Theatre Development Fund to Present PERFORMETERIA, Immersive Festival of Off-Off Broadway Theatre & Dance

Theatre Development Fund (TDF), the not-for-profit performing arts service organization is presenting PERFORMETERIA, its first ever immersive festival featuring works from some of the most innovative Off-Off Broadway theatre and dance companies in New York City through its OffOff@$9 Program. Co-presented with Baruch PAC, PERFORMETERIA invites attendees to travel through multiple levels of theatres, nooks, and hidden venues.

Patrons will discover unique site-specific works from 15 Off-Off Broadway companies who will each present 10-minute performances over two nights - Monday, March 20 and Friday, March 24 beginning at 7pm at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street between 3rd & Lexington Avenue, NYC). On each of the nights, 10 of the companies will be performing giving attendees a great taste of their work. All tickets for PERFORMETERIA are $9. Similar to other interactive theatre performances, there will be staggered entry times: 7:00pm; 7:45pm; 8:30pm and 9:30pm to keep an even flow to the experience for all participants.

In order to purchase tickets to either or both evenings of PERFORMETERIA, please go to tdf.org/PERFORMETERIA and sign up for free to join TDF's OffOff@$9. Once registered, you can log on and purchase tickets for this first-time ever festival. TDF members may just log on as usual and look for PERFORMETERIA under the Off-Off Broadway listings.

The companies performing on Monday, March 20 will be (* means group will be performing on both nights): The Assembly, Blessed Unrest*, The Fire This Time Festival*, Kinesis Project*, Lesser America*, The New York Neo-Futurists, The Pumpkin Pie Show*, Rady & Bloom, Talking Band, Theatre Breaking Through Barriers.

The companies performing on Friday, March 24 will be: Blessed Unrest*; Dramatic Question Theatre (DQT); The Fire This Time Festival*; Flux Theatre Ensemble; Kinesis Project*; Lesser America*; Ma-Yi Theater Company; New York Deaf Theatre; Project: Theater; The Pumpkin Pie Show*

TDF's commitment to the Off-Off Broadway community has been at the core of TDF's mission since its founding nearly 50 years ago. Its popular TDF Voucher program was the lifeblood of many Off-Off Broadway Theatre companies for over 40 years. The OffOff@$9 Program was launched as a natural outgrowth of the voucher program whereby tickets to over 1,000 Off-Off Broadway productions each year are available to new and existing audiences for only $9 a ticket. In the first two years, OffOff@$9 generated 41,000 admissions for participating Off-Off Broadway companies. Last year, the program sold as many tickets in a single season, more than doubling its impact. OffOff@$9 was the recipient of the 2012 Ellen Stewart Award by the Innovative Theatre Awards for demonstrating a significant contribution to the Off-Off Broadway community through service, support, and leadership.

Theatre Development Fund (TDF) was created in the conviction that the live theatrical arts afford a unique expression of the human condition that must be sustained and nurtured. It is dedicated to developing diverse audiences for live theatre and dance and strengthening the performing arts community in New York City. Since 1968, TDF's programs have provided over 92 million people with access to performances at affordable prices and have returned over $2.7 billion to thousands of productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths, TDF's membership, outreach, access (including its newly formed Autism Theatre Initiative), and education programs-as well as its Costume Collection-have introduced thousands of people to the theatre and helped make the unique experience of theatre available to everyone, including students and people with disabilities. Recent TDF honors include a 2011 Mayor's Award for Arts and Culture, a 2012 Tony Honor for Excellence for its Open Doors Arts Education Program, a 2012 New York Innovative Theatre Award for its support of the Off-Off Broadway community, a 2013 Lucille Lortel honor for "Outstanding Body of Work" in support of the Off Broadway community, a 2016 "Friend of Off-Broadway" honor from The Off Broadway Alliance, and New York City's 2016 TITLE II ADA Sapolin Public Service Award. For more information, go to tdf.org.

Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC) has presented and produced over 1,000 cultural programs across the performing arts since 2003, including theatre companies such as the National Asian American Theatre Company, Folksbiene, New Georges, The Acting Company, Aquila and MCC, and the Dzul Dance and Jose Limon dance companies. BPAC, the New York home of the Alexander String Quartet, presents a chamber music season, a jazz series named for bassist and late Baruch faculty member Milt Hinton which has featured artists such as the Grammy Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet. Talk programs have included writers Amitav Ghosh, actress Linda Lavin, and thought leaders such as Gloria Steinem, and U. N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The 2016-17 season includes the presentation of 10 premieres, including residencies for the making of new dance with Urban Bush Women, Sidra Bell, and Pigeonwing Dance, the American premiere of Cuban theatre maker Roxana Pineda, new works by composers Theodore Wiprud, Cindy Cox, Tarik O'Regan, and Tonia Ko, and talks with writer Teju Cole and artist Carola Gannis.

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