LES Festival of the Arts to Take Place This Weekend

THE 13th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE (LES) FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS will bring together under one roof in just three days over 100 performing arts organizations, local and international celebrities,  independent artists, poets, puppeteers, film makers and many others -- all of whom reside, work or have their roots in the culturally diverse, willfully anarchistic Lower East Side -- for New York  City's most diverse FREE 3-day festival, from Friday, May 23 through Sunday, May  25, at Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Streets) in Manhattan.
 
The 3-day, indoor and outdoor festival of the arts is organized by Theater for the New City and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders, and is FREE to all New Yorkers and visitors. THE LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS was founded in 1996 to demonstrate the creative explosion of Manhattan's Lower East Side and the area's importance to the culture and tourism of New York City. Last year's festival attracted more than 3,000 people.
 
"Art Into Action, Action Into Art" is the theme of THE 13th ANNUAL LES FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS. "Art cannot move mountains, but it can start movements. It can illuminate the pathway and stir what's best within us to act for good," remarks Crystal Field, co-founder and Executive Artistic Director of Theater for the New City. "Anyone who has been to The LES Festival once returns -- year after year," she continues. "There is nothing as eclectically electric in New York City or anywhere else in the world!"
 
This year's participants, representing the unique ethnic and cultural diversity of the Lower East Side, include an eclectic mix of talent, including Jazz legend David Amram; legendary talk show host Joe Franklin; award-winning performance artists Reno and Penny Arcade; downtown favorites Jim Neu, Black Eyed Susan and Epstein & Hassan (The Black & The Jew); theatre and dance companies such as Rod Rodgers Dance Company, The Wendy Osserman Dance Company, Joe's Pub, New York Theater Workshop, The Mariana Bekerman Dance Company, The Red Bastard, and many more. Plus, there will be new works by established and rapidly rising playwrights including Barbara Kahn, Lissa Moira, Larry Myers, Bina Sharif, James Rado and others.
 
Events, from Friday, May 23 through Sunday, May 25, are FREE, open to all, and take place within two theater spaces at Theater for the New City (155 1st  Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Streets) and along East 10th Street between 1st  and 2nd Avenues.
 
Additional attractions throughout  the 3-day event include film, and multimedia, dance, poetry, puppetry, musicians, readings, theater pieces that reflect the LES life, and an art installation (opening Tuesday, May 20 at 6pm) representing some of New York's most original fine artists.
 
The complete lineup and schedule will be posted online at www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
 
Participants include artists presently residing on the Lower East Side, arts groups performing in the area, prominent writers and artists whose work has dealt directly with the Lower East Side experience, and emerging playwrights who have written original works specifically for the festival.
 
On Saturday, May 24, THE 13th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS offers a day-long block party, hosted by composer/satirist Richard West, featuring performances and a community Arts Fair with food and crafts vendors. Attractions on Saturday afternoon will emphasize performances with and by kids; inside the Johnson Theatre from 2-5pm featuring hosts Sterling Actor and Primy Rivera with juggling sensation John Grimaldi. Participants will include Speak Truth, Kaleidoscope Dancers, Friends Seminary, and Interactive Arts in Education workshop.
 
Another highlight on Saturday, May 24 is the LES Film Festival. Francesse M. Maingrette hosts screenings of "Excavating Taylor Meade" starring Taylor Meade; "East of the Tar Pits," written by Gary LeGault, with Holly Woodlawn; a film by Jim Jarmusch (title to be announced); a mockumentary on the history of dance by choreographer Kriota Wilberg; and other works from local filmmakers.
 
On Sunday, May 25, playwright and poet Lissa Moira hosts a poetry and performance tribute to Jushi, a poet, musician, performance artist and longtime supporter of The LES Festival who recently passed away.
 
THE 13th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS features performances for and by kids, and performers with disabilities. Additionally, the distinct  ethnic communities of the Lower East Side are amply represented, including the Latin American, African American, Chinese, Indian, Irish, Italian, Jewish,  Native American, Polish and Ukrainian communities.
 
Previous participants at THE LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS have included F. Murray Abraham, Quentin Crisp, Oscar Brand, KT Sullivan, Miguel Algarin, Bond Street Theatre, Vinie Burrows, Kaleidoscope Dance Company, Sudden Enlightenment Theater Company, Tuli Kupferberg, Matt Morillo, and Kitty Carlisle, among others.
 
 Theater for the New City (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York's most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces  30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by  emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC's Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them: Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero and Academy Award-winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, the Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Ma-Yi Theater Company, which won an OBIE Award for its 1996 TNC production, FLIPZOIDS. TNC also  produced the Yangtze Repertory Company's 1997 production of BETWEEN LIFE AND  DEATH, which was the only play ever produced in America by Gao Xingjian before he won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 40 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor's Stop the Violence Award.
 
THE 13th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS runs in and around Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Streets) throughout Memorial Day weekend: Friday, May 23, 6pm-1am; Saturday, May 24,  10am-1am (10am-6pm - Cultural Fair, outside on East 10th Street between 1st and  Second Avenues; 2pm-5pm - Performances for kids and by kids, inside Theater for  the New City); and Sunday, May 25, 6pm-1am.
 
All events are FREE and open to the public. For additional information and a full performance schedule, please call Theater for the New City at 212-254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.