Larger-than-life-characters, a fairytale love-story and a poor boy following his dream in the hustle and bustle of New York City, is the recipe for an all new family show for theatregoers this Yuletide. It’s all served up with a healthy dash of musical comedy and audience interaction to complete the feast of Panto, a British tradition dating back to the early days of the West End and now a staple of the festive season across the Pond.
Dick Whittington: An Xmas Panto for NYC is a lovingly crafted hybrid of the genre, set very firmly in the Big Apple. Our boy Dick – who, according to Panto tradition, is played by a girl – comes to New York City to seek fame and fortune on the P-Factor Talent Show, but is pitched against the dastardly forces of a bungling Mayor Gloomberg and his scheming new bride Sara Pain.
Dick finds an ally in talented street-performer, Cat, and wins the affections of the Pantomime Dame, Lady Goo-Goo – who, according to another Panto tradition, is played by a large man – as he rails against the Subway Rats, his main competition, and falls for Mayor Gloomberg’s adorable daughter, Alice.
The OPTimistiks achieved critical acclaim with its 2010 premiere, Billy Carver & the Children in Mind, Montserrat Mendez’s play about a J.K. Rowling-type author. The company serves up this winning bag of delights to offer New Yorkers a new Christmas tradition, one that is fun and affordable for families.
Directed by Jenny Lee Mitchell, Dick Whittington: A New York Xmas Panto is written by Jenny Green and May McLaughlin with original music and lyrics by Kevin Hammonds, Teresa Lotz and William TN Hall. The production stars Mitchell Wayne (Good Fairy Winfree/Cat), James Parks (Madrat Merdock/Hooray Henry), Aimee Whelan (Dick Whittington), Anwen Darcy (Alice), Will Shaw (Mayor Gloomberg), Matthew Borroso (Lady GooGoo), Carol Lee Sirogo (Ratatwhoie), John DiSciascio (Rhatatat), Ella Mische (Ratiquah), Jenny D Green (Sarah Pain), Ashleigh Awusie (Eugenie), Claudia Morcroft (Beatrice) and Laysha Duran (Entourage). The production team includes Michael Hopewell (Musical Director), Mitchell Wayne (Choreographer), John Peery (Scenic Designer), Jenny Green (Costume Design), Kia Rogers (Lighting Design), Aldo Perez (Sound Design), Lucia Lee (Projection Design), JiYe Kim (Videographer), Wes Seales (Assistant Director), Cornelia Jensen (Additional Design), and Billie Aken-Tyers (Wardrobe Mistress).
Cabaret Cataplexy, once a monthly cabaret at the Slipper Room, is now presented for a one-night only show at Dixon Place and features the alternative elements - Monstah Black and Ashley Brockington. The irreverent hosts, Black and Brockington “are like Sonny and Cher baked in funk and dipped in chocolate!" Black and Brockington curate this performance showcase that boasts a wide breadth of artists and artistic disciplines, powered by seductive tease entwined with comedic social and political commentary. Through performance art, costume design, media and music, the audience can expect to be amazed, titillated and slightly offended.
Inspired by the format of variety TV shows from the early 60’s and 70’s, Cabaret Cataplexy features original work of musical and performance artists. A house band interacts with the hosts in an ode to late night comedy shows. Costume designers and media artists infuse the atmosphere and invoke one-part dinner theater and one-part media installation, one-part comedy show and one-part serenade.
The Ballad of the Black Sheep installment of Cabaret Cataplexy features:
Pop Duo, The Blakz
Burlesque Diva, Southern Comfort
Chanteur, Ryan Elliott Green
Performance Artist, Wendell Tyler Cooper
Visual Artist, Iona Diamond
Musical Director, Major Scurlock
Arts.Performance
Dixon Place Presents “MargOH! Channing is Tipsy -3/30/2012
MargOH! Channing is going off…off off Broadway that is by bringing her highly acclaimed drunkglama show aptly titled “MargOH! Channing is Tipsy” To Dixon Place , 161A Chrystie Street, March 30 , 9:30PM.
“MargOH! Channing is Tipsy” is written and performed by drag superstar MargOH! Channing (BT Shea). The show deconstructs drag through storytelling, song, and drunkglama dysfunction.MargOH! reminisces about her family, gay lovers and the ups and downs of her careerwhile tackling such subjects as rape, incest, race, political correctness, sexual orientation, the power of Liza and most of all survival. Tipsy features MargOH!’s long time Gayiance’ MAN-ee Champagne (Jeff Catlow-Shea), Diamond Daquiri (Crystal Rona Peterson) as back up diva’s The MargOH!-tini’s and the Jarad Astin Trio. The show is directed by Thom Fogarty
ONE Healing Arts COMPANY and Demos Bizar Entertainment present SPRING ALIVE! a world premiere interactive theatrical experience starring Broadway performer and recording artist Spring Groove (Bway: Grease, Saturday Night Fever). Musical Director Alex Navarro leads a band, including musicians Greg Burrows, Jordan Jancz, and David Finch with singers Sherez Aletaha and Saum Eskandani.
