Monstress

New York Premiere BALDWIN AND BUCKLEY AT CAMBRIDGE Conceived by Greig Sargeant with Elevator Repair Service Directed by John Collins In 1965, two of America’s intellectual giants were invited to debate whether “the American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro,” bringing into sharp focus our country’s deepest divisions. The renowned theater company Elevator Repair Service returns to The Public with BALDWIN AND BUCKLEY AT CAMBRIDGE, a profoundly relevant presentation of the legendary debate between virtuosic writer James Baldwin and father of American conservatism William F. Buckley, Jr. The production concludes with an imagined scene between Baldwin and his close friend Lorraine Hansberry, researched and written by long-time ERS company members April Matthis and Greig Sargeant. Heralded by The New York Times as “one of the city’s few truly essential theater companies,” Elevator Repair Service applies their trademark approach of verbatim textual exploration and intensive collaboration to re-create Baldwin and Buckley’s blistering dissection of race, racism, and human worth. BALDWIN AND BUCKLEY AT CAMBRIDGE is conceived by Greig Sargeant and directed by ERS Founder and Artistic Director John Collins. The cast of BALDWIN AND BUCKLEY AT CAMBRIDGE will feature Daphne Gaines (Lorraine Hansberry), Gavin Price (Mr. Heycock), Greig Sargeant (James Baldwin), Christopher-Rashee Stevenson (Mr. Burford), and Ben Williams (William F. Buckley, Jr.).

Emily Dickinson: poet, recluse, a**hole. Loosely based on her “Master Letters,” Shut UP, Emily Dickinson is a pseudo-historical, quasi-biographical, hysterically existential, sadomasochistic psycho-romance about America’s most brilliant and annoying poetess. Holed up for all eternity in the bedroom of our minds, “the woman in white” stretches into a projection screen for truths, half-truths, truthiness, and truth-less-ness. Winner of The Jill Cummins MacLean Prize. This darkly comedic play runs approximately 75 minutes. “I found myself admiring O’Debra’s wild balancing act that captures Dickinson’s odd soul. We’ll never really know what kept Dickinson a prisoner in that upstairs room in Amherst, Massachusetts, but if you see this show you’ll have some insight into the kind of demons or gods that might have plagued her. And you’ll find yourself laughing guiltily as you learn these lessons.” – CityBeat We use theatrical haze and extremely coarse language that depicts sex and violence. This is not a polite depiction of Emily Dickinson, and it’s probably not suitable for children.

What happens when a country's politicians treat the justice system like their own private roulette table? Stairwell Theater is proud to present Henry VI, Part 2, Shakespeare's rarely performed prophecy about the insidious slide into civil war. An electro-pop nightmare, Stairwell's experimental production shows what happens when a group of elite oligarchs behave very, very badly indeed. Featuring the rise and fall of Queen Margaret, the murder of the Good Duke Humphrey, the insurrection of Jack Cade, and the rebellion of the Duke of York, this rarely performed masterwork will make you laugh, cry, and chop some heads with a crack team of downtown artists as they take you on a phantasmagoric boat ride to hell. With undertones of the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and our own urgent political struggles, maverick Shakespeare director Sam Gibbs brings 1447 England to the stage as a warning to those who would stand idly by in the face of injustice.

Birdland is thrilled to announce that singer/actress Karen Akers will return to the stage on Monday, September 12 at 7pm! Karen Akers is one of America’s more arresting and successful concert and cabaret stars. She is the recipient of the 2005 New York Nightlife Award for Outstanding Female Cabaret Vocalist in a Major Engagement, as well as the 2009 Nightlife Legend Award. Ms. Akers has appeared in many prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall and The Hollywood Bowl, as well as New York’s premiere nightspots, the Cafe Carlyle and The Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel. She has taken her music to the south of France, Russia, Barcelona’s Liceu Opera House and more recently, to The Crazy Coqs in London. Cabaret and concert performances are only a part of Ms. Akers multifaceted career, which encompasses theatre, television, film, and recordings. She appeared at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway as one of the original stars of the Tony Award-winning musical Grand Hotel, directed by Tommy Tune. She made her debut on the Great White Way in the original production of NINE, also directed by Tommy Tune, receiving a Tony nomination and a Theatre World Award. Ms. Akers television appearances include Cheers, The Tonight Show, The Equalizer, Hart to Hart, the Merv Griffin Show and the PBS Specials: Ellington: The Music Lives On and Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall. In addition, Ms. Akers had two of her own PBS specials, Presenting Karen Akers and Karen Akers: On Stage at Wolf Trap. The latter is available on DVD. Her film roles include the femme fatale in Mike Nichol’s Heartburn, opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo, and Vibes. Ms. Akers’s CDs include: If We Only Have Love, Feels Like Home, Live From Rainbow and Stars, Under Paris Skies, Just Imagine, Unchained Melodies, In A Very Unusual Way, Like It Was, Presenting Karen Akers and Simply Styne (DRG Records). The show, titled “Among My Souvenirs,” will be musical directed by Alex Rybeck. In this show, Karen Akers takes a look back at some of the songs that first brought her acclaim in cabaret as well as on Broadway, television, and recordings — works by Craig Carnelia, Maury Yeston, Edith Piaf, and Stephen Sondheim, among other treasures. In short, this is an evening of classic Karen Akers.

Our intimate and lyrical English-language production of CARMEN is back! Originally scheduled for March 2020, director Sammi Cannold (Encores’ Evita, Forbes’ 30 Under 30) helms a new cast including Ginger Costa-Jackson as Carmen, Mikaela Bennett as Micaëla, and John Brancy as Escamillo. Sung in its original Opéra Comique version, with dialogue rather than recitative, our production marks the NY Premiere of this fiery and dramatic translation – written by Broadway legend Sheldon Harnick, originally commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera. Featuring Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the MasterVoices Chorus conducted by MV Artistic Director Ted Sperling, along with flamenco-infused choreography by Argentinian-born choreographer Gustavo Zajac, get ready for a gorgeous Carmen in all its musical and theatrical glory! Tickets: Priced from $30 to $175, may be purchased beginning on August 11 online at jazz.org, at the Jazz at Lincoln Center box office, Broadway at 60th Street, or by calling 212-721-6500.

With original bluegrass music and a ferociously feminist perspective, MONSTRESS is a singular new musical that reimagines and revitalizes Ancient Greek myths about female monsters. Set in various time periods in the American South, three salt-of-the-earth women, along with their trusty band of allies, immerse themselves in these monstrous tales in order to unearth fresh wisdom to impart to young women everywhere. By proudly proclaiming that every woman has the right to be ugly, MONSTRESS is an unabashedly honest exploration of the challenges women have faced throughout history, continue to wrestle with today, and are refusing to ignore any longer.

Complicity tells a story about women holding women accountable amidst the pervasive sexual harassment and abuse in Hollywood. When actress Tig Kennedy disrupts the status quo of systemic abuse, she discovers that the further she gets, the more she must confront her own complicity.

My Onliness, presented in American Sign Language and English, is a fable/cabaret/circus entertainment about a mad King’s desperate attempt to impress a mysterious petitioner. (The poor Writer is simply collateral damage!) Is this a glimpse of our dystopian future? Or just the structure of human consciousness? Laced with songs of torture, truth, and tenderness; with fully integrated American Sign Language performed by two “Mediums” of the royal court; this is sexy, visceral, dark buffoonery reimagined as The New Absurd; a homage to Stanislaw Witkacy and his theories of “pure theatre”. A co-production by One-Eighth Theater & New Ohio Theatre & IRT Theater