HOWL! Arts Project Begins Month-long Series at Theatre 80 9/10-12

HOWL! Arts Project and The Actors Fund present HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010, a month-long series of theater, performance art, music, poetry, film, entertainment for and by kids, and much more at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place). Proceeds benefit HOWL! HELP, an emergency services assistance and health fund for eligible and qualifying East Village artists, administered by The Actors Fund.

HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 channels the spirit and artistic invention of its namesake poem and poet Allen Ginsberg to deliver firsthand examples of the creative, cultural, and historical forces that have made the highly original downtown arts community world renowned.

Highlights of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 include a revival of Marc Blitzstein's THE CRADLE WILL ROCK; performances by Rosie's Broadway Kids; the New York premiere of David Caudle's THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM; an all-male version of OEDIPUS REX; Joe Capozzi's FOR PETE'S SAKE, the
TWEED Fractured Classick A RAISINETTE IN THE SUNSHINE, Chris Rael's L.E.S. Is More Music Festival; and an evening of queer spoken word, as well as new works and performances by Penny Arcade, Tammy Faye Starlite, Sahil Farooqi, Regie Cabico, Our Lady J, Greg Drozdek, Jesse
Rabinowitz, Jennifer Blowdryer, Niko, Urban Word, Vangeline Theater, Tom Murrin (The Alien Comic), David Cale, Glenn Marla and Salley May, and many others.

H.E.L.P. (HOWL! EMERGENCY LIFE PROJECT) OF THE ACTORS FUND is a wonderful community resource created to support artists who have made or continue to make their careers in NYC's East Village and Lower East Side and are in need of emergency assistance. Eligible artists include participants in the annual Howl! Festival and those in the East Village Arts Community of theatre, music, performance art, dance, multimedia, the spoken word and visual arts. Assistance is based on need and qualifying work history. This fund provides emergency assistance to qualified performing artists in crisis and offers other Actors Fund support services.

THE ACTORS FUND is a national human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund - which supports both performers and everyone behind the scenes in theatre, film, TV, music, dance, radio and opera - is a safety net, providing social services and emergency assistance, health services and health insurance information, employment and training programs, and housing support for those who are in need, crisis or transition. Learn more about The Actors Fund's services and programs at www.actorsfund.org.

Tickets for HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 range from $5 to $20 and can be purchased day of show at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place) or in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com or call 800-838-3006. Cash only at the door.

For more information, including complete schedule of events, visit www.howlfestival.com.

The 7th Annual outdoor HOWL! Festival runs September 10-12 in and around Tompkins Square Park,
between 7th and 10th Streets and Avenues A and B in the East Village.

HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 at Theater 80 (80 St. Marks Place)

Thursday, September 2
8:00pm -THE CRADLE WILL ROCK; $20

On a June evening in 1938, director Orson Welles, producer John
Houseman, and the cast and crew of Marc Blitzstein's new Broadway
musical THE CRADLE WILL ROCK were locked out of their theater on
opening night by armed servicemen under orders from the Federal
government. Without costumes, sets, lights or sound, Welles and
Houseman found an unused theater, rented an upright piano, and marched
their audience up Broadway for what has become the most historic
theatrical opening ever recorded. As legend has it, the entire
libretto -- performed from the audience by actors forbidden to step
onto the stage -- received a 40-minute standing ovation.

This timely, controversial musical about greed, corruption and the
plight of the worker was presented initially last year by Downtown
Music Productions, East Village Concert Series and St. Mark's Church
in the Bowery, and makes a return engagement to the HOWL! ARTS PROJECT
2010.

"The current economic crisis makes it an opportune time to hear this
leftist theatre piece," wrote Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times
last year. "THE CRADLE WILL ROCK is a landmark music-theatre work that
audiences have heard about but seldom get to see. This bare-bones
performance, with a cast of 16 singing on book and being accompanied
only by piano, was appropriate to the piece," he added in his review.

