 Kaufman Music Center Presents
IN YOUR FACE – NEW YORK At Merkin Hall October 24, December 6, March 13 & May 16 at 7:30 pm It’s big, it’s loud – it’s everything New York! In Your Face–New York captures the spirit, the energy, the music, noise and creativity of this capital of the world. A smart, fun and funny show (and podcast—www.inyourfaceny.org) for the 21st century urbanite, it’s a raucous, head-on collision between a Marx brothers romp and the New York Review of Books. In Your Face – New York brings together the best of New York’s actors, writers and musicians for supercharged revues featuring live stories, sketches and songs. The season’s first In Your Face–New York event at Merkin Hall October 24 will feature stories told by New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and music by the boundary-pushing band BETTY, plus the Tony-nominated Broadway star Melissa Errico, acclaimed playwright Lisa Lewis and an exploration of New Yorkers’ “Post-Traumatic Trump Disorder” with the New York Times bestselling author Dr. Josh Bazell. Sex and the City writers Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky will share hilarious advice on raising kids in New York. The 2018-19 season will also feature the celebrated food writer Ruth Reichl, MSNBC’s Ari Melber; Fiddler on the Roof violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins; Anand Giridharadas, former New York Times columnist and author of Winner Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World; and many more TBA. The 2017-18 season featured Isaac Mizrahi (“I loved being part if this show.”), Mo Rocca (“Where else will you find an accordionist, expert wine spitter and a hedge fund manager sharing the same space?”, Nancy Giles, Roz Chast (“Great performers, great audience!”), Patricia Marx and Judy Kuhn. Media Kit Performance Schedule Wed, Oct 24, 7:30 pm Hosted by author and New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and co-hosted by the boundary-pushing band BETTY. With the Tony-nominated Broadway star Melissa Errico, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Josh Bazell and acclaimed playwright Lisa Lewis, plus sketches by Sex and the City writers Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky. Thu, Dec 6, 7:30 pm Hosted by food writer Ruth Reichl and featuring Fiddler on the Roof violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins and Anand Giridharadas, former New York Times columnist and author of Winner Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, plus more TBA. Wed, Mar 13, 7:30 pm Hosted by MSNBC’s Ari Melber and featuring a cast TBA. Thu, May 16, 7:30 pm Host & guests TBA Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam) New York, NY 10023 Ticket Information Tickets at 212 501 3330 or http://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/in-your-face-new-york-1/ 4-event subscription: $80-$112 Single tickets: $25-$35
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 CONSTELLATIONS, directed by Mark Shanahan. CONSTELLATIONS will play a limited engagement at Whippoorwill Hall Theatre (North Castle Libraray Kent Pl. Armonk, NY). Performances begin Friday, October 19 and continue through Saturday, November 3. Opening Night is Saturday, October 20 (8 p.m.).
Celebrate 20 Years of Hudson Stage Company at their annual gala, Saturday Sept. 8th at a private home in Armonk with host, Tony-nominee TONY YAZBECK (On The Town, Chicago, and Finding Neverland) and Broadway Divas: Emmy-winner and Tony-nominee LIZ CALLAWAY (Miss Saigon, Cats, Baby), Tony-winner DEBBIE GRAVITTE (Jerome Robbins Broadway, Zorba, and They're Playing Our Song), Drama Desk-nominee CAPATHIA JENKINS (Newsies, The Civil War, Caroline, Or Change, Martin Short-Fame Becomes Me, Godspell), four time Tony-nominee and Obie Winner JUDY KUHN (Fun Home, Les Miserables, She Loves Me). Roland is a beekeeper. Marianne is a quantum physicist. What are their odds of falling in love? With infinite moments that can change the trajectory of a life, it’s anyone’s guess how cosmic collision is possible. Nick Payne’s Olivier and Drama League nominated hit is a charming, devastating and profound exploration of the universal truth of finding and