In The PassionPit with Jay Michaels: Recent Episodes
Jay Michaels
David Howard Thornton was born on November 30th, 1979 in Huntsville, Alabama. He is an actor known for work in stage, film, and voice over. He is best known for his roles as Grandpa Who in the 1st- 5th national tours of "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical", the voice of Shizoku and others in the video game "Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom", The Joker in the YouTube series "Nightwing Escalation" ...
and Art the Clown in the film "Terrifier" and the soon-to-be-released "Terrifier 2."
David, a pleasant, humorous, gent, praises Charlie Chaplin (among others) for his mesmerizing performance as Art, the Clown.
Thrilled to talk to him BEFORE he gets as big as Robert Engund.
The Fierce Urgency of Now – by Doug DeVita in March 2021
In this fast-moving caustic comedy, Kyle, an art director in high-powered New York ad agency, tries to discover his real self amid power struggles and stereotypes. He finds an ally in Dodo, who understands his plight – being that she became a lady-living-legend in an era of “Mad Men.”
A Fresh Fruit Awards of Distinction winner for Outstanding Play AND Outstanding Production! press: Arts Stage – Seattle Rage: “ The writing is fresh, funny, and smart without striving for hilarity. It hits where it’s meant to hit. ” Outer-Stage: “ A rapid-fire, well-timed character study filled with terrific one-liners, deep and even tearful relationship moments, and sage wisdom for the texting generation. ”
Doug DeVita Presents THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW as Radio Play Fierce follows art director Kyle as he tries to discover his real self amid the power struggles and skewed priorities of a New York ad agency.
Doug DeVita's witty exploration of homophobia and ageism in the ad world becomes a radio play. Premiering in March. Visit freshfruitfestival.com for details.
Doug DeVita's fast-paced comedy, The Fierce Urgency of Now, has multiple lives across the country. A regional favorite for some time, the play has been turned into a screenplay and is currently in development as a motion picture. In the meantime, playwright/screenwriter Doug DeVita has reworked the piece into a joyous radio-style play. Fierce follows art director Kyle as he tries to discover his real self amid the power struggles and skewed priorities of a New York ad agency. After an office restructuring puts him in a new creative group run by a homophobic manager, he finds an unlikely ally in copywriter Dodo, a living-legend from the era of "Mad Men," who not-so-gently prods Kyle to the realization that "It's time to take off. And soar." DeVita's own experience in the ad world coupled with his trademark caustic wit makes this play an hilarious parable exposing longtime homophobia and ageism.
Tony Anthony and Jeff Milstein are showmen from way-back and they are now giving-back. Producer, Jeff Milstein has entered into an agreement with author/actor Tony Anthony, a star of Westerns from the good-old "studio" days, to present a book filled with yet-unheard-of quotes from celebs then-and-now. Hilarious, touching, shocking, ANTHONY'S QUOTES & THOUGHTS COLLECTION THAT MIGHT TOUCH A NERVE is great as a traveling companion, a gift for the collector and the history buff, and simply an enjoyable alternative. Tony and Jeff gab like Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner while I try and get a word in edge-wise.
https://www.amazon.com/ANTHONYS-QUOTES-THOUGHTS-COLLECTION-NERVE/dp/B08LGSF38M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=anthony%27s+quotes&qid=1606168321&sr=8-1
David Howard Thornton was born on November 30th, 1979 in Huntsville, Alabama. He is an actor known for work in stage, film, and voice over. He is best known for his roles as Grandpa Who in the 1st- 5th national tours of "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical", the voice of Shizoku and others in the video game "Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom", The Joker in the YouTube series "Nightwing Escalation" ...
and Art the Clown in the film "Terrifier" and the soon-to-be-released "Terrifier 2."
David, a pleasant, humorous, gent, praises Charlie Chaplin (among others) for his mesmerizing performance as Art, the Clown.
Thrilled to talk to him BEFORE he gets as big as Robert Engund.
Passionpit music: Through My Head (Obninsk, Russia) Song: Aeterna Album: Infinity (2012)
Return with us to the wondrous days of Famous Monsters, the science vs. fiction of Omni and Starlog, the satirical humor of Mad Magazine, and the brilliant short stories of the legendary pulp magazines.
Gravity City Digital Magazine — a stunning amalgam of these great periodicals will burst upon the genre by Halloween!
Filled with Mad Magazine lampoon-style ads and spoof gadgets and products, the magazine — aside from its humor — serves as a platform for emerging authors of science fiction, fantasy, and Horror, as well as illuminating interviews and articles about new films, books, and other genre events.
Gravity City is a media partner with Phoenix FearCon Online. Opening October 16, FearCon will run until December 31. Gravity City will provide coverage of the film festival’s events.
Joining Artie Cabrera and editorial collaborator Christopher J. Valin is Margarita Mendoza, a veteran of marketing and advertising, and Jay Michaels, a prominent member of the genre community through Terror Talk, a program he produced for Terror TV as well as producer and host of In the PassionPit, an ongoing podcast, and video program that spotlights indie artists and their creations — just like Artie and Gravity City — as well as appearances at PhantasmCon, Boston Sci-Fi, and others.
Margarita Mendoza has already begun spearheading a far-reaching marketing campaign and soliciting [real] advertising while Jay Michaels is the communications director.
The Third Issue of Gravity City Digital Magazine is currently in production and it features exclusive interviews with Star Trek: Discovery writers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, as well as television writer Larry Brody (The Six Million Dollar Man, Hawaii 5–0, Automan, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn animated series (HBO) conducted and written by Christopher J. Valin.
Also — Gravity City Digital Magazine is more than a magazine and an adjoining website. It endeavors to act as a compendium for the Gravity City fictional universe it’s based on. Readers and fans have dubbed Gravity City as Star Wars meets the best of ’70s crime dramas.
Synopsis: “In the far reaches of space, the celestial body known as Nebuna is the home to a metropolis with a bad attitude and an expansive wasteland filled with legends and mystery. The tales you are about to read will give you an unflinching ride through the crime-infested gutters and corruption of GRAVITY CITY and the wondrous world that lies beyond city limits,” expounds Artie Cabrera, founder, and publisher of the magazine and creator of the universe and website.
“Gravity City is filled with dark stories, Noir stories, science fiction stories, gumshoe stories, war stories, alien stories, and smuggler stories. In this city, imagination is bursting at the seams, the sky’s the limit and the tales to tell here are numerous and filled with variety.” — an Amazon review.
A series of Gravity City novels written by Artie Cabrera and Christopher J. Valin will be released sometime in 2021.
Kalonjee Gallimore, a brilliant actor/singer/songwriter, with whom I worked in COMMON GROUND expressed his feeling of the current state of affairs as only artists could. I'll be talking to him next week in the PassionPit. Meantime ... he wrote this ...
I look around and I watch the world burn.
Elders.. pass the baton sayin’ now it’s my turn.
Covered, head to toe in their ashes I yearn
For lessons untaught, knowledge unlearned.
We turn from Sudan, weep for Quasimodo,
Instead of action use a hashtag and a photo.
Infatuated with the likes and the Logos,
But how to get out of this mess, don’t know
Can’t even take even take a jog in the street
This mask ain’t the reason I can’t breath
Ankle weights pull me down, locked ‘gainst my feet
But hands up, I guess they staying on me
I keep running, faster to you
Running until I breakthrough, running
I keep running, faster to you
Running until I breakthrough, runnin-(Gunshot)
RIP…no justice, no peace
And the way this world headed this conflict won’t cease
I was raised to forgive, to love my enemies
But it’s hard when their hatred founded this country
Listen to me this, this is not just a rhyme
This is reckless destruction of countless lives
I’m sick and tired of being so tired
We cry into void while you bump Travis Scott
Scavenge upon my flesh you vulture
Terminate me, but love my culture
Idolize rappers, ballers, actors
Do you love us, I bet you don’t, ’cause-
Gone, before mom could say goodbye -
Bullet in my brain, hands up in the sky -
It’s not safe at home, at church, or outside I just turn into that pound sign and die.
I keep running, faster to you
Running until I breakthrough, running (I’m tired of being tired of being tired of being tired)
I keep running, faster to you
Running until I breakthrough, runnin-(Gunshot) (I’m tired of being tired of being tired of being tired)
This is the last "audio" passion-pit as we move to video. I received de facto approval thanks to a line stated in my brief conversation with the last member of the famed Honeymooners ensemble TV series of the 50s. Ms. Randolph, amid sharing how they rehearsed one night and then performed - truly before a live audience with no re-shoots just like any stage play - she said prayed for live theater to return in some form soon but ... TELEVISION WILL NEVER GO AWAY.
She might be predicting the next evolution of the arts.
There is no need to announce the winner of THIS “IN NEED OF A CAPTION” COMPETITION ... it's Donald Loftus.
The best caption would be "gentleman ... captain of industry ... raconteur ... master playwright"
My hair was once dark, now it is not, so I remember other eras well and Donald Luftus possessed all the grace and eloquence of that other time. I didn't need to prepare questions. I just needed to listen to this man's tales of great success despite adversity and be enthralled.
Playwright and filmmaker, Caytha Jentis, was readying her play, POOLING FOR PARADISE, for its off-Broadway opening. She was also readying her film, POOLING FOR PARADISE, for opening. That's right, she pulled the ultimate indie move ... play and film simultaneous! OK, play's on hold but the film is on its way! She shared with me how she keeps herself happy by keeping her friends happy.
Documentary filmmaker, Isabella Babich, lensed an engaging account of the multi-dimensional world of Cabaret. She did it becasue she fell in love with it as an art-form. She also shared her hopes that her love affair can eventually continue.
Y'know, sometimes it takes just one conversation.
I've had the pleasure of working alongside Attila Juhasz in sunny Arizona at equally sunny, Sun Studios on Terror TV. Little did I know that he is a fellow native New Yorker AND little did I know he published his own magazine; created his own video game featuring George Romero, has deep and extensive work within numerous facets of technology and worked with rock stars, movie personalities, and so much more. He's more than ready for whatever the arts world looks like when the curtains again rise.
One thing I knew already and he just proved me right ... he's quite brilliant.
This is obviously another crossover between IN THE PASSIONPIT and IN THE DARK so find my interview with Attila on both sites.
