TNC Presents Big, Free, Outdoor Village Halloween Ball

Theater for the New City is holding its annual Village Halloween Costume Ball, a tradition for nearly 50 years, free and outdoors this year with big bands, big tents, singers, dancers and more on 10th Street.

The theater, which has been throwing a Halloween ball complete with conventional and unconventional costumes at 155 First Ave. for nearly 50 years, is resuming one of the region's longest running Halloween traditions this Oct. 31 with entertainment starting in the afternoon and continuing late into the evening.

Unlike most years, when admission is $20, the ball complete with performances and costumes this year is free and outdoors as Tenth St. is closed down First to Second Aves. TNC has always been free thinking, but for the first time the Halloween ball is also free.

You can find a full schedule by clicking this link to find out who will be performing and at what time. Performers are slated to include F. Murray Abraham and a diverse roster of artists ranging from Cobu, an all-female Japanese dance and drum group, to performance artists.

Additional information is available at www.theaterforthenewcity.net and through the theater at 212-254-1109.

"We've been doing the Village Halloween Costume Ball for many years, but always inside," said Crystal Field, TNC's executive artistic director. "This year, audiences are all on the outside."

Field and TNC helped launch the Village Halloween Parade as well as the Village Halloween Costume Ball decades ago. This year, for the first time, while the parade, as usual, unfurls outdoors in Greenwich Village, the ball will be held on the street as well in the East Village.

"We'll have dance bands in the street for dancing in the street," Field said. "And we're going to have performances."

Art Lillard's Heavenly Swing Band and Mr. Pablo's Latin Dance Band are on the bill for the ball, along with dozens of other performers.

The Red and Black Masque, an ensemble piece with 19 actors and audience participation, will be performed. TNC will present performances at the Chop Shop, opening a section of its set building shop to the sidewalk as a theater for a celebration of music, dance, theater and the arts as well as Halloween.

"We originated that parade, but of course it wasn't what it is now," Field said of her and TNC's role in helping launch the Village Halloween Parade which once snaked from Jane Street to Washington Square Park. "This Village Halloween Costume Ball is an adult festival, but children are invited."

All performers are vaccinated with performances outdoors in TNC's own October festival complete with costumes in a neighborhood known for artists, creativity and reasonably priced restaurants.

In addition to performances; dancing in the street (the closed street) and beer, wine and hot apple cider sold as a walk-through window sale, the event includes a table for children manned by the face-painting artist Lytza Colon.

"We're going to keep the flaps on the tent up unless it's windy and rainy," Field said of performances in a big tent. "We'll cover the stage and the audience with tents this year."

Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., First Ave. between Ninth and Tenth Streets., 212-254-1109, www.theaterforthenewcity.net

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