New Brooklyn Theater, Super Secret Arts, Unveils Membership Model and New Programming

Super Secret Arts, a newly opened theater located in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, has announced inaugural programming along with a groundbreaking membership model that seeks to change the economic paradigm surrounding theater making. For $25 a month, audiences will receive unlimited access to all performances, averaging 25 shows per month. With a refreshing mix of theater, cabaret, comedy, and music, Super Secret Arts aims to disrupt the theater industry while supporting the next generation of innovative artists.

"Streaming platforms have democratized the television and film industry by leveraging monthly, recurring revenue across a huge user base," said Founding Artistic Director Toby Singer. "This spreads the risk across millions of subscribers and enables a diverse array of projects to flourish while reducing the individual pressure to succeed. Super Secret Arts is essentially taking that model and superimposing it on live theatrical arts."

Super Secret Arts offers memberships at $25 per month that give audiences unlimited access to all shows. Members simply reserve a ticket online to any number of performances, space permitting. Members are allowed to bring guests at a discounted $15. Since opening at the beginning of February, over 300 members have joined the Super Secret Arts community.

"Super Secret Arts is both a place where audiences experience thought-provoking art across many genres and also a place where they feel connected to a community with a greater purpose," adds Singer. "We're creating an artistic environment where adventurous art has a chance to breathe, a place that is safe for everyone to express themselves in the way they wish, and perhaps more than anything else - a place that is kind. We like to say that we're making a theater company as if theater was just invented - part of that is creating a place that centers the artist, their well-being, and supports their joy."

Programming at Super Secret Arts includes a mix of theatrical runs, one-night events, and several recurring series. Upcoming performances include This Soil, These Seeds... written and performed by Bonita Jackson. This one-woman show, running April 7-30, is infused with music, movement, and poetry and follows a drama therapist as she uncovers the interconnected mother-daughter issues of three strangers. The weekly Super Secret Cabaret is hosted by Jake McKenna who brings together some of New York's finest singers for a regular night of intimate cabaret performance. Additional highlights include sketch variety show Night Boy, experimental music showcase Sunday Social, all female-identifying brass band Brass Queens, and the premiere of Injured List, a musical memoir from a recovering jock.

Super Secret Arts is located at 400 3rd Avenue in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. It is accessible via the N or D train at 9th St or the F train at 4 Av-9 St.

A complete schedule of events follows. For more information, please visit www.supersecretarts.com.

Schedule of Upcoming Events

This Soil, These Seeds...

Written and Performed by Bonita Jackson

April 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 at 7:30pm

Infused with music, movement, and poetry, in This Soil, These Seeds... a drama therapist journeys to uncover the roots of three strangers whose mother-daughter issues are buried deeper than seeds under soil. But the strangers find themselves in an unexpected multigenerational family intervention.

Bonita Jackson is an actress, writer, teaching artist, and activist based in NYC. She hails from the "Land of 10,000 Lakes"- Minnesota. Jackson has written, performed, and produced four one-woman shows, and has performed in theaters and festivals in NYC for over ten years. Her theater credits include As You Like It (FSU Conservatory), Sweat (Asolo Rep.), Corey & Vanessa (The Tank), The Niceties (Urbanite), Black Footnotes (Nuyorican Poets Café), and Adventures of Kieron & Jade (Bridge Street Theatre). Film credits include Beneath the Sound, Drowning Above Water, How Does That Make You Feel?, and The Old Man and The Fish.

Super Secret Cabaret

Mondays, April 4, 11, 18, and 25 at 7:30pm

Jake McKenna brings together some of New York's finest singers for a regular night of intimate cabaret performance, with pianist Julian Chin.

Night Boy

Tuesdays, April 5, May 3, June 7 at 7:30pm

Comedian Gio Naarendorp hosts a variety show featuring some of his funniest friends, and some of his worst enemies.

Working Title
Sundays, April 10, 24, May 8, 22 at 7:30pm
What is improv when you take it out of the comedy theaters? And what is musical theater when you take away the script? Working Title features an all female-identifying cast of theater artists creating a musical on the spot, inspired by an audience suggestion. Megan Sherrod and Kiki Mikkelsen (co-creators) are musical theater artists and improvisers seeking to expand the potential of musical improv.

Dame With The Dog

Tuesday, April 26 at 7:30pm

My Dearest Dames and Un-Dames and Dudes and Un-Dudes! We invite you to look upon the strangest masked spectacle that you have never seen! There will be music! There will be mustaches! There may be confetti! In a double-feature performance with a rotating cast, we present to you the joyous results of a one-day COVIDian marathon workshop in masked Chekhovian mockery!

