Working Theater To Host Community Dialogue Events As Part Of World Premiere Of Adam Kraar's Alternating Currents

In honor of their upcoming touring production of Adam Kraar's Alternating Currents, Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) will host community engagement events in each of the five boroughs. Community Dialogue events will focus on the dominant theme of the play; how communities deal with increasing diversity. Each event will center around a shared meal and conversation guided by Working Theater's Community Engagement Coordinator, Tricia Patrick. These events are aimed at directly serving each neighborhood and deepening the cross-borough conversations generated by the play and the Five Boroughs/One City Initiative. These events also further Working Theater's mission, which is to tell the stories of working people and to provide a platform to express the concerns, hopes and dreams, of neighborhoods throughout New York City. Additionally, following each performance of Alternating Currents, Working Theater will engage the audience in a focused dialogue about these same themes, further deepening the cross borough conversation inspired by the play. All community engagement events are free and open to all.

Queens Community Dialogue

Saturday April 14, 1-3pm

Electrical Industry Auditorium - Balcony (67-35 Parsons Blvd, Flushing NY 11365)

This Community Dialogue event will focus on changes to the community from the time when Elechtchester was established and the increased diversity and community relations among Flushing and Fresh Meadows residents.

Staten Island Community Dialogue

Saturday April 21, 1-3pm

Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens - Carpenter's Shop

(1000 Richmond Terrance Staten Island, NY 10301)

This Community Dialogue event will focus on changes to the community over time and looking at the historical shifts in community from the establishment of Staten Island to increased diversity and the history of Snug Harbor itself.

Bronx Community Dialogue

Friday April 27, 7-9pm

New Settlement Apartments (35 Marcy Place, Bronx, NY 10452)

This Community Dialogue event will focus on changes to the community brought about by re-zoning. Presented in partnership with CASA.

Brooklyn Community Dialogue

May 2018 TBA

This Community Dialogue event will focus on changes to the community brought about by gentrification. Presented in partnership with Riseboro Community Center.

The Five Boroughs/One City Initiative launched in the fall of 2014 with the commissions of five teams of writers, directors, and installation artists, supported by designers, dramaturgs, and community liaisons. Each team's goal was to create a piece of theater rooted in a neighborhood in each of the five boroughs of New York City by engaging a specific community as both source and resource in the creative process. The work being created is for, inspired by, and in response to each community and adheres to Working Theater's mission to create theater for and about working people. The initiative is led by long-time Working Theater collaborator Tamilla Woodard. Alternating Currents will be the third full touring production to come out of the initative, following the World Premiere of Dan Hoyle's The Block in 2016 and the World Premiere of Ed Cardona, Jr.'s Bamboo in Bushwick in 2017.

Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) will present the World Premiere of Adam Kraar's Alternating Currents, directed by Kareem Fahmy (James Scruggs's 3/Fifths at 3LD) as part of their Five Boroughs/One City Initiative with performances in Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, April 26-May 26.

When two newly married electricians, Luke and Elena, move to Electchester everything seems perfect: spacious apartment, low rent, friendly neighbors and an incredibly close-knit community. But as they settle in, they discover how much they may need to give up in order to really belong. Alternating Currents is both a love letter to the community spirit of Electchester and a cautionary tale about the difficulties of creating community in the face of increased diversity.

Alternating Currents will receive preview performances in Queens on Thursday, April 26 at 7pm, Friday, April 27 at 7pm, and Saturday April 28 at 2pm & 7pm at Local 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (158-11 Jewel Avenue) followed by performances in Manhattan on Tuesday, May 1 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 2 at 7pm, Thursday, May 3 at 7pm, Friday, May 4 at 7pm, Saturday, May 5 at 2pm & 8pm, Sunday, May 6 at 3pm, Tuesday, May 8 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 9 at 2pm & 7pm, Thursday, May 10 at 7pm, Friday, May 11 at 7pm, Saturday, May 12 at 8pm, Sunday, May 13 at 3pm, Tuesday, May 15 at 7pm, Thursday, May 17 at 7pm, Friday, May 18 at 7pm, Saturday, May 19 at 2pm & 8pm, and Sunday, May 20 at 3pm at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues). There will be a one night only performance in the Bronx on Wednesday, May 16 at 6pm at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse). Staten Island performances will take place on Tuesday, May 22 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 23 at 7pm, and Thursday, May 24 at 7pm at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center (1000 Richmond Terrace). The production will close out its run in Brooklyn on Saturday, May 26 at 2pm & 8pm at RiseBoro Youth Center (1474 Gates Avenue).

Great theater strives to tell stories that illuminate, challenge and alter our perceptions, which show us who we are and transform us in the process. WORKING THEATER believes this transformative experience should not be a privilege or a luxury, but a staple. We recognize that we live in a society that is often polarized by economic, cultural and class differences and that these differences can be divisive. However, what makes us different is sometimes the most interesting thing about us. We want working people - Americans working in the industrial and service economies - who may be unable to afford commercial theater prices or feel that it does not resonate with their lives and experience, to make play-going a regular part of their cultural lives. Toward that goal, we offer low ticket prices and tell stories that reflect a diverse population of the working majority (the executive assistants, postal workers, domestic workers, building attendants, restaurant workers, and bus drivers who make our country run), that acknowledge their complexity and oft-denied power in an increasingly complex world, which we hope will unite us in our common humanity. http://theworkingtheater.org

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