losing love. A play that balances on the question of “what if” is, at its core, a poignant picture of “what is". The production features scenic design by James J. Fenton, costume design by David C. Woolard, and lighting design by Andrew Gmoser. Matt Otto is the sound designer. CONSTELLATIONS plays the following schedule through Sunday, November 3: October 19 at 8:00PM October 20 Opening at 8:00PM October 21 at 3:00PM October 26 at 8:00PM October 27 8:00PM October 28 at 3:00PM *includes Talkback with cast and HSC November 2 at 8:00PM November 3 at 3:00 and 8:00 PM Tickets are $40; $35 for Students/Seniors and are now available online at Brown Paper Tickets 1-800-838-3006 www.BrownPaperTickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theatre a ½ hour prior to performance, including a $10 student rush ticket. Running Time: 80 Minutes Website: www.hudsonstage.com  From comedians Dan Goodman and JoAnna Ross comes Schtick A Pole In It, a night of comedy and pole dancing. Comics and pole dancers alternate the stage to create a unique show that leaves everyone happy. Schtick a Pole In It plays two nights a month at Drom (85 Avenue A, New York, NY), September 21, 22; October 26, 27; November 24; December 21, 22 all shows are at 8:00pm, doors open at 7:30pm. The launch of a multi-city tour begins October 6 in Chicago at Stage 773 (1225 W. Belmont, Chicago IL 60657).
Who doesn’t like to laugh? Who doesn’t like to see dancers do insane things on the pole? If you’ve never seen a pole show this is the one to come to. They’re not strippers, it’s not burlesque, it’s aerial dance with a side of crazy gymnastics and death defying tricks that make your jaw drop. Come see dancers in peak physical condition alternate the stage with comics in peak mental depression. Every month we have a different musical theme. Think Prince, Gaga, Zeppelin, The Beatles, GNR, ect. If you don't see shows like this why are you even paying the crazy NYC rents? Schtick a Pole In It plays the following schedule through 2019 with performances on the 4th weekend of the month at 8 p.m. doors open at 7:30 p.m. September 21-22 October 26-27 November 24 December 21-22 January 25-26 *October 6 in Chicago at 9:30pm doors open at 9pm Tickets are $20-$30 and are now available online at http://www.ticketfly.com/search/?q=schtick or cash at the door. Chicago tickets are $25-$35 and are now available at: Ticket link: https://www.stage773.com/show/schtickapole Drom 85 Ave A NY, NY 10009 Chicago NEW venue: Stage 773 1225 W. Belmont, Chicago IL 60657 Running Time: 90 minutes Website: www.facebook.com/SchtickIt/ MEDIA KIT WITH PHOTOS  Your Program Is Your Ticket host Sean Chandler sits down with Barry Levey, writer and performer of HOAXOCAUST!, to chat about this provocative solo-show returning to the New York Stage. Take a listen to the podcast, and don't forget to join us at The Theater at the 14th Street Y beginning September 5th, 2018.
To learn more about Hoaxocaust! visit hoaxocaust.com #KampfireUpYourAudience  “Wild, ironic and robust!” - WSJ
“Go see it – you’ll be glad you did!” - TV and City “New Yorkers who wish to learn more about Sholem Aleichem can now gain a better appreciation for the great Yiddish writer.” - Forward “Hilarious and incredibly moving! Devastating in its emotional power!" - Tablet "The honest version of Fiddler on the Roof!” - Metro "A treat...Poignant and powerful!” - Times Square Chronicle “The whole show is delightful.” - TheaterScene.com “Tevye Served Raw makes a tasty dish.” - Jewish Standard “Wonderful! It’ll bring you a great deal of pleasure.” - Peter Filichia, Broadway Radio "Superb...A great deal of fun.” - This Week in NY “The three actors are brilliant!” - Theaterscene.net “Tevye Served Raw brings us back to the real Tevye.” - Curtain Up “An exquisite blend of Jewish wit, wisdom and woe.” - Theatre Pizzazz “The sharp dialogue, smooth pacing, and grippingly funny and sad performances glow with authenticity...Hilarious!” - Blogcritics “Tears flow between belly laughs in this faithful homage to the greatest of Yiddish writers.” - Chelsea Now “If this show’s high-energy comedy segments make the audience laugh out loud, a particular moment of pathos– expertly