. Commissioned by Soho Rep. $25 ticks use FIRES25 for shows May 8-22
JUNE
cont. through 16 THE FIRES world premiere of a play written and directed by Raja Feather Kelly. Music by Emily Wells. Commissioned by Soho Rep.
cont. through June 16 HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES latest work by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project. New York Theatre Workshop Fascinating, intricate and moving study of the power of found photographs, in this case of the flip side of Auschwitz. The play is in line with recent film THE ZONE OF INTEREST in examining the power of denial, of moving the camera away from horror. Very strong media design that emphasizes the very frontal address form of the play.