Jessie Fahay, founding artistic director of Ripple Effect Artists, has scored a media triumvirate. The live theatre company (that's 1) recently branched out into indie film (that's 2) and - in honor of Orson Welles' birthday - will present arguably the most famous and easily historic radio play (that's 3) WAR OF THE WORLDS on Station WPKN on the internet (ooops, I guess that make 4) as a fundraiser for CoVid-19 relief.
Jessie was somewhat surprised when i pointed out that she is rapidly becoming a sci-fi company as well.
WAR OF THE WORLDS (of course) plus her new film, HERE COMES FRIEDA is a disaster tale set in the scary future; two previous works, 2071 (a climate change cautionary tale) and her first AEA contract production, THE ADDING MACHINE, Elmer Rice's 1930s classic about a dystopian future brought about by ... calculators.
All this has earned her a place IN THE PASSIONPIT and IN THE DARK on TERROR TV (https://terrortv.com/inthedark/)
Broadway producer and selfless supporter of indie theatre, Jim Kierstead, talks of Broadway's reopening and what he feels are viable alternatives until the curtain goes up.
It is always a pleasure to speak to Jim. He is accessible, friendly, and intelligent. We hear so many hypothesis from so many "informed" sources ... it is truly priceless to hear form some to whom this directly affects.
February: Travis Martin was a successful actor doing an open end run of Anthony Piccione's new play and taking some video editing jobs on the side.
April: Travis Martin is a video editor looking for Zoom Plays.
Can anyone relate?
Professional musician, Micah Young, can't be in the pit for a Broadway show right now; nor on the stage of Lincoln Center; nor in a cabaret venue. Instead, he is traveling around the world, hosting instructions and singalongs with children.
A parent once told him that - after he sang with her child - it was "the first time she smiled in weeks."
Maybe he can't hear it but he's getting standing Os around the world.
Power couple, Joel Eisenberg & Lorie Girsh present great films and TV. Some recent successes remember the past (Then Again, Terror Talk). They cited examples of how we coped in the past that might help us in the future. Even looking to make-up with our BIG BROTHER.
The New York Times reported today that the first case of death in the United States for Covid-19 was February 6. Dan Lane Williams was in hospital with the Flu and Pneumonia on January 12. His friends at the Wednesday Repertory were fearing the worst. Happily and thankfully, they were wrong.
Dan is a brilliant photographer now taking this shelter-in-place to hone his craft. His hospitalization might also change history by pushing a timeline.
What will happen to the art world after Covid-19? What will happen to the world?
I spoke with Lester Cook. He transitioned from the business world to the theatre world. He also made another TRANSITION. Who better to discuss a change of reality?
My "UVX" buddy, Dave Morrissey, Jr. has always been on the cutting-edge of things. With Luxury Universal Xperience and then FUTUREPROOF, he was on the cusp of a new kind of theatre - a cinema/virtual/live hybrid. Many questioned, many laughed.
Who Laughing Now???
Life and Music Sage, Bobbie Horowitz and i sat down to discuss the world. Little did i know I was speaking to someone who has an "in." Ms. Horowitz - amid discussing egg creams and being a nice Jewish girl - shared her philosophies on this time in history. They were powerful and deep. She was shocked to hear I thought she was a leader. I can't imagine her being anything else.
Actress Casey Hartnett is doing just fine. She plays the lead in Anthony Laura's play, THE GIRL WITH THE RED HAIR, and is taking every second of this staycation to solidify her character.
Horror filmmaker Jeff Frumess talked of transformation in horror film ... but not about the monster. He then BRILLIANTLY answered my on-going question about what kind of horror movie are we living in. He waxed philosophical about making movies as well.
The founders of New York's finest improv troupe, the Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble, have already set-in-motion when their season would resume; they have already connected with their troupe about the future; they have already began fundraising. Now Nannette Deasy & Robert Baumgardner just have to figure out how to simply STAND STILL!!!
One of the most visible names in Cabaret and a Broadway veteran, David Sabella's ability to read the hand-writing on the wall is as sharp as his reading music. Assessing the present and the hypothetical future, David is now a warrior making music possible - even from behind locked doors.
So Edward Gusts captured my attention in two ways... he wrote an engrossing and topical horror film ... based on Shakespeare's Macbeth! We chatted classics ... literature and genre.
Indie filmmaker Nick McAnulty didn't think of himself as a horror film maker ... until I asked him.
Andrew Lorhenz wrote and directed a film about murder, deception, crime, and revenge... but he was the nicest guy! He shared with me what it was like to go from film crew on big-budgets to director of an indie!
Emerging genre filmmaker, Jared Masters, answered my question about what kind of horror movie we're currently in with "none ... this is REAL" We then got literal and philosophical.
André Vauthey gave up a career as a doctor at Hôpital Cantonal de Fribourgin in Switzerland to come to America to be an actor. Crazy, right?
He was gaining great success as an actor. Enough so that he was building his own repertory company.
Then this happened,
Now he put his acting career on hold and went back home to help his family and community.
Hero, right?
I was honored to speak with renowned author and fellow "newspaper man" Chip Deffaa. We spoke of the pandemic ... the 1918 one. Chip gave me incredible insight into how they differ, how they're similar, and how we should learn from the community then about being a community now.
We all are on our perennial "day-off" but I spoke with Laurie Rae Waugh on one of her few. Working for the court system, Laurie is considered essential, thus, she puts on her mask and goes to work. Is she brave? Definitely. Is she used to it? Definitely. The award-winning director/producer began her career managing one of the first AIDS benefits ... ever.
Writer/reviewer and all around Broadway theatre authority, Robert Viagas was unabashed in his confidence that when the time comes Broadway will burst back like an 11 O'Clock Number. A fellow judge at the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, we got all futuristic about precautions.
I spoke with Nicholas Thomas, one of the triumvirate that brings us the amazing art from spit&vigor, about times here in NYC and in his native New Zealand. Normally, one might be encouraged when someone says "we're alike."
Ziporen Hazum, a former Israeli soldier, now film producer, talks about how she will soldier on during this next "war."
Film, TV, and stage actress, Stephanie Satie, has achieved a sold measure of notoriety from her one-person shows. One, in which she portrays children of the Holocaust hit home to her now. One must appreciate it all ... all the time.
Celebrated Playwright Robert Liebowitz is helping out right now by sitting all alone in a taxi dispatchers booth, guiding the last two cabs of a company pick-up and deliver the ailing to hospitals. It is so quiet, he could hear every thought in his head. Soon he will write down these thoughts into a play about our current reality. He's waiting to start ... to see how the play ends.
Until then he's Burgess Meredith from The Twilight Zone.
I had an engrossing and enlightening conversation with Lee Adhemar G. Feldshon - but you can call him Lee AND you can call him often as well ... and for free. This prominent entertainment attorney realized that - right now - many of us are in the midst of a contract that simply can't happen. What can we do? What can they do? What does the future hold. If you haven't thought about this ... you must listen. If you have thought about this ... you must listen.
A veteran of everything including legendary spaghetti westerns, Tony Anthony feels that now is the time when we MUST remember the past. So he has devoted his life to making that easy on us.
Hip-hop artist and now TV personality, JUSTICE, talks about her career and her upcoming pilot about a superhero... and her faith. She is as fearless as her character because when she answers to a higher power.
Jeffrey Milstein spent his days walking the [bottom] line between investing in and producing entertainment events and artist management AND running a successful tax accounting firm. Now he is using a combination of that knowledge to assess the future of the industry.
In light of the fact that Arizona has joined the lock-down, I spoke with my buddy at Sun Studios, Chris McLennan, on NOT staying home. The film and TV studio manager is MEDIA, thus, she is essential and must brave the outside. Brain Damage Films operates out of Sun Studios so maybe that's why Chris still had a bright disposition ... she 's used to scary situations.
Fright filmmaker Marcus Slabine and I shared some thoughts on the horror show outside our doors. This clever, friendly, highly intelligent visionary filmmaker made an old monster like me absolutely shiver!
So I get a call from Jay Michaels recently ... I was beside myself! He is a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ... Am I in The Twilight Zone? He quoted from Doctor Who ... I get it ... an alternate universe!
Then he told me he is a classical harp and string player working to put medieval and renaissance music online. Even there, considering my Shakespeare dedication, i found the similarities scary!
It must be the name.
The artistic director of the immensely collaborative Playful Substance theater company and "everyone's mom" talks of two cooking adventures: helping everyone eat right, right now; and making sure she offers her writers group ingredients for creative survival.
Face to Face Films founder, Anthony Laura discusses how his play, The Girl With the Red Hair, looks really different from a "viral" point of view.
Maryann Penzaro is indeed a lively artist. The dancer/dance captain whose "been there-done that" was handling a production of Guys & Dolls with young people of all kinds up in Westchester when all of this came down. THEN she really started dancing. Now she is keeping the company together; working to get it reopened after all this; caring for the neighborhood and those who need it most; sharing her thoughts and prayers with everyone; and doing it with a grace and joy that would be necessary in normal times. Now ... she is a godsend. I almost forgot why I called her because I was having such a good time. So will you.
Ellen Wolf and Rémi Amblard are making music from their home in Paris ... sounds lovely huh? Y'know you can be arrested if you are out for more than an hour there and don't try to drive over the border to Belgium!
Laris Macario is known for his powerful portrayal of Henry V. Speaking with him, i don't think he's stopped playing it. He is aggressively battling this situation and preparing for the next challenge after it's all over. I always admire people who know that the expression, "hit the ground running" means. he does ... and he is.
Zan Vailento, displaying his energy, talent, and ingenuity, has tapped into the latest trend in a really unique way. He is also enjoying making pasta. Both atop a ladder while painting his apartment.
Even as a quip, to call these two amazing women "nonessential" is criminal. Ellen & Valery were nurses during the AIDS epidemic and chronicled their heart-breaking yet empowering experiences in NURSES ON THE INSIDE. Some of the story is raw, sometimes graphic, but familiar for people with HIV infection or those dear to them. Retired, they were contacted by Governor Cuomo to return to active duty to help the community and to help in finding a vaccine.
When I spoke with Ellen I didn't know what to expect so my "charm" was on. She knocked me for a loop. First in her amazing words and thoughts and then she told me "wait till you hear what Valery has to say." I started out sounding like I got hit over the head... then I got worse.