and sensitively performed by Rickman– will likely bring the audience to tears.” - Lavender After Dark BACK BY CRITICAL AND POPULAR DEMAND TEVYE SERVED RAW “The Little Tevye That Could” to extend its run New York, August 14, 2018: Sholem Aleichem’s TEVYE SERVED RAW, directed by Allen Lewis Rickman, will extend its run at The Playroom Theater in the Heart of the Theatre District, 151 West 46 Street (just east of Seventh Ave.) into early October, following a brief hiatus after its originally-scheduled closing on 8/14. TEVYE SERVED RAW (subtitled “Garnished With Jews”) is an evening of stories by Sholem Aleichem, widely considered the greatest Jewish writer. It balances more serious material (the ‘Tevye’ scenes) with some of his best comic stories (“Strange Jews On A Train”, “The Yiddish Sisyphus”, and “A Stepmother’s Trash-Talk”), and is performed in Yiddish with simultaneous translation: via supertitles in the dramatic scenes, and rapid-fire interpolated English dialogue in the comedic ones. The success of the show, which has played to rapturous critical response and sold-out houses, has surprised even its producer, Ben Feldman. “It’s incredible, really -- it’s a tiny little show, but people are just knocked over by it. Every single review -- really, every one -- has been a ‘rave’, and audiences are really moved by the dramatic scenes. And the comedy stuff is spectacular. The Forward just wrote that we’re one of the hottest tickets in town. Who knew?” The cast is comprised of the husband-and-wife team of Yelena Shmulenson and Allen Lewis Rickman (TV and stage veterans perhaps best known for their work in the Coen brothers’ Oscar-nominated A Serious Man), and Shane Baker (translator of Waiting for Godot into Yiddish, and “the best-loved Episcopalian on the Yiddish stage today”). Unusual for recent Yiddish productions, the entire cast of TEVYE SERVED RAW are fluent in the language. “We have tremendous fun doing the comic stuff, but the ‘Tevye’ material is something else entirely,” said Rickman, who is also the show’s director. “It’s a revelation to people who only know Fiddler on the Roof. Fiddler is a superb musical -- one of the best ever -- but they had to dilute the material to make it acceptable to a mainstream audience in 1964. And, look, Bock and Harnick and Stein are brilliant musical theater guys, but they grew up in America, which is a very different place from Tsarist Russia. What we did is go back to the source: what’s in our show is what Sholem Aleichem, who was there in the shtetl and saw it all himself, actually wrote. It’s his words, his observations, unfiltered, ‘raw’. We’re doing adaptations of his original stories plus scenes from his own stage version of ‘Tevye’. A few of the plot points are also in Fiddler, but we do them as Sholem Aleichem wrote them, without the compromises they had to make for Broadway. It’s a question of authenticity. If people want to get a sense of where most American Jews actually came from, this is the real deal. The characters in our show are the people that were there, not exaggerations from musical comedy.” TEVYE SERVED RAW, which features an original score by Alex Ryaboy, will play until early October (“we’re tiptoeing between the Jewish holidays,” said Feldman). The show is then being brought to Romania, where it will be presented with Romanian supertitles in the State Jewish Theater in Bucharest. “This whole New York thing is really just our out-of-town tryout,” said Baker. “The real action is in Romania.” TEVYE SERVED RAW will be performed on the following schedule: Weds, Sept 5th, 3:00 pm Weds, Sept 5th, 7:00 pm Weds, Sept 12th 3:00 pm Weds Sept 12th, 7:00 pm Weds, Sept 26th, 3:00 pm Weds, Oct 3rd, 3:00 pm Weds, Oct 3rd, 7:00 pm Tickets are $38 and are now available online at BrownPaperTickets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater’s box office ½ hour prior to performance. Running Time: 90 minutes Website: TevyeServedRaw.com Media Kit and Photos Kampfire Kuestions for Sara Thigpen, Director of Boomerang Theatre Company's 'Twelfth Night'6/22/2018  1-In your own words, describe the production. Including key themes and conflicts…why is this the right time for this production?
