Theatre C Announces New Partnership with Long Island City Artists Inc.

With the success of our workshop of "Cotton Candy and Cocaine" at the Plaxall Gallery in September of this year, it is our pleasure to announce that Long Island City Artists, Inc. (LIC-A), who manage the Gallery, has offered Theatre C an ongoing residency as part of its initiative to offer more performing arts programming at its facility.

The sold-out run of "Cotton Candy and Cocaine, " an immersive electropop musical by EllaRose Chary and Brandon James Gwinn, transformed the Plaxall Gallery into a busy Las Vegas street, surrounding the audience in an environment with costumed characters, former prostitutes, and wait staff who were all confronting the oncoming gentrification of their neighborhood.

"We were thrilled by Theatre C's presentation of Cotton Candy and Cocaine. They brought a crowd of people we don't usually see in our gallery and by partnering with Carlos Armesto's company, we hope to continue exposing new audiences to the work we do at LIC-A," says Tana Sirois, LIC-A's Director of Performing Arts Programming.

"The work is imaginative, vibrant and in the spirit of LIC-A's mission," says LIC-A Artistic Director Edjo Wheeler.

Now located in Long Island City, Theatre C's partnership with LIC-A will include presenting an annual production at the Plaxall Gallery, contributing to LIC-A's programming committees, and assisting in fundraising for the arts organization.

"We are deeply grateful that LIC-A has offered us this partnership. It is humbling to have found an organization that encourages artistic exploration in a space like the Plaxall Gallery, which has so much potential to create compelling experiences. Space in New York is so difficult to find, and we feel so lucky to be able to create in a warehouse gallery of such large scale," says Theatre C's Producing Artistic Director, Carlos Armesto.

Theatre C was founded in 2009 to move audiences and open minds by creating vibrant theatre that mixes the seemingly un-mixable. We present plays, musicals and events that meld puppetry and burlesque, video and dance, acrobatics and installations, hip hop rock and salsa, and more. Blurring the line between disciplines and cultures, the company is a part of the next stage in american theatre's evolution. For more information on the company, go to www.theatrec.org.

Long Island City Artists, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts advocacy organization founded by artists and incorporated in 1986 in Long Island City. Originally located in a studio/ loft complex above a paper factory, LIC-A began producing art exhibitions and events, originated the Open Studios Annuals, and has continued since in providing professional development opportunities for artists. Members are professional artists from Long Island City as well as elsewhere in Queens. LIC-A's programs are enabled largely through the volunteer work of member artists and supported by grants and donations. LIC-A is committed to broadening its community of artists, and expanding the audience for art produced in Queens through exhibitions, classes, and special projects and events. Visit www.licartists.org for more.