WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY? Reveals Programming For 2023-2024 Season

What Will the Neighbors Say? has announced programming for the first half of their Eighth Season (2023-2024). The diverse slate of programming, which includes a dynamic new documentary theater play, a number of arts education initiatives and continued free community programming for the Neighborhood, begins this month and continues through December. Further programming will be announced in the New Year. For more information, please visit the Neighbors' website.

In December, the Neighbors' new project, "At the Barricades," will receive a staged reading in Brooklyn. Co-written by Co-Artistic Directors James Clements (he/him) and Sam Hood Adrain (he/him), this new experimental documentary theater play examines the volunteers who traveled to Spain between 1936-1939 to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Using the true story of the students from Brooklyn College who joined the anti-facist forces as a framing, this play explores the integrated Lincoln Battalion to unpack the nature of resistance and solidarity. With funds from a Local Arts Support grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, a developmental reading will be presented at Brooklyn Art Haus on December 16th, helmed by Federica Borlenghi, with cast and creatives to be announced.

The Neighbors are also excited to announce they are joining the Adjunct Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College. Throughout the Fall semester, they will teach master classes to uppe-rclass students, before teaching their first full course in the Spring, using their bespoke primary source devising method. They will also return to CUNY Queens College, pairing with the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) for "Queering the Archives," a documentary theater program. Alongside students, faculty and archivists, the Neighbors will turn the Alliance's archive of journals into a verbatim documentary theater piece, to be presented on campus as a one-night reading on November 15th. They will also be working with Barrington Stage Company through their Playwright Mentoring Project to assist a group of young performers in the Berkshires as they work to create their own original piece of devised theater, acting as facilitators and script supervisors. There will be a final sharing of these works in April 2024.

The Neighbors are proud to be continuing their free community programming through two major events this winter. Firstly, they will pair with long-term corporate sponsors, TreeRiders NYC, for the third year running. They will return to their stand on 2nd Avenue on December 10th for an afternoon of holiday and New York themed mad libs. The following weekend, the Neighbors will host their free annual Neighborhood Holiday Party to celebrate the end of the calendar year and wish their Neighborhood glad tidings. This year's event will be held on December 17th in Brooklyn, and as always will feature free refreshments, music and dynamic ways in which to connect with friends and Neighbors.

Of the programming for the company's Eighth Season, Co-Artistic Director Hood Adrain shared, "While I have always been excited as we prepare to launch a season, this one feels especially rich and varied, with new challenges and opportunities for myself, James and our Neighborhood." "This slate represents the most dynamic and original programming we have ever attempted - it is ambitious, risky and innovative, and we know we can achieve it with the support of our fabulous new Board of Directors," added Clements.

What Will the Neighbors Say? is an investigative theatre company that provokes questions through untold stories. Led by a collaborative cohort of International Artists, the Neighbors present overlooked social, cultural and historical narratives that challenge the audience to reflect on the current moment. Through a combination of original plays, arts education workshops and dynamic community gatherings, the troupe incites rowdy and rigorous debate at the theatre and throughout the Neighborhood.

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