Based upon Spring’s unique journey and her original music, E! News calls SPRING ALIVE! “a sing, pray, love experience” for the heart and mind. SPRING ALIVE! uniquely combines the Folk, Pop, Ecstatic and Meditative Mantra music genres into an entertaining and humorous journey as Spring travels the globe in search of everything from glowsticks to gurus.
From Carolyn D. Miller, Managing Director: “After seeing the show in development in LA, I knew we had to bring SPRING ALIVE! to New York City. Spring’s story is inspiring and authentic, her energy is infectious, and her music is transformative. Combined with her personal story of change, growth and seeking her authentic self, Spring Alive! is a natural fit for our company.”
About the Company: ONE Healing Arts COMPANY
The Mission of ONE Healing Arts COMPANY, Inc. is to produce theatrical work that opens hearts and minds; to create a nurturing environment for artists; to promote wellness and healing of mind and body; and to elevate collective consciousness.
When? Saturday, Febuary 25th 7pm - 11pm
Where? Dixon Place Theater, 161 Chrystie Street http://dixonplace.org/
The night is sure to be unforgettable! We are fortunate and excited to have live music from New York based musicians:
The Mighty Fine Muscadines
Brian Elmquist
Todd Carlstrom & the Clamour
Johnny Giovanni (aka Christian "Chopper" Jacobs)
and of course the exquisite Casey Biggs!
The night will include many raffle prizes including tickets to Punchdrunk's Sleep No More, headshot packages, coaching sessions, gift certificates and much much more! This is surely not a night to be missed!
Arts.Theatre
Things do not ‘just happen.’ Time does not just pass. “that time, and the time before that, and” intertwines independent stories of time travelers who eventually meet one another at the end of time. Someone wants to remember. Someone wants to forget. A series of relativistic twists and turns and a couple of time machines later, they find themselves in a new landscape of time.
The project explores the beautiful paradoxes of memory, identity, regret and time travel time through puppetry, dance, text, and image.
“Videt and her company reimagine the elements of the avant garde
in their own, exciting terms—and with flashes of humor.”
-Heather Violanti, TheaterOnline
“that time, and the time before that, and” features Ava Eisenson*, Arlo Hill*, Ricky Kuperman, Rory Kulz, Tatiana Pavela, and Josh Odsess-Rubin*, Aya Tucker, and Adam Zivkovicwith direction by Calla Videt. The piece is written by B. Walker Sampson, James Morris, and Calla Videt. Assistant directed by Matt Stone with Choreography by Ricky and Jeff Kuperman. Stage Managed by Alexander LaFrance with Lighting by Mary Ellen Stebbins, Video by Trevor Martin, Puppet Design by Melissa Goldman. Produced by Allison Kline, Megan O'Keefe, Lauren Rayner, Trevor Martin, and Calla Videt. “that time, and the before that, and” performs at Dixon Place at 9:30pm on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st made possible by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
*These actors appear courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association.
"Calla Videt (director and co-writer) and B. Walker Sampson (co-writer) mark themselves
as artists to keep an eye on with inventive, lively, and intelligent physical theatre"
-Martin Denton, Editor NYtheatre.com
Calla Videt (Director/Co-Writer)most recently wrote and directed an original work Hold Music, which was presented at the Culture Project’s Women Center Stage festival at the Living Theatre. In 2010, Calla premiered two original works—One Arm and a Leg and The Untitled Project—at HERE, Theater for the New City, and the Gene Frankel Theater. She also directed The Citizens Band’s The Past is A Foreign Country. In 2009, she worked on Complicite's West End production of Endgame. She holds a BA in physics and theater from Harvard University. Her final directorial project and senior thesis—The Space Between—premiered on the mainstage of the American Repertory Theater in April of 2009 and told the story of the making of the atomic bomb through the lens of the Orpheus myth. Calla has also directed productions of Moira Buffini’s Dinner, Complicite’s The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol, Sarah Kane’s Blasted (Assistant Director), Martin McDonaugh's The Pillowman (Assistant Director), and Complicite’s Mnemonic. She is the recipient of Harvard’s Louis Sudler Prize for the Arts and an Artistic Development Fellowship, and is a member of Nylon Fusion Writer's Collective, New Perspective Theatre’s Women’s Work Lab, and the Lincoln Center Director's Lab.
Running time = 60 minutes with no intermission
About the Company: Sightline
SIGHTLINE (theatre company) has presented work at Culture Project, the Living Theatre, HERE, Theater for the New City, and the Gene Frankel Theater. We are a company of collaborators, and the thread that connects all of our projects is our emphasis on developing work that features the skills and talents of our ever-changing line-up of writers/actors/designers and that emphasizes the social, intellectual and aesthetic issues we find most compelling in the modern world. Encompassing all genres of performance—from installation to theater, dance, film, and cabaret—we highlight the power of the live event to illuminate and enact change in the viewer. Our work is originally-devised, science-themed, socially-minded, and celebrates opportunities for women in theater. It is explicitly self-conscious; it is socially critical. SIGHTLINE creates open space in which to tackle new ideas.. We do not have a single agenda or aesthetic, performance style or purpose; our material comes to us from many places and our voice reinvents itself from project to project.
