David Neumann News

Ever wanted to take a trip down that fabled rabbit hole? Or step through the storied looking glass into a world where things are not what you expect? You know that happy anticipation you feel when you're unwrapping a gift, and you have no idea what you might find? Or how about that rush of nostalgia and rediscovery when you're rifling through the boxes you've filled with stuff and stored away? Geoff Sobelle's The Object Lesson, currently playing at Studio Theatre takes all of those feelings and explodes them into 95 minutes of storytelling that captivates, challenges, entertains, and maybe even changes you.

The Public Theater presents THE TOTAL BENT, with text by Stew and music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the team behind the Tony Award-wining musical Passing Strange, now through through Sunday, June 19. The production officially opens on Wednesday, May 25. Check out a first look below!

The Public Theater announced today that THE TOTAL BENT will extend one week through Sunday, June 19. With text by Stew and music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the team behind the Tony Award-wining musical Passing Strange, which premiered at The Public in 2003, this world premiere musical is directed by Joanna Settle. Performances begin today, Tuesday, May 10 with an official press opening on Wednesday, May 25.

New York Theatre Workshop has announced the playwrights and directors selected for the 2016/17 Season 2050 Fellowship. The playwrights are Beto O'Byrne, Ming Peiffer, and Francis Weiss Rabkin and the directors are Danny Sharron, Stevie Walker-Webb, and Mo Zhou.

?This July, The New Victory Theater will present its third season of Victory Dance, the theater's initiative to provide FREE dance performances to kids in New York City day camps, school and youth programs over the summer. A three-week-long series presented from July 13 - 29, 2016, Victory Dance features a cross-section of highly accomplished and internationally recognized New York companies who perform a range of movement styles from lyrical, to tap, to anime-inspired dance, and share in the theater's goal of inspiring young people to embrace the art form.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) has just announced its complete 2016/17 Season. The season will kick-off in Fall 2016 with NAT TURNER IN JERUSALEM by NYTW 2050 Fellow Nathan Alan Davis(Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea), directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian (The Convert). It is followed by the previously announced production of William Shakespeare's OTHELLO, directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Tony Award winner Sam Gold (Fun Home) and featuring David Oyelowo (Royal Shakespeare Company's The Histories, Selma) in the title role and Daniel Craig (Betrayal, Spectre) as 'Iago', in Winter 2016. Spring 2017 will bring THE OBJECT LESSON, by Geoff Sobelle (all wear bowlers), directed by NYTW Usual Suspect David Neumann (Restless Eye), with scenic installation by Steven Dufala. The season will conclude with NYTW Usual Suspect Mfoniso Udofia's SOJOURNERS and HER PORTMANTEAU, presented in repertory, directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and former 2050 Fellow Ed Sylvanus Iskandar (The Mysteries). Performance schedules, casting and full creative teams will be announced at a later date.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced the cast for HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812).

Champagne Jerry, Neal Medlyn's hip-hop project/ performance piece, has presented a series of shows and assets in anticipation of the release of his second LP. Clips and brand new music videos were unveiled leading up to today, March 2nd, 2016 when Champagne Jerry's 2nd LP is available via champagne bottle-shaped USB drives exclusively at the run of live shows at New York Live Arts.

Champagne Jerry, Neal Medlyn's hip-hop project/ performance piece, is poised to present a series of shows and assets in anticipation of the release of his second LP. Clips and brand new music videos will be unveiled starting leading up to March 2nd, 2016 when Champagne Jerry's 2nd LP will be available via champagne bottle-shaped USB drives exclusively at the run of live shows at New York Live Arts.

-This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights.

