Jeanine Tesori, Lisa Kron & More Set for Encores! Off-Center's Lobby Project

The Lobby Project, a series of free pre-show events presented in conjunction with New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center season, will take place July 6-9 & 27-30. These events provide an insightful exploration of the topics and themes presented in the season's musicals through performances, conversations with artists and experts, workshops, and a Menken Mixtape contest in which the winners will perform their Alan Menken remixes for Menken himself. The Lobby Project events take place in City Center's Grand Tier lobby one hour before curtain and are free for that evening's ticket holders.

Led by Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori, the critically acclaimed Encores! Off-Center series returns for its fourth season of landmark Off-Broadway musicals including Runaways (July 6-9), Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (July 27-30), and the Off-Center Jamboree (July 16), a one-night-only concert event featuring Off-Center alums Sutton Foster and Jonathan Groff, and other special guests. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all, many Off-Center tickets are $25.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212.581.1212, or at the City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues).

The Lobby Project events
July 6 at 6:30pm Liz Swados: Rarely Heard, Radically Loved

Liz Swados' work reaches far beyond Runaways and the world deserves to hear more of it. Kris Kukul, her longtime collaborator and music director, curates an evening of rarely-heard Swados works featuring songwriter, actress, and Swados student Shaina Taub and additional performers from Swados' cohort.

July 7 at 6:30pm Manifest Pussy

An increasing portion of today's homeless youth are members of the LGBTQ community. Actress, writer, and trans activist Shakina Nayfack explores her own transition in excerpts from her one-woman show Manifest Pussy.

July 8 at 7pm Where Do People Go When They Run Away?

The Ali Forney Center and New Alternatives Center for LGBT Youth provide much needed support for youth who find themselves without homes. Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori sits down with Bill Torres (Ali Forney Center) and Kate Barnhart (New Alternatives Center) for a conversation about the role of these important organizations in today's urban environment.

July 9 at 1pm Chicks with Picks

In honor of Swados' strength as a musician and performer, singer-songwriters Grace McLean and Crystal Monee Hall present an immersive concert of their own work and lead participants in a group piece.

July 9 at 7pm The Way She Worked

Runaways director Sam Pinkleton and choreographer Ani Taj both studied with Liz Swados at NYU Tisch. In this workshop, they will share her teaching philosophy and technique, leading audience participants in an exercise and discussing their experiences working with her.

July 27 at 6:30pm Menken Mixtape

In honor of the revival of Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, producers, house/electronic musicians, spoken word artists, and music-makers of all styles are challenged to remix a work from composer Alan Menken's songbook-to sample it, adapt it, and make it their own. Winners will present their pieces before the opening night performance of God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater for Alan Menken himself and receive an honorarium of $200. The deadline for submissions is July 6.

For full details, visit: www.nycitycenter.org/Menken-Mixtape

July 28 at 6:30pm "The One Before"

Many writers had extraordinary, seldom-heard shows hit the stage before their breakthrough work. Jen Tepper, director of programming at 54 Below, curates this evening of songs from influential shows like In Trousers to Lucky Stiff that shaped the careers of Broadway legends.

July 29 at 7pm Greed

TheatreMAMA curates this immersive event on the themes of greed, money, giving, and philanthropy.

July 30 at 1pm Love and Legacy

Both Runaways and Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater were created by artists who left us far too soon. Roz Lichter (the wife of Liz Swados) and Julie Larson (the sister of composer Jonathan Larson) discuss their role in maintaining the integrity of the art left behind by those they love.

July 30 at 7pm Give and Take

Tony Award winner Lisa Kron will explore the economic inequality of who gives, who takes, and who's left in the middle in the final Lobby Project event of the season.

The Lobby Project is sponsored by The Frederick Loewe Foundation.