Sit in on a live experiment that questions the sanity of a particularly peculiar subject - Katharine's dad. This interactive, multimedia examination dissects the relationship between a father turned diet-guru turned Disney fanatic, and his bewildered family. Can her hypothesis be proven?
After her parents' difficult divorce when she was 11, Katharine has spent years trying to understand her father's strange behavior. She conceived of the show a few years ago after some convincing from friends who were equally fascinated with stories about her father. Utilizing the classic scientific method with photos, videos and anecdotes as proof, this presentation goes beyond your average lecture. As the audience is a major part of proving said theory, the show will differ from performance to performance.
Friday 8/13 at 7:00 pm
Saturday 8/14 at 12:00 pm
Friday 8/20 at 6:15 pm
Wednesday 8/25 at 4:15 pm
Friday 8/27 at 9:00pm
Running time is Run Time: 50 Minutes
Dixon Place Theateris located at 161A Chrystie Street (Rivington and Delancey Streets)
Subways: F to 2nd Ave; B, D to Grand Street ; J, Z to Bowery
Tickets are $18 ($15 in advance) and can be purchased at www.ticketweb.com.
For more information regarding the festival visit www.fringenyc.org.
www.mydadscrazier.com
Thursday, July 1st, 8:00 pm @ Dixon Place NYC!
This benefit concert for Dixon Place will open with the STARBOY performance and then feature a show by the legendary Washboard Jungle!
Lee Feldman's STARBOY is an animated musical -- Joe Campbell did the animation -- about a 2-dimensional superhero who lives with his uncle, a Mathematician. STARBOY is in love with The Girl Who Loves Contrapuntal Music. He is getting calls on his answering machine from the Sponges on the Bottom of the Ocean.
They want him to save them . . .
The cast will include Lee Feldman, Henry Hample, Pete Galub, Greta Gertler, Daniel Harnett, and Jonathan Maron.
For more information, visit www.starboy.us.
In this zany musical adventure Jack meets the Giant of big business and learns about self-reliance, conservation, and good ol’ American ingenuity. Filled with comedy, puppetry, and loads of heart— this show is sure to be a GIANT family hit.A Broadway style musical for kids and families-- Jack and the Soy Beanstalk has an "Animaniacs-type" sense of humor and song styles that range from rock-a-billy to hip-hop and even some opera. A live band accompanies the actors in the telling of the tale, and several styles of puppetry are featured too. There's a surprise around every pea-pod!
Our story follows the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, but it's been re-tooled to relate to today's kids in today's America and their unique obstacles. I mean, how many kids do you know who have cows in their back yards? So, in our story, Jack must sell his family pick-up truck because the price of gasoline is driving them to the poorhouse. The giant isn't just some tall guy in the clouds. Our Giant is the C.E.O. of a "giant" farming corporation: Big Aggie Reaping Farms (B.A.R.F.). Through his battle with the Giant, Jack discovers that greed consumes itself, and that only through the help of our neighbors will we all prosper.
The smallest pebble can upset even the largest cart. – Bulgarian ProverbDixon Place and Terra Incognita Theater present the world premiere of the Pebble-and-Cart Cycle: one-line tragedies.
A woman battles a fly. Father has a horse attack. Brother turns into a goat. Inspired by the Bulgarian proverb “The smallest pebble can upset even the largest cart,” the Pebble-and-Cart Cycle: one-line tragedies unveils a spellbinding, surreal journey where folk legend, animal archetype, personal experience and religious rite weave together to expose the theater of inner conflict. This installment features the first three parts of the six-part cycle -- "Moocha: I have a fly on my plate,” "Horse: I have my heart in front of me" and "Goat: I cannot get into my own shoe” -- each conceived and directed by Polina Klimovitskaya (“Red Beads,” Mabou Mines).
Set Design by Karl Allen & Jessica Scott
Video by Melissa Clarke
Puppets by Jessica Scott
Theatre Arts Japan was founded with a mission to introduce Japanese Modern plays to United States. This "Tokyo Nostalgia" is an adaptation of "Two men toying with their lives" and other plays written by Japanese playwright, Kunio Kishida. 
SELF AT HAND—A Play in 3 Modules is a post-tragic trilogy that snares the watcher in a future gone round the bend. It is a time when androids can be distinguished from humans only by the taste of their flesh, when celebrities are federally regulated, and when corpses are artificially animated for their funeral. Hilarity and cruelty clash in this post-natural time of see-through skull plates surgically implanted so we can see ourselves seeing ourselves.