Ignore me, but LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN to her. HERE IS PART II: VALERY
Here is a link to their book, which, like them, is essential.
https://www.amazon.com/Nurses-Inside-Stories-AIDS-Epidemic-ebook/dp/B07QPG9HSL
Even as a quip, to call these two amazing women "nonessential" is criminal. On the front lines back-in-the-day during the AIDS crisis, Ellen & Valery were nurses during the AIDS epidemic and chronicled their heart-breaking yet empowering experiences in NURSES ON THE INSIDE, a book based on true and real events that happened during the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic ... from the frontlines. It focuses on their lives and their experiences. Some of the story is raw, sometimes graphic, but familiar for people with HIV infection or those dear to them.
Retired, they were contacted by Governor Cuomo to return to active duty to help the community and to help in finding a vaccine.
If I wasn't speechless when they contacted me to help share their [current] story, I was after speaking with them.
HERE IS PART I: ELLEN
Here is a link to their book, which, like them, is essential.
https://www.amazon.com/Nurses-Inside-Stories-AIDS-Epidemic-ebook/dp/B07QPG9HSL
Filmmaker and really deep thinker, Nick LaMantia, spent two years creating a genre masterpiece that is clearly a parable of something going on just outside our understanding. We spoke of his really enticing horror film and the other horror going on just outside our understanding.
NOTE to Gigi & Reggie Bannister ... I see a little "Angus" in my new friend, Nick.
DC Anderson spent 18 years in the Paris Opera House. Not the one in Paris... the one with a ghost in it on Broadway. He is now a renaissance man - still acting but also planting, photographing, song-writing (I'm circulating a link to his music soon), and most of all smiling. He [still] loves life, gets as much sun and fun as he can, and is waiting for the overture to the next symphony of life to begin. You'd think he was in "Annie" instead of "Phantom."
Ashley and I never met before this. Suddenly i find myself on the phone with a Broadway performer with a lot to say about the state of the current art and how we can keep the lights on when this is behind us. She's also a Hamlet-junkie.
Play-and-screenwriter as well as film actor, Thomas Kee shared some info on the film, THE NEW MUTANT, which he is/was in; the next round of his play about the creation ... of the creation ... of Frankenstein; and the darkest demons from the lowest pits of hell ... politicians.
Forry Ackerman's associate and caregiver, and renowned writer, JOE MOE has devoted his days (and nights) to connecting with the horror genre community on everything from a good scary movie to how to chase away the scares from outside our own windows.
LGBTQTYM
One of the more visible members of the LGBTQ community, Tym Moss, spoke with me on the current state of affairs. Never has such a serious conversation made me laugh so hard.
Ashley Adelman, the artistic director of Infinite Variety Productions, the company that gave us the cautionary tale about how the mentally ill were treated (The Women of Blackwell) now looks at our new world of technology.
Playwright/Producer Marcina Zaccaria recalls an 8:00 performance cancelled at 5:30 and what great art and knowledge that was lost. Now we multiplied that by the entire world. She lamented an amazing series of works that were to be done at the Public Library. We they reopen? The works? The library?
Playwright and Activist, Anthony J. Piccione, had some tough things to say. He understands the obstacles life offers and shoots from the hip in this interview.
My buddy, Gary Morgenstein, prominent author/playwright and my own PR rabbi had a play, which he considered his best work to date. So much so he invested 100% of the budget. You know what happened.
But Gary is firm in his resolve that the theatre WILL rise from the ashes like a Phoenix. So he waits for that Phoenix - and the curtain to his magnum opus - to rise!
Thrilled to have a chance to speak to master interviewer, Adam Rothenberg. He has been face-to-face with some of the industry's brightest stars and most admired names. I asked him what it was like, now, being facetime-to-facetime.
Celebrated award-winning playwright, raconteur, educator, and all-round brilliant and hilarious guy, Doug DeVita spent some time with me on the phone talking of the state of the art through his many irons in the fire; the state of the world as his husband is a doctor thus a soldier on the front lines; and as a observer of life. Sit back and forget your troubles at this one man show! Max was unavailable for comment.
Acclaimed award-winning horror and suspense filmmaker, Jeremiah Kipp spoke of how if you want to see the future, watch a scary movie. He is completing a film made DURING THE PANDEMIC. "The Bells" by Edgar Allen Poe is a response to the crisis featuring actors who sent in their readings of the ominous poem.
This is also broadcast on Terror TV's podcast IN THE DARK WITH JAY MICHAELS
The name Jennings has been part of the theatrical indie landscape for nearly 50 years. the name Jessica Jennings has been synonymous with quality work at Ripple Effect Artists and at the American Theatre of Actors - where her father, James Jennings, has led the charge since the Off-Off Broadway Movement.
Now she's at home with her family. We've heard how our day-jobs have transcended (listen to Jed Ryan's interview here on Passionpit) and now, let's hear what it means to a mother. Jessica offers some sad and disturbing news and how she looks at it philosophically.
Francis and I met through the Alliance of Alien Artists. He is an international artists seeking fame and fortune here in the US of A. But now, the usually tough but doable immigrant and visa laws are still tough ... but in so many ways ... are no longer doable. Francis educated on some tense facts about international artists in this climate.
Jan Ewing is in the arts spotlight again. First he helped keep indie theatre alive by creating EWING REVIEWING, a series of annual books of notable productions. Well, Volume 3 (the next one) will include productions that he reviewed ONLINE! He will be viewing videos and live events and reviewing them. he aptly mentioned that when it is just a raw one-camera set in place it IS like being there.
Jed Ryan - by night and reputation - has his finger on the pulse of Nightlife. As founder and chief writer for Lavender After Dark, if it's wild, Jed was there to write about it.
But now he is another star ... he is a registered nurse by day and because of this, he is now a soldier on the front lines.
Next time, i speak to Jed I want to hear about the best drink at the wildest club but for now, he educated and humbled me on our current state of affairs.
Sky Walters and his wife, Helene, met on a production of Guys & Dolls over 20 years ago. He has since created a thriving music business in Orlando that makes money ... sure ... but make people who need it the most - happy.
Nice, huh?
The battles he and his family endured during this time and how they have ALWAYS conquered are a message we all need to hear around now.
https://www.facebook.com/walter.goldstein.1
Listen. Learn. Laugh. And follow him on Facebook.
Last Broadcast of 2019 but reruns now playing on https://www.facebook.com/groups/InThePassionPit/
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17th @ 3:30 pm – ENCORE PERFORMANCE!
SUE MATSUKI CELEBRATES HER 33rd YEAR OF PERFORMING AT DON'T TELL MAMA in HOW'S THAT FOR OPENERS? (A Show of Opening Numbers!)
Featuring: Gregory Toroian, Tom Hubbard (bass) and Ron Tierno (drums)
Don’t Tell Mama - 343 West 46th Street (Between 8th & 9th)
Reservations: 212-757-0788 (Call after 4:00 pm) or on-line at:
www.DontTellMamanyc.com
Michael Hagins is one of the more prolific names in indie theater. Playwright, director, actor, producer, and especially fight choreographer. The mark of quality, entertainment, and authenticity is to see his name in a program as the one teaching how to take a punch or wield a sword. He just finished a rousing outdoor showing of Two Gentlemen of Verona as part of Shakespeare Sports' summer season. Max Berry of Showtones called the show "smooth" and "lively."
Well, I guess, thanks to Michael, no one got stabbed or slammed into a tree.
===========================================
Carrie Edel Isaacman's theatrical troupe earns its name this fall by trotting from park to park with TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. Shakespeare Sports offers FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK through October 27, telling the story of Julia - in love with Proteus - disguising herself as a young man and follows Proteus to the Duke of Milan's court. There, Proteus and his friend, Valentine meet the Duke's daughter, Silvia, and instantly they BOTH fall for her. Let the games begin!
The free outside showings will be at Athens Square Park in Queens; Dongan Park and Billings Lawn (both in Fort Tryon Park); Summit Rock Park in Manhattan's Central Park alongside the original Shakespeare in the Park. Production edited to 90 minutes.
Dana Lee Block opens-up about her brother, Marc, in MONKEY MAN, a one-person show Saturday, November 2 @ 7:30 p.m., as part of the 10th annual UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL on Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, New York City. Tickets: https://www.telecharge.com/Off-Broadway/United-Solo-Theatre-Festival-2019/Overview
"Monkey Man" comes from a little stuffed monkey my brother carried around until the damn thing disintegrated." ... says playwright and performer, Dana Block. Growing up, Marc was a gut-splittin', hell-raisin' comedian of a kid. But when Marc turned 18, schizophrenia took his mind and he went on the run. Literally.
Marc hitchhiked across America, calling himself a Highway Man: "I tell my stories to drivers, keep 'em awake at night." This show is constructed from the brilliant, stream-of-consciousness rants and graphic cartoons Marc made in a diary as he jumped from ride to ride, sleeping on the side of the road, begging for food. He attempted to stay in reality but his mental illness led him further and further down a rabbit hole. "He tried to reason his way out," Dana says, "finding tunnels, underpasses, crosscuts, but none of it led him back to home."
Dana Block takes the stage to offer a rare insight into the mind of mental illness. "This subject is still so stigmatized and full of shame," Block says. "People come to me after the show and open up. It touches so many peoples' hidden-away griefs."
Dana recently toured this production to her hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, where the reception was large and enthusiastic. Dana has been touring the production in Milwaukee, Chicago and other cities, with the culmination of this leg of the journey at Theatre Row in New York.
DANA BLOCK worked as an actor with Richard Foreman's Indie film, "Once Every Day" (winner, New York Times Critics Pick 2013). She is a proud member of New York Women in Film and TV. Last year, she performed her new play, "Queen Kong," Off Broadway. She has written, produced, and performed four other one-woman shows, receiving a BroadwayWorld award for the role of Silda in a regional production of "Other Desert Cities."
UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL is an annual international festival for solo performances held in New York City. Through a variety of one-person shows, the Festival explores and celebrates the uniqueness of the individual. Its audiences see one-person performances from all over the world, experience foreign cultures and traditions, and learn the perspectives of people from various walks of life.
Born and raised in Stoughton Massachusetts, MARCUS SLABINE has always had a passion for film and making movies. He watched movies nonstop growing up of all kinds which would eventually lead him to creating the now defunct website, KICK ASS HORROR REVIEWS.
