Karen Finley News

Performance Space New York's East Village Series, the first themed series under the leadership of Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka, has reexamined the audacious origins of the organization and the communities that formed around it. In 1986, choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones, composer/guitarist Chris Cochrane, writer Dennis Cooper, and an ensemble of dancers performed the first full version of THEM, an unblinking interdisciplinary work of scored improvisational dance, spoken text, and guitar, at what was then Performance Space 122.

New York Deaf Theatre (NYDT) celebrates their 38th season with an accessible production of MAPLE AND VINE by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison. The production marks the New York theater directing debut of award-winning Deaf film director Jules Dameron. Previews begin May 11 at the Flea Theater with a gala performance on May 12 and an official opening on Thursday, May 17 at 7:00pm.

New York Deaf Theatre (NYDT) celebrates their 38th season with an accessible production of MAPLE AND VINE by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison. The production marks the New York theater directing debut of award-winning Deaf film director Jules Dameron. Previews begin May 11 at the Flea Theater with a gala performance on May 12 and an official opening on Thursday, May 17 at 7:00pm.

Performance Space New York continues its East Village Series' examination of the history, assessment of the present, and radical gaze into the future of the neighborhood in which it was founded and has boldly returned this season. Autonomous, anti-capitalist, gender self-determining collective BRUJAS-who build revolutionary political coalition through youth culture, and express community through skateboarding, art, and political organizing-will be in residence at Performance Space New York from May 25-June 9. With their project, Training Facility, they have enlisted industrial designer Jonathan Olivares to transform the organization's new theater into a skate park and intimate meet-up spot. On May 25, as part of Red Bull Music Festival, the collective will throw their third annual Anti-Prom in the space, kicking off their residency with the gender-queering party described by the New York Times as 'an effervescent celebration of people usually sidelined by traditional prom culture.' Or, as BRUJAS co-founder Arianna Gil herself has described it, 'the Met-Gala of the underground.'

Performance Space New York continues its East Village Series' examination of the history, assessment of the present, and radical gaze into the future of the neighborhood in which it was founded and has boldly returned this season. Autonomous, anti-capitalist, gender self-determining collective BRUJAS-who build revolutionary political coalition through youth culture, and express community through skateboarding, art, and political organizing-will be in residence at Performance Space New York from May 25-June 9.

Legendary Downtown New York artist Penny Arcade is now 50 years into a career in which she continues to turn a mirror back on society with highly original and entertaining investigations into the human condition that perhaps best described as cultural criticism you can dance to. She revives her international hit Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!: The Penny Arcade Sex and Censorship Show, May 11-19 at Performance Space New York, as part of the institution's East Village Series.

New York Deaf Theatre (NYDT) celebrates their 38th season with an accessible production of MAPLE AND VINE by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison. The production marks the New York theater directing debut of award-winning Deaf film director Jules Dameron. Previews begin May 11 at the Flea Theater with a gala performance on May 12 and an official opening on Thursday, May 17 at 7:00pm.

Amidst Performance Space New York's exhilarating first series of interdisciplinary works under the new leadership of Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka, the organization's 2018 gala will celebrate game-changing and iconic figures from the arts sector (April 14).

The Flea Theater continues its partnership with Brown University's Writing for Performance program for the second annual playwriting Project Residency, taking place from March 31 - April 3, 2018.

Young Jean Lee is the winner of the 2018 Edwin Booth Award. The Award Ceremony will take place Wednesday, March 21, 2018 beginning at 6:30 pm in The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street. Admission is FREE but seating is limited. Reservations: boothawardrsvp@gmail.com

Broadway's newest intimate concert venue – has announced the solo debut of Mykal Kilgore, the celebrated vocalist from The Wiz Live! on NBC TV, Postmodern Jukebox, Motown on Broadway and more, for a two night concert engagement Friday, March 9 at 9:30 PM and Saturday, March 10 at 7:00 PM. These shows will feature original music from Mykal's upcoming album and covers of some of music's most heralded pop favorites with a Kilgore twist. After performances for “The View,” the Mayor of New York, and Brooklyn Nets, these live intimate shows powerfully return Kilgore to the concert stage.