This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera,theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights. These include a rare, fully staged production of Iris, a forerunner of Madama Butterfly by Puccini's close contemporary Pietro Mascagni; the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, four newly unearthed puppet plays from leading Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero, as reimagined by Dan Hurlin;the world premiere of Fantasque, a new ballet set to the music of Respighi and Rossini by John Heginbotham and Amy Trompetter; a film series on "Puccini and the Operatic Impulse in Cinema"; and the return of Bard's authentic and sensationally popularSpiegeltent,hosted by the inimitable Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. Taking place between July 1 and August 14 in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College's stunning Hudson River campus, SummerScape's 2016 offerings provide new opportunities to discover that, as Time Out New York puts it, "the experience of entering the Fisher Center and encountering something totally new is unforgettable and enriching." Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 15; click here for more information.

COIL is Performance Space 122's annual performance festival that demonstrates the constant vitality of live performance in New York City featuring work created locally, across the US and around the world. The 2016 edition recently announced its lineup, including a new work by NATASHA, PIERRE, AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 director Rachel Chavkin. Scroll down for the full list of productions, running today, January 5-17, 2016!

A classic Mabou Mines feat is to take a theatrical classic, reimagine it from top to bottom, then turn it inside out; the result is a production so spanking new that the original gleams with fresh and unexpected relevance. The tradition continues in a collaboration with Trick Saddle and the 45-year old company. The two companies combine forces in the world premiere of 'Imagining the Imaginary Invalid,' inspired by 'The Imaginary Invalid,' Moliere's piercing satiric take on the pretension, gullibility and vulnerability of we poor mortals. Presented by La MaMa, a production of Mabou Mines and Trick Saddle, the play runs January 21-February 7 at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre.

As part of the eleventh edition of the COIL festival, Performance Space 122 and The Chocolate Factory present I Understand Everything Better, by recent Bessie Award Winner David Neumann. I Understand Everything Better is a deeply personal reflection on the consciousness of dying and interrupted narratives within the context of a cataclysmic storm. Combining personal narratives, traditional Japanese Noh theater and Neumann's virtuosic movement and humor, collaborators Tei Blow and Sibyl Kempson unite with Neumann to reveal the shimmer of attention to realms unseen, the concurrence of unrelated events and the body as evidence of a will having to let go.

Champagne Jerry, Neal Medlyn's hip-hop project/ performance piece, is poised to present a series of shows and assets in anticipation of the release of his second LP.

Performance Space 122's annual performance festival, COIL, returns for its eleventh edition with sixteen individual events, making it the largest COIL to date. The festival demonstrates the constant vitality of live performance in New York City and features work created locally, across the U.S., and around the world. Known for its groundbreaking contemporary performance, this year's COIL festival spans interdisciplinary art, working with new technologies and forms. Through installations, live and virtual practices, PS122 is committed to redefining how, where and when performance is experienced.

Rich in history and antiquated opulence, the BAM Harvey served as the ideal theater for David Michalek's imaginative Hagoromo, the world premiere of a multi-medium artistic portrait of self-proclaimed "Sky, Earth, World, Flesh". A venue rooted to its past with an aesthetic that looks toward the future, Hagoromo served the space by exploring the physical and tonal differences between Heaven and Earth.

COIL is Performance Space 122's annual performance festival that demonstrates the constant vitality of live performance in New York City featuring work created locally, across the US and around the world. The 2016 edition just announced its lineup, including a new work by NATASHA, PIERRE, AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 director Rachel Chavkin.

Performance Space 122's annual performance festival, COIL, returns for its eleventh edition with fifteen individual events, making it the largest COIL to date. The festival demonstrates the constant vitality of live performance in New York City and features work created locally, across the U.S., and around the world. Known for its groundbreaking contemporary performance, this year's COIL festival spans interdisciplinary art, working with new technologies and forms. Through installations, live and virtual practices, PS122 is committed to redefining how, where and when performance is experienced.

In response to popular demand and critical acclaim, Soho Rep. and Ars Nova announce a second and final extension of the New York premiere of Cesar Alvarez's Futurity to November 22. Directed by Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson, Futurity, which opened on October 20, is a new, avant-Americana musical with music by Alvarez and The Lisps, and lyrics and book by Alvarez. The production, which features 13 actor-musicians, is presented at the Connelly Theater (220 E. 4th St.) and in association with Carole Shorenstein Hays.