Magic, Real-Life Inspiration and Funk to Take the Stage at New Victory Theater This Season

The New Victory Theater announces its 22nd season as New York's premier performing arts venue entirely devoted to kids and families.

From October 13, 2017 through June 17, 2018, The New Victory Theater will feature seven American companies amongst its 15 productions from around the globe, including three world premieres and five U.S. premieres.

"This year, we celebrate the incredible work made here in the U.S.," says Mary Rose Lloyd, Director of Artistic Programming. "You'll discover shows with distinctly American voices, stories and art, showcasing a range of disciplines from companies across the country."

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American Highlights include:

Celebrate the holiday season with the world premiere of Jason Bishop: Believe in Magic (December 1 - 30, 2017). With consultation from Broadway's greatest illusion designer, Jim Steinmeyer (Pippin, Into the Woods, Disney's Aladdin and Mary Poppins), Jason Bishop returns with jaw-dropping new tricks and illusions designed especially for New Victory festive fun for the whole family.

In The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence (November 10 - 26, 2017), the world's premier step company takes inspiration from artist Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series, the landmark collection of paintings about the exodus of millions of African-Americans from the rural South to the urban North. Fusing body percussion, tap and contemporary dance with live gospel, jazz and blues, Step Afrika! uses uniquely American art forms to tell this uniquely American story.

National Medal of Arts recipient Ping Chong + Company will interview and cast young New Yorkers to share their experiences about coming of age in this great, big city for the 25th year of Undesirable Elements (January 13 - 21, 2018), a world premiere production at The Duke on 42nd Street created especially for New Victory audiences.

For the world premiere of Rennie Harris: Funkedified (June 1 - 10, 2018), Rennie Harris Puremovement (Rome & Jewels; Unlocked; Continuum) celebrates the music and street dance of the 1970s with the help of a live funk band and fellow Philadelphia dance crew, The Hood Lockers.

In the Tony Award-winning Children's Theatre Company's production of Seedfolks (May 4 - 11, 2018), based on the book by Newbery Medal-winning Paul Fleischman (Joyful Noise) and directed by Children's Theatre Company Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius (TCG's Alan Schneider Directors' Award), the many diverse characters of an immigrant neighborhood are brilliantly brought to life by Ivey Award-winning actress Sonja Parks.

Air Play (March 30 - April 15, 2018) is the latest creation by the Acrobuffos (Big Apple Circus, London's Royal Festival Hall). Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone merge circus and street theater with the artistry of air sculpture, enlisting sculptor Daniel Wurtzel (Finding Neverland; Amaluna, Cirque du Soleil) and director West Hyler (Paramour; Metamorphosis, Legendarium) to help them bring beautiful life and impossible flight to the most surprising of objects. Air Play was partially developed in the New Victory LabWorks program for new work development.

Last seen at the New Vic in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] and The Complete World of Sports (abridged), the Reduced Shakespeare Company spins William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged) into a fast and funny minimum opus filled with mistaken identities, unsettled ghosts, questionable potions, powerful tempests, men dressed as women, and twins, twins, twins, from March 2 - 11, 2018.

From eight different countries around the world, international highlights include:

Australia's Slingsby opens the New Vic season with an immersive and interactive experienced, based on Oscar Wilde's short story The Young King (October 13 - 22, 2017). Audiences will journey through the "kingdom" of The New Victory in preparation for the royal coronation, and then experience the rich, magical realm of the young monarch-this year's International Performing Arts for Youth Victor Award-winner-while seated either on stage or in the orchestra level of the theater.

Italy's A Sky for the Bears (October 28 - November 5, 2017) by Teatro Gioco Vita uses shadow puppetry to animate two endearing stories by children's book authors Dolf Verroen and Wolf Erlbruch. By alternately showing and hiding the puppeteers at work, Italy's leading shadow theater company displays the art form's potency.

London's Bromance (February 9 - 25, 2018), the first production from British experimental acrobatic company Barely Methodical Troupe, fuses hand-to-hand and Cyr wheel acts with parkour, breakdancing and contemporary dance in an adrenaline-fueled circus, turning handshakes into handstands, and racing through fast-paced, high-risk stunts.

