Jonathan Slaff News

To honor Shakespeare's 450th birthday, Bryant Park Corporation and The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot will present 'Hamlet' in Bryant Park May 15 to 31, 2014. It is Bryant Park's first Shakespeare production and The Drilling Company's first Shakespeare production outside the municipal parking lot at the corner of Ludlow and Broome Streets, where its intrepid, bare-boned productions have become a New York tradition.

'If you like action-packed thrillers,' writes Lynnea Benson, Artistic Director of Frog and Peach Theatre, 'you are going to love King John.' She calls the seldom-produced history play 'Game of Thrones, Shakespeare style,' being filled with wars over crowns, gold and power; craven courtiers, bickering in-laws, a greedy, power-mad Cardinal; illegitimate relatives and two very ambitious Queen Mothers. She will direct the classic April 24 to May 18, 2014 featuring a cast of Frog and Peach stalwarts including Karen Lynn Gorney ('Saturday Night Fever,' 'All My Children') as the ruthlessly clever Queen Elinor.

The Miami Herald reported last week that 'Sotto Voce' by Nilo Cruz, which Theater for the New City commissioned and produced for its world premiere February 15 to March 9, will be staged by legendary director Peter Brook in a French version in the future, with other versions to follow. Mr. Brook, Director of Theatre du Nord in Paris, was quoted as calling the play 'beautiful.'

Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre returns to the Jan Hus Playhouse, 351 East 74th Street, April 10 to May 4 with 'Don Juan, or Wages of Debauchery,' conceived and directed by Vit Horejs, adapted and directed from an anonymous play of itinerant puppeteers.

'Daylight Precision' by Douglas Lackey takes us back to World War II and into the great moral controversies involving strategic bombing. Should we bomb cities, or military targets? The United States began by avoiding cities but ended up destroying them. Lackey shows how the change came about by tracing the careers of Generals Haywood Hansell and 'Bomb them back to the Stone Age' Curtis LeMay. Lackey writes, '700,000 civilians lost their lives because Hansell lost his command to LeMay. Hansell is the unsung tragic hero of World War II.' Theater for the New City will present this new work tonight, February 21 to March 16, directed by Alexander Harrington.

Following its critically acclaimed 2009 engagement in the Royal National Theatre in London, Martin Crimp's new translation of Ferdinand Bruckner's 'Pains of Youth' will finally have its New York premiere in a production of The Cake Shop Theater Company at the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, tonight, February 13 to March 2. Katie Lupica directs.

From March 20 to 30, Kairos Italy Theater (KIT) and Dicapo Opera will present 'Tosca e le altre due' (Tosca and The Two Downstairs), a satirical, behind-the-scenes sister-story to Puccini's 'Tosca' as imagined by one of the wittiest and most admired Italian playwright and actresses, Franca Valeri. The piece is directed by Laura Caparrotti, Artistic Director of KIT, and its English translation is by Natasha Lardera. Supertitles are by the prestigious Prescott Studio in Italy. The piece will be staged at Dicapo Opera, 184 E. 76th Street, Manhattan.

'Versailles' by Richard Ploetz is a dark and winding tale of a 28-year old single mother and 'party girl' fighting against desperate circumstances and dead-end relationships in a seedy North Florida community. Estranged from her family, her youth and beauty fading, she works as a pole dancer and tests her sexual powers on her boyfriend, her boss and her neighbors until a mysterious figure, Mr. Mason, appears, who may bring her deliverance or further entrap her. Her jagged story will be told February 20 to March 9 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., presented by Nedworks Inc. Ian Streicher directs.

'Daylight Precision' by Douglas Lackey takes us back to World War II and into the great moral controversies involving strategic bombing. Should we bomb cities, or military targets? The United States began by avoiding cities but ended up destroying them. Lackey shows how the change came about by tracing the careers of Generals Haywood Hansell and 'Bomb them back to the Stone Age' Curtis LeMay. Lackey writes, '700,000 civilians lost their lives because Hansell lost his command to LeMay. Hansell is the unsung tragic hero of World War II.' Theater for the New City will present this new work February 21 to March 16, directed by Alexander Harrington.