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Founder and Artistic Director) is pleased to present the world premiere of SPEED QUEEN, written and performed by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Phoebe Legere, and directed by Lissa Moira at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street). The production will preview on March 7, 2018 with press opening on March 9, and performances on March 15, 16, 17, 23 and 24. All performances are at 7:30 PM.

Performance Space New York kicks off its East Village Series, contemplating the past, present, and future of the organization and its neighborhood, with Welcome to Lenapehoking (February 17, 4pm, Free), a partnership with the The Lenape Center, and Avant-Garde-Arama, the extravaganza of experimentation that's also the organization's longest-running program (February 18, 6pm, Free). Performance Space New York's Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka steps into her new curatorial role with these events honoring the neighborhood's original caretakers and the organization's own trailblazing roots, as springboards into an exhilarating new chapter.

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Founder and Artistic Director) is pleased to present the world premiere of SPEED QUEEN, written and performed by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Phoebe Legere, and directed by Lissa Moira at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street). The production will preview on March 7, 2018 with press opening on March 9, and performances on March 15, 16, 17, 23 and 24. All performances are at 7:30 PM.

Veteran Broadway actor, Richard Waits, is bringing Jon-Marc McDonald's anticipated play, Relatively Conscious, to the stage in February at the New York Theater Festival. The play, which centers around the murder of James Byrd Jr in 1998, will run February 6, 7, and 10th at the Hudson Guild Theater in New York City.  

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Founder and Artistic Director) is pleased to present Toe Pick, an entirely transcribed play by Zackary Grady, for three weeks in February, running concurrently with the 2018 Winter Olympics. Toe Pick, which relives the 1994 icecapades of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, opens Friday, February 9, and runs Fridays and Saturdays through February 24 at Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets). Advance tickets are $20 for adults, and $17 for seniors, students, and idNYC holders. Walkup tickets are $25 for adults, and $19 for seniors, students, and idNYC holders. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.dixonplace.org or by calling 866-811-4111.

Veteran Broadway actor, Richard Waits, is bringing Jon-Marc McDonald's anticipated play, Relatively Conscious, to the stage in February at the New York Theater Festival. The play, which centers around the murder of James Byrd Jr in 1998, will run February 6, 7, and 10th at the HudsonGuild Theater in New York City.

Performance Space New York (formerly Performance Space 122) presents the East Village Series, its first semi-annual themed series, and the first program curated by the institution's new Executive Artistic Director, Jenny Schlenzka. This presentation of works from some of today's most radical performers and multidisciplinary artists resituates the institution in newly revamped spaces, designed by Deborah Berke Partners, in 122 Community Center (150 First Avenue, at East 9th Street), where Performance Space 122 was founded, and where it operated until it moved out in 2011 for the building renovation. The series contemplates the past, present, and future of the organization and its neighborhood.

Performance Space 122, the birthplace of contemporary performance as it is known today, returns to its legendary home in the East Village, under the leadership of new Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka, after nearly six years presenting new works in partnership with venues across New York City. The institution will welcome the public to its newly renovated, column-free facilities at 150 1st Avenue - custom-designed by Deborah Berke Partners for interdisciplinary performance - with its 2018 Coil Festival (January 10 February 4, 2018).

Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College (MDC) is pleased to announce Unicorn Gratitude Mystery, a gripping and uproarious one-woman performance by pioneering artist Karen Finley. Created during 2016's unprecedented presidential election campaign and updated for the present moment, Unicorn Gratitude Mystery delves into American politics and culture as only Finley can, with dark humor, piercing insight, and take-no-prisoners portrayals of hypocrisy and malfeasance. Unicorn Gratitude Mystery will have one performance at the Miami Light Project at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse onFriday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m.