After moving and graduating from New York Film Academy, Marcus started working in the film industry full time working on films and TV shows such as THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN 2, PREMIUM RUSH and TV shows such as GOSSIP GIRL, MYSTERIES AT THE M– USEUM and indie films like DISAPPEARANCE OF ELENOR RIGBY, and ANGRIEST MAN IN BROOKLYN. He has since gone on to solely direct, write and produce.
Marcus has since directed 16 Short films with his most recent being JANICE AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE which won Audience choice award, THE AUDIT starring William McNamara and is currently hired to shoot a feature film NICK AND NICKY which stars Sean Young. Marcus is currently prepping to begin production on a new horror film called THE LAST CALL which he wrote and will direct starring DAY OF THE DEAD’s Terry Alexander.
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JEREMIAH KIPP credits include THE SADIST starring Tom Savini, THE POD starring Larry Fessenden, CONTACT (commissioned by Sinister Six annual screening series), BAGGAGE starring Rob Dimension, THE DAYS GOD SLEPT, CRESTFALLEN, THE CHRISTMAS PARTY (Cannes and Clermont-Ferrand), EASY PREY (commissioned by NYC's annual VisionFest), DROOL (commissioned by Mandragoras Art Space), SNAPSHOT and THE APARTMENT (commissioned by Canon to premiere their XL2 at DV Expo 2004).
Producing credits include the feature films SATAN HATES YOU (created by Glass Eye Pix, starring Angus Scrimm, Michael Berryman and Reggie Bannister), GOD'S LAND, LET'S PLAY, IN MONTAUK, THE JONESTOWN DEFENSE and THE BED-THING (directed by Pulitzer Prize-nominated Matt Zoller Seitz).
Assistant director credits include I SELL THE DEAD starring Dominic Monaghan, SOMEWHERE TONIGHT starring John Turturro, ONE NIGHT starring Melissa Leo, and the Sundance Award-winning MAN (dir: Myna Joseph).
Chris Williams tells us all about his new web series - TALES FROM THE VILLE.
"Tales From Da Ville." A horror anthology web series. Synopsis: A Count of Brooklyn tells scary stories to three young women. In each scary story it surrounds race and racism.
after a wildly successful reading, Articulate Theatre Company's production of Doctor Frankenstein gears up for a limited run in November. Articulate is thrilled to have George Allison's new play DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN inaugurate their residency at the historic West End Theatre.
A commanding cast charged with mastering the macabre and dramatic elements of George Allison’s engrossing version of the Shelley novel but taken from a different side of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, has been assembled to breathe life into the work opening at ATC’s new home, the West End Theatre, 263 W 86th Street, NYC, running November 8 – 23. In this version taking place after-the-fact, Dr. Victor Frankenstein asks "What if Mary Shelley got it wrong... on purpose?"
The cast features Tammy McNeill, Steve Humphreys, Loren Bidner, J. Dolan Byrnes, Chris Robertson, and Brianna Kalisch and John Blaylock as Dr. Victor Frankenstein
Production company: Producer - Articulate Theatre Company; Director - Cat Parker; Playwright/Set Design - George Allison; Managing Director - Brittney Venable; Co-Producer - Tekla Gaughan; Co-Producer - Judith Manocherian LLC; Lighting Designer - Dennis Parichy; Sound Designer - Morry Campbell; Video Designer - Eric Siegel; Costume Designer - Jim Buff; Stage Manager - Sabrina Morabito; Props Manager - Diana Sadova; Costume Manager - Anna Rumberg; Fight Choreographer - Michael Hagins
Articulate joins Prospect Theater Company, The Bang Group, and Hunger & Thirst as one of the resident companies of West End Theatre's "Consortium," located on the second floor of the historic Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew (263 W 86th St, New York City). "We are very excited to have a home base from which to continue our work and to have the chance to share energy with the other wonderful companies that call this space home," said Brittney Venable, Articulate's managing director. "The stunning architecture is a perfect location for our next production, Doctor Frankenstein, by George Allison."
Cat Parker, Articulate's founding artistic director, was recently made a part of the new leadership of New York Innovative Theatre Foundation. She joins Ariel Estrada, Producing Artistic Director of Leviathan Lab Projects; Jazmyn Arroyo, Co-Founding Artistic Director of Step 1 Theatre Project; and Akia Squiteri, Artistic Director of Rising Sun Performance Company as Directors of the organization. "It is a terrific honor," said Parker, "I look forward to working with my new partners to support the Indie theatre community by continuing to provide a setting that recognizes the amazing work that we all do, and by advocating for the artistic and social needs of all our artists" she concluded.
Articulate Theatre Company is an ensemble driven company who thrive on being storytellers. Our simple mantra is 'good stories, told well.' Guided by the three definitions of articulate, -clarity, structure and connectivity- we are committed to challenging and connecting audiences and artist with clearly structured work that is intelligent, thought-provoking and visually striking. Storytelling is the heart of theatre. And the stories we like to tell involve myth, magic and the mundane: Mythical creatures bringing new perspective to our mundane lives, or typical people doing epic things. Gods, faeries, artists, plumbers, teachers, heroes, villains, accountants, florists - when these elements combine, we see our reality in a new way. Learn more and get tickets at http://bit.ly/ArticulateDF
The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation was created to bring recognition to the great work being done in New York City's Off-Off-Broadway, to honor its artistic heritage, and to provide a meeting ground for this extensive community. The organization advocates for Off-Off-Broadway and recognizes the unique and essential role it plays in contributing to American and global culture. We believe that publicly recognizing excellence in Off-Off-Broadway will expand audience awareness and appreciation of the full New York theatre experience.
Performance artist, Mary Elizabeth Micari, continues her acclaimed journey of self-discovery filled with great humor and memorable music. This time she tackles her [first] marriage, her exploration into spirituality, and the 90s so the show is peppered with tunes from that emotional period - both popular and rare tunes. This time, she's joins forces with MAC Award winner, Tracy Stark, to create a breath-taking night of music and memories. Utilizing unique instrumentation, the event will feature classical harpist, Richard Spendio, and rock drummer, John Dinello, playing an array of international instrumentation. This is Mary's second appearance at the famed East Village club after a performance of the latest installment of her rousing retro show, Granny's Blu-Mers.
The Lady in Black 2: Between the Sun and the Moon, premieres at Pangea, the trendy cabaret club at 178 2nd Ave in NYC on Saturday October 26, 2019 at 9:30 PM. http://www.pangeanyc.com/show/mary-micari-lady-in-black-2-between-the-sun-and-the-moon-930pm/
Micari, a specialist in Jazz & Blues, has appeared at Pangea, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex, Pianos, Freddy's, Otto's, and even The Augusta Music Festival Blues Week in West Virginia. She also creates her own healing music (including original compositions) using traditional instruments like harp, drums, bowls and tuning forks as well as her voice. Mary began her career in a band doing Jefferson Starship before moving into the classical realm and becoming a trained opera singer, performing at some of NYCs most respected opera companies, before venturing into Blues and Jazz. She currently serves as artistic director of Genesis Repertory, a non-profit arts & education organization designed to create opportunities for emerging artists and make quality theatre accessible to new audiences. For a long time, her day job was doing makeup and hair in live theater and film. Her credentials in that arena include a dozen Broadway shows, independent films, as well as events at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Roundabout Theater. Mary is also a healer and an ordained Minister utilizing Reiki, Herbalism, Homeopathy, Acupressure, Sound Healing and more. The Magic Apothecary is her line of magickly-infused products for health and healing.
No need for a spotlight when Mary Setrakian Lets the Sun Shine!
Mary Setrakian: Let The Sun Shine will be at The TRIAD THEATER, 158 W. 72nd St (between Broadway & Columbus; theater upstairs) for ONE-NIGHT-ONLY; Friday, October 25. Doors open 6:30PM / Show 7:00PM. Tickets: TriadNYC.com
After a joyous engagement at THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE in her one-woman show, musical luminary, Mary Setrakian, returns to the opulent Triad Theatre on the Upper West Side with her rousing musical event, LET THE SUN SHINE! Mary effortlessly jumps from Puccini to Punk, musically, while sharing her adventures her international career has given her. Broadway might be the main course but we are also treated to Italy Australia and everything in between. She also relates fun tales of her Armenian heritage.
Mary is a familiar face thanks to her appearance in Hello, Dolly! (starring Carol Channing) as well as national and international appearances in Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Hello, Dolly and Evita, to name a few. She was also featured at Carnegie Hall in Jubilee directed by Herbert Ross. Mary was recognized with Best Actress in a Musical awards for her roles as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, Trina in Falsettos, the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and her critically acclaimed one-woman show, A New York Romance at which the LA Times exclaimed "Chanteuse Setrakian is dazzling!"
ABOUT HERBIE J
Herbie J Pilato is a TV host, writer, producer, performer, and entertainment executive who has worked on several television shows including Bravo’s hit five-part series, The 100 Greatest TV Characters, Bewitched: The E! True Hollywood Story (the seventh-highest rated True Hollywood Story in E!’s history), A&E’s Biography of Lee Majors, TLC’s Behind the Fame specials on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Hill Street Blues, and L.A. Law, among others. Herbie J has also served as a consulting producer and on-screen cultural commentator on various classic TV DVD documentaries for Sony, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros., including The Six Million Dollar Man boxed set, Kung Fu, and CHiPs.
Herbie J’s long list of top-selling, critically-acclaimed pop-culture/media tie-in books include Mary: The Mary Tyler Moore Story, Dashing, Daring and Debonair: TV’s Top Male Icons from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Glamour Gidgets and the Girl Next Door, The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A Guide To Her Magical Performances, Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery, Bewitched Forever, The Bewitched Book, The Bionic Book, Life Story: The Book of Life Goes On, The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom, The Kung Fu Book of Caine, and NBC & ME: My Life as a Page in a Book, personally-signed copies of each book may be ordered by visiting Herbie J's Shop.
Herbie J began his career as an NBC Page in 1984 (where he worked The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson), after which he became an actor and appeared on TV shows like Highway to Heaven, The Golden Girls, General Hospital, and The Bold and the Beautiful, in addition to various film and live stage productions (some of which he has also directed, such as Leonard Malfi’s Birdbath).
