Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Theater for the New City presents “Buskers, the Musical” from the Underground to the NY Stage as part of Dream Up Festival 2017 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 07:12 am EDT 08/16/17 | |
|
|
|
| Theater for the New City, Crystal Field (Artistic Director) presents “Buskers, the Musical”, from the Underground to the NY Stage as part of Dream Up Festival 2017 A documentary musical, one part American dream, two parts New York grit Theater for the New City at 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Sts. Johnson Theater September 3-9, 2017 September 3 at 5pm, September 4 at 6:30pm, September 5 at 9pm, September 6 at 6:30pm, September 7 at 9pm, September 9 at 5pm. Tickets $20. Box Office: (212) 868-4444 or buy tickets on-line at http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=bus201 www.dreamupfestival.org. Running Time: 2 hours (10 minute intermission). New York City has a long history as a beacon for artists from every corner of America and across the globe. Throngs of people want to survive on their art. Buskers, the Musical tells the stories of a motley crew of uniquely talented street performers that connect over their shared love of entertaining. Though they are from all different walks of life, they all share a love of the crowd and the hope of love in return. A pavement, a subway car, a platform or park is their stage. Starting September 3rd that changes and Theater for the New City is their stage. It’s the day of the annual auditions at Grand Central Station for MTA’s Musicians Under New York program, where over 300 applicants will be whittled down to a final talented and lucky few. Acceptance into the program means security will be holding the prime busking spots in the subway for you instead of chasing you away. It is an opportunity to make a living, to build an audience, to be offered gigs, and above all a chance at stardom. Buskers, the Musical is a collage of stories masterfully woven together and connected by writer Mark Tjarks and director Dennis Gleason. Gabriel Aldort the musical director has the music by way of the voices and instruments ever present and affecting as if another character on stage. The play is a documentary of sorts because all of the actors are actual street performers telling their own stories of humor, joy and pain. The motley crew consists of Sakinah, a classically trained actress from the Brooklyn projects, SheShe, a Tennessee transplant with a voice that can blow out windows, “F Tones,” a guitar and violin duo fusing Classical, Pop and Gypsy music, Anil Salem, an Indian American whose Hindustani-tinged, intricate string solos belie a love of Irish folk music and breakdancing, Dr. Pure Silver More, a rapper and Times Square CD hawker, torn between trying to take rap back to its protest roots and trying to support his son. Luke, the godfather of buskers, Natalia, the famed Saw Lady, G-Wyll, which stands for God’s will, says success is 5% musical talent and 95% business, Gabe has done “shit you wouldn’t believe,” but after having kids, gets into the subway at 7 every morning, determined to make a living as a musician. For the veteran buskers, the daily grind to make rent has taken the luster off their dreams. Can the ingenues’ dreams survive the pessimism of veterans eager to pass on their education of hard knocks? MARK TJARKS (Playwright) is a professor of English at Hawaii Pacific University, where he teaches scriptwriting, film, and literature. In July 2016 his Family Googling was presented at the Off Broadway venue Theatre at St. Clement and in August 2016 his play Houseless in Paradise, which won a Po’okela Award for Best Overall Play in 2014 (Hawaii State Theatre Council), was selected as a festival Best Bet at the New York International Fringe Festival. Ran Xia’s Theatre is Easy review of the Fringe Festival production called Houseless in Paradise “one of the most powerful pieces of documentary theatre I’ve seen.” In September, 2016 the Tallahatchie River Players performed The Unsalable Thing in New Albany, Mississippi to honor its having won First Place in the William Faulkner Literary Competition Best Play Contest. Tjarks is also a recipient of Kumu Kahua Theatre Playwriting Competition’s Resident Award, two Women in Theatre Best Comedy Awards as well as a Producer Choice Award, Aloha Theatre’s Opie for Best Play in its Original Play Festival XXII, and judges’ and audience’s awards for Best Play at PlayBuilders 2015 Festival of New Plays (he is currently PlayBuilders Resident Playwright). He has had 32 productions and staged readings of 15 one act and feature-length plays since 2004. DENNIS GLEASON (Director) has an MFA in Directing from Actors Studio Drama School, NYC and a 30-year directing career coast to coast; 150 credits Off Broadway (AN ADULT EVENING OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN), regional theatre, dinner theatre, community theatre, college theatre, high school theatre and children's theatre; 15 Outstanding Production" & "Outstanding Director" Awards including for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (twice winner), Deathtrap, Noises Off, Rumors, I Hate Hamlet, Don't Dress For Dinner, Sugar (twice winner) Beauty & The Beast, Charlie Brown, Nunsense. He has directed 60 NYC productions and 35 world premieres. His productions were finalists in the Strawberry Festival competition 5 times, an Audience Favorite at UnFringed Festival, Funniest Play at Village Playwrite Festival, and 2nd Place at Midtown International Theatre Festival. He was the producer for VA-NMMG concerts at The Kennedy Center, U.S. State Department, U.S. Capitol and concert tour of China. He was the director and creator of AIDS and Alzheimer's Benefits’ An Evening of Hope and An Evening to Remember. He also has an MFA in Speech Communication, College Instructor of Theatre & Speech courses. In the summer of 2016, he directed 3 of Mark Tjarks plays Houseless in Paradise and The UnsalableThing at the 2016 Fringe Festival and Family Googling at the Theatre of St. Clement as part of the Strawberry Festival. |
|
| reply to this message |
| THIS IS NOT THE TOMMY TUNE FIASCO! | |
| Last Edit: TheHarveyBoy 08:20 am EDT 08/16/17 | |
| Posted by: TheHarveyBoy 08:19 am EDT 08/16/17 | |
| In reply to: Theater for the New City presents “Buskers, the Musical” from the Underground to the NY Stage as part of Dream Up Festival 2017 - Official_Press_Release 07:12 am EDT 08/16/17 | |
|
|
|
| BUSKER ALLEY, which we may never see. | |
| reply to this message |
Time to render: 0.008432 seconds.