Joe's Pub to present ROCK SOLID WOMEN'S FESTIVAL as Part Of Nona Hendryx's Vanguard Residency

Grammy-nominated funk rock pioneer Nona Hendryx continues her year at Joe's Pub at The Public as the inaugural recipient of The Vanguard Residency and Award. On March 19, Hendryx invites Liza Jessie Peterson to debut Down the Rabbit Hole: A Peculiar Patriot All Day Mashup of stories from behind the wall, a mix of Peterson's acclaimed one-woman show The Peculiar Patriot and her book All Day. Over March 29-31, Hendryx convenes the first-ever Rock Solid Women's Festival: Celebrating Women in Art & Music, presenting a radically inclusive lineup of poets, singers, songwriters and literary writers.

Tickets for Down the Rabbit Hole ($30) and Rock Solid Women's Festival ($40-99) are now available online, via phone (212-967-7555) and in-person at The Public Theater's box office (425 Lafayette, NYC).

Beyond her own projects, Hendryx is utilizing her Vanguard year to present artists that are "antithetical to the 'normal, expected and accepted,' the status quo. The fearless are creatively restless, they push the boundaries, provoke, shock, endeavor to achieve a transcending effect, an awakening, evolving into something new."

Directed by Susan Batson, Down the Rabbit Hole a theatrical mash-up of The Peculiar Patriot and Peterson's new book All Day: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island. Having spent two decades working and performing in prison, Peterson offers a very different un-fair(y) tale told with love, passion and laughter.

Hendryx exalts the Rock Solid Woman as one who "mines and tends our feminine emotions and refines them with her art. And sometimes for the first time, because she expressed the essence of them she makes it possible for you to recognize and know them. And once you know, you just might be able to begin to change them." The festival lineup includes Hendryx, Asa Arnold, Blu Detiger, Ki Ki Hawkins, Celisse Henderson, Janice Lowe, Aja Monet, Moor Mother, Kimberly Nichole, Sophia Ramos, Toshi Reagon, Be Steadwell, Mariahdessa Ekere Tallie and more to be announced. Drummer Allison Miller will be musical director, leading the Rock Solid Women's Band.

In April, Hendryx will be fêted in a tribute concert gala to benefit the Residency and Award. May will bring the Berklee College of Music to Joe's Pub for a show that cross-pollinates technology, Afro-Futurism and multimedia. Parallel Lives, a show drawing on the startlingly similar lives of Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday, will return in May. Further on, August's show, Black Tar Beach Party, will cool the dog days of summer. Fall will feature a celebration of Native American culture in November. More information to be announced.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Revolutionary art-rock, new-wave goddess Nona Hendryx is a celebrated vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician and author, Ambassador of Artistry in Music for Berkelee College of Music. Longtime Hendryx fans know her as one of the founding members of the 'girl group', Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles. In 1970, Patti, Sarah Dash and Nona morphed into the groundbreaking group Labelle, delivering a No.1 worldwide hit with 'Lady Marmalade' (Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi C'est Soir?). Tackling social issues, love and politics, Hendryx's legendary career spans six decades of sound, technology and style innovation.

ABOUT THE VANGUARD RESIDENCY A project of Joe's Pub at The Public, the Vanguard Residency is an award and yearlong residency that celebrates the career of a singular artist who has contributed to American life and pop culture and is a part of the Joe's Pub family of artists. This artist also sustains and leads their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers. Additionally, the award answers to the music industry's widening gaps in funding. Joe's Pub offers a cash grant as well as a monthly performance series to be performed and curated by the artist.

TICKETS: ONLINE at joespub.com / PHONE, 10AM-7:00PM, DAILY 212-967-7555
IN PERSON The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC (Opens daily at 2PM). NOTE There is a $12 food / two (2) drink minimum per person per show, unless otherwise noted.

Joe's Pub AT THE PUBLIC, named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. The organization also offers unique opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that provides musicians the resources and tools needed to develop original theater works; Joe's Pub Working Group, an artist development initiative; and nationwide programming partnerships. In 2011, the Pub received a top-to-bottom renovation, leading to improved sightlines, expanded seating capacity and a new menu from acclaimed chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually.

THE PUBLIC is a theater of, by, and for the people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes.

To post a comment, you must register and login.