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All New York's A Stage: Spotlight on Local Theater Coming Up at La MaMa!
By: Nicole Rosky Oct. 08, 2019
The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment recently launched ALL NEW YORK'S A STAGE, the first-ever campaign dedicated to raising the visibility of our vibrant local theater industry, which is made up of small venues, companies and related organizations throughout the five boroughs. Now through October 31, New Yorkers and visitors can explore the ALL NEW YORK'S A STAGE website, localtheater.nyc, created with partner Show-Score.com, to discover an exciting array of more than 200 performances and events throughout the city.
To celebrate this exciting new initiative, BroadwayWorld has teamed up with the Mayor's Office to shine a spotlight on local productions from small theatre companies in the New York City area. Today, we take a closer look at current and upcoming productions at the East Village's La MaMa: Experimental Theatre Club.
La Mama Experimental Theatre Club is New York's premier Off Off Broadway venue, celebrating works that push the boundaries of language and culture, and showcasing cutting-edge talent from around the globe. Founded by Ellen Stewart in 1961, the company has grown into a vibrant and vital hub for artists and theatergoers alike, often presenting multiple shows simultaneously. The venue began by showcasing works by by Paul Foster, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, and Rochelle Owens.
In 2018, The American Theatre Wing presented La MaMa with the Regional Theatre Tony Award recognizing it as "the influential company that helped give birth to the Off Off Broadway movement." La MaMa has also been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk and Bessie Awards and Villager Awards.
Well-known as a place where American theatergoers are introduced to the work of artists from around the globe, La MaMa has presented the US debuts of Peter Brook, Tadeusz Kantor, Andrei Serban, Kazuo Ohno, and recently, Belarus Free Theatre, which the Times' Ben Brantley called "One of the most powerful and vividly resourceful underground companies on the planet." With creative partners from around the world, La MaMa has presented more than 5,000 productions and supported more than 150,000 artists.
Everyday Murder
When: Now through October 11, 2019
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About: This is a world premiere, created and directed by Uwe Mengel. Everyday Murder is a FREE participatory performance that takes place in front of La MaMa. The story evolves around a murder. The audience/passers by can ask each of the two performers (one of them is the murderer) any question about their life and their involvement. The audience member decides what question to ask and cross-examinations of the performers are welcome.
ReEntry: Actors Playing Jazz
When: October 12, 2019
Where: Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 East 4th Street)
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About: Directed by Estelle Parsons, ReEntry: Actors Playing Jazz is a recreation about eight formerly incarcerated men that have come together after their release from prison to start a theater group to keep them on the straight and narrow. Each has developed a love of theater during their prison time. This is free form theatre which explores the various challenges of reentering society. It is about each man's experience outside the walls, how they feel about being free and how they use their creative and theatrical work to transform their responses to society's biases against them. ReEnry was developed at the Actor's Studio in New York, under the direction of Estelle. The actors, all members of The Actors Studio, have numerous stage, TV, and film credits.
400 Years of Inequity and Protest
When: October 12 - October 16, 2019
Where: Ellen Stewart Theater (66 East 4th Street)
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About: A response to and reflection on the 400 years since the British founding of Jamestown through historical text, poetry, music and dance.
La MaMa Kids: Tomte
When: Now through October 20, 2019
Where: Downstairs Lounge (66 East 4th Street)
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About: Tomte is an intimate shadow puppet performance adapted from "The Tomten" by Astrid Lindgren and the poem by Victor Rydberg. A Tomte is a Swedish gnome, a quiet and unseen caretaker who watches over the lives of humans and animals. On a cold winter night on a snow covered farm, Tomte teaches us about the importance of kindness and looking after living things. Following the piece, puppeteer Tom Lee reveals the technology behind the performance and the kuruma ningyō style as well as answering questions from the audience.
All My Fathers
When: Now through October 20, 2019
Where: Downstairs (66 East 4th Street)
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About: In this world premiere, written by Paul David Young and directed by Evan Yionoulis, the playwright's elderly, demented mother says he's the bastard child of the family pediatrician. The surreal, seemingly scripted disclosure instantly rewrites his devoutly Christian, Southern upbringing. The tragicomedy incorporates Arthur Miller's All My Sons and other family plays, such as Hamlet, Oedipus, Elektra, Well, and The Seagull.
La Galleria: Divine Breath
When: Now through October 26, 2019
Where: La MaMa Galleria (47 Great Jones St.)
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About: Ruby Rumié's work with domestic abuse survivors in New York and Cartagena, Colombia will culminate in the exhibition Divine Breath. Ceramics and photographs from workshops in Colombia and New York City, conducted with survivors of domestic violence, will be used to explore how art and ceremony can serve as a channel to healing and renewal.
La Mama Puppet Slam
When: October 25- October 27, 2019
Where: 66 East 4th Street (Downstairs)
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About: Dear Artists! The 2019 La MaMa Puppet Slam presents short works of genius! These condensed works of puppetry are original, compelling, brilliant, witty, tragic, funny, stunning, startling, ironic, exotic, political, lyrical, musical, beautiful, intellectual, experimental, wild.... and always demonstrate genius in a matter of minutes!
Experiments: Suzanne
When: October 28, 2019
Where: La MaMa Galleria (47 Great Jones St.)
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About: A transdimensional wonderland explodes into Suzanne's trailer after she passes away in her living room at 48. Her mother, her sisters, herself multiplied, Marilyn Monroe, George Clinton, Romy and Michele, in and out of time make visit to her home. Her son, visiting from the Big City, lays witness to Suzanne's entire universe of understanding over the course of an evening. "Suzanne" is a fabulist autofiction of the time that Alexander Paris spent with his mom in hospice at her home in Arizona, and an attempt at the encapsulation of her life and the history of their relationship through art and culture.
Be sure to check back next week for even more local theatre from the ALL NEW YORK'S A STAGE initiative. For additional information, visit: localtheater.nyc.
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