Following a critically acclaimed run in Edinburgh, five nominations and two wins from the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland for Best Design and Best Production for Children and Young People, Black Beauty (March 16 - 25, 2018) blends storytelling, music and puppetry by Scottish artists Andy Cannon, Andy Manley and Shona Reppe in this fun-filled twist on Anna Sewell's classic story.

Pss Pss (May 19 - 20, 2018) is slapstick at its sweetest and the first production by Switzerland's Compagnia Baccalà. Inspired by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and other stars of silent film era, the show has won 13 international prizes and has been performed over 600 times in over 50 countries.

For New York's littlest theatergoers ages of 18 months to 5 years-old, The New Victory presents at the New 42nd Street Studios:

Sweden's Marmalade (November 10 - 19, 2017), a gentle circus for the senses by Claire Parsons Co. and a recipient of the Swedish Theater Critics' Dance Prize, uses dance, juggling and colorful design to take tiny tots on an exquisite exploration of texture.

Israel's A Sick Day for Morris McGee (January 13 - 28, 2018) by the renowned The Train Theater, is a charming table top puppetry performance based on a Caldecott Medal-winning book by Philip C. Stead.

Panda's Home (June 7 - 17, 2018), a co-production between Italy's Compagnia TPO and China's TONG Production, invites curious kids to interact with two dancers on an interactive digital surface as they explore the five elements of Wu Xing-wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

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Tickets are available online (NewVictory.org) and by phone (646.223.3010). From June through September, the box office window will be at the New 42nd Street Studios (229 West 42nd Street), a half block west of The New Victory; visit www.newvictory.org/boxoffice for operating hours. Beginning October 9, The New Victory Theater regular box office window at 209 West 42nd Street will be open Sunday and Monday from 11am-5pm and Tuesday through Saturday from 12pm-7pm.

Full price tickets at the New Vic are $38, $28, $19, $16 with the following exceptions:

Jason Bishop: Believe in Magic - full price: $55, $33, $24, $20

The Young King - full Price: $38, $28

A Sky for the Bears, Undesirable Elements and Pss Pss - full price: $25

Marmalade, A Sick Day for Morris McGee and Panda's Home - full Price: $20

Programs, artists and ticket prices are subject to change.

Audience Services: In consultation with Autism Friendly Spaces, Inc., select performances of Bromance, Black Beauty and Air Play will be Autism-Friendly Performances, modified to accommodate and support the sensory, social and emotional needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The New Vic will also provide Sign-Interpreted and Audio-Described performances throughout the season. The New Victory, an ADA compliant theater, continues to offer free lockers, stroller parking and booster seats at all performances.

The New Victory Theater brings kids to the arts and the arts to kids. Created in 1995 on iconic 42nd Street, this nonprofit theater has become a standard-bearer of quality performing arts for young audiences in the U.S. Reflecting and serving the diverse city it calls home, The New Victory is committed to Arts Access for all students, teachers, kids, families and communities of New York to experience and engage with the exemplary international programming of theater, dance, circus, puppetry and more on its stages. A leader in arts education, youth employment and audience engagement, The New Victory Theater has been honored by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities with the 2014 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, by Americans for the Arts with a national Arts Education Award, and by the Drama Desk for "providing enchanting, sophisticated children's theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people."

Founded in 1990, The New 42nd Street is an independent nonprofit organization charged with the continuous cultural revival of 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, building on the foundation of seven historic theaters to make extraordinary performing arts and cultural engagement part of everyone's life. The New 42nd Street fulfills this purpose by ensuring the ongoing vibrancy of 42nd Street's historic theaters; supporting performing artists in the creation of their work at the New 42nd Street Studios and The Duke on 42nd Street; creating Arts Access and education at The New Victory Theater, New York's premier theater for kids and families; and through the New 42nd Street Youth Corps, its model youth development initiative, which pairs life skills workshops and mentorship with paid employment in the arts for NYC youth. Inspired by the city it serves, The New 42nd Street is committed to the transformational power of the arts.