Ars Nova Announces November and December Programming

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director) announces a jam-packed end-of-year lineup featuring exciting new comedy, music and theater programming.

Coming up in November and December:

(All shows are at 8pm unless otherwise noted)

 

Thanksgiving! A Pageant! (Thursday, 11/29; $12)

By David McGee

Music by Stephanie Johnstone

Thanksgiving! A! Pageant! is, you guessed it, a pageant (about Thanksgiving). Join Lincoln, Roosevelt, Coolidge and Jesus as they tell the story of the first meeting between the godly Pilgrims and those wacky Natives. With the help of songs, Squanto, Dutch punk teenagers, King James I of England and a dream ballet, you'll experience the real story of how America became... America.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker I'm Willing to Settle!: In Concert (Friday, 11/30; $15)

Music & Lyrics by Brandon James Gwinn  

Book by Kelvin Moon Loh & Nikki MacCallum

Join Nikki as she plunges into the world wide web and emerges as a guru of Internet Dating, in this concert presentation of a hot new musical. Just throw in some accidental pornography, impromptu 24-hour jaunts to Europe, and a video-chat romance and you’ve got an honest, heartbreaking, uplifting story to delight the single, the not, those who wish they were, and everyone in between!

 

Mercy Street: A Hip-Hop Concert (Tuesday, 12/4; $15)

By Joe Drymala

Directed by McKenna Dabbs

R&B, hip-hop and a whole lot of heart collide in this concert version of Mercy Street, the impassioned tale of the loyal tenants of 121 Murphy Street. Through a series of musical vignettes, the group battles to decide whether to sell their respective shares, or unite to effectively fight The Man. Faced with the age-old question of serving the individual versus uniting as one - which will they choose?

Naked Radio Live: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (Thursday, 12/6; $10)

'Twas the night before Christmas / And up at Ars Nova / We made a recording / Of our holiday show...va. 

Naked Angels is back to blow the roof off the Nova with another live recording of their variety-show podcast, featuring new short plays by Dylan Dawson, Josh Koenigsberg and Halley Feiffer, along with music, interviews, and all the egg nog you can drink*. So grab your kerchief, hang up your stockings, and get ready to welcome Santa to town - Naked Radio style! 

*Egg nog not actually included.

 

Isaac Oliver's Lonely Christmas (Friday, 12/7; $15)

Written & Performed by Isaac Oliver

Directed by Jason Eagan

Hailed as “a monstrous new talent” by New York Magazine, gay playwright and pale neurotic Isaac Oliver returns to Ars Nova for an extra-special evening of new stories and awkward holiday cheer, with help from some special guests and Christmas Eve cheese.

Isaac Oliver’s plays include Electra in a One-Piece, Eddie Goshen is Dead, Long Dirty Jokes, Slim, Dancing Joy, and “Come Here” (2011 New York Innovative Theatre Award, Outstanding Original Short Script). His poetry has been published in The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, a Knopf anthology. His blog, He Who Laughs, or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Intimacy, can be read at www.hewholaughs.com

On This Island Episode #4 (Tuesday, 12/11; $10) 

Hosted by Matt Dellapina

with special guests to be announced

Join us for episode 4 of Slant Theatre Project's live-theatrical podcast, a night of New York City-inspired storytelling all locals are bound to love! In this episode, Another End Of The World, musicians, writers, and theater artists unite to explore our fascination with doomsday and the inevitable wrecking ball of time. Is the end only in our heads? Or is it right in front of us? Join us on 12/11/12 -- the eve of "the end of the world" -- and decide for yourself.

 

Political Subversities (Wednesday, 12/12; Thursday, 12/13; $15)

Created & Performed by Political Subversities

Directed by Andrew Neisler

This team of sketch/musical dynamos is back to take Ars Nova by storm following their summer ANT Fest sell-out! Kick back as they highlight the best of 2012's humorous, foolish and downright absurd happenings in the social and political landscape, in this darkly comic cabaret featuring side-splitting sketches, fast and funny monologues, Broadway-worthy songs and a full, live band!

Uncharted: The Shaina Taub Songbook (Friday, 12/14; $15)

Directed by Jordan Fein

Featuring Shaina Taub & Friends 

Classically schooled on the keys, raised on the Steves (Wonder and Sondheim), and deeply rooted in soul, Vermont-raised singer/songwriter Shaina Taub creates a unique style of pop brewed with folk and explosive harmonies. Ars Nova's 2012 Composer-in-Residence and her killer live band cap off the year with this celebratory concert, featuring the best of her diverse repertoire and much-loved performers from the downtown indie scene and the big Broadway! www.shainataub.com

Part of Ars Nova’s Uncharted initiative to develop and present new work from emerging musical theater artists.

 

Bootlegger’s Ball: An Ars Nova New Year’s Eve Spectacular (Monday, 12/31; **9pm - 2am**)

Shine your spats and uncork the moonshine, because we’re puttin’ on the Ritz this New Year’s Eve! Whisper the password, and you’ll find yourself in a hidden world of flappers, gangsters and revelry at this Prohibition-inspired New Year’s Eve Spectacular. The Green Door, our seductive speakeasy, offers debauched delights, while our penthouse Champagne Suite delivers posher pleasures. Come for two floors of burlesque, circus acts and live music. Stay and dance all night! Or until we get raided!

Tickets are available at two levels: the $125 Rum Runner Ticket includes admission to both floors, open bar all night and a champagne toast at midnight. The $250 Public Enemy Ticket offers all of the above plus VIP skip-the-line check in and complimentary coat check, top shelf cocktail service, delicious appetizers and desserts as well as access to exclusive Public Enemy Only areas on every level.