16th Annual LES Festival Set for Theater For The New City, Begins May 27

THE 16th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE (LES) FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS brings together under one roof in just three days over 100 performing arts organizations, local and international celebrities, independent artists, poets, playwrights, musicians, puppeteers, film makers and many others - all of whom reside, work or have their roots in the culturally diverse, willfully anarchistic Lower East Side - for New York City's most diverse FREE 3-day festival, from Friday, May 27 through Sunday, May 29, at Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Sts.) in Manhattan. OBIE Award-winning actress Crystal Field is co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater for the New City.

The 3-day, indoor and outdoor festival of the arts is organized by Theater for the New City and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders, and is FREE to all New Yorkers and its visitors. THE LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS was founded in 1996 to demonstrate the creative explosion of Manhattan's Lower East Side and the area's importance to the culture and tourism of New York City. Last year's festival attracted more than 3,000 people.

This year's lineup includes two aerial acts, Suspended Cirque (SUBTERRANEA) and Constellation Moving Company (MODERN TIMES), making their LES FESTIVAL debuts; plus jazz great David Amram; cabaret star KT Sullivan; Tony Award-winning actress Tammy Grimes; Talk-show host Joe Franklin; La Mama E.T.C.; The Rod Rodgers Dance Company; Penny Arcade; The Love Show; Taylor Mead; New York Theatre Workshop; The Mariana Bekerman Dance Company; Kitty Lunn; Maya DeSilva Flamenco Dance Company; multiple AUDELCO award-winning theater company, Take Wing and Soar Productions; and Tokyo Penguin.

In memoriam, THE LES FESTIVAL will present a scene from an unpublished play by Lanford Wilson. Other well-known writers represented in this year's festival, range from David Mamet to William Shakespeare. There will also be brand-new works, created for THE 16th ANNUAL LES FESTIVAL, by writers Tom Diriwachter, Lissa Moira, Walt Stepp, Barbara Kahn, Matt Morillo, Larry Myers, Bina Sharif, Misha Shulman, and others.

All weekend events celebrate the rich history of Theater for the New City and the Lower East Side which have embraced all genres of the arts and nurtured artists, including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Yip Harburg, Eddie Candor, Molly Picon, Eugene O'Neill, Mark Twain, and countless others, who have lived and created, in poverty and in wealth, in New York City.

The complete lineup and schedule for THE 16th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL will be posted online at www.theaterforthenewcity.net.

The theme of THE 16th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS is "It's Elemental: A Turn to Natural Power. The Power of Wind, Sun, and Water - clean and green! And the Natural Powers within us to create, rather than destroy. To share, rather than hoard. To illuminate, rather than obfuscate. To entertain, rather than to become extinct. Make Art, Not Artifice."

Festivities kick off on Friday, May 27 at Theater for the New City at 6pm, with a diverse roster of artists presenting theater, music, dance, comedy, performance art, and other entertainment.

On Saturday, May 28, THE 16th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS offers a day-long block party, beginning at noon, hosted by composer/satirist Richard West, featuring performances from musicians, singers, belly and flamenco dancers, comics, poets and more, as well as a community Cultural Fair with food and crafts vendors. Additional attractions on Saturday afternoon will emphasize performances with and by kids and tweens, hosted by performer John Grimaldi, curated by actor and teacher the talented Primy Rivera, with the Rod Rodgers Dance Company and TNC's own Arts-In-Education program.

Another highlight on Saturday, May 28 is the LES Film Festival. Francesse M. Maingrette hosts screenings of full-length features, shorts, and animation about the Lower East Side and its inhabitants, or created by local filmmakers, including Jim Jarmusch whose recent release, "The Limits of Control," will be screened.

On Sunday, May 29, playwright and poet Lissa Moira hosts a poetry and performance tribute to poet and rock musician Tuli Kupferberg, led by longtime friend Richard West; and the festival concludes with performances, beginning at 6pm, in the Community Theater.

Throughout the festival, TNC's lobby art gallery offers a new LES Art Show, curated by artist and activist Carolyn Ratcliffe, featuring local painters, sculptors, and photographers, and live human art exhibits. The LES Art Show hosts a special opening at TNC on Wednesday, May 25, beginning at 5:30pm.

THE 16th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS features performances for and by kids, and performers with disabilities. Additionally, the distinct ethnic communities of the Lower East Side are amply represented, including the Latin American, African American, Chinese, Indian, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Native American, Polish and Ukrainian communities.

Previous participants have included F. Murray Abraham, Quentin Crisp, Oscar Brand, KT Sullivan, Miguel Algarin, Bond Street Theatre, Vinie Burrows, Kaleidoscope Dance Company, Sudden Enlightenment Theater Company, Tuli Kupferberg, Ellen Stewart, Matt Morillo, and Kitty Carlisle, among others.

Theater for the New City (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York's most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC's Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them: Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch (THE DIVINE SISTER), Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero and Academy Award-winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, The Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Ma-Yi Theater Company. TNC also produced the Yangtze Repertory Company's 1997 production of BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, which was the only play ever produced in America by Gao Xingjian before he won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 40 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor's Stop the Violence Award. Samuel French has published Mark Morillo's ANGRY YOUNG WOMEN IN LOW-RISE JEANS WITH HIGH-CLASS ISSUES and ALL ABOUT THE MARRIAGE HEARSE, which each had runs at Theater for the New City. A scene from Crystal Field's new play LET IT GO is published in Applause Book's "The Best Women's Monologues for 21st Century."

THE 16th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS runs in and around Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Streets) throughout Memorial Day weekend: Friday, May 27, 6pm-1am; Saturday, May 28, noon-1am (noon-5pm - Cultural Fair, outside on East 10th Street between 1st and Second Avenues; 2pm-5pm - Performances for kids and by kids, inside Theater for the New City); and Sunday, May 29, 6pm-1am.

All events are FREE and open to the public. For additional information and a full performance schedule, please call Theater for the New City at 212-254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.

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