TICKETS TO MANHOOD Plays Dixon Place, 7/14-30

What makes a man a man? Is every adult male a man? Religion, imprisonment, gang violence, marriage, and military service shape the perspectives of adult males reflecting on their rites of passage. Tickets To Manhood examines the choices that boys make maturing into men. There is no formal rite of passage for boys entering adulthood in America today; the men of Tickets made choices that greatly affected the kind of adults that they eventually became. In many neighborhoods, prison and gangs involvement are viable options, and are sometimes seen as choices equivalent to more socially acceptable ones. The men of Tickets don't apologize for their choices they in fact explore them in great detail. A marine who returns from war a trained killer asks himself, who is he now? All the men ponder what made them a man, when that occurred and what kind of man they are currently.

"I began looking at classical rites of passage and noted that here in America there is not one universally accepted introduction to manhood today," said creator James Scruggs. "When the draft was active there was the notion that boys went off to defend their nation and as a result, came back men. There is apparently a real need for some kind of transition experience. Boys are creating their own rites of passage. Urban youth all too often look almost romantically to prison experiences to deem themselves men. Gang involvement is also seen as a viable option. What I noted was that in these socially unacceptable forms of initiation the rites are identical to ones that are acceptable. Boys are sequestered away from their families; they are broKen Down, indoctrinated and built up again in a new image as a member of this New Group."

Who: Gerard Joseph, Maximiliano Balduzzi, James Scruggs, Spencer Scott Barros, and Douglas Allen

When: Thursday, Friday and Saturday July 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 | 7:30pm

Where: Dixon Place | 161A Chrystie Street | New York, NY 10002

Tickets: $15 advance | $18 at door