Presented by La Mama E.T.C & the Polish Cultural Institute in New York

The play is a compelling study of womanhood, from all that is eternal and archetypal about women to their more ephemeral, fragile, and unsustainable personal qualities. The play is not so much about resurrecting Marlene Dietrich as showing the legendary star as she deals with her fading beauty and imminent death. It is inspired in part by the strange story of the thousands of objects–ranging from letters, poems, and photographs to feathers and half-smoked cigarettes–that were hoarded by the reclusive performer during her last thirteen years. ”

LA MAMA is dedicated to the artist. Our interest has been in the people who make art, and it is to them that we give our support with free theater and rehearsal space, lights, sound, props, platforms, and whatever else we have that they can use to create their work. We want them to feel free to explore their ideas, and translate them into a theatrical language that can communicate to any person in any part of the world. La MaMa is the place where emerging artists learn from established artists and where artists from around the globe share work and ideas.”

THE POLISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE IN NEW YORK is dedicated to nurturing and promoting cultural ties between the United States and Poland, both through American exposure to Poland’s cultural achievements, and through exposure of Polish artists and scholars to American institutions, professional counterparts, and to currents in American culture.

Presented by Theater for the New City

A Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. Traditionally a gathering and sharing of events, Pow-Wows have come to include spectacular dance competitions, exhibitions, and enjoyment of traditional foods. Pageantry is an important component of the event, and all participants are elaborately dressed. Most dances are performed in the traditional Circle, which represents a unity of peoples. There is a wealth of cultural information encoded in the movements of each dance. More than ten distinct tribes are represented in the performance.

The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers are the oldest resident Native American dance company in New York. The troupe was founded in 1963 by a group of ten Native American men and women, all New Yorkers, who were descended from Mohawk, Hopi, Winnebago and San Blas tribes. Some were in school at the time; all were “first generation,” meaning that their parents had been born on reservations. They founded the troupe to keep alive the traditions, songs and dances they had learned from their parents, and added to their repertoire from other Native Americans living in New York and some who were passing through. Within three or four years, they were traveling throughout the continental U.S., expanding and sharing their repertoire and gleaning new dances on the reservations. (A number of Thunderbird members are winners of Fancy Dance contests held on reservations, where the standard of competition is unmistakably high.) Members of the Thunderbirds range in professions from teachers to hospital patient advocates, tree surgeons and computer engineers.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York’s most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free Festivals.

Chasing Heaven

by Leah Maddrie

More about the Fringe NYC production of Chasing Heaven

Chasing Heaven is an examination of our uncomfortable national conversation on race as manifest in the American performing arts. It is also about how the ties between us can help bridge the gaps. And there’s even a dash of romance!

Usher

with music by Sarah Hirsch, book and lyrics by Molly Fox

More about the Fringe NYC production of Usher

“The past hangs heavily over Usher, the musical based on Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. This is as it should be. Any adaptation of this Gothic classic worth its proverbial salt needs at least a heaping teaspoon of the Past not to mention added servings of Decay, Sickness, and Death.

On that front, Usher, with music by Sarah Hirsch, book and lyrics by Molly Fox, and directed by Becca Wolff, dishes out generous portions: ghosts of dead relatives speak to the characters through their portraits or loiter threateningly around the action; a bottle of poison intended for one of the main characters, Madeline, is passed playfully over and around her beloved, James, who is desperately trying to save her; and there is the crumbling mansion, the eponymous House in which this all takes place, signified by the transformation of the portraits into the basement tombs where all will finally rest. Throw in a dash of deceit, a pinch of possible incest, and stir in some sinister manipulations and you have yourself a House Poe would be proud of.” (NYTheater.com)

More about The New York International Fringe Festival

The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) is the largest multi-arts festival in North America, with more than 200 companies from all over the world performing for 16 days in more than 20 venues. In addition to 1200 incredible performances, FringeNYC includes the following programs: ‘FringeU,’ “FringeJR,’ ‘FringeHIGH,’ ‘FringeAL FRESCO,’ ‘FringeART,’ and ‘FringeCLUB.’

Lemon Meringue

Presented by the We are Many Foundation

WE ARE MANY FOUNDATION’s Lemon Meringue is a moving, one-act rollercoaster ride through the therapeutic process of Rich, a typical guy from Long Island. As Rich struggles to overcome the devastating effects of childhood sexual abuse, we witness his anger and pain slowly giving way to happiness and forgiveness. This true story, told through music, dance and dialogue, illustrates one man’s inspirational journey towards survival and finding, then healing, his inner child.

Presented by the We Are Many Foundation – a nonprofit organization devoted to helping others break their silence over childhood sexual abuse and build the magnificent lives they deserve.

It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues

Presented by The New Haarlem Arts Theatre

THE NEW HAARLEM ARTS THEATRE’s objective is to establish a professional theater uptown that will rank among the best in the country and to produce bold theatrical works that express the true history, culture, and diversity of America. The New Haarlem Arts Theatre’s objective is to establish a professional theater uptown that will rank among the best in the country and to produce bold theatrical works that express the true history, culture, and diversity of America.

Noah and the Tower Flower

Noah and the Tower Flower

Playwright Sean McLoughlin has created two galvanizing characters with bruising histories groping for contact and recognition. Mary Murray is a spitfire. Darren Healy is compellingly watchable. Director Jim Culleton has created a viscerally affecting scenario with no bells or whistles. Differences in the way the protagonists navigate life are personified by every word and motion.

Presented by Fishamble and The Drilling CompaNY

FISHAMBLE stands at the heart of new Irish writing for theatre, and, as well as developing and commissioning a range of innovate work from established and emerging writers, provides various initiatives to serve emerging artists’ needs, such as playwriting courses, dramaturgical support, training & mentoring schemes, and feedback on script submissions.

Hamlet

Comedy of Errors

Julius Caesar

Loves Labours Lost

Presented by The Drilling Company

Home of the Great Pecan

Faith (One-Act Series)

Reservoir

 

Happiness (One-Act Series)

 

El Viaje de Beatrice

 

Presented by the Drilling Company

“Inspired by great jazz artists of the 1950′s, The Drilling Company discovers, develops, and produces new works by emerging American playwrights that represent a diverse community of ideas and cultures and explore different perspectives on the universal themes that define us as individuals and communities. The company is a home for professional theatre artists – actors, directors, playwrights and musicians – as diverse as the works they portray and as committed to their ideas as they are to their craft.”

Macbeth Reading

Bright Lights Tent City

An Apple a Day

 

Cinderella Syndrome

Mapping Mobius

Hypnotik

“THE NEW STAGE THEATRE COMPANY founded in 2002 by Ildiko Lujza Blanka Nemeth is committed to enriching the Contemporary American Theatre by bringing artists together from around the world and developing works which embrace their diverse cultural and artistic traditions. The New Stage Theatre Company is dedicated to taking artistic risks by creating works which employ the theatre as a universal language of art, and achieving a theatrical expression that overcomes limitations of language, customs and theatrical conventions.”