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK features book, music and lyrics by Marc
Blitzstein. The creative team includes director Larry Marshall, music
director Mimi Stern-Wolfe, artistic coordinator Jeannine Otis, and
choreographer Laura Stilwell.

This revival of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK costars Charles Baran, Ryan
Cahill, Darcy Dunn, Gavin Esham, Brian Henry, Paul Malamphy, Marcus
Moss, Jeannine Otis, Zak Risinger, Tom Savage, Michael Schilke, Greg
Senf, Steve Sieck, Mark Singer, Go Takeuchi, and Laura Wolfe.

Friday, September 3
8:00pm -THE CRADLE WILL ROCK; $20

Saturday, September 4
8:00pm - A BROWN MONKEY GOES TO McDONALD'S; $10

Written and Performed by Sahil Farooqi, A BROWN MONKEY GOES TO
McDONALD'S is powerful and funny solo show based on Sahil's
semi-autobiographical journey of an immigrant. Directed by spoken word
pioneer Regie Cabico (TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND), the
play reveals the stories and dreams of a boy moving to America and his
continuous search for cultural identity and acceptance in western
society. But in the post 9/11 World his dreams of America are changed
forever.

A BROWN MONKEY GOES TO McDONALD'S was presented earlier this year as
part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festival, where it was
nominated for Best Overal Solo Production and garnered Mr. Farooqi a
nomination for Oustanding Performance in a Solo Show.

Saturday, September 4
10:00pm - Vangeline Theatre and Video; $10

The Vangeline Theater is a dance company firmly rooted in the
tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century.
For HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010, they will perform new work inspired by
the film "Run, Lola, Run," with choreography by Vangeline and video
art by Geoff Shelton. Their work fosters an appreciation of French,
Japanese and European Culture through performances and workshops. The
company strives to utilize Dance and various forms of artistic
explorations as tools to heal the community, to bring dreams to the
people, and people back to their dreams.

Sunday, September 5
8:00pm - CRY OUT; $10

CRY OUT resurrects the prophetic voice of America's Beat Poet
Laureate, Allen Ginsberg. Written and performed by Jesse Rabinowitz,
under the direction of Steve Forth, CRY OUT tells the strange,
creative journey of Allen Ginsberg, whose shocking poetry, radical
vision, and compassionate activism changed the course of American
society in the late 20th century. Weaving Ginsberg's explosive and
innovative poetry with vignettes of his remarkable life, CRY OUT will
move and inspire, educate and awaken. The work had its world premiere
in Richmond, VA, in July, 2000, playing to enthusiastic,
standing-room-only houses, with a subsequent runs at Barksdale Theatre
in Richmond, FronteraFest in Austin, Texas, New College in San
Francisco, and the New York Open Center.

Monday, September 6
4:00pm - SISTER SON/JI; $10

In SISTER SON/JI, written by Sonia Sanchez, directed by SC2 and
starring Jacqueline Gregg, poet/playwright Sanchez unflinchingly
examines the paradoxical notions of liberation within in the Black
Power Movement. Sonia Sanchez is a Poet. Mother. Professor. National
and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women's
Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice, as well as an author of over 16
books. Sc2 is the founder & Artistic Director of BeBop Theatre
Collective. Jacqueline Gregg, who has performed in countless plays,
both classical and modern, also works extensively with various
educational theatre organizations, bringing classical as well as
Contemporary Theatre to schools in and around New York City. After the
show, there will be a talkback with Ms. Sanchez.

Tuesday, September 7
8:00pm - THE BEAT LEGACY IN WORDS & MUSIC; $20

Composer, pianist, author and teacher Marc Thorman presents an evening
of his original music with text inspired by Allen Ginsberg: "Writing
Through Howl (1986) For Allen Ginsberg on his Sixtieth Birthday," text
by John Cage, is an example of Cage's "writing through" process which
searches the poem "Howl" sequentially for words that share letters
with Allen Ginsberg's name. "I Am Right, You Are Wrong," text by
William S. Burroughs, features the recorded voice of Allen Ginsberg
reading the text to two live improvised instrumental trios.