At its heart, Twelfth Night is a play about Love. These characters, like all of us at one time or another, are bored or stuck or hiding from the world, and when tempted by Love, we all have a choice: remain closed off and ignore the call, or be brave and risk rejection/ridicule, to embrace the possibility of Love. That’s what is so compelling! It’s not even a guarantee, it’s just a possibility(!), a Hope that who you love may love you back. It's a story filled with music and love triangles and mistaken identity....and it is good to be reminded that 400 years ago people had similar hopes and doubts and obstacles. This work still resonates because we still want to laugh at our own foibles, cheer for our own victories and find wisdom in our Fools. 2-Who are your collaborators and what do you like about working with them? This is an outstanding group! 15 incredibly talented actors and a production team of 13 (11 of which are women), so there is a lot to love! Tim asked if I would be interested in directing Twelfth Night with the understanding that Vinnie Penna was attached to the project to play Sir Toby Belch. I've known Vinnie for about 16 years and in that time we've worked together on about half a dozen full length plays and countless readings. I will always say yes to working with Vinnie. He knows his Shakespeare - he may have already played every clown - and dedicates himself fully to the play. He is also devilishly funny and truly a prince among men. Ashley Arnett, our Olivia understudy, was the final member of the team, and at the time of writing of this I've known her for about 2 weeks! This is Ashley's first show with Boomerang and her first professional Shakespeare show, so our cast really does run the gamut from seasoned to developing actors. That is one of the things that I think Boomerang does exceedingly well, there are HUNDREDS of people that have worked on Boomerang shows because Tim is adamant about giving new people a chance to prove themselves. Our entire Stage Management team were unknown to us before this project and they are crushing it. Similarly our lovers are mostly newcomers to the company, while our clowns are mostly veterans, but overwhelmingly, this cast has a lot of Shakespeare experience. And regardless of where they studied or performed, they attack the work. I think Shakespeare is for everyone so it is most important that it be a living breathing entity rather than something that can be perfectly orated. That's not to say that the music of the language should be ignored. Particularly with this play. This is a very musically inclined cast and it comes through in their performances. And they really do like each other so that doesn't hurt at all. 3-Who is the typical audience for the production? What do you want audiences to get out of the show (ie: feel when they leave the theater)? New Yorkers, tourists, The Shakespeare Society, hippies, artists, professionals, students, grandparents, new parents and dog lovers who want to see theater AND spend time with their families AND be outside AND not spend a fortune on tickets, and also the wonderful family that comes every year on Father's Day and always has the best time! As a culture we are consumed by "reality" which is often a carefully crafted and curated series of images and sound bites that celebrities and politicians and even our neighbors create through television or social media platforms. Even though they are performing a story, I dare say you will feel more being engaged by someone in front of you inviting you to enter this made up world, than the "real world" that plays out on your media screens. Also, Jokes! 4-Who is someone (or something) who has inspired you? Anne Pitoniak. A favorite of Marsha Norman and "Jane Martin" at the Actor's Theater of Louisville, she originated many roles and truly loved creating new work. She went to my alma mater 50 years earlier when it was the Woman's College in NC and there was no theater degree, but you could declare a theater interest, or something of that nature. Anne graduated, joined the USO, got married and raised a family. Only after her children were grown did she return to theater, studying at the Lee Strasburg Institute and eventually made her Broadway debut at the age of 61 as the original Mother in 'night Mother. She was such a lovely, kind, generous woman and especially to 18-year-old me who was lucky enough to be her errand girl while she was a performing guest artist my freshman year. She found joy in every thing and every day was another chance to learn something new about herself or someone else. She had an intensity and a ferocity onstage that belied her years. She encouraged me to look beyond what was on the page and to imagine the unwritten part of the story. And she advised me to just stay in the game, because eventually everyone else gets tired and leaves the business, so there is less competition for all the good parts...and that they are ALL good parts. 