Horse Trade Theater Group to Present THUS SPOKE THE SPECTACLE, 5/31

Thus Spoke the Spectacle deconstructs and reconfigures the massive onslaught of news, advertising, politics and entertainment into an edgy and highly entertaining transmedia rock experience. Original live music, spoken word vocals, video and lights combine to tell the story of the mass media's infiltration of every aspect of society. Thus Spoke the Spectacle plays at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery) every Last Sunday of the month at 8pm. Tickets ($15; $12 students) are available online at www.horseTRADE.info.

THUS SPOKE THE SPECTACLE has been performed across the United States for over 15 years. The 24-7 mass media outlets produce a dominant and destructive social narrative that engenders fear and alienation throughout society. Artists have an obligation to create counter-environments to the media's manufactured thought-world in order to create the space for new and necessary narratives to emerge. The performance is intended as an antidote to the spectacle; a way to counter illusion with reality, image with truth, alienation with community. The message it sends to the audience is "you are not alone and you don't have to live the life represented to you on the screen." Live music, live theater and documentary film are among the few remaining forms of cultural expression where efforts at societal critique can still be mounted. Thus Spoke The Spectacle combines the best of these art forms.

FRIGID NEW YORK is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.