Sunday Social

Paul Steven Ray: Sunday, May 1 at 6pm
Kathleen Supové: Sunday, June 5 at 7pm

On the first Sunday of every month, some of NYC's finest experimental, classical and electronic musicians gather for early evening concerts. Curated by Melinda Faylor, of the former experimental music hub Areté. Featuring Kathleen Supové, Vessels to Motherland, Howie Kenty, SaaWee, Paul S. Ray, and more to come.

An Evening with Brass Queens & The Climactics

Friday, May 6 at 7:30pm
Two sets of music by Brooklyn's own Brass Queens and The Climactics, for a night of brass, pop, funk and rock n roll-you won't be able to sit still. Brass Queens is an 8-piece brass band with an all-female horn section deeply inspired by New Orleans. They have a big sound and repertoire that spans various genres. They have lent some hornline love to The Climactics in several shows over the past year and are thrilled to be sharing this evening together.

Kill 'Em With Kindness

Friday, May 6 at 10:00pm

Kill 'Em With Kindness is a recurring performance series featuring a night of artistic works-in-progress, a gathering of lovely weirdos, an art party, and whatever its attendees want it to be. The format is simple: the organizers talk with artists and make a running order, and then each artist or group has 10 minutes to show us what they're working on. Kill 'Em prides itself on being a nonjudgmental space for artistic experimentation and failure, so there is no obligation to show polished or "impressive" work. Additionally, everything on the artistic spectrum from deeply experimental to highly conventional is welcome and encouraged. After the presentations, there will be a post-show hang out period for mingling, talking art, and drinking beer.

Finding the Positive: Live Comedy Album Taping

Saturday, May 7 at 7:30pm and 9:30pm

Meghan O'Malley became a better version of herself during the pandemic but that doesn't mean she's better than you. Finding the Positive takes you through the Robot Revolution, Zoom Funerals, Keychains, Banksy, the Importance of Self Help Books and Journaling. If you take anything away from this show, she hopes that it's to be nice to the Robots.

Samantha's Greatest Day Ever

Thursday, May 12 at 7:30pm

Today is Samantha's Greatest Day on Earth. After 13 years of braces, she is finally getting them off. To celebrate the infinite possibilities of her brand new life, Samantha welcomes us into her bedroom where she'll play host to a cavalcade of NYC's best character performers. Starring Kami Dimitrova, directed by Eric Feurer, and produced by Carly Hoogendyk.

Injured List

Thursday, May 19 at 7:30pm

Friday, May 20 at 9pm

In the High School Musical movies, Zac Efron plays Troy Bolton, the most popular boy in school. He is a star athlete, but he feels conflicted because he also finds joy in singing and performing on stage. Now imagine instead that Troy Bolton is a girl growing up in South Jersey. She's a star athlete, but it does nothing for her popularity. It actually seems to make people like her less. And instead of secretly auditioning for the school musical, she secretly writes song lyrics in her journal at a furious pace, and never shows them to anyone. She also cannot stop getting hurt, both on and off the playing field. In Injured List, Kathleen Armenti will share her sports stories, and for the first time ever her original songs will be brought to life with the help and musicianship of Sean Bartlett and James Bruffee.

About Super Secret Arts

Super Secret Arts is a theater and live arts company located in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. It originates and produces live and digital performances and installations that audiences can experience in-person and online through a number of virtual modalities.

Super Secret Arts seek to change the economic paradigm around theater making, by eschewing traditional forms of funding in favor of a membership model granting unlimited access to all of their performances, for one reasonable monthly fee. It hopes to use this new economic paradigm to do its part in repairing the toxic, broken economic reality of making theater, for artists, creatives, crew, and staff.

Essentially, Super Secret Arts is our answer to the question: if theater was invented today, what would a modern theater company look like?

Super Secret Arts intends to create and produce art that is full of the seriousness, the meaningless, and the preciousness of life, all at once. It believes that theater can mean music, comedy, improv, dance, cabaret, drag, inscrutable stuff, singalongs, immersive experiences, and yes, Theater. While Super Secret Arts stands for joyful art, it stands even more for joyful art-making. It sees genre as a hat to wear - and one should own a number of hats. Finally, Super Secret Arts is driven by a responsibility to make art that shines a flashlight on a troubled, badly broken world, even if we don't understand if or how our contribution helps. We must do our part, even though that is almost certainly not enough.

To post a comment, you must register and login.