5-Why theatre, when did you know you wanted to be a director? I take everything seriously, and I agonize over words. If you ever speak to me face to face, there are often long pauses while I search for the perfect words. Theater is the most effective and efficient way for me to share our history and express the ideas that drive and promote meaningful discussion. It is immediate. You know if you are connecting. You know if you are reaching someone. As a culture we are so driven to achieve, to consume, that to retain our humanity, we must gather together in person, instead of alone, behind screens, to witness stories that move us to laughter and joy and hope (and maybe even a few tears). At this point, I have most often been an actor, but about 13 years ago I was at a point that a lot of women reach in this business when we aren't young and we aren't old and there isn't much to work on...and someone said, I trust you with telling my story. Show me what you see. And I loved the challenge of breaking open the story and crawling around inside it and smudging my fingerprints all over it! And then you wrestle with the text and the design and find the right actors and together, create something new that never existed before. It's magic. Boomerang Theatre Company Proudly Presents TWELFTH NIGHT or What You Will Written by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Directed by SARA THIGPEN JUNE 16 – JULY 15, 2018 AT CENTRAL PARK FREE ADMISSION | www.boomerangtheatre.org/twelfthnight/  1-In your own words, describe the production. Including key themes and conflicts…why is this the right time for this production?
It's about someone wishing away their inherited baggage, and complications that causes. I confront my family's racism when my brother and I both commit to interracial relationships (his has the benefit of being straight, but the drawback of being with an Arab). Our parents insist the Holocaust means Jews can't be safe with anyone but other Jews. Wanting a more inclusive identity, I wonder how different my life would be if the Holocaust had never happened; before I know it, I'm interviewing Holocaust deniers around the world. Needless to say, what I hear—and share—is shocking. Laughable, and yet, considering at least eight white nationalists are running for U.S. Congress in 2018, also terrifying. 2-Who are your collaborators and what do you like about working with them? I am a geeky, loner introvert. Usually during a show I've written, I'm pacing in the back of the theater, nursing crushes on the actors. Performing, on purpose, in front of a hundred people a night, projecting confidence? I'd work with no one else but the director Jeremy Gold Kronenberg, who has known me since we were preteens and his middle name was not "Gold" and he was knitting homemade vests on the bus to school. I feel safer being naked before him than I do before most of my doctors. Especially my urologist. Jeremy's never stuck anything up my urethra. 3-Who is the typical audience for the production? What do you want audiences to get out of the show (ie: feel when they leave the theater)? When I first started performing this show, I thought I would do it in a sort of Sacha Baron Cohen persona and present myself as a real Holocaust denier. Over the years, I've realized theater attracts more earnest, liberal Jews than it does Ali G fans, so now my audience is earnest, liberal Jews. All of them. All the synagogue-going, Haaretz-reading, Trump-hating Jews from here to Scarsdale. But also all the gays. And all the Millennials. Everyone worried about fake news and Bannon and Kushner and Russia, and everyone who listens to On the Media and On Being and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (for the yuks). Anyone who sees a terrible normalization of hate happening, and wants to engage in a 75-minute dialogue about what we need to know to fight back. At the end of each show, I want 100 people to have laughed 150 times—but to still be scared shitless. Really scared shitless. Like so scared, I thought about calling the play "Oy, Get Out Already!" But then I learned Orin Wolf has already optioned that title for a show staring Nick Kroll coming to Broadway in 2019. 4-Who is someone (or something) who has inspired you? Deborah Lipstadt, while researching Hoaoxocaust. Mel Brooks, while writing it. RuPaul Charles, every Thursday. 5-Why theatre, when did you know you wanted to be a writer? Seventh grade. I like being good at things, and it already wouldn't be sports. When my voice changed, it also wouldn't be musicals. - QUESTING BEAST PRODUCTIONS in partnership with THE THEATER AT THE 14TH STREET Y Proudly Present HOAXOCAUST! Written and performed by BARRY LEVEY Directed by JEREMY GOLD KRONENBERG LIMITED ENGAGEMENT SEPTEMBER 5 – 30, 2018 AT THE THEATER AT THE 14TH STREET Y TICKETS START AT $25 | WWW.14STREETY.ORG  “We should all be glad that a challenging and intelligent solo show like Hoaxocaust! is onstage anywhere. This is worthwhile and timely theater of the highest order.” - Theatermania
