En Garde Arts' Announces Upcoming Production With David Greenspan

En Garde Arts, the New York Theatre Company known for its cutting-edge productions in unconventional spaces, is bringing live performance to the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn for two performances on October 17 & 18 at 11 am.

Part of the Uncommon Voices series, Wartime Canteen for a New Era was created by and features performer David Greenspan, while Jamie Lawrence serves as arranger, music director, and performer.

Greenspan, a six-time Obie Award recipient-including a 2010 Obie for Sustained Achievement-will appear along with Lawrence in the windows of a brownstone and treat small groups of socially-distant audiences gathered in the street below to songs, stories, and the inevitable banter. The event represents an alternative to digital or virtual programming, which is what many theatre companies and artists have been forced to embrace as theaters remain shuttered due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

During World War II, stage and film actors hosted military personnel at Stage Door Canteen on the East Coast and Hollywood Canteen of the West Coast, offering them food, drink, company and-perhaps most importantly-entertainment. "I have a great love for standards of the American songbook and continue to learn songs from that era-and older ones from the early vaudeville period," says Greenspan. "My idea was that the show would be a way to lift people's spirits in the tradition of Broadway Canteen and Hollywood Canteen. The presence of performer and spectator inhabiting the same space cannot be duplicated in any other medium. Given the hope, and the concerns right now for people, I felt it was a good time to sing. I want to entertain people."

"En Garde's Uncommon Voices program gave artists a platform to develop new projects in front of an audience in a 65-seat cafe," says En Garde Arts Artistic Director Anne Hamburger. "We were thrilled to give support to some of New York City's most exciting creative voices. Now that it is impossible to bring audiences back to this indoor space, we're switching gears: Uncommon Voices is now transforming to Uncommon Voices: Unexpected Places. We're continuing this program site-specifically, returning to our roots to use the city as our stage and Wartime Canteen for a New Era is the first of these."

October 17-18, 2020, 11 am at Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. This event is free of charge, but space is limited and reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Once an audience member has RSVPd, they will receive the exact location of the performance.

To reserve a space, please visit: https://www.engardearts.org/uncommon-voices-unexpected-places/.

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