In 2010, Herbie J founded the Classic TV Preservation Society (CTVPS), a formal 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the positive social influence of classic television programming; a core function of which is the Classic TV & Self-Esteem Seminars that are brought to schools, colleges, business, community, and senior centers. Seniors, in particular, respond enthusiastically to the seminars, which many times include six-week programs that allow participants to explore their true life experiences in theatrical productions.
Herbie J, born in Rochester, New York, and today living in Los Angeles, was inspired to ignite the CTVPS due to the positive family values presented on classic TV shows, the inspiration he received from Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery (who he befriended, and who was active in charitable organizations), and because of his dedication as primary caregiver to his parents in their later years (which see Herbie J's Family Blog).
Herbie J is also Creative Director for Television, Ink. (a family oriented TV and film production company), serves as an Editor Emeritus for Larry Brody's heralded www.TVWriter.com, writes about classic television for the Television Academy's distinguished www.Emmys.com, and is a classic TV consultant for Closer Weekly Magazine., among other media outlets.
Most excitably, Herbie J is the Host and Executive Producer (with Joel Eisenberg and Steve Hillard, co-creators of The Chronicles of Ara), and producer Lorie Girsh Eisenberg of Then Again with Herbie J Pilato, a new classic TV talk show now streaming on Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV. Please feel free to watch and review the show by visiting the following link provided here: Then Again with Herbie J Pilato
For more news and information, please log on to Herbie J's Main Blog.
In The Passionpit's latest IN THE DARK segment features Chris McLennen, the creator of PHOENIX FEAR CON.
https://phoenixfearcon.com/
Phoenix FearCON Independent Horror Film Festival is a community driven event focused on the independent horror film maker, and the obstacles they face trying to get their film projects noticed. In addition, we aim to make our events interactive, so that there are not just film screenings. We invite local performers and local celebrities for performances and meet/greets with their fans. Our volunteer staff work tirelessly and without compensation to make sure the FearCON is the best event visited by our guests and film makers.
FearCON originally started out in 2006 as the Phoenix Fear Film Festival, showcasing local and international independent horror films at the now defunct Paper Heart, a small art gallery. We have since grown to a large venue and have been a vanguard event, dedicated to strengthening the general understanding of horror genre film culture by providing audiences independent, cutting‐edge, original films – and authentic representations of horror from around the world.
Through time the festival has evolved to include a wider variety of genres for audiences to enjoy, all of which portray a different aspect of terror along with an atmosphere dedicated to the horror movie fan, including special musical presentations, special effects demonstrations, panel discussions, Q&A with cast and crew, fashion shows and more.
To reflect these changes and highlight the festival’s evolution, the name of the festival has been changed to “Phoenix FearCON”
Phoenix FearCON provides a significant opportunity for audiences to come and see what independent Horror is all about from different perspectives and reflect.
Cinema is a bridge that connects us all. The committee members and our volunteers have a passion and energy dedicated to this event. Although the festival is still young, it is supported by its members with unlimited potential, and we hope to continue this event into the future.
Our aim is to uncover new talent in the Horror film industry through this festival, and to develop and grow together.
Peter Filichia is the theater critic emeritus for the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and News 12 New Jersey.
He is a columnist each Friday for www.mtishows.com and www.kritzerland.com.
Filichia is the author of Let’s Put on a Musical, now in its third printing; Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season and Broadway Musical MVPs 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Last 50 Seasons. His new book, Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks will be published in May, 2013 by St. Martin’s Press.
He has been a columnist for Playbill, Theater.com, Theatermania and Theater Week.
Before joining the Theatre World Awards in 1996 as host and head of the selection committee, Filichia served four terms as president of the Drama Desk. He has served on an assessment panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is currently critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music and the musical theater judge for the ASCAP Awards program.
I had a wonderful conversation with Dacre Stoker, the great grand nephew of BRAM STOKER (anybody NOT know what novel he wrote?) We had a spirited conversation about the author and his life, the controversy behind it coming to film, and Dacre's journey as the defender and chronicler of the great legacy of his relative. I've been a fan of Dracula on film and in literature since 1973 so this was a real treat! Dacre Stoker's interview will be part of the IN THE DARK series exploring macabre works "in the passionpit."
Because of the history with Dracula's copyright, Dacre, with encouragement from screenwriter Ian Holt, decided to write "a sequel that bore the Stoker name" to "reestablish creative control over" the original novel. In 2009, Dracula: The Un-Dead was released, written by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Both writers claim to have "based [their work] on Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition" along with their own research for the sequel, though the plot and characters often directly contradict the original novel. This also marked Dacre Stoker's writing debut.
Stoker contributed to Dracula in Visual Media: Film, Television, Comic Book and Electronic Game Appearances, 1921-2010, along with Caroline Joan Picart, David J. Skal, J. Gordon Melton and John Edgar Browning.
Stoker directed, produced and wrote the 2011 documentary film Dracula meets Stoker.
Stoker, with his colleague Hans C. De Roos, is currently working on a Bram Stoker Dracula travel guide which will identify real-life locations mentioned in Stoker's novel as well as highlight the places Bram grew up in.
In 2018, he released ‘’Dracul’’, a prequel to Dracula which he wrote alongside J.D. Barker.
spit & vigor presents a very special showing of THE BRUTES for some very special guests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=yoDS6NAzf_Q
On Friday, November 15, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. THE BRUTES by Casey Wimpee will be presented at THE PLAYERS – once the historic home of Edwin Booth – 16 Gramercy Park S, New York City. Members of the Booth family will be in attendance, and the performance is presented in collaboration with spit&vigor by Paul Valle, the great-great-great grandson of patriarch Junius Brutus Booth, and his wife Jan.
Nominated for a 2019 New York Innovative Theater Award and seven 2018 Planet Awards including Outstanding Direction, Ensemble, Choreography, and Costumes; and recognized by The New York Times, THE BRUTES is making history while telling it.
THE BRUTES is a look inside 19th century America's most theatrically prolific family, in the months before the youngest son committed one of the most famous assassinations in history. In November of 1864, three sons of the legendary actor Junius Brutus Booth and famed performers in their own right, Junius Jr, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth, came together at New York's Winter Garden Theatre to share the stage, incredibly for the first and only time, in a benefit performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The funds would be used to erect the statue of William Shakespeare that stands in Central Park to this day.
Through the poetic lens of Casey Wimpee, THE BRUTES is a look into a nation divided, and a family divided in turn. Less than six months before the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, while rehearsing over the week of Thanksgiving, this family attempts to put politics aside and come together for the sake of art. But violence looms over the family - and the nation - and anger prevails over peace, in a brutal lesson that still resonates today.
But this play is not solely about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. THE BRUTES illuminates the individual members of the Booth family before their legacy was overshadowed by Wilkes' violence. Their legacy was one of drama and intrigue and creation, but the violent politics of John Wilkes Booth would work to poison that well for years to come, if not for the efforts of his family and particularly Edwin Booth.
This play will be performed at The Players, in the Gramercy Park mansion that Edwin historically deeded to the newly-formed club, along with his extensive library and collections of art and theatrical memorabilia. Eminent figures of theatre, journalism, arts and literature, and commerce, including Mark Twain, Joseph Jefferson, and Stanford White served as incorporators of The Players, which remains in its historic location and continues to promote art, drama, and creation.
The visionary mind of performing artist, Yoshiko Usami (AKA Yokko), brings another far-reaching movement and dance piece to New York. EN, sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council, running September 13-15 at Brooklyn's Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street in Brooklyn reflects the deep connections we achieve in our lives - intentionally and unintentionally - positive and negative - for just one moment or for our entire lives.
EN - the Japanese word for this, explores the positive effects of connections. EN is more than just people-connections. We create EN with people and all living things and even with locations and objects. EN explores the relationship between Nature and all living beings through Butoh dance and Physical Theatre. It explores whether we - as human beings - can create a relationship with people and things we usually take for granted. Every day we carelessly contaminate the Land and the Ocean and even the Air - and all those who inhabit them. EN shows how we can build bridges instead of burning them? Can we truly care for one another?
TICKET INFO: $18- for Limited Advanced Sale (until 8/31); $20 General https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4305278 PERFORMANCES: September 13 @ 8pm; September 14 @ 8pm; and September 15 @ 3pm.
EN is 70 minutes but can give you messages that can last a lifetime.
ABOUT YOKKO
Yoshiko Usami / Yokko (Choreographer, Director / Performer) is an Actor, Butoh & Theatre Artist, Movement & Yoga Instructor from Japan. She has acted in, devised and choreographed a variety of local and international shows, having won several awards, including "Best One-Woman Show", "Best Choreography" "Best Physical Theatre" and "Best Actress" for Butoh Medea (United Solo NYC 2014 & 2015 at Theatre Row, TVolution 2018 Hollywood Fringe Awards). Butoh Medea was selected to perform in Warsaw, Poland. (United Solo Europe 2015, Teatre Syrena), toured Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015, nominated The Asian Arts Award. It has been touring Europe and Universities in the USA since 2016. (www.butohmedea.com) Butoh Medea will be presented at Cheb Festival in Prague, Czech in Oct. 2019. Other Theatre credits include: Lone Wolf Tribe's Body Concert (Labapalooza! 2018 at St. Ann's Warehouse), Hide Your Fires (Pan Asian Rep's NU Works, United Solo 2017: Theatre Row), BALDY (CRS NYC, United Solo 2013, Hollywood Fringe 2013, Fringe NYC 2012), Dance Credits Include: Shira Hime Ryu (NY Butoh Institute Festival 2018 at Theatre For The New City),Hijikata Tatsumi's Last Words (Dance Medium, Noguchi Room, Hijikata Archive, Keio University, 2018), ManJuShaGe:A flower on earth, A flower (Dance Medium, Noguchi Room, Hijikata Archive, Keio University, 2017), FACET (Irondale Center, White Wave, Hollywood Fringe 2013). Her choreographed work, SHINKA has been developed and received several awards such as Outstanding Production, Outstanding Choreography, and Outstanding Ensemble (Planet Connections 2018), and the show was also nominated for Outstanding Premier production of a play along with three nominations for herself (Outstanding Director, Outstanding Choreography & Movement, and Outstanding Actress for featured role) for the season 2018-2019 at New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Yokko also acted in several local and international films, one of which is the Student Academy Winner film, Cloud-Kumo (2016). Recently she has been appearing several music videos as a Butoh dancer including Cage The Elephant (Grammy Winner - Best Rock Album 2017)- Ready To Let Go (2019), NOIA- AUSENCIAS (2019) directed by Amy Gardner, POW! - Dream Decay (2019), and Automatic - Too Much Money (2019). She has been regularly offering workshops (Butoh & Movement, Butoh & Physical Theatre, Transformation) in several places include NYC, Atelier Teatro Fisico Performing Arts University in Turin (Italy), Edinburgh (UK), Warsaw (Poland), Izmir (Turkey), St. Lawrence University (NY), SUNY New Paltz (NY), Amherst College (MA), Actors Studio Dram School MFA, Stella Adler Academy of Acting, The Actors Studio, and at some events such as UNFIX NYC and Ecstatic Dance. She will be an adjunct professor in Movement for Actors at BFA program by The New Group at Long Island University in Brooklyn Fall-Spring 2019. She is the artistic director of a NYC based Butoh & Theatre group Ren Gyo Soh. (www.rengyosoh.com). Other awards: Best Physical Theatre, Best International Award (Hide Your Fires: Butoh Lady Macbeth at United Solo 2017, Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019) A recipient of 2019 Brooklyn Arts Fund for her new project, En. (Sep. 13-15, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn). B.A in Theatre (UAlbany), MFA in Acting (The Actors Studio) www.yokko-online.com
Dangerous to Dance With written by Bill Rogers and directed by Gerald vanHeerden, a featured event of DREAM UP FESTIVAL 2019, presented by Theater For The New City, Crystal Field, Artistic Director.