Wednesday, September 8
8:00pm - BITCHES GUIDE TO THE LOWER EAST SIDE; $7

Performance artist and writer Jennifer Blowdryer's BITCHES GUIDE TO
THE LOWER EAST SIDE offers a unique take on life in the city, covering
such wide-ranging topics as bed bugs, gleaning and Couch Creatures.
Joining her are Shecky Beagleman, doing her historic "Crack Dance,"
and Ann Hanavan, who will fill everybody in on the drug bodegas of
yore, and others, presented against a backdrop of photos of the mean
streets (and the people who love them) by famed photographer Jean-Paul
Niko.

Thursday, September 9
8:00pm - FILM: JERRY ARONSON'S "THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG"; $10

The re-release of Jerry Aronson's biopic, "The Life and Times of Allen
Ginsberg, timed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of "Howl," suits
this wonderful documentary and proves Ginsberg central to all radical
artistic and political movements of the past 60 years. The
feature-length film, segmented by decade, provides ample footage of
Ginsberg's life; but extras added into this package, including footage
of his memorial and 35 interviews with artists inspired by the
visionary poet--from Beck to Lawrence Ferlinghetti--solidify Ginsberg
as an American cultural icon. The film unravels Ginsberg's obsession
for life and death around his mother's nervous breakdown and his
father's affinity for poetry. Interviews with Ginsberg from each
decade, both amongst his Beat friends like Burroughs and Huncke, and
later with talk show hosts William Buckley and Dick Cavett, show the
author's progression from sexual politics in the '40s and '50s to the
"politics of ecstasy" in the '60s and '70s, when he founded the Flower
Power movement with Tim Leary, and later, Naropa Univeristy. Ample
footage of Ginsberg's stepmother provides a sensitive outsider's
opinion on how he blossomed into one of the most spontaneous minds of
the century. The film transcends simple Ginsberg descriptions by
framing his life with historical happenings to contextualize the
author's words and actions. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg
reminds the viewer that there is no better example of an artist
devoted to a life of letters, activism, and idealism than the original
beatnik. Jerry Aronson will be present at the screening for a Q and A
and will have DVD's for purchase.

Friday, September 10
7:00pm - L.E.S. Is More Music Festival; $5

The Lower East Side Is More Music Festival features performances from
LJ Murphy, Lunas Atlas, Hilary Hawke and the Flipsides, Mamie Minch,
and others to be announced.

Saturday, September 11
2:00pm - Rosie's Broadway Kids: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR.; $5

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR. is a vibrant one-act musical retelling of Han
Christian Andersen's THE LITTLE MERMAID, set in the French Antilles
and detailing the romance between a peasant girl, Ti Moune, and a
wealthy aristocrat, Daniel. The show features book, lyrics and music
by the Tony Award-winning duo Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
(RAGTIME) and is best known for its Caribbean-tinged songs-most
notably "Waiting for Life" and "Why We Tell the Story." The
performance features Rosie's Broadway Kids students in the 6th to 12th
grades.

Rosie's Broadway Kids is an arts education organization, founded by
Rosie O'Donnell, dedicated to enriching the lives of children through
the arts. Using professional teaching artists, Rosie's Broadway Kids
offers classes in dance and music and a professional theater
experience for children who might otherwise not have the opportunity.
Its goal is to inspire excellence, motivate learning, lift the human
spirit, and to instill a lifelong appreciation for the arts.

Saturday, September 11
8:00pm - ALL-MALE OEDIPUS REX; $10

With an all-male cast of 12 utilizing the performance techniques of
the Ancient Greeks, Faux-Real Theatre Company in conjunction with
Verse Theater Manhattan presents a "traditional" rendition of
Sophocles' classic OEDIPUS REX that proves "what was considered
traditional 2,400 years ago is off-the-hook today." Incorporating the
colorful aesthetic of these ancient performances and utilizing a broad
physical style of acting powered by live music, songs and dancing,
ALL-MALE OEDIPUS REX looks beyond the "fate versus free will"
interpretations of this classic, to explore the alluring underbelly of
this primal text. Directed by Mark Greenfield (FUNBOX), the show's
heightened approach reveals what is terrifying and vital in this most
tragic of tragedies, enhancing the story's power to awaken our
subconscious and discover the heroes within.

