JACK Announces First Season In New Space
By: Julie Musbach Sep. 13, 2019
The first season in JACK's new, larger space - located just four blocks from its original home - features a torrent of talent, with new plays by Amina Henry, T. Adamson, Melisa Tien, Kate Kremer, James Ijames, and Jaber Ramezani in collaboration with Shadi Ghaheri, new dance work by Zachary Tye Richardson, Amanda Szeglowski, Niall Noel Jones, Justin Allen, Nia & Ness, mayfield brooks, as well as concerts featuring Shelley Hirsch, Pascal Niggenkemper and more. The season, running October 2019 through March 2020, serves as a sampler of some of the most arresting artists in the current performance scene.
The Johnsons, by Amina Henry
Directed by Shira-Lee Shalit
October 10 - 26
They've lost their Cape Cod home to foreclosure, the family cat is missing and there's been a death in the family. It has not been a good summer for The Johnsons. With biting satire and poetry, The Johnsons explores what happens when an American family wakes up from the American Dream.
OUTLIER music series launch
Featuring Pascal Niggenkemper & Shelley Hirsch
October 13
The launch of a new concert series curated by Michael Foster and showcasing the finest and most radical improvisers of today.
NIALL NOEL JONES: a n u n r e a l
November 1 - 2
Experimental choreographer Niall Noel Jones returns to JACK with a new work on being and belonging to the un/lost. A virtuosically unstable piece, a n u n r e a l solicits and challenges the theater's capacity to house, to hold, the imperceptible velocities of thrown and shattered matter.
ZACHARY TYE RICHARDSON: Available Bodies
November 9 - 10
In this sensual tribute to gender discovery, Zachary Tye Richardson infuses moves from the queer club scene into a shifting sculptural landscape. Available Bodies blends lip-sync, latex and stories of gender insurgents to fashion a queer offering to LGBTQIA-POC.
JUSTIN ALLEN: Explain Totality (version 7)
November 15 - 16
When America screams, how does it sound? Performer Justin Allen uses moshing and screaming vocals to reflect on the evolution and aesthetics of hardcore punk and the suburban landscape of his youth. History, geography, and music collide in this physical reflection on subculture, personal experience, and catharsis.
NIA & NESS: home.
November 22 - 23
The body is our home, and for a black, lesbian couple living and loving in NYC the body is always on display. In this new dance-poetry piece, Nia & Ness make visible the impact of external violence and the love that drives them forward.
THE STRAIGHTS, by T. Adamson
Directed by Will Detlefsen
December 5 - 21
In T. Adamson's scorcher of a road trip, best friends Phoebe and Nina navigate hitchhikers, shoplifting, drugs, and a flood of selfies as they hurtle through the heart and heartlessness of America. A kaleidoscopic new play with unlimited mileage.
TERM OF ART, by Kate Kremer
Directed by Anne Cecelia DeMelo & Kate Kremer
January 3 - 12
Visionary theater-maker Kate Kremer takes aim at U.S. immigration and drone policy in this Kafka-esque roast of nonsense masquerading as justice. If you think you're the choir, you're not.
SLOW SOUND OF SNOW, by Jaber Ramezani
Translated and directed by Shadi Ghaheri
January 16 - 26
In the mountains of Turkey, a village spends winters in near-silence to avoid triggering an avalanche. This year, their survival rests on the shoulders of Yashar, a pregnant woman whose impending due date threatens the safety of generations. Compassion and the common good clash in the English-language premiere of this stunner by Iranian playwright Jaber Ramezani, performed by a cast of Iranian and Iranian-American actors.
MAYFIELD BROOKS: Letters to Marsha
January 30 - February 1
In 1992, mayfield brooks had a missed connection with queer ancestor Marsha P. Johnson. Based on danced and written love notes, Letters to Marsha explores the weight of bodies and history, and the artist's own evolution as a Black, non-binary queer connecting specters of Black queer death to memory, movement, sound, humor, and pathos. Curated by Stacy Grossfield as part of her Images // Landscapes series at JACK.
TJ LOVES SALLY 4EVER, by James Ijames
Directed by Jordana De La Cruz
February 13 - 29
At a southern university established by a founding father, TJ is a university dean and Sally his work-study student. But TJ's power has limits and Sally knows it. In TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever, playwright James Ijames hotwires a ride that leaves history's burdens in the dust and off-roads a trail for the future.
AMANDA SZEGLOWSKI / cakeface: Nothing Gold
March 4 - 7
Everyone wants to grow old, and no-one wants to grow old. In this incisively humorous ode to aging, an intergenerational ensemble of women confront impermanence and imperfection with striking musicality and movement.
BEST LIFE, by Melisa Tien
Directed by Elena Araoz
March 19 - April 5
If you could turn back time, what would you do differently? In this absurdly funny and unsettling play, a woman of color can rewind time, but only within the last five minutes. The result: her exchange with a white woman in a cafe becomes increasingly alarming, inspiring a perpetual revolution.
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