Johnson Theater Space, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets), NYC for FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY: 8/30 Friday, 9pm; 09/01 Saturday, 8pm; 09/02 Sunday, 6:30pm; 09/04 Wednesday, 9pm; and 09/05 Thursday, 6:30pm
What's funnier than a play about SEX, GREED, AND SELF-DECEPTION?
A paranoid playwright, a broken acrobat, a adult film star, a neurotic farmer, and a plumber (who may be a hitman), walk in a secluded Missouri farmhouse.
Directed by Gerald vanHeerden and stage managed by Roumel Reaux, featuring a cast that includes Colleen Grate, Luke Hofmaier, Mark Hofmaier, Drew Jordan, and Mark A. Keeton* portraying a fascinating ensemble of characters descending into a dialogue that asks a question that can encompass everything, everywhere, anytime ... should they laugh or should they die?
Dangerous to Dance With premiered as part of the 2014 Kansas City Fringe Festival at the Off Center Theater in Kansas City's Crown Center. This is its New York premiere. Learn more at https://rogersbill.com/plays/dangerous-to-dance-with
Bill Rogers is a writer and educator who has won several awards as a playwright and for teaching history and English in colleges in the United States and Australia. He has written four full-length plays, the book and lyrics for a full-length musical, two sixty-minute plays, and four ten-minute plays. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and now resides in San Diego, California. https://rogersbill.com
*These actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.
“Before there was the Word, there was the land, and it was made and watched over by women. Stories from almost every culture around the world tell us that once upon a time it was so.” — If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie
“The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.” — Maya Angelou
Producers Melissa Mowry and Jessica Fichter bring an organic ensemble-created piece about the wisdom of women as old as time and as fresh as today. Placed in the mythical “Otherworld, the land of the fairy folk,” the true sages are all women. This prompts the Queen of the fairies to invite women – all women – all around the world to come to Otherworld and receive the gift of that great wisdom. If Women Rose Rooted is a piece that explores the femininity and culture through shared wisdom of our ancestors – and our experiences today. Drawn from mythology and folklore, coupled with the personal experiences of women today, ‘If Women Rose Rooted’ explores the power and pain of femininity, and reminds us all of those powerful women who came before us.
What looks like a fantasy is a veiled parable of the true dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
Directed by Melissa Mowry, assisted by Jessica Fichter, the women’s ensemble includes Marcella Adams, Titania Galliher, Jessica Panora, and Lucy Lewis. The special limited run will be Friday, September 6 @ 7pm; September 7 @ 3 and 7 pm; and Sunday, September 8 @ 3 and 7 pm at the cutting-edge arts incubator, The Tank, 312 W 36th Street, in New York. For More information, visit https://www.thetanknyc.org/calendar-1/2019/9/6/if-women-rose-rooted
"Dangerous to Dance With" written by Bill Rogers and directed by Gerald vanHeerden, a featured event of DREAM UP FESTIVAL 2019, presented by Theater For The New City, Crystal Field, Artistic Director.
Johnson Theater Space, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets), NYC for FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY: 8/30 Friday, 9pm; 09/01 Saturday, 8pm; 09/02 Sunday, 6:30pm; 09/04 Wednesday, 9pm; and 09/05 Thursday, 6:30pm
What’s funnier than a play about SEX, GREED, AND SELF-DECEPTION?
A paranoid playwright, a broken acrobat, a porn star, a neurotic farmer, and a plumber (who may be a hitman), walk in a secluded Missouri farmhouse.
Directed by Gerald vanHeerden and stage managed by Roumel Reaux, featuring a cast that includes Colleen Grate, Luke Hofmaier, Mark Hofmaier, Drew Jordan, and Mark A. Keeton* portraying a fascinating ensemble of characters descending into a dialogue that asks a question that can encompass everything, everywhere, anytime … should they laugh or should they die?
Dangerous to Dance With premiered as part of the 2014 Kansas City Fringe Festival at the Off Center Theater in Kansas City’s Crown Center. This is its New York premiere. Learn more at https://rogersbill.com/plays/dangerous-to-dance-with
Bill Rogers is a writer and educator who has won several awards as a playwright and for teaching history and English in colleges in the United States and Australia. He has written four full-length plays, the book and lyrics for a full-length musical, two sixty-minute plays, and four ten-minute plays. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and now resides in San Diego, California. https://rogersbill.com
*These actors are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
The tongue-in-cheek anthology, Abdication!, will be a featured event for the 10th anniversary THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY DREAM UP FESTIVAL 2019. Performances will be at the Johnson Theater Space at 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets), New York City on 09/03: Tuesday, 9pm; 09/04: Wednesday, 6:30pm; 09/05: Thursday, 9pm; 09/06: Friday, 6:30pm; and 09/07: Saturday, 8pm. https://abdication.brownpapertickets.com/
Abdication! written by Naya James, directed by Lucia Bellini, produced by Lucia Bellini, Naya James and Trenton Clark, sports a Multi-Media Team that includes Raylla Chan (Animator) and Loredanna Vacario (AV tech) and is the first presentation of Three-Headed Lion Productions. It's fitting to have a multi-media team when your show is a multi-cultural, multi-media dark comedy more than reminiscent of Black Mirror, The Handmaid's Tale, and VR.
Abdication! delivers a tongue-in-cheek three-episode anthology shining a light on social media, human interaction, and finally - as depicted in The Handmaid's Tale - lack of individualism. These Black Mirror-type tales illustrate potential versions of what life will look like if we give away even more of our autonomy in exchange for convenience. What makes this company so forward thinking and what makes this series of plays so fascinating is that it sits on a scale where fantasy and reality are evenly matched.
Abdication! manages to depict technocratic society not only with dystopian gloom, but with a heavy dose of wit and comedy.
Ripped from the headlines of lonely people all over the world marrying their VR "girlfriend" or simply checking out of reality (called "going into the goo" in this episode), STUCK - through wry humor and charm - shares how a close-knit Italian-American family grapples with the idea that one of its family members plans to remove from society by hooking up full-time to a virtual reality network. What dreams may come.
Riffing on the news stories of how people are now having less sex thus fewer children, LOVE LOBOTOMY relates the story of two hapless souls deciding to undergo Amigdalar Resurfacing, (a "Love Lobotomy") making them immune to romantic feelings and more productive... maybe.
Running alongside A Handmaid's Tale, COLOR SCHEME takes us to a society where everyone has been classified into a specific color-red, green, blue, etc., and the implementation of this system has ostensibly led to perfect harmony. Until someone mixes and matches.
Filled with gallows-humor, song, dance, and multi-media, each episode shows how abdication of a portion of human existence pulls a piece out of the house of cards that we call our lives.
Appearing in this triumvirate of techno-tales is Amanda Cannon, Trenton Clark, Alan Cordoba, Janet Donofrio, Naya James, Stephen Keyes, Cesar Lozada, Mike Ivers, Sid Ross, Meredith Rust, Tony Scheer, and Topher Wallace.
The production/design Team is an amalgam of theatre and video professionals: Naya James (playwright); Lucia Bellini (director); Charles Casano (stage manager); Raylla Chan (animator); Loredanna Vacario (AV tech) and Trenton Clark (producer).
The Three-Headed Lions themselves:
Writer Naya James is a writer/actor/producer in New York City. She is a resident actor and writer in the Wednesday Repertory Company and owner of Anjali Productions, an independent film production company focused on stories of the evolution of human consciousness. Writing credits include 12 original one-act plays produced in festivals all over New York, including Theater 54, The Paradise Factory, The Algonquin, and the Richmond Shepard Theater, and three short films, which she also produced. Naya can be seen this summer as the lead in the film "Indigo" by Garfield Boston, and this September in the World Premiere of Abdication! at Theater for the New City, which she wrote and co-produced.
Director Lucia Bellini aka "Lu" is a director/actor for film and theatre originally from Viareggio, Italy. Member of Wednesday Repertory Company and NY Madness. Lu is proud to have won the award for Outstanding Direction of a Staged Reading for Who Mourns For Bob The Goon? at the 2015 Planet Connection Festivities, followed by a run of the show at the HERE Arts Center in the Summer of 2016. Her collaboration with the Festivities continued assisting Glory Kadigan for PFAC 2017 and 2018. Recent credits include direction of the 2018 Planet Connection Festivities Award Ceremony at the Abrons Arts Center's Playhouse Theatre, direction of Naya James' one act play Stuck for Wednesday Repertory Company and assistant director to Glory Kadigan for The Floor is Lava at La Mama Experimental Theatre.