'East Towards Home' by Billy Yalowitz brings to life three generations of Jewish left-wing culture in New York City, combining tales of radical choreographers of the 1930's and 40's, texts and songs from Woody Guthrie, and first-person stories of the author's NYC Jewish left-wing childhood in the 1960's and 70's. With loose-limbed storytelling, visual projections, animation, modern dance and live music, it offers a personal and impassioned look at the culture and history of the American Jewish radical left-wing community at a time when this legacy is in danger of passing into obscurity. Theater for the New City will present the play's world premiere run January 16 to February 2, directed by David Schechter.

Following its critically acclaimed 2009 engagement in the Royal National Theatre in London, Martin Crimp's new translation of Ferdinand Bruckner's 'Pains of Youth' will finally have its New York premiere in a production of The Cake Shop Theater Company at the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, February 13 to March 2.

Theater for the New City will present the world premiere of 'Sotto Voce' by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz from February 15 to March 9, directed by the author.

In spite of Winter Storm Hercules, over 300 well-wishers filled La MaMa's La Galleria, 6 East 1st Street, on Friday, January 3 for the opening of 'Desperate Archives' by Split Britches, the legendary lesbian performance troupe. 'Desperate Archives' is a gallery exhibition in which Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches re-purpose their own archival material from the last 20 years to explore the issues of having, holding, and letting go. Scroll down for photos from the opening!

'East Towards Home' by Billy Yalowitz brings to life three generations of Jewish left-wing culture in New York City, combining tales of radical choreographers of the 1930's and 40's, texts and songs from Woody Guthrie, and first-person stories of the author's NYC Jewish left-wing childhood in the 1960's and 70's. With loose-limbed storytelling, visual projections, animation, modern dance and live music, it offers a personal and impassioned look at the culture and history of the American Jewish radical left-wing community at a time when this legacy is in danger of passing into obscurity. Theater for the New City will present the play's world premiere run January 16 to February 2, directed by David Schechter.

After a six-week hiatus, 'The Norwegians' by C. Denby Swanson will resume Off-Broadway performances on January 9, 2014 at The Drilling Company, 236 West 78th Street. The production, which began Off-off Broadway last season, has had 75 performances so far. It played Off-off Broadway from March 8 to April 14, 2013 and re-opened October 3, 2014 on an Off-Broadway contract. The Off-Broadway run was suspended November 24, 2013 to accommodate a pre-existing commitment for the theater space. Encouraged by solid audience demand, The Drilling Company has decided to resume the Off-Broadway production January 9, 2014 as an open-ended run.

In a neighborhood torn by gun violence between black and Mexican youth, a prominent black minister, haunted by the ghosts of his struggles as a 60's radical, faces his own impotence to restore order in 'Welcome Home Sonny T,' a new play written and directed by William Electric Black. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will present the work tonight, December 5 to 22, 2013.

Phoebe Legere, the renowned singer, author, composer and multi-format artist, has written a full-length musical comedy, 'Shakespeare and Elizabeth I: The Reality Show.' The musical is about love, war, espionage and creative genius, and includes music written by Legere, who heads the cast of ten as Queen Elizabeth I. Director David Zen Mansley plays the Bard and trumpeter Rhys Tivey plays Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, the Queen's noble heartthrob. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will present this world premiere tonight, November 29 to December 15.

In Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre's 'The Republic, or My Dinner with Socrates,' playwright/director Vit Horejs dramatizes the historic role of the renowned philosopher with toga-clad puppets, shadow figures and live music. The play's world premiere will be presented by La Mama E.T.C. in association with GOH Productions from tonight, November 29 to December 15 in its First Floor Theater at 74A East Fourth Street.

In a neighborhood torn by gun violence between black and Mexican youth, a prominent black minister, haunted by the ghosts of his struggles as a 60's radical, faces his own impotence to restore order in 'Welcome Home Sonny T,' a new play written and directed by William Electric Black. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will present the work December 5 to 22, 2013.

Nonstop theater, a costume competition and ballroom dancing will bewitch the East Village in Theater for the New City's 37th annual Village Halloween Costume Ball tonight, October 31 at TNC, 155 First Avenue. This unique festival continues as a grand coming-together for everyday New Yorkers and artists alike. A carefree fall tradition, it celebrates the creativity that comes with the season.