Thinking Theater NYC

Angelo Iodice a.k.a. AJ Silver. Photo by Aaron Winters In Angelo Iodice’s autobiographical A Cowboy From the Bronx, he and his alter-ego AJ Silver share the wild story of a how a Bronx native became an internationally renowned trick riding and roping star. Through multimedia and action-packed western variety acts, Iodice takes us on a personal journey from a 10-year-old discovering horseback riding in Pelham Bay Park to becoming a professional rodeo performer playing prestigious venues around the world.  Iodice’s act has been featured around the globe in European cabarets, circuses, and stage/musical productions, as well as on international TV. He was notably one of the only riders in North America to perform the dangerous stunt of passing under the belly of a galloping horse. While on the rodeo trail, Iodice learned and perfected the art of trick roping, which he now features in his high-energy western variety act that also includes bullwhip artistry, comedy and the boleadoras f...

The Wetsuitman Written by Freek Mariën Translated by David McKay Directed by Samuel Buggeln Presented by The Cherry Artists' Collective at the Cherry Artspace 102 Cherry Street, Ithaca, NY and via livestreaming March 25-April 3, 2022 The Wetsuitman featuring Eric Brooks, Amoreena Wade, & Karl Gregory. Courtesy Emily Owens PR A man who lives on a fjord in Norway comes upon a salt-eaten, wetsuit-clad corpse and some bones while he is walking his dog. His discovery initiates the mystery at the heart of Belgian writer and theater artist Freek Mariën's The Wetsuitman , presented by The Cherry Artists' Collective in a translation by David McKay as part of a joint English-language premiere with the Foreign Affairs Theater Company, London . Based on actual events, with a link to a virtual lobby display in the program and a talkback on April 2nd providing additional context, this finely tuned production of The Wetsuitman starts off as a slightly absurd, meta incarnation of the...

  Still from still One + One Makes Three . By Kamila Slawinski PR The 2022 Moving Body – Moving Image Festival, a biennial presentation of dance films centering around issues of social justice, returns to Barnard College’s Department of Dance / Movement Lab. Since its inception in 2018, each edition of Moving Body – Moving Image Festival has focused on different subject matter: the first festival highlighted BIPOC bodies on-screen, while the 2020 online event (which reached close to 12,000 audience members from 61 countries worldwide) featured projects dealing with aging. Conceived and curated by the accomplished choreographer, dancer, teacher, and filmmaker Gabri Christa, this year’s edition takes on The Moving Body With Disabilities, with a special block of programming devoted to visual impairment and the artists who live through this experience. The 2022 festival features an installation comprising four video works, available on view at the Millstein Center at Barnard...

Discus Written by Becca Schlossberg Directed by Jenn Susi Presented by Hunger and Thirst Theatre at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres 502 W 53rd St., Manhattan, NYC March 19-26, 2022 Patrick T. Horn as Hyacinth with Philip Estrera as Apollo in background. Photo by Al Foote III. www.alfoote3photography.com Passion, guilt, power, jealousy, grief: these fixtures of Greek myth have lost none of their relevance for audiences over time, as Hunger and Thirst Theatre demonstrates with its latest production. Hunger and Thirst reimagines classic stories for contemporary audiences, and playwright Becca Schlossberg's Discus brings a fresh and, for an essentially tragic tale, tremendously fun version of the myth of Hyacinth and Apollo to the stage. In a very funny scene early in the play, Apollo (Philip Estrera) is hosting a benefit for mortals, and Discus gives you too a way to help out the human race: tickets for Discus are $20.00, but audience members ca...

Photo credit: Arin Sang-urai Fans of Toto should be interested to know that the dog herself, Terry Spitz is back at the Kraine Theatre with her award-winning, tell-all career retrospective And Toto Too as part of the 2022 EstroGenius Festival. Straight from its critically acclaimed and award-winning run at the 2022 FRIGID Festival, And Toto Too is a cabaret-style diva retrospective. Terry is a seasoned dog-actress from Hollywood's golden age who will reveal the highs and lows of being the era's most famous canine performer and her relationship to starlet of the century, Judy Garland. Read our review from FRIGID here . When: Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 5:00pm Where: The Kraine Theatre: 85 E4th St, New York, NY 10003 OR on a device near you! Tickets are available for $25 or on a Pay What You Can sliding scale. Both in-person and streaming options are available. Follow And Toto Too on Instagram.

Dance of Death, Parts I and II Written by August Strindberg Translated and directed by Robert Greer Theater for the New City  presents the  August Strindberg Repertory Theatre  production of August Strindberg's Dance of Death, Parts I and II 155 First Ave., Manhattan, NYC February 25-March 13, 2022 Natalie Menna, Brad Fryman, and Bryan James Hamilton. Photo by Jonathan Slaff. August Strindberg (1849-1912), most associated outside of his native Sweden with his lasting impact on the modern stage, put his hand to a wide variety of artistic forms and approaches across the length of his extensive career. The characters in his Dance of Death, Parts I and II (1900), by contrast, are overwhelmingly trapped in a hostile stasis. Originally written as two plays, the August Strindberg Repertory Theatre's current production presents, for the first time in English, the two parts of Dance of Death together, in a new translation, which includes some minor trims, by director Robert Gree...

A Public Private Prayer Written and Performed by Grant Bowen Directed by Amanda Pinto Presented at The Kraine Theater 85 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC February 16-March 6, 2022 Image courtesy Emily Owens PR There is a movement among those raised in Evangelicalism, defined broadly, called “deconstruction.” It’s a messy word to describe simply “questioning” or “leaving” and can cause confusion for anyone familiar with the 20th century intellectual movement begun by Jacques Derrida and rooted in Martin Heidegger’s work. But the deconstruction movement among current or former Evangelicals is one of the most influential forces on Evangelicalism today. One can even find a life coach to help them through their deconstruction. Audrey Clare Farley makes the salient point that this is like “swapping one kind of snake oil with another.” This is the context in which Grant Bowen sets his one-man narrative A Public Private Prayer , in which he gives a public account of his relationship to Christiani...

StarSweeper Written by Mikaela Duffy Directed by Gwendolyn Snow Presented by TeamTheatre LLC at The Kraine Theater 85 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC February 19-March 5, 2022 Photo courtesy Mikaela Duffy How far would you go to help others just because it is the right thing to do? To the ends of the Earth? Or far, far beyond? This is one of the central questions posed by Mikaela Duffy's solo sci-fi show StarSweeper , the story of one woman's (and one A.I.'s) altruistic journey to the stars. StarSweeper is currently playing as part of FRIGID New York's 16th annual festival, in which one hundred percent of the proceeds go to the artists. For a full schedule of shows, all of which can be experienced in person or via livestream, visit FRIGID New York's website . StarSweeper introduces us to Sgt. Riley Nestor (Mikaela Duffy), who has set off across the vastness of space in the tiny starship USS Copperfield, accompanied only by the ship's A.I. assistant, O.L.G.A. (Patric...