Crystal Field News

Theater for the New City (TNC), under the artistic direction of Crystal Field, is thrilled to announce that The House of Charity, a new play from filmmaker and theater director Andre Faud Degas, will make its world premiere as part of Theater for the New City's eighth annual Dream Up Festival.

What can we do when it's too late to fix the mistakes of the past? 'Letters,' written and composed by Daniel Schwartzman, is a musical about Frida, a middle-aged writer of children's books long estranged from her parents.

'Dimensions' is a unique production written and directed by Freedom Russino that utilizes theater, dance and spoken word to tell a story of the difficulties of young minority students in forming their sexual identity for the first time while studying in a Los Angeles art school. It exposes the web of secrets and lies that connect with the contemporary struggles of American minorities. Themes of identity, race and sexuality are explored in a volatile world of Greek life.

'Finishing the Suit' is a memory play, written by Lawrence Aronovitch and directed by Joan Kane, about a tailor who mourns the loss of the two most important people in his life: his lover Jimmy and his most famous client, the Duke of Windsor.

'Eleanora Duse Dies in Pittsburgh' is a short dark comedy, written by Don Nigro about the terror and holiness of theater. Famous Italian actress Eleanora Duse finds herself regretful of her past actions and attempts to find some sort of relief only to be pestered by the comedic interactions of other famous characters around her, leaving her more uncertain of her eventual fate. Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival will present the play's New York premiere August 27 to September 12. Aan Steele directs and heads the cast of eight as Duse.

Toney Brown has fashioned an experimental play based on 'A Crack Up at the Race Riots' by Harmony Korine. The play meditates on the Artaudian notion of psychology and suicide, focusing on how the term 'mad' is thrust upon those who dare to speak unbearable truths to society. Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival will present the piece August 27 to September 16, directed by Brown.

Iceland in the 19th Century was not exactly an idyll; it was an island nation of farming and fishing communities, pretty much cut off from the much of the rest of the world. Crime was rare and capital crimes rarer still. So the country's criminal cases have become the stuff of legend, including the child rape case in Rifsaedasel of 1837, which is as infamous to Icelanders as The Manson Family is to Americans. Contemporary Icelandic playwright Hrafnhildur Hagalin revisits this infamous case with 'Guilty' (2014), a verse play that gracefully and provocatively examines issues of obsession and mercy which cling to it to this day.

"Checks and Balances or Bottoms Up" is a rip-roaring musical that pits a Catholic school girl and a subway conductor against a Monster Puppet as they fight for the health and safety of all New Yorkers , the civil rights of America and finally, the future of our planet. This is the story of the awakening of America's true Patriots to do battle with the Monster of Apple Pie fascism and the Pumpkin Head of state, whose mission lies in golf courses and hotels, Russian dances, corporate princes and the power of money.

From August 27 to September 17, 2017, Theater for the New City (TNC), under the direction of Crystal Field, Artistic Director, will present its eighth Dream Up Festival, a feast of adventurous theater featuring new works from across the country and abroad. Helmed by the theater's Literary Manager, Michael Scott-Price, the festival offers 23 plays, of which twelve are world premieres, four are American premieres and two are New York premieres. An ultimate new work festival, it is dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors and edgy, innovative performances. Audiences savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country and around the world. There are four full-blown musicals, four shows on LGBTQ themes, five solo shows, a clown show, two on themes of race in America and one based on visual art. One play is an English language premiere from Iceland. Critics are invited to all the productions.

Theater for the New City, Crystal Field (Artistic Director) presents the world premiere of JEANIE AND MAY: A ROAD PLAY as part of the eighth annual Dream Up Festival.

This year, the American theater has been responding to the change in national politics with infuriation, vexation, and distrust.  Satires abound. Classics are widely being reinterpreted into a modern context. There will likely be a wave of modernist plays on the 'new human condition' -- witnessing the downfall of the civil society but being powerless to do anything about it. 

Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival presents the world premiere of I Am Antigone, September 8th through September 16th at Theater for the New City (155 First Avenue).

Theater for the New City, Crystal Field (Artistic Director) presents the world premiere of JEANIE AND MAY: A ROAD PLAY as part of the eighth annual Dream Up Festival.

This year, the American theater has been responding to the change in national politics with infuriation, vexation, and distrust.  Satires abound. Classics are widely being reinterpreted into a modern context. There will likely be a wave of modernist plays on the 'new human condition' -- witnessing the downfall of the civil society but being powerless to do anything about it. 

Theater for the New City and Executive Director Crystal Field present a public developmental reading of Chez Rikers: An Urban Fable, a new play by Charles Leipart, Tuesday, June 6 at 7PM at Theater for the New City (155 First Ave, between E. 9th & 10th streets).

Theater for the New City and Executive Director Crystal Field present a public developmental reading of Chez Rikers: An Urban Fable, a new play by Charles Leipart, Tuesday, June 6 at 7PM at Theater for the New City (155 First Ave, between E. 9th & 10th streets).

In 'Mary V,' a Pirandellian, feminist appropriation of Shakespeare's historical play, an all-female cast battles for control of a production of 'Henry V,' led by their king, an actress named Mary.

Theater for the New City Executive Director Crystal Field is presenting 'Nowhere Man,' a new play about a man hired as a double for one of the Fab Four.

For three days in May, LES is going to be more.

In 'Mary V,' a Pirandellian, feminist appropriation of Shakespeare's historical play, an all-female cast battles for control of a production of 'Henry V,' led by their king, an actress named Mary. The play explores ways in which actors' commitment can break down the relationship between illusion and reality and how the division between femininity and masculinity can yield destruction for both sexes. Theater for the New City (TNC), 155 First Ave., presented the play last summer in its 2016 Dream Up Festival and will now present it for a full production June 1 to 18.