Globesity Fest with Penny Arcade, Dick Gregory Begins Tonite

The first annual Globesity Festival: Hunger Strike Theater kicks-off tonight, Monday October 22. The Festival's artistic directors Penny Arcade and Michael Premo have promised a week-long multidisciplinary festival in which artists new and established have created their own responses to consumerism, exploring the objects and ideas we buy into.  Legendary comedian and civil rights leader, Dick Gregory, will kick-off the Festival with a rare appearance tonight at 7 p.m.   Playwright Ed Bullins will also appear tonight, reading excerpts from his 1971 collection of short stories titled The Hungered One.

The week-long "Happening" continues through Sunday (October 28) at New York City's Theater for the New City (155 First Ave.), and all events are FREE to the public.   The Festival is comprised of performances, speakers and panel discussions committed to raising awareness of, and sharing solutions to, the dangers of overconsumption and to promote the body's ability to self-heal.  In their search for clarity, all participating performers have undergone their own 10-day juice fasts, during which they conceived original work that will premiere at the festival.

Participating artists include John Fleck, Darius James, Great Small Works, Universes, Zero Boy, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, Phoebe Legere, Rick Shapiro, Penny Arcade and many more.

"GLOBESITY" is the overconsumption of all natural elements that sustain life on Earth – some of the most valuable being water, minerals, oil and food. America is suffering from a massive imbalance between what we consume and what we produce. According to Forbes, we are currently the fattest nation in the developed world, and while our nation makes up just 5% of the world's population, we consume 25% of the world's energy resources. But we're still not satisfied, and we seek fulfillment at the malls and on our plates.  The organizers of the Globesity Festival aim to show how "doing without" on a larger, global scale, and rethinking our diets and overall consumption choices, can actually cleanse and strengthen the overall health of the planet and its inhabitants.  "'Doing without' in its simplest form—fasting—heals and strengthens," said festival creator Robert Mac.

For further information about the Globesity Festival, please visit www.theglobesityfestival.org or call (917) 547-1292.  Tickets may be reserved by phoning (888) 470-4729.