Photo Flash: TDF's Immersive PERFORMETERIA Festival Takes Over NYC

On Monday night, March 20, Theatre Development Fund (TDF) presented the first of two evenings entitled PERFORMETERIA. PERFORMETERIA is TDF's first-ever immersive festival featured works from some of the most innovative Off-Off Broadway theatre and dance companies in New York City through its OffOff@$9 Program. Co-presented with Baruch PAC, over 500 PERFORMETERIA attendees travelled through multiple levels of theatres, nooks, and hidden venues to experience short original pieces by the participating companies. Scroll down for photos!

"TDF created PERFORMETERIA as a vehicle wants to bring audiences closer to the city's Off-Off-Broadway artists and vice versa," said PERFORMETERIA co-creator Mark Blankenship. "Our hope was that by encountering so many theatre and dance companies in one festival, audience members would discover artists they wanted to follow and expand their Off-Off Broadway theatre going."

"It was also heartening to see a spontaneous community formed after the performances, as patrons lingered in the bar just to engage in conversation with the artists and other like-minded theatregoers," said PERFORMETERIA co-creator Andrew Block.

Monday night's PERFORMETERIA attendees were treated to short original pieces from The Assembly, Blessed Unrest, The Fire This Time Festival, Kinesis Project, Lesser America, The New York Neo-Futurists, The Pumpkin Pie Show, Rady & Bloom, Talking Band, and Theater Breaking Through Barriers.

All tickets to PERFORMETERIA were $9 and took place at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenues, NYC). The second performance of PERFORMETERIA this Friday, March 24, is already sold out.

Friday's sold-out PERFORMETERIA will feature: Blessed Unrest, Dramatic Question Theatre (DQT), The Fire This Time Festival, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Kinesis Project, Lesser America, Ma-Yi Theater Company, New York Deaf Theatre, Project: Theater and The Pumpkin Pie Show.