Producer Trenton Clark is an actor/writer/director in New York City. He is a member of and resident director with the Wednesday Repertory Company, for which he has mounted several one-act plays. A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NY, he has studied the craft for over 20 years on both coasts, as well as his home state of New Mexico. New York Theater credits: Hamlet, Hamlet; Lucius, Titus Andronicus (Hudson Warehouse); Rope; The Head Hunter; Wilde Nights (St. Francis College). Tours: 42nd Street. Regional and other: 42nd Street, Beauty & the Beast (Papermill Theater); Happily Whatever After (New World Stages Hollywood, LA). In addition to Abdication! Trenton is currently developing a television series based on a true story of murder and corruption. Stay tuned.
“I grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, where my father was an actor, my mother was a classical pianist and artist, and my brother was a kid-comedian. We were a house full of art and artists. I don’t think we fit into the St. Joseph mainstream very well but somehow we were there and we thrived in the community for three generations. Then, life took a chaotic turn. My little brother became schizophrenic. “Monkey Man” is about Marc Block, a rebellious, mischievous and brilliant kid who went down a rabbit hole and morphed into a gruff, obsessive, schizo-man, alienated from society, compulsively writing in notebooks and drawing pictures of a dark, underground world populated by “small character humans.” Eventually, Marc began hitchhiking around the country and became a cowboy of the highway. “Highway Man” kept drivers awake at night, he said, by telling them his stories: “The combustion engine has three moving parts which can be controlled through the aspiration of the concern in location of the apprehendi…”
This show begins and ends at The Trail’s End Motel in Niagara Falls, where Marc holed himself up and I went to visit him after twenty years. Sections of the show are taken directly from his rants and revelations in his notebooks. "Monkey Man” is a powerful show, entertaining, funny, and heartbreaking. It has been selected by The United Solo Festival, 2019, to be performed Off Broadway on Nov. 2nd @ Theater Row on 42nd Street, NYC. Tickets and information can be found at http://unitedsolo.org/us
Dana Block
André Vauthey, a doctor turned actor, had a truly unique story to tell.
“I am a young Swiss doctor-turned-actor who moved to the states about two and half years ago. My parents are polish and I was born and grew up in the French part of Switzerland before moving to the German part to study med school. After graduating and working as a doctor, I realized that even though I was doing a very meaningful work, I wasn’t living in harmony with myself, mostly due to the amount of administrative work in comparison to the actual patient’s time. I decided to quit the hospital to take time to myself and make sure I was where I wanted to be and it wasn’t just a consequence of my past decisions. As I wandered in my inner self, I remembered that as a kid I used to love acting and would even force my older brother to perform in front of our parents. So I decided to give it a try. I went to the pinewood studios in London for an acting workshop and loved it. Back in Switzerland I started acting in some films but felt like I need more guidance and decided to move to NYC to study at the Lee Strasberg’s Theater and Film Institute. When I first moved here, I thought it would be just to complete a one year program at my acting school and go back to Europe to work as an actor. But I fell in love with both the city and the school and decided to complete their entire two year conservatory program and stay here. I would say I learned as much about the craft of acting as I have learned about myself. This has been an incredible journey and my state of mind has changed forever. By knowing myself better, I am now so much more expressive and open to this world and to the art. It is a wonderful feeling.
Shir Kaufman began her career with Evita, at the national theatre of Israel. The production starred some of the most famous actors in Israel – Ran Danker, Aki Avni (who lived in L.A. for eight years and appeared on the FOX TV series, “24”), and Shiri Maimon (who played Roxi in “Chicago” on Broadway last September).
This auspicious start whet her appetite to come to New York to continue her career. Shir began her New York resume at the most renounced of all theatre festivals – The New York International Fringe Festival, in Ionesco’s “How to Get Rid of it” Now a part of NY, Shir is taking her career in her hands.
Then she met Maya Avisar and the Alliance of Alien Artists.
She is now a performer and associate producer of the Israeli Artists Project in NYC. The goal of the organization is to promote Israeli culture, art, history, and artists in NYC to a diverse audience. Many of the productions include English literature and talk about universal subjects. The Israeli Artists Project hopes to grow outside NYC in the coming months. The organization’s next event is the season opening on September 22.
Before that, at the top of September, Shir will participate in a parody cabaret “Grab ‘Em By the Parody!”, produced by Jennifer Ambler. The satire tackles topics including American politics, health insurance, and everything in between. Shir is tasked writing and performing parodies of existing music in order to satirize popular subjects. As an international performer, Shir can talk a lot about the challenging visa process, the expensive health insurance and the fact that she put on a bit of weight since moving to America!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
GRAB 'EM BY THE PARODY Producer: Jennifer Ambler Sat and Sun, September 7th and 8th, 2 shows a day (i think that one is at 3pm and one is at 7pm or 8pm but not sure) Location: The Producer's Club, 358 w 44th st. New York IAP (The Israeli Artists Project) SEASON OPENING CELEBRATION Producer: Yoni Vendriger and IAP team, me included Sunday, September 22nd, 6:30-9:30pm Location: The Triad, 158 w 72nd st. New York
Christopher M. Struck’s novel Kennig & Gold, is gaining great recognition. Listen to Chris tell how his years as a cabaret reviewer helped his creative process and about the film deal that is currently being developed! MEET CHRISTOPHER M STRUCK AT THE LAMBS ON AUGUST 19.
https://www.bhcpress.com/Books_Struck_Kennig_and_Gold.html
Daniel Kennig wants to be the greatest singer to have ever lived. He's headlining at a mid-tier Manhattan night club when he meets Cynthia Gold. They fall for each other. However, she's just completed her degree and plans to move back to London. Before he can think twice, the smitten Daniel promises a rendezvous in Switzerland at the possible expense of his career. And so begins a tale of love, devotion, sacrifice, and betrayal inspired by the true story of a World War 2 marine and the love of his life.
An official selection in Ken Davenport's inaugural Rave Theater Festival is BACK, a new play written by and featuring Matt Webster with Terra Mackintosh and directed by David Perlow
This 90-minute drama will perform on Saturday 8/10 @ 2:15pm; Tuesday 8/13 @ 8:45pm; Friday 8/16 @ 7pm; Sunday 8/18 @ 4pm; Friday 8/23 @ 9:15pm with tickets being available at www.BackThePlay.com (further info at @BackThePlay)
Love takes lifetimes.
Leah travels to New York City to reconnect with her best friend Derek. Their undeniable chemistry and inherent trust would otherwise make these two a perfect match, if it weren't for something in the past keeping them apart. Leah tells Derek about an incredible opportunity: a chance to go back in time and change the course of their lives. But there are rules about altering the past that could have devastating effects on the present. Will they risk everything in search of a second chance at life?
Matt Webster is a New York City based actor and writer. Most recently, Matt performed on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre in DGF Toasts: Stephen Schwartz. In addition to singing in the show, Matt contributed the vocal arrangements. Matt has been seen onstage as Glad Hand in the Broadway Tour of West Side Story and won Best Actor for his portrayal of Johnny Pope in A Hatful of Rain (BroadwayWorld.com). Matt has performed with many companies throughout NYC, including: LaMaMa Theatre, LABA Theatre, Vital Theatre, Connecticut Children's Theatre, and Rescue Agreement. Matt can also be seen on screen in various feature films, commercials, web-series, and short films. As a writer, Matt's first musical, Kingdom Come, won Best Musical at the Downtown Urban Theatre Festival in NYC. Since winning the festival, Kingdom Come has been featured at the New York Theatre Barn and the Secret Theatre in Long Island City. Kingdom Come made its regional premier at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. His second original musical, Propaganda! The Musical was produced at the Pearl Theatre on 42nd St. as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. It won several awards, including: Best Featured Actress and Best Choreography. It had its regional premier in Orlando, Florida at the Winter Park Playhouse in 2017. Propaganda! The Musical made its international debut at the Gaetnerplatz Theatre in Munich, Germany in July of 2018. This summer, Propaganda! The Musical will be released as a one of a kind, fully produced, podcast musical, featuring a full sound design, complete orchestra, and a cast filled with Broadway stars. Matt's children's show, a fast-paced, four-actor version of Cinderella, featuring songs from the Great American Songbook, premiered in March 2017 in Washington, DC with the American Pops Orchestra. He is currently writing several projects including: a new adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing featuring chart topping country hits; a film called "Super," about the opioid epidemic in Ohio; and a new play called Jay and the Contest. He received his BFA in Acting from West Virginia University where he was named the outstanding graduate from the College of Creative Arts. Matt is a founding member of the Magic Forest Theatre Company - a traveling children's theatre that performs at pre-schools and daycares across the NY Metro area. Matt won the 2016 Johnny Mercer Award for Songwriting and currently works as assistant to Broadway's Andrew Lippa. www.TheOtherMattWebster.com
Terra Mackintosh's New York credits include Salty, Grounded (ATTENTIONTheatre), Running Interference (Fringe Excellence in Ensemble Award), Bryony Lavery's Frozen (Essential Theatre Group), No One Asked Me (Fringe Excellence in Ensemble Award, Encore Series Selection), Fool for Love, Somewhere Safer, and The New Hopeville Comics. Regional: Beautiful Star and Blackbeard (Triad Stage). Television: "High Maintenance," "Divorce," "Smash," "The Ordained" (CBS pilot), "Keep Me Posted" (Web Series). Film: "I Am Like You," "Out the Door," "A Good Marriage" by Stephen King, "Reasonable Suspicion," "In Defense of Wonder" (Atlanta Film Festival selection) and "Ready to Ride!" (Zeno Mountain Farm). Training: BA in Musical Theatre from Ball State University (Honors College Diploma), CAP21 Summer Musical Theatre Intensive, The Freeman Studios and The Actor's Gym (David Perlow). Terra is an associate company member of Animus Theatre Company.
Director David Perlow is an actor, having had principle roles on Broadway in La Cage Aux Folles and on tour in Wicked. As an associate director, he has worked with Joe Mantello, Sam Gold, Michael Arden, Sean Mathias, and Michael Grief on Broadway productions including Casa Valentina, The Humans, Blackbird, and Once On This Island. Credits include plays at Roundabout Theater Company, Manhattan Theater Club, and The Public Theater. He is the Artistic Director of ATTENTIONTheatre and founder of The Actor's Gym. www.TheActorsGym.com
The play features lighting design by Greg Solomon and set design by Tim McMath; production management by Tony Lance and Parker Krug; with Kim Fitzpatrick stage managing and Patrick Gallagher assistant directing.
"Climate Change" is a phrase of concern. "Tomorrow" is becoming a word to fear. "What will the world be like in just 50 years?" That's is a frightening question.