Sunday, September 12
2:00pm - Rosie's Broadway Kids: HARLEM RENAISSANCE; $5

Rosie's Broadway Kids students in the 6th to 8th grade perform a
one-act presentation of musical numbers inspired by the Harlem
Renaissance, one of the most culturally significant periods in New
York and American history. This lively performance features such
well-known songs as "Drop Me Off in Harlem," " That's How You Jazz,"
and "This Joint Is Jumpin'."

Sunday, September 12
8:00pm - ALL-MALE OEDIPUS REX; $10

Monday, September 13
8:00pm - THAT BIRD LOOKS LIKE 2 MUSTACHES KISSING; $10

HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 presents an evening of queer spoken word and
performance exploring love, marriage and gender, curated and hosted by
spoken word pioneer and comedian Regie Cabico ("The Lady Gaga of
Poetry," Kenyon Review). THAT BIRD LOOKS LIKE 2 MUSTACHES KISSING
features film director and monologist Silas Howard, performance artist
Heather Arc, and others to be announced.

Tuesday, September 14
8:00pm - THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM: $10

Famed Italian director Enrico Lamanna helms the New York premiere of
THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM, David Caudle's comic portrait of an awkward
teenaged boy and his family in 1970s Miami.

Set in suburban Miami, Florida in November 1978, THE SUNKEN LIVING
ROOM is the story of Wade, an effeminate and studious sixteen-year-old
who is trying to finish a book report for school, and the
dysfunctional family who won't leave him alone. His seventeen-year-old
brother Chip, a coke-snorting jock, shows up with his possibly
pregnant girlfriend Tammy. Chip hits up Wade for some cash then takes
off, leaving Tammy behind. Wade never gets his homework done, but he
learns a thing or two about himself from Tammy, and about compassion
from Chip, when that fearless facade finally cracks.

Following two postponements in 2005 -- one due to Hurricane Katrina in
New Orleans, where the play was supposed to debut at Southern Rep; and
another due to Hurricane Wilma in Miami -- THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM had
its world premiere in April 2006, as a co-production of Southern Rep
and Miami's New Theatre. David Caudle is the author of The Common
SWALLOW, LEG MAN, and SOUTH BEACH RAPTURE, now playing as part of the
14th Annual New York Fringe Festival.

Wednesday, September 15
8:00pm - FOR PETE'S SAKE; $10

FOR PETE'S SAKE is actor/author Joe Capozzi's true story of a young
man who chose to keep a secret without realizing how it would affect
the rest of his life. This autobiographical play about his life-long
relationship with his Priest deals with the church, the press and his
family, but that is only the beginning. Twenty years later he's
getting divorced, quit his job and is finally forced to deal with the
truth. Being honest with himself would be his greatest challenge. FOR
PETE'S SAKE is a truthful and humorous look at his journey.

Wednesday, September 15
10:00pm - SONGS FROM THE OLD PARISH; $10

Written and directed by Greg Drozdek, and featuring Jeremy Lamb on
cello, SONGS FROM THE OLD PARISH offers 12 stories with music on
growing up and living in New York City. Mr. Drozdek has lived and
worked in New York all of his life. His father was a refugee from
Yugoslavia who met his mother after she left the convent. New York
raised Mr. Drozdek: the people, the streets, his priest and nuns, and
the neighbors helped him survive. The bar, and the characters and
crooks at the bar where his father drank raised him, too. They taught
him to love the music of the city-the music he has built his life, as
a teacher and writer, around. These are the songs that are New York:
the songs from the old parish.

