December Events Announced at Horse Trade Theater Group

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work that has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City. In 2011 Horse Trade received the New York Innovative Theatre Ellen Stewart Stewardship Award for demonstrating a significant contribution to the Off-Off-Broadway community through service, support and leadership.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY EVENTS

The 4th Annual A Very Yoga Christmas
Thursday, December 22 @ 8pm FREE
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
We saved the greatest show of the year for last! Joe Yoga's annual all-star variety Christmas show returns to Under St. Mark's Theater with free cupcakes, a Steely Dan dance party, double-blind Secret Santa, and a set by the greatest rock and roll band in the world, Coach.

The 2011 Burlesque Blitz
December 27-30
The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street)
Recover from the stressful holiday season with four nights of sizzling hot performances.

COMEDY
The Skinny
Wednesday, December 7 @ 8pm $10
The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street)
The Skinny is a political comedy talk show with a twist: The host, Peter DeGiglio, is just an average schnook struggling to wrap his head around the events that shape our world. Joining him is a discussion panel of real life experts and a plethora of wacky variety acts.

Sketch Block
Wednesday, December 14 @ 9pm $5
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Sketch Comedy meets Block Party. This monthly show features a guest host comedian, three guest sketch troupes and drinking. Come meet, mingle, and perform!

Thank You, Robot's Summer Friday's
Friday, December 16 @ 10:30pm $5
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Summer Friday's is a showcase for independent and established improv teams. For each show, two teams join Thank You, Robot to perform sets of unscripted comedy, never seen before and never to be seen again.

Beaches 2
Wednesday, December 28 @ 9pm $5
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Beaches 2 is a sketch comedy group featuring Tanya O'Debra that aims to take a type of joke and see if they can make you laugh nonstop about it for 30 minutes.

Blogologues
Monday, December 30 @ 7:30pm & 9:30pm $15
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
In a world where anyone can become an overnight YouTube sensation and tech CEOS are high-rolling celebrities, Blogologues gives voice to what's overheard in New York, what happens when parents text, and your missed connections.

STORYTELLING

The Adam Wade Show
Monday, December 12 @ 7pm $5
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Moth storytelling favorite, Adam Wade, has put together many of his winning heartfelt and humorous stories for a special show. He'll also sing a few songs, and play video shorts. No two shows will be the same. A different featured guest will start the evening off.

BTK Band
Monday, December 12 @ 9pm $5
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Raconteurs regale the audience with true stories from their lives while The BTK Band, NYC's hardest-drinking improvised storytelling rock band, improvises music and lyrics to turn their stories into songs. As if Tom Waits and The Moth delivered a baby from the gaping maw of Chaos.

TOLD
An evening of themed storytelling
Monday, December 19 @ 7pm $8
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
TOLD is a monthly storytelling show hosted by Seth Lind. Each month New York's best performers take the stage to tell true stories related to a central theme. A special guest provides interludes to glue the evening together into a collective experience.

BURLESQUE & CABARET

Bastardpiece Theatre
Thursday, December 8 @ 10:30pm $20
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Burlesque MC Bastard Keith and striptease beauty Madame Rosebud have scoured the earth to find the dumbest, goriest, nakedest exploitation movies you've never seen. Bastardpiece Theater is the result: an out of control evening featuring wild go-go, drinking games, giveaways and hilarious live commentary.

VARIETY & MUSIC
Penny's Open Mic
Every Tuesday @ 9pm $3
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Spoken word artists, musicians, comedians, and other creative folks are invited to put their two cents in at this weekly gathering hosted by Penny Pollak.

The Ice Cream Social
Featuring SUPERCUTE!
Sunday, December 18 @ 4pm $10
The Kraine (85 East 4th Street)
The band SUPERCUTE! presents The Ice Cream Social, a fun all ages vaudeville variety show featuring inspiring teen artists showing off their musical talent, comedy, and performance art!

PLAY DEVELOPMENT, ONE ACTS & ONGOING SERIALS

Shotz
Monday, December 5 @ 7pm & 8:30pm $10 (includes a free beer)
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Six playwrights and directors get a week and a half to write and rehearse a short play based around three conditions, a theme, and a pre-selected cast, and then its go time. Different playwrights and directors featured every month.

Big Flower Eater
Written & Directed by Victoria Linchong
Presented by Direct Arts
December 7-10 @ 8pm $15
The Red Room (85 East 4th Street)
A young Taiwanese woman pastes her grandmother's fortunes on her bathroom wall, setting off a host of otherworldly activity in her small Lower East Side lavatory.

Unlicensed
Saturday, December 18 @ 8pm & Sunday, December 19 @ 9:30pm $15
UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place)
Highly offensive, highly illegal stand-up comedy lands one of the actors in NEA jail and the cast & crew must break him out before the next show. Along the way they must outsmart the cops, bored civil servants and a very determined flash mob, armed only with their talent, their wits and their cleavage. It's the biggest, craziest episode of Unlicensed yet!

The Drafts
Monday, December 19 @ 7pm FREE
The Red Room (85 East 4th Street)
The Drafts are a non-equity ensemble of actors who are relatively new to the New York theater scene. The Drafts do the hard work of new play development and each month they read new plays from two different emerging playwrights. These original excerpts will leave you wanting more.

The Directors Project
Monday, December 19 @ 8:30pm FREE
UNDER St. Marks (85 East 4th Street)
This year The Drafts welcome the five new directors of the Director's Project into the mix. The Director's Project is a gymnasium for young directors to develop their skills working on classical material. This fall watch five directors take on Troilus and Cressida five entirely different ways.

Advance ticket sales for all shows are available online at www.horseTRADE.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door, one half hour before show time.