Seek refuge from January’s gloomy skies at one of the Big Apple’s lit-up theater festivals. Both The Public Theater and Performance Space 122 have illuminated stages this month for multi-day events showcasing a wide range of theatrical expressions. Forbes Travel Guide got the scoop on the festivals:
The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival
Through January 20
The Public Theater, located at Astor Place, has hit the lights for its ninth annual theater festival featuring 12 days of performances and artistic celebrations. The location’s Shiva Theater and renovated lobby, which sports snazzy new additions like the “Shakespeare Machine” installation (a series of 37 thin video screens each programmed with the entire text of a corresponding work by the playwright), will host The Festival Lounge, an area where theatergoers and participating artists can mingle, share ideas and enjoy tunes from DJs and drinks from the cash bar. The Library at The Public and Joe’s Pub will also be open nightly for food and drinks.
But the parties and libations are of course secondary to the varied lineup of performances — all taking place at the theater’s home on Lafayette Street, a first — slated for the festival’s run. Everything from the elephant-god Ganesh’s quest to reclaim the swastika, a Hindu symbol, from the Nazi party (“Ganesh Versus the Third Reich”) to a meditation on the implications of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond (“Zero Cost House”) will unfold onstage, ensuring every audience member can find something to connect with.
Check out the full performance schedule and ticket prices here.
Performance Space 122’s COIL 2013
Through January 19
Performance Space 122’s eighth annual theater festival hosts 17 days of performances in venues around New York. The acts embrace theater to its fullest — dance, music, storytelling and visual presentation are leveraged to address a broad spectrum of ideas, including “reflections on memory, love, war, ancestry, feminism and most likely some that we haven’t even recognized yet,” said Performance Space 122 artistic director Vallejo Gantner.
That daunting list of concepts isn’t a ruse. Featured performances such as Croatian artists Tea Tupajic and Petra Zanki’s quest to answer the straightforward yet complex question of “Can art save the world?” in “The Curators’ Piece (A Trial Against Art);” Brian Rogers’ “Hot Box,” a performance that begins hours before the audience even arrives (the performers complete a series of demanding physical tasks while drinking lots and lots of alcohol); and the humorous and musical “Ruff” performed by Peggy Shaw all demonstrate the depth and varied themes of the festival’s lineup.
COIL ‘13 also features SPAN, a series of four conversations between a COIL ’13 artist and a “non-performance luminary.” Presented by Performance Space 122 and BOMB Magazine, the conversations will take place at Dixon Place on January 15, 16, 17 and 18 at 12 p.m. and are free and open to the public.
Check out the full performance schedule and ticket prices here.
Photos Courtesy of Sue Kessler, Medhi Shaban and Ves Pitts