Thursday, September 16
8:00pm - Penny Arcade: THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH; $15

Penny Arcade explores and explains the roots of what led her to create
solo performance art in the 1980-s when the term Performance Artist
denoted the new and renegade and the East Village was the hotbed of
visionary creative explorations that had an international impact for
two decades. Penny will perform some of the landmark performances
pieces that created her reputation for the highest standards in
content and entertainment, including the notorious Dame Margot Howard
Howard, Warhol Superstar Andrea Whips, Sohos Aunt Lucy, The Junkie
Whore "Girl", The Massage Parlour Hassid, Charlotte the Harlot with a
first time ever naaration of the stories behind those performances.
Experience Penny Arcade re-define the performance memoir as only Penny
Arcade would or could!

Friday, September 17
8:00pm - The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series presents A RAISINETTE IN
THE SUNSHINE; $20

TWEED returns to HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 with its truly original
interpretation of an American classic with the premiere of A
RAISINETTE IN THE SUNSHINE, starring drag Flotilla DeBarge, Jodi
Lennon, David Ilku, Clark Beasley and others. Kevin Malony directs
this deceptively reverent, yet hilarious spin on classic American
dramatic literature. Call it parody. Call it satire. But don't call it
camp!

Saturday, September 18
2:00pm - URBAN WORD: VERBAL FIRE; $5

Founded on the belief that teenagers can and must speak for
themselves, URBAN WORLD NYC has been at the forefront of the youth
spoken word, poetry and hip-hop movements in New York City since 1999.

Urban Word mentor Regie Cabico and Executive Director Michael Cirelli
curate and host VERBAL FIRE, a spoken word showcase by New York's
young poets and their mentors who have taken top prizes at Brand New
Voices International Youth Poetry Slam competition, Speak Green at
Sundance Film Festival, and the National Poetry Slam.

Saturday, September 18
8:00pm - The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series presents A RAISINETTE IN
THE SUNSHINE: $20

Sunday, September 19
2:00pm - URBAN WORD: VERBAL FIRE; $5

Sunday, September 19
4:00pm - WE'LL BE FINE; $10

In, WE'LL BE FINE -- a two-act drama by Michael W. Small -- when a New
England factory manager gives his 9-year-old son a violin, he wants it
to be the best gift ever. But instead of bringing beautiful music into
his home, he finds himself conducting a virtual symphony of
misunderstanding and disharmony with his entire family. Only after
decades of Culture Clash through the '70s and '80s do his children
discover a precious gift that their out-of-step father has given them.
WE'LL BE FINE is an intimate portrait of the strongly felt wishes and
disappointments that challenge and unite a family, directed by April
Nickell (Managing Artistic Director of NYC's Jaradoa Theater).

Mr. Small is the co-author of the book for the musical THE IT GIRL and
most recently wrote the New York International Fringe 2008 favorite
KABOOM! His play GOT YOU was presented at last year's HOWL! ARTS
PROJECT.

Sunday, September 19
8:00pm - Tom Murrin (The Alien Comic), David Cale, Glenn Marla and
Salley May; $10

Downtown artists offer a sneak peek at their latest projects.
Participants include Tom Murrin, the unofficial godfather of downtown
performance best known as the Alien Comic; actor, playwright and
lyricist David Cale, whose solo works include the Obie Award-winning
LILLIAN; Glenn Marla, a Brooklyn-based performance artist, tranny
superstar and beauty pageant queen seen in Taylor Mac's THE LILY'S
REVENGE and Justin Bond's LUSTRE: A MID WINTERS TRANSFEST; and Salley
May, co-founder of PS 122's long-running series AVANT-GARDE-ARAMA.

Monday, September 20
8:00pm - SUGARED MEATINGS: A DELECTABLE 18TH CENTURY ROMP and THE FALL
OF CAFÉ MUDAFIER TO THE TOLTECS; $10

Written and performed by Claire Downs, James Clark and Evan Watkins,
SUGARED MEATINGS: A DELECTABLE 18TH CENTURY ROMP is a comedy based on
true (and few made up) events surrounding the lives of Madame de
Pompadour, Voltaire, and Louis XV. The short play, performed last
spring at NYU to sold-out audiences, features improvisation, dry humor
and hopes to blow the dust off of history figures with comedy.

