Maks Kubis is an actor and musician based in New York City. Kubis came to the US seven years ago from Poland to study theater. Since graduating, he has been fortunate enough to perform in various theatrical productions, as well as in music and film projects. These include his Broadway debut in
The Peter Shaffer Memorial (American Airline Theatre) alongside
Alec Baldwin and
Christine Ebersole and
Losing Days, a two-man music play performed with
Sam Underwood at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (with previews in New York City and more). Kubis is also a co-founder of the band Somuchso.
About the song:
"I decided to turn one of the most popular musical theatre classics, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables into a COVID-19 song. Empty Streets and Empty Starbucks tells the story of a young New Yorker living on the Lower East Side and the struggles he needs to face during the coronavirus pandemic.
The idea for the project came to me after a series of conversations with fellow New Yorkers about their experience of not leaving home for many days. To my surprise, many of them complained and expressed concern about most trivial things, such as an overheated game console or not being able to go on a Tinder date.
Well, every one of us has been affected by the pandemic in a different way. I decided to put the most interesting experiences of some of the people I know into a song. Here it is!'
Claude Solnik is a journalist and playwright. His most recent plays include A Life in the Rye (which was included on the 2019 Best Ten List) and Sandcastles, both which premiered at Theater for the New City. He is continuing to write and hopes to continue to work online until it becomes possible to present work on stage again.
Email: claudesolnik@gmail.com
Solnik's shares his poem Ghost Light below, and check out some more of his poems here.