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Embodying the tradition of Irish theatrical performance, the Origin Theatre 1st Irish Festival returns March 23 to April 28, 2024. Held at performance spaces across NYC, the 1st Irish Festival features fifteen new plays, ten of which are in competition, with productions from NYC and Ireland.1st Irish embodies the pain, the passion, and the hope of Irish and Irish American history.
The festival opens with The Informer by Larry Kirwan, a reimagining of the Liam O’Flaherty classic - set on the last day of the Irish Civil War. Peace and Love in Brooklyn is a new musical by Eamon O'Tuama that charts the journey of a young musician who searches for his "colorful rock n' roll roadie" father. Last Call For Babe Reilly by Marianne Driscoll presents a kind barfly with a precarious situation; how to get through the Pearly Gates after being struck by a bus, and it’s going to take a young girl with a Ouija to get through. King, by Pat Kinevane produced by Fishamble, is about Luther, a troubled lonely man living in Cork. While he prepares for a big night out as an Elvis impersonator he reflects on his past and dares to dream of the future, as the ups and downs of his life mirrors Ireland’s own history.
The NY Irish Center in Long Island City features the New York premiere of Bumbled, a new play by the Boston-based Bernard McMullan and Colin Hamell, and starring Colin Hamell, which tells the story of a loveable (and busy) bee named Pascal.
To learn more, go to: https://www.origintheatre.org/1st-irish-festival
1st Irish Festival
March 23 - April 28, 2024
Various Venues in NYC
Running at the Soho Playhouse (15 Vandam Street), The International Fringe Encore Series showcases extraordinary off-Broadway shows in NYC. Many of the previous productions featured in the series have gone on to extensive Off-Broadway runs and international success.
The slate of shows includes the new play Bacon, written by Sophie Swithinbank and directed by Matthew Iliffe. Bacon is an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at masculinity, sexuality and power, through the dizzying lens of youth. Following a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the multi-award-winning play comes to New York for 24 performances only.
It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure, from the disability led theater company FlawBored, is a look at assumptions and questions around disabilities. Usually disabled people just want to do the right thing. But what if they don’t? What if they were out to make as much money as possible from the guilt of non-disabled, anxious people (like you)?
Jekyll & Hyde reinvents Stevenson's classic science-horror story, with award-winning performer Heather-Rose Andrews in the titular role. Class, terror, and hypocrisy in Victorian London, as the search for self collides with the lure of the sensuous, taking its toll on all around Jekyll & Hyde. A new vision of terror from award-winning writer/director JD Henshaw.
Esther’s Revenge, produced by Tope Sanni, is an experiential play inspired by true life events of Esther who was reported to have murdered her white lover in 1953. The sentence is death by hanging. This very participatory play as devised, explores themes around race, colonization, sexual abuse, violence against women, and political and social injustice. Esther takes us on a journey through time into the events leading up to the death of Mark. The Jury is given the responsibility to vote in favor or against a stay of execution.
This is just a sampling of the performances taking place during The International Fringe Encore Series
To learn more, go to: https://fringeencoreseries.com/ & https://www.sohoplayhouse.com/
The International Fringe Encore Series
January 4 - February 11, 2024
Soho Playhouse
15 Vandam Street
New York, NY 10013
A strange festival is coming to NYC with strings attached. The 3rd Annual International Puppet Fringe Festival runs from August 9 – 13, 2023, in the Lower East Side. A truly idiosyncratic festival, the IPFF is the only international festival dedicated to puppetry, and features performances by leading puppet makers and troupes from around the world. The theme for this year’s festival is "Halloween in August", honoring New York City’s most renowned puppet master and founder of the Village Halloween Parade, the late Ralph Lee.
A truly international festival, participating troupes include:
There will also be presentations from Cuba, Colombia, Chile among others.
The festival kicks off on August 9th at the Clemente Soto Vélez Center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (107 Suffolk Street, NYC) as puppeteers create their own mini version of the famous Halloween Parade. Also included are art exhibitions, films, cabaret nights, and Guerilla-style micro-theater performances in unorthodox venues.
The festival is organized by Teatro SEA, Grupo Morán (The Morán Group) and The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Education Center.
To learn more, go to: https://puppetfringenyc.com/
International Puppet Fringe Festival
August 9 - 13, 2023
Various Venues in the Lower East Side
Running for 22 years, vis one of the longest running festivals for femme, trans, female and non-binary performing arts. The 2023 festival, 2023 EstroGenius Festival: BAN(NED) TOGETHER, looks to take a stand against the legislative and cultural wave of hate towards women and trans people. The festival runs from March 18th to April 2, with performances being held at The Kraine Theater (85 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003), UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009), Arts On Site (12 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003) and the Decatur Street Community Garden in Bushwick (1052 Decatur St, Brooklyn, NY 11207). For those that can’t attend live, most of the performances will also be streamed.
“We do all of this through a gorgeous variety of dance, music, theatre and comedic artists crossing our stages, building community, performing their hearts and stories out to our fab audiences,” said Melissa Riker, Executive Producer of EstroGenius Festival. “We are so grateful to our producing partners at FRIGID New York, Arts on Site and 721 Decatur Community Garden, for co-creating Estro 2023! ”
EstroGenius exists to present the voices of dance-makers, playwrights, experimental performers, teens, musicians, burlesque performers, noise artists, filmmakers, dj’s and anyone else looking to break molds and crack gender codes to the stage, street and forefront of public attention.
Performances include:
To learn more, go to: https://www.frigid.nyc/festivals/estrogenius/
2023 EstroGenius Festival: BAN(NED) TOGETHER
March 18 - April 2, 2023
Various venues in New York