Theresa Buchheister, Ryan William Downey and Travis Just Usher The Brick into its New Era

Theresa Buchheister, Ryan William Downey and Travis Just have officially taken the reins at The Brick. As of January 1, 2020 they are ushering The Brick into a new era along with their artistic and curatorial collaborators: Teresa Braun, Phil Hartman, Yuki Kawahisa, Alyse Lamb, Justin Liville, Nicolas Noreña, and Harrison David Rivers.
This exciting transition was announced in July, 2019 via The New York Times

Buchheister and Downey's theater company, Title:Point, honored the past and toasted the future with their December, 2019 original production, Sleeping Car Porters (New York Times Critics Pick). It was a christening of sweat, breakaway dishes and sundry influences woven together into a cloak of death. Immediately upon closing, they began updates to the space.

The final weeks of 2019 allowed them to upgrade the lighting, sound and projection capabilities of the space, as well as expanding the bathroom, building a ramp to the stage, stairs to the loft, and bringing in modular risers. Simultaneously, their website was undergoing restructuring in an effort to express the vibe of the space online. bricktheater.com

The start of 2020 programming is The Exponential Festival, for which Buchheister and Downey are curators, along with Nic Adams, IV Castellanos, Sanaz Ghajar, Amanda Hunt and Cameron Stuart. The first show of the festival and their new tenure was Lisa Fagan's Catches No Flies, an existentially hilarious dance piece. Coming up this week is Good and Noble Beings by Ann Marie Dorr, Paul Ketchum and Kedian Keohan (Jan 16 and 17), The Test by Valerie Work (Jan 18), and The Blurring Test by Varispeed and Peggy Weill (Jan 19). They will round out the festival and the month with a double bill of dance called No More Beautiful Dances by Anabella Lenzu and Becky's Lament by CJ Holm (Jan 21-23), two nights of wild split bills called FEATURING... (which features comedic crew Simple Town, dancer and choreographer Gwendolyn Knapp, physical comedy technician Leonie Bell, and performance group L'iat Collective), and Rated Black by Kareem Lucas.

They have announced the debut of BrickFlix, a monthly screening series at including sneak previews, revivals, vintage short programs, visits from prominent filmmakers, and live music/poetry/dance/burlesque. Plus free pizza. All for only $10.

The program opens on January 27th with Charlie Says (2019), Mary Harron's searing portrayal of the incarcerated Manson girls, with a fabulous soundtrack including Love and the Thirteen Floor Elevators. Live music by Marianne Rendon (Charlie Says co-star) & Odetta Hartman (Old Rockhounds Never Die). Director Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho) will be present.

On February 25th, is Bill Morrison's Dawson City: Frozen in Time (2016), widely acclaimed as one of the decade's top ten films. Live music by a special guest to be announced the day of the show. Director Bill Morrison (Decasia) will attend. Future programs include a sneak preview of Nosferasta, the new feature from Adam Khalil & Bayley Sweitzer (Empty Metal); a 35th Anniversary celebration of Larry Fessenden's (Depraved) Glass Eye Pix; and a screening/workshop with Alice Austen & Kirill Mikhanovsky, makers of one of this year's outstanding indie films (and joining us from Milwaukee), Give Me Liberty. BrickFlix is programmed by Phil Hartman -- filmmaker (No Picnic), theater owner (The Pioneer) and festival producer (HOWL!). Vintage shorts curated by legendary cinephile and archivist Gary Balaban.

Coming up in February, which is truly around the corner, they have an electric line-up of comedy, gender F*ck*ry, theater and more!

February 6th - Director and curator, Handan Ozbilgin, will host an evening to bring awareness to her 3-week run of Turkish artists happening in May/June 2020.
February 7th - Comedian, Nick Naney, will be presenting a two-show evening of a new play, Bandit, featuring some of alt-comedies wildest performers -
February 8th - Drag and gender f*ck*ry curator, Teresa Braun, will be presenting their first night of curation!
February 13-23 - Fringe and Fur will be presenting the first full run of a premiere piece of theater in the new Brick space. The Hopelessly Hopeless Story of All Good Girls is created by Genee Coreno and Kelsey Lurie, two artists that Buchheister and Downey have been fans of since presenting their work in ?!:New Works and The Exponential Festival.

Finally, they announce the opening of submissions for Sound Lab, a new residency program for playwrights writing fiction podcasts with Harrison David Rivers and Theresa Buchheister. Resident writers will be announced in March. Learn more about Sound Lab. About The Brick The Brick enters its third decade with a bold new vision and an abiding belief in the power of art. With a renewed focus on multi-week theatrical runs and a dynamic line-up of singular one-off events, The Brick is Williamsburg's primary incubator of innovative theater and performing arts.

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