Ripple Effect Artists, a daring theatrical company, is providing the answers today.
2071, a play of reality, is being described as "Theatre that can change the world." This play addresses climate change through riveting personal and scientific accounts.Christopher Graham Rapley, a British scientist, former executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, and Duncan MacMillan, an English playwright and director, most noted for the stage adaptation of the George Orwell novel, 1984, has created a theatrical experience that is engaging, informative, and most definitely real. They bring to life the horrors of CO2 emissions and what will happen to future generations if we do not act responsibly with regards to our planet. Originally performed at The Royal Court Theatre (London) 2014 and now making its American debut through Ripple Effect Artists, this production will donate a portion of its proceeds to 350.org, an organization dedicated to reversing climate change.
Through a grant from its Open Stage Grant the Episcopal Actors Guild will serve as host of this project with all proceeds being split between Ripple Effect Artists and the charitable programs of the Episcopal Actors' Guild (EAG). EAG (est. 1923) is a charitable organization dedicated to helping NYC's professional performing artists "of all faiths, and none" who are experiencing financial crisis. Learn more at www.actorsguild.org.
Performances will be Thursday - Saturday, August 1 - 3 @ 8;00 p.m.; Sunday, August 4 @ 2:00 p.m. Then again, Wednesday - Sunday, August 7 - 10 @ 8;00 p.m.; Sunday, August 11 @ 2:00 p.m. Tickets: https://ripple-effect-artists-inc.ticketleap.com/2071/?fbclid=IwAR0yedXffWFfMw1JZPccglRLTacUHkhtwmL5-X6zVRR8fCiFoBAXMuB7SdQ
FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents "Dandelion: An Original Musical" live in concert on August 14th, 2019 at 9:30 PM. "Dandelion" is the story of high school senior Jane and her mother Delilah, and how the two are forced to confront profound questions of guilt, responsibility, and sacrifice as Jane must decide between attending college in pursuit of her lifelong dreams, or staying home to care for Delilah- who is locked in a desperate battle with severe mental illness and opioid addiction. Fresh off its second developmental reading with Ensemble-Atria in NYC, "Dandelion" promises to bring laughter and tears in this new musical of hope, grief, female power, and the promise of new possibility. For more information, please visit www.dandelionmusical.com.
Female-driven, emotional, and original, "Dandelion" features music and lyrics by Colleen Francis (NSAI finalist) and Bill Zeffiro (MAC award winner), book by Jessica Francis Fichter (Eleventh Hour, Shadows: A Dance Musical) and Sean Riehm (Salem High), and has been developed in collaboration with Hailee Beltzhoover (Salem High). "Dandelion" at Feinstein's/54 Below will be directed by Jessica Francis Fichter with Musical Direction by Nevada Lozano, featuring performances by Hailee Beltzhoover, Lillie Ricciardi, Allison Siko, Brenden MacDonald, Brianne Wylie, and Miranda Luze. Special performances will be announced soon!
"Dandelion: An Original Musical" live in concert plays Feinstein's/54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on August 14th, 2019 at 9:30 PM. There is a $35 cover charge and $25 food and beverage minimum. Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com. Tickets on the day of performance after 4:00 are only available by calling (646) 476-3551.
Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, is a performance venue in the grand tradition of New York City nightlife. A few blocks from the heart of Times Square and just below the legendary Studio 54, Feinstein's/54 Below is a classically designed state-of-the art nightclub in the theatre district that hosts audiences with warmth and style. Feinstein's/54 Below presents iconic and rising stars from the worlds of Broadway and popular music and has set a new standard for culinary excellence worthy of the world-class entertainment on the stage.
In their description of the venue, The New York Times writes, "Feinstein's/54 Below has the intimacy of a large living room with unimpeded views and impeccable sound; there is not a bad seat in the house. Its sultry after-hours ambience is enhanced by brocade-patterned wall panels planted with orange-shaded lanterns. And the atmosphere is warmer and sexier than in Manhattan's other major supper clubs."
Located at 254 West 54th Street, Feinstein's/54 Below features up to three shows nightly with cover charges ranging from $5-$105. 54Below.com/Feinsteins
Head First, a new play by Dennis Bush and directed by Lester Thomas Shane; starring Cooper Koch and Austin Larkin joins the Stonewall50 Fresh Fruit Festival as a featured event. The show will run Monday, July 15, 8:30 pm; Wednesday, July 17, 6:00 pm, Friday, July 19, 8:30 pm; and Saturday, July 20, 2:00 pm at The WILD Project 195 East 3rd Street (between Aves. A & B) New York City. https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/527
Kyle's got a true story to tell you... at least the parts he was conscious for are true. Seizures, sexual assault, humor, love ... a romantic comedy according to Kyle.
When the effects of a traumatic brain injury start to surface, every part of Kyle's life seems out of control - including his sex drive. Struggling to get control of his life, Kyle needs to start with his boyfriend, or maybe his best friend, and also his roommate ... and then there's the sailor with "special skills."
Award-winning playwright/screenwriter Dennis Bush ("(Mary)Todd" and "...Where You Eat") explores this subject matter from a new and refreshing vantage point. His director, Lester Thomas Shane, won Best Director, for Bush's "(Mary)Todd" Abbey Howard serves as production stage manager. Head First contains adult language and sexual situations. Learn more at www.headfirstbydennisbush.com
The Fresh Fruit Festival is presented by All Out Arts to celebrate the LGBTQ community's unique perspective, creativity & diversity, and to build links between the LGBTQ artistic communities, be they local or international. The Fresh Fruit Festival encompasses theater, performance, poetry, comedy, spoken word, music, dance, visual arts and some talents that defy categorization. Artists come from around the city, nation and, indeed, the world. Australia, Canada, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, France, Mauii, Israel, Italy, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and all of New York City's boroughs and suburbs have been represented.
What began as a conversation about his new best seller, Nellie and Mrs. W, evolved into a deep conversation about art and healing. Deep thinker and clever writer, Michael DiSchiavi, chatted with us inbewteen signings.
Nellie and Mrs. W recounts the fictionalized life and struggles of household cook Nellie Boxall as she struggles to find her way and preserve her identity in the household of one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century, Virginia Woolf. This is a story of relationships and the messy overlap that occurs between women who live and exist under the same roof.
Bill Bowers is a mime ... who talks ... about his adventures ... around the world, ALL OVER THE MAP. This is a featured event of the special Stonewall50 Fresh Fruit Festival, at The WILD Project 195 East 3rd Street (between Aves. A & B) New York City. Limited Engagement: Wednesday 7/10 @ 8:30 pm and Sunday 7/14 @ 2:30 pm. https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/527
For a mime, Bill Bowers has a lot to say. He's studied with the legendary Marcel Marceau; performed on and off Broadway; at the Kennedy Center, for the president (a different one) at the White House; throughout Europe and Asia; and in-between, at some of the finest grade school cafetoriums in America.
In All Over the Map, Bill brings us to 50 states and 25 countries, where we get to share some of his more memorable moments over a 30 year career on the road. Powerful stories that will make you laugh and cry - and even gasp as Bill takes you places so unbelievable they could only be TRUE! Did we mention the hookers and the bunny? Bill's indelible memories and characters will stay with you long after lights come up.
The cutting-edge performance company, spit&vigor invite you on a journey into the mind of a brilliant woman ... who created a monster. Mary's Little Monster by Thomas Kee; Directed by Sara Fellini
Running July 18 - August 3 (Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays @ 8PM) at the historic home of Rip Torn and Geraldine Page: Torn Page, 435 W 22nd Street, New York City
It was 1816, frost throughout June, July and August gave it the name "the year without summer." It was during this unusual time that Lord Byron's intimate circle of friends found themselves confined together in a Swiss mansion. What happens when darkly brilliant minds and passionate souls like Mary Shelley, along with Byron, Claire Clairmont, Dr. John Polidori, and Percy Bysshe Shelley ... spend the night together? Astonishing poetry, alluring literature, conflict, catharsis, sex, swordplay ... and one of the world's greatest monsters. Join Adam Belvo, Sara Fellini, Xandra Leigh Parker, Nicholas Thomas, and Perri Yaniv for a beautiful and compelling nightmare. Lighting by Chelsie McPhilimy; Costumes by Sara Fellini
A suggestion of a $35 donation represents a charitable donation. Seating is extremely limited. Reservations are recommended. Run time: 1 hour and 30 minutes. No intermission. Performance space is up one flight of stairs. Reservations at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/marys-little-monster-by-thomas-kee-torn-page-tickets-62241405720
The Alliance of Alien Artists - an organization dedicated to helping emerging artists from other countries explore and succeed at having a career in America - primarily New York - has offered an agreement to actress & singer, Adi Schor. On the heels of AAA's well-received production of American Dream at The Duplex and Ms. Schor's own critical acclaim creating the role of Catherine in the play, Heaven Sent, written by Bambi Everson, Maya Avisar of AAA and Schor connected and now she is a repertory member part of projects-in-development through 2020!
Schor, Israeli-born and living in NYC for the past three years, began her work in the arts in Israel in a theatre company called Chich's Neighbors. This became her springboard into coming to the U.S.A. "After serving two years in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), I guess I can handle auditioning in NYC," Schor amusingly quipped. Upon graduating from American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), she began working extensively on the musical and dramatic stages. Credits include the premiere of the new musical, Angels at Work, on Theatre Row; Annie with Plaza Theatricals; creating the role of Virginia Clemm Poe, wife of Edgar Allan Poe in the new play, The Spyglass Seven, a show that traveled both to the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival and the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival in Baltimore, MD; and a key player in iDiva, presented by the Israeli Artists Project (IAP) at the Green Room 42, featuring songs by Israeli divas, and the AVIV celebration, a fundraising event honoring Sasson Gabai (The Band's Visit on Broadway).
The Alliance of Alien Artists is an organization founded to empower and support the work of international performers, in the pursuit of their career in the Unites States. The Alliance hosts seminars, workshops and masterclasses about subjects relating to being a performer, an immigrant and an artist. Some of our workshops include: Consulting with lawyers; Legal help from accountants; Meeting agents; Working with casting directors; and Speaking to performers who went through the process all the way to a Green Card and Citizenship. Members have access to their resource center, with information gathered by dozens of international performers throughout their journeys.