Noche Flamenca, Abigail Washburn, Bridget Everett and More Set for Joe's Pub's 2013 New York Voices Series

Joe's Pub at The Public announces the second season of its New York Voices series, presenting new works from critically-acclaimed performers commissioned by Joe's Pub and supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The 2013 season will include the celebrated Spanish flamenco dance company Noche Flamenca; the singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn who fuses traditional forms of Appalachian and Chinese folk music; and carnal chanteuse and fearless cabaret star Bridget Everett.

With New York Voices, Joe's Pub provides greater support for artists, allowing them the space and time to create new work that not only connects them to their fans, but to their contemporaries. For the 2013 season, Joe's Pub has expanded the program through the addition of a development workshop with The Public Theater's artistic staff.

"As part of The Public Theater, we are proud of our commitment to artist development and dedication to making world-class art more accessible on our stage." said Shanta Thake, Director, Joe's Pub. "We selected these artists because they reflect the diversity of our programming. They each have a remarkable way of telling a story and they have all performed at Joe's Pub for years. We are thrilled to offer them a deeper relationship with The Public through New York Voices."

Last year's New York Voices included No Place To Go by Ethan Lipton, which had an extended run at The Public Theater, won a 2012 Obie Award and continues to tour the nation. "Joe's Pub has been one of the most successful ventures The Public has ever undertaken, offering support and a venue to literally thousands of artists over the last 14 years," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "The New York Voices series has also been a triumph, producing in its inaugural season an Obie Award winning show which went into the Public's mainstage season and is now touring the nation. We expect great things from the second season."

For the 2013 season of New York Voices, internationally-renowned dance troupe Noche Flamenca will present the world premiere of Antigona, in which principal dancer Soledad Barrio embodies the heroine in Sophocles' ancient Greek tragedy. "There is an intimacy we can achieve in terms of the work, the audience, the partnership, at Joe's Pub which could not exist anywhere else," said Martin Santangelo, Artistic Director of Noche Flamenca. "Vitality is a critical piece of our efforts, and vitality abounds at Joe's Pub and The Public Theater as well as in the veins of the creative and artistic team we have assembled to create and dance this new work." Santangelo will direct Antigona in collaboration with Lee Breuer, founder and artistic director of Mabou Mines Theater Company.

Abigail Washburn is one of the few American artists currently touring China. In 2012, the clawhammer banjo player was named a TED Fellow and presented a TED Talk about building US-China relations through music. Her new work will be an extension of her effort to share American music in China and Chinese music in America, and explore the fluidity of culture and ideas in a new world order.

"Joe's Pub has given me an incredibly supportive, hands-off environment to work in," said Bridget Everett. Known for her unforgettable alt-cabaret show with her band The Tender Moments, Everett has a monthly residency at Joe's Pub with her band The Tender Moments and is also one of the hosts of Our Hit Parade, a monthly top ten revue at Joe's Pub starring Everett, Kenny Mellman (Kiki and Herb) and Neal Medlyn. For New York Voices, Everett will collaborate in part with Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys).

Noche Flamenca
Spain's dazzling "Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca", whose vitality, energy and passion have won accolades around the world, returns for a special limited engagement filled with spectacular dancing, cathartic song, and virtuosic guitar. Noche Flamenca maintains the essence, purity and integrity of one of the world's most complex and mysterious art forms, creating powerful performances that radiate off the intimate Joe's Pub stage. The company was founded in 1993 by artistic director Martin Santangelo and his Bessie award-winning wife Soledad Barrio. Recognized as Spain's leading flamenco touring company, Noche has been hailed for its authentic performances of one of the world's most complex and mysterious art forms - without the use of tricks or gimmicks "Soledad Barrio, the company's lead dancer...seemed possessed by smoldering, do-or-die flamenco passion...An entire evening of her dancing would probably fill the city's coronary wards. Martin Santangelo, the company's founder and director, achieves a remarkable balance between the new and the old in his savvy staging program." - Gia Kourlas, The New York Times www.nocheflamenca.com

Abigail Washburn
A singing, songwriting, Illinois-born, Nashville-based clawhammer banjo player, Abigail Washburn is every bit as interested in the present and the future as she is in the past, and every bit as attuned to the global as she is to the local. Abigail pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody's ever heard before. Eight years ago, Washburn was miraculously offered a record deal in the halls of a bluegrass convention in Kentucky which changed her trajectory from becoming a lawyer in China to a traveling folk musician. Her music ranges from the "all-g'earl" string band sound of Uncle Earl to her bi-lingual solo release Song of the Traveling Daughter (2005), to the mind-bending "chamber roots" sound of the Sparrow Quartet, to the rhythms, sounds and stories of Afterquake, her fundraiser CD for the Sichuan earthquake victims. "Ms. Washburn's enigmatic songs mingle Appalachia and folk-pop, with tinges of Asia and Bruce Springsteen," writes the New York Times of her latest album, City of Refuge, written with collaborator Kai Welch and produced by Tucker Martine (the Decemberists, Spoon, My Morning Jacket). Washburn is armed with fluent Chinese and profound connections to culture and people on the other side of the Pacific. In 2011, she completed a month-long tour of China's Silk Road supported by grants from the US Embassy, Beijing, and was selected as a TED Fellow in 2012. www.abigailwashburn.com.

Bridget Everett
Bridget Everett is a singing tour de force known for her funny yet gut-wrenching, outrageous and unpredictable performance work. She's been dubbed "Wynona Judd meets Melissa Etheridge, via the local bar floozy, on a rocket ship out of Twin Peaks" by Michael Musto from the Village Voice. She has appeared frequently on Time Out New York's annual list of top cabaret performers, ranking number one in 2010 on a list which included Alan Cumming and Elaine Stritch. Bridget co-hosts Our Hit Parade, a sold-out monthly revue of current pop hits, with Kenny Mellman (Kiki and Herb) and Neal Medlyn at Joe's Pub. She starred in the original musical At Least It's Pink based on her life which she co-wrote with director Michael Patrick King (writer/director Sex and the City) and Mellman. Bridget played Lynn Chenney in Taylor Mac's Red Tide Blooming at P.S.122 and was featured in Scott Wittman's production Jukebox Jackie. She can be seen as Cathy in the Sex and the City movie and as Shonda in the CBS hit comedy 2 Broke Girls. Bridget previously co-wrote and performed an evening of original music called Bridget and Neal Are F*cking and Adam is Watching with Medlyn and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys). twitter.com/bridgeteverett

Visit www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows and to purchase tickets, or call 212-967-7555 or visit in person at The Public Theater Box Office (1 PM to 6 PM) located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC.

Joe's Pub at The Public is one of New York City's most celebrated venues for emerging and established performing artists. Named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Joe's Pub debuted in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting new artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to develop new work. Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home. Open seven days a week, dinner and drink service is available during every performance.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public Theater is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare and the classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in equal measure. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day. Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues-including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to its beloved, free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours Shakespearean productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City's five boroughs. The Public's wide range of programming includes free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company's dedication to making theater accessible to all, new and experimental stagings at The Public at Astor Place, and a range of artist and audience development initiatives including its Public Forum series, which brings together theater artists and professionals from a variety of disciplines for discussions that shed light on social issues explored in Public productions. The Public Theater is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. www.publictheater.org

Pictured: Solidad Barrio of Noche Flamenca