Nona Hendryx Debuts Liza Jessie Peterson's DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE at Joe's Pub

Grammy-nominated funk rock pioneer Nona Hendryx continues her year at Joe's Pub at The Public as the inaugural recipient of The Vanguard Residency and Award, which celebrates an icon of American pop culture, with two new shows. On March 19, Hendryx has invited Liza Jessie Peterson to debut a new work called Down the Rabbit Hole, a mix of Peterson's acclaimed one-woman show The Peculiar Patriot and new book All Day.

Tickets for Down the Rabbit Hole are available online, over the phone (212-967-7555) and in-person at The Public Theater's box office (425 Lafayette, NYC).

Beyond her own projects and collaborations, Hendryx is utilizing her Vanguard year to present artists and work that activate her Fearless Manifesto, artists that are "antithetical to the 'normal, expected and accepted,' the status quo. The fearless are creatively restless, they push the boundaries, provoke, shock, endeavor to achieve a transcending effect, an awakening, evolving into some-thing new."

Directed by Susan Batson, Down the Rabbit Hole is an intimate night with Peterson, taking the audience on an entertainingly raucous journey down the rabbit hole of prison prose and poetry. The show is a theatrical mash-up of Peterson's The Peculiar Patriot and her recently published book ALL DAY; A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island. After two decades of working and performing in prison, Peterson has stories to tell and characters to share.

The rest of the year includes new shows like Berklee on Broadway, a showcase of Berklee students who take part in a spring break three-day trip to New York, immersed in Musical Theater & Cabaret workshops, panels and performance; We The People, a PRIDE celebration; Black Top Beach, summer

time in the city; a world-class commission with Carrie Mae Weems; and much more. Dates and information are to be confirmed and announced.

The Vanguard Residency rounds out a slate of programs conceived by Director of Joe's Pub, Shanta Thake, to offer musicians alternatives of support in a constantly fluctuating music industry. While the Vanguard Residency honors an iconic artist, Joe's Pub Working Group is an artist development program for those early on in their careers and New York Voices is an initiative that commissions established musicians to create new works with theater artists.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Revolutionary art-rock, new-wave goddess Nona Hendryx is a celebrated vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician and author, Ambassador of Artistry in Music for Berkelee College of Music. Tackling social issues, love and politics, Hendryx's legendary career spans six decades of sound and style evolution. Longtime Nona Hendryx fans know her as one of the founding members of the 'girl group', Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles. In 1970, Patti, Sarah Dash and Nona morphed into the groundbreaking group Labelle, delivering a No.1 worldwide hit with 'Lady Marmalade' (Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi C'est Soir?)" In Parallel Lives, Hendryx lends the necessary gravitas to a striking rendition of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit with a smoky vocal tessitura somewhere between funk and the end of the stratosphere.

ABOUT THE VANGUARD RESIDENCY A project of Joe's Pub at The Public, the Vanguard Residency is an award and yearlong residency that celebrates the career of a singular artist who has contributed to American life and pop culture and is a part of the Joe's Pub family of artists. This artist also sustains and leads their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers. Additionally, the award answers to the music industry's widening gaps in funding. Joe's Pub offers a cash grant as well as a monthly performance series to be performed and curated by the artist.

TICKETS: ONLINE at joespub.com / PHONE, 10AM-7:00PM, DAILY 212-967-7555 IN PERSON The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC