Thinking Theater NYC

WHERE AND WHEN:
October 31, 2019 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (at E. 10th St.) and the block of E. 10th St. between 1st and 2nd Avenues

Outdoor entertainment 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm; doors open 7:30 pm Outdoors: free; no dress requirement.Indoors: $20; costume or formal wear required.Info/tickets: (212) 254-1109, www.theaterforthenewcity.net From Theater for the New City (TNC): "Nonstop theater, a costume competition, and ballroom dancing will bewitch the East Village October 31 in the Village Halloween Costume Ball, which is presented annually by Theater for the New City. This unique festival continues as a grand coming-together for real witches, everyday New Yorkers, and artists alike. An explosive fall tradition, it is always held on the actual night of Halloween and celebrates artistic creation and fertilization.

The one-night fiesta takes over all four of TNC's theater spaces, plus its lobby and the block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenu…

The Glass Menagerie Written by Tennessee Williams Directed by Austin Pendleton and Peter Bloch Presented by Ruth Stage at the wild project 195 E. 3rd St., Manhattan, NYC October 3-20, 2019 Although Tennessee Williams's heavily autobiographical The Glass Menagerie is set in St. Louis, its concern with memory, the past, and inherited familial dysfunction arguably align with the Southern Gothic tradition. In a new production of Williams's story of a fractured family of Southern transplants, directors Austin Pendleton and Peter Bloch highlight such generic affinities by lending the play a tinge of the Gothic, rendering, for example, the Wingfield family's lodgings in a manner that evokes genteel decay and including the occasional spooky-sounding musical cue. In conjunction with fine performances by the cast, these decisions highlight the various ways that the Wingfield family members are haunted and accord them a tragic stature.
At the head of the impoverished Wingfield clan …

New York Shakespeare Exchange (NYSX) - internationally known for its The Sonnet Project (in which more than 1,500 volunteer filmmakers from around the world have joined the discussion by creating short films in New York locations based on all 154 Shakespeare sonnets), as well as its mainstage productions and ShakesBEER pub crawls - has announced its next Freestyle Lab, title "To Undreamed Shores: Shakespeare and Immigrant Voices in Conversation," which will take place on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 7pm at the 53rd Street Library Theater (18 W. 53rd Street, NYC). This event is free, but reservations are requested at www.NYSX.org.

"To Undreamed Shores" features an ensemble of immigrant and first-generation actors presenting excerpts from Shakespeare and contemporary poets, playwrights, essayists, and politicians - all with the focus on themes of immigration. The performance will be followed by a town hall conversation during which will expand on topics like family …

Round Table Written by Liba Vaynberg Directed by Geordie Broadwater Presented by Fault Line Theatre and Anna & Kitty, Inc. at 59E59 Theaters 59 E 59th St., Manhattan, NYC September 27-October 20, 2019 How do you picture King Arthur, wielder of Excalibur and Knight of the Round Table? If you are Zach (Craig Wesley Divino) of Liba Vaynberg's Round Table, you eschew Disney's blond moppet and T. H. White's post-war reimagining for something involving a little more Middle Welsh and a little less dental hygiene. Centered on Zach, a part-time medieval literature scholar with a PhD from Harvard, Vaynberg's play, artfully directed by Geordie Broadwater and impeccably acted, interlaces multiple levels of fantasy and reality with funny, engrossing, and emotionally honest results.

After an opening monologue by Zach and a scene in which Arthurian knight Tristan (also Divino) dies in the arms of Morgan (Sharina Martin), Zach meets Laura (playwright Vaynberg) for his first exper…

Thoughts & Prayers Created and directed by Lauren Hlubny Dialogue by Alexis Roblan Music by Thomas Giles Presented by Danse Theatre Surreality at TADA! Youth Theater 15 W 28th St., Manhattan, NYC September 19-29, 2019 In our current political landscape, the phrase "thoughts and prayers" has come to serve as sarcastic shorthand for deliberate governmental inaction. While Thoughts & Prayers, the new work of dance-theater from bi-national company Danse Theatre Surreality, depicts the effects of and critiques of this craven maintenance of the status quo, it also offers a more earnest optimism in doing so than the pessimistic associations of its title phrase might suggest. As creator and director Lauren Hlubny puts it in her director's statement, "Thoughts & Prayers is a work that acknowledges the world it is made in, the world it came from, and the world that will be beyond those doors when the show is over. A work that tackles injustice and seeks hope and d…

The New York Shakespeare Exchange has announced the world premiere staged reading of The Card Play, a "new theatrical experiment" by NYSX's Resident Dramaturg Shane Breaux and Resident Playwright Kevin Brewer, in partnership with the 53rd Street Library (18 W. 53rd Street, NYC). The reading will take place on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 from 7-9pm (doors open to audience at 6:30pm). This event is free.

NYSX describes the play:

"The Card Play, co-written by Shane Breaux and Kevin Brewer, explores the power and fallibility of memory by following Mark, a painter, through the twists and turns of his life. At each performance, the order of his memories is randomly arranged by the shuffle of a deck of cards, creating for a unique experience for each and every audience. The randomized style of the performance allows for more than 469 million versions of the play and invites the audience to experience, alongside the actors, a palpable sense of how memories appear and disappea…