Presented as a staged reading, Andrew Duncan Farmer's THE FALL OF CAFÉ
MUDAFIER TO THE TOLTECS follows Olivia Bellune, arguably the most
famous woman on Earth who has found one last beacon of privacy in the
elegant and prestigious Café Mudafier. However, as the savage outside
world finds a way into the pristine restaurant, Olivia finds herself
questioning which place is more frightening.

Tuesday, September 21
8:00pm - CHELSEA MÄDCHEN starring Tammy Faye Starlite; $10

In CHELSEA MÄDCHEN, Tammy Faye Starlite portrays Nico, the glamorously
decadent Velvet Underground chanteuse, née Christa Paffgen. Inspired
by the same sort of current economic catastrophes that provoked the
climate of fear which gave rise to the Third Reich, Tammy Faye
Starlight forswears her country persona for an evening of song -- und
Gespräch -- in a dark, Weimar-cum Warhol Kabaret Konzert, directed by
Michael Schiralli.

Wednesday, September 22
8:00pm - L.S.D. (LIP SYNC & DANCE!); $15

L.S.D. (LIP SYNC & DANCE!) is a showcase of super showoffs, produced
by David "The Impact Addict" Leslie, featuring celebrity judges plus a
$1,000 cash grand prize! Want to perform? Submit your proposal to
David: babyblueleather@gmail.com.

One of the original founders of The HOWL! Festival, David Leslie has
worked with a variety of great artists including Nam June Paik and Pat
Oleszko, and has been creating public spectacle since the early 1980s.
His addiction to art and adrenaline drove him to his first stunt in
SoHo-- attempting to fly a small single seat rocket over a mountain
over watermelons. A later performance had him hurled from the roof of
PS 122, a height of six stories, dressed as Maria Von Trapp. In the
1990s, David became Curator Of Performance Art at The Kitchen, as well
as running the critically acclaimed "Box Opera" Series for over four
years. He has been a guest curator at the New Museum, has sat on PS
122's Board Of Advisors, and is currently on the Advisory Board of
HOWL! HELP.

Friday, September 24
8:00pm - The TWEED Music Series presents CARNABY STREET: THE MUSIC; $15

Curated by Carol Lipnik, TWEED offers a musical tribute to the music
of London's infamous Carnaby Street, featuring an all-star cast to be
announced, performing the music of an era the fused fashion and song
as never before seen or heard.

Saturday, September 25
2:00pm - Rosie's Broadway Kids: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR.; $5

Saturday, September 25
8:00pm - THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM; $10

Sunday, September 26
2:00pm - Rosie's Broadway Kids: HARLEM RENAISSANCE; $5

Sunday, September 26
8:00pm - THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM; $10

Monday, September 27
8:00pm - OUR Lady J & THE TRAIN-TO-KILL GOSPEL CHOIR; $10

Our Lady J is a singer/songwriter known for her visionary gospel
stylings and powerhouse pianist skills. Along with the Train-To-Kill
Gospel Choir, she has been delivering a new testament of
post-religious gospel music that has played to sold-out crowds at
NYC's Joe's Pub, The Zipper Factory & Ars Nova Theatre, as well venues
worldwide. OUT Magazine named her as one of the "Out 100," a list of
the people who helped shape LGBT culture in 2008. Our Lady J's
performance, musical direction & accompaniment credits include
collaborations with NYC's most colorful talents (Cyndi Lauper, Debbie
Harry, Lady Gaga, The Scissor Sisters, Antony Hegarty and Justin
Bond). As a classical pianist, she has worked with American Ballet
Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and the Mark Morris Dance
Group, where she was a featured performer in the MMDG Music Ensemble.
Her debut single, "Hurt," is available at the iTunes Store.

Tuesday, September 28
8:00pm - THE CRADLE WILL ROCK: $20

Wednesday, September 29
8:00pm - THE CRADLE WILL ROCK: $20

For more information about these events at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place), and others to be announced, as part of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010, visit www.howlfestival.com

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