“Skilfully raises questions about religion and politics with humor, earning laughs from a subject that many might think is too sacred to get such a treatment.” - Theatre Is Easy “Uses sharp satire to pierce the gasbags… There are more controversial and provocative ideas crammed into the 70-minute Hoaxocaust! than in most plays on or off Broadway.” -Jewish Standard “Squarely nails the inherent absurdity behind Holocaust denial.” -New Voices Questing Beast Productions, in partnership with The Theater at the 14th Street Y, is pleased to present Barry Levey in his provocative play Hoaxocaust! directed by Jeremy Gold Kronenberg. Hoaxocaust! will play twenty three performances from September 5th through the 30th, 2018 at The Theater at the 14th Street Y (344 East 14th Street at 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10003). Opening night is Wednesday, September 12th at 8:00 P.M. Press are cordially invited Friday, Sept 7th at 7:00 pm, Saturday, Sept 8th at 2:00 pm or 6:00 pm, Sunday, Sept 9th at 2:00 pm, and Opening Night Wednesday, Sept 12th at 8:00 pm (and any subsequent performance upon request). What roles should past horrors play in defining ourselves, our religious views, or even our politics? Is there such a thing as a contemporary Jewish identity independent of the Holocaust? Should there be? What if the Holocaust had never happened? Mahmoud Abbas has said it. Poland has said it. Some people currently running for our Congress and in our President's coalition have said it. If the Holocaust didn’t happen… what did? Join writer/performer Barry Levey on an around-the-world adventure as he tracks down deniers from Illinois to Iran, meets engineers and ex-presidents, and dodges a brother in Hungary and a boyfriend back home on a journey to discover the shocking truth. Developed at the New Group, the cell, and Prospect Theater Company at 59E59, Hoaxacaust! previously performed at Theater for the New City and won the NY International Fringe Festival’s 2014 Overall Excellence award. It returned for the FringeNYC Encore Series: Solo in the City at the Baruch Performing Arts Center before touring to Jersey City Theater Center and Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael. Hoaxocaust! plays the following twenty three performances through Sun, Sept 30th: Wed, Sept 5th at 8:00 P.M.Fri, Sept 7th at 7:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 8th at 2:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 8th 6:00 P.M.Sun, Sept 9th 2:00 P.M. Wed, Sept 12th 8:00 P.M.Fri, Sept 14th 9:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 15th 4:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 15th 8:00 P.M.Sun, Sept 16th 4:00 P.M.Sun, Sept 16th 8:00 P.M. Thu, Sept 20th 8:00 P.M.Fri, Sept 21st 7:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 22nd 2:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 22nd 6:00 P.M.Sun, Sept 23rd 2:00 P.M. Tue, Sept 25th 8:00 P.M.Wed, Sept 26th 8:00 P.M.Fri, Sept 28th 7:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 29th 2:00 P.M.Sat, Sept 29th 6:00 P.M.Sun, Sept 30th 4:00 P.M.Sun, Sept 30th 8:00 P.M. Tickets start at $25.00 and are currently available to purchase by calling 646-395-4310 or by visiting www.14streety.org.Tickets may also be purchased 30 minutes before showtime. Running Time: 75 Minutes Website: www.hoaxocaust.com “Funny and engaging… something rare and wonderful to find.” -Stage Buddy This one-man show about Holocaust deniers had so many enjoyable and provocative twists and ideas that left us in its grips for days. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a one-person show that was as thrilling and absorbing as this.” -Letters from the Mezzanine “A compelling, thought-provoking, emotional, can’t stop thinking, how will I sleep tonight one-man show.” -Call Me Adam “Levey’s script is beautifully structured. It’s sharp and insightful, simultaneously funny and thought-provoking.” -Woman Around Town “Argues with great quiet force” -History News Network |
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