4th Annual Coney Island Ritual Cabaret Festival Announced

The Coney Island Ritual Cabaret Festival marks International Culture Lab's (ICL) 4th consecutive year probing the fantastical partnership of ritual and entertainment on Coney Island USA's (CIUSA) Sideshows by the Seashore stage. This year again ICL has assembled an array of performance artists, musicians, magicians, puppeteers, sideshow performers and dancers, all of whom have been tasked with presenting original works that define ritual cabaret through the lens of their own particular aesthetic, discipline and lineage.

The history of the Coney Island Ritual Cabaret Festival is informed by dancer/ choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata who in the 1950's originated a dance form he called "butoh" with his ensemble of burlesque dancers in an effort to defy and subvert authority, including conventional notions of dance, thereby seeking transformation on the personal, societal and political level.

Inspired by this historical reference, in its call for proposals, ICL challenged artists to deconstruct and reinvent their particular art form, whatever it might be. We asked: If the goal is TRANSFORMATION of the self, of society, of politics what will it take to bring this about? Is it possible to invent a new genre? What is Ritual Cabaret to you?

Cabaret, burlesque, vaudeville, and circus sideshow have a long & storied history in Coney Island, and Coney's rich legacy of amusement, community, and innovation make CIUSA the perfect venue to explore the boundaries of ritual & entertainment.

With Ritual Cabaret, ICL and CIUSA have undertaken to merge their respective focal points in a challenging new way.

"It has been thrilling to follow the process of these performers. They've been deconstructing and transforming their particular disciplines, looking for a new form of artistic expression. They've also been working collaboratively, transforming the whole of the theatre space, building a kind of ritual cabaret sanctum. We want the audience to step into and engage in a one-of-a-kind, offbeat ceremony." --Gabriele Schafer, Co-Artistic Director of ICL

"If you think what's being featured is a little bit weird, weird is good; we encourage experimentation. You should take chances, You should be in things, buy a ticket for things, that are a little bit different and challenging. Welcome to ritual cabaret!" --Dick Zigun, Artistic Director of CIUSA

PERFORMER LINE-UP:

FRIDAY, APRIL 5

OPENING SUNSET CEREMONY!!
Please join us Friday
on the beach at W. 12th Street at 7:15pm
for a champagne toast, featuring Funkrust Brass Band,
who will lead the procession to the theater!

The Etiology of XOS :: by [/enormousface]
Romperselo/la/l@lx :: by Wit L pez
bananas :: by bananas
Special Head :: by Special Head [new addition]
Toque de queda :: by Fantasmal
Heaven and Hell :: by A da Mir & Amanda Orlov
Durational performance by Jennie Portney, LaReine TheThrill

SATURDAY, APRIL 6

Bing Bong: A Strange Ritual for You and Your Loved Ones :: by Everything is Fine
Conjuring :: by Tanya Solomon
Witch Hunt (Ritual Cannabalisimo) :: by PNK VLVT WTCH Ensemble
Photophillia RPG :: by Nunu Canal
Eating Air :: by Rebecca Sylvia Posner
The Goddess Project :: by Ren Gyo Soh
Durational performance by Jennie Portney, LaReine TheThrill

SUNDAY, APRIL 7

Bouncing Betties :: by florkhis
Opium :: by The Butoh Rockettes
Face Your Face :: by Si Golraine, Anjoli Chadha, Erica Chadha
Pillow Talk :: by Dimitri
Oedipus Muhfukuh :: by Sick Nick, the Bellevue Boy [formerly on Friday]
She Poked a Bear :: by Wharton Tract
Polar Bear King :: by Amos Wengler
Durational performance by Jennie Portney, LaReine TheThrill

International Culture Lab (Nick Fracaro and Gabriele Schafer, Co-Artistic Directors; Brendan Schweda, Festival Producer) is a performing arts company dedicated to providing opportunities for artists from across the world to explore contemporary issues through jointly created projects. Renowned in its earlier history as Thieves Theatre, ICL interrogated the role of the Other in contemporary society with a series of controversial landmark productions: 1982 -- Marat/Sade, together with On Our Own, a group of anti-psychiatry former mental patients; 1987 -- Fassbinder's "unproducible" Trash, the City, and Death; and 1990-93 -- Nomad Monad: The Making of Thieves Theatre's Last Stand for which the company's directors erected a full-sized Lakota tipi replica, handmade from 78 US#3 mailbags, and lived/worked for three years in the then oldest Manhattan shantytown at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge. intlculturelab.org

See ICL's YouTube channel for a playlist of 2018's stellar acts, including a documentary about the 2018 Festival (teaser here).

Coney Island USA exists to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances. Presenting and producing exciting new works, the organization's approach is rooted in mass culture and the traditions of P.T. Barnum, dime museums, burlesque, circus sideshows, vaudeville, and Coney Island itself. Serving both New York City and an international community that includes visitors to Coney Island and enthusiasts of various cultural forms, Coney Island USA's signature activities include the Mermaid Parade, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Coney Island Museum, and new theatrical work. coneyisland.com

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Original Score - Top 3

1. The Rescues , The Rescues - The Lost Boys

37.7% of votes

2. Cinco Paul - Schmigadoon!

25.7% of votes

3. Jim Barne, Kit Buchan - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

25.3% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats