Tuesday, December 25, 2012

December 30th Spaghetti Dinner


GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 7:30 PM
JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH
55 Washington Square South, New York, NY

Suggested Donation:  $5-20 (pay what you can)
Info:  917-319-8104

Great Small Works and friends welcome in the New Year with
Music! Words! Puppets! Light! Glitter! Pasta, and maybe a little champagne!

sd

featuring:


Sandy! Sandy! Sandy! (episode 2)

sandy

An oral history-based soap opera performed by NYC water creatures dealing with the aftermath of the mega storm, with Daniel Rosza Lang/Levitsky, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo, Hannah Temple, Turtle Garaufis, Meredith Holch, Sarah Blust, Eleonore Weill, Lee Frisari, Stephen Kaplin. Directed by Jenny Romaine.


Plate Tiptonics

The big-band inspiration of Tiptons Sax Quartet members Tina Richerson and Jessica Lurie, a collaboration with a stellar roster of NYC musicians, performing Tiptons' tunes as well as originals penned by ensemble members, covering genres from micro-Big Band to Gospel, Bluegrass to Balkan, Whimsical Jazz to Nocturnal Funk.

With: Tina Richerson, Jessica Lurie, Matt Darriau, Katie Down, Art Baron, 
Pam Fleming, Stefan Zeniuk, Ben Syverson, Sarah Ferholt, Rebecca Buxton and more! You can dance, you can listen, you can sing along! 

Members of the Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow bring you a few queer cabaret acts with a femme-inist edge, including videographer/puppeteer Adelaide Winsome, theatre performer Heather Acs, and multimedia artist Damien Luxe. www.facebook.com/heelsonwheelsroadshow
  
Amour Obscur is a Brooklyn-based gypsy punk band that offers a theatrical performance that draws from the striking visual aesthetics of the Weimar cabaret and American sideshow. Mixing unique instrumentation—vocals, accordion, upright bass, trombone, mandolin, tenor banjo and percussion—and original composition that draws upon such eclectic influences as traditional Romani music, Kurt Weill, Americana, and klezmer…to contemporary dance music—Amour Obscur creates a sound that reflects the experience of the underground for artists, hobos, neo-gypsies and revelers everywhere.
With:  Dee Dee Vega (Vocals), Matt Dallow (Accordion), Yoni Benshlomo (Upright Bass), Fabio Colombo (Drums, Percussion), Sebastian Isler (Trombone), Jeff Paris (Trumpet)

Some words from Debbie Yorizzo, cab driver and aspiring poet.

AND

A brief talk by Mark Sussman about Toy Theater.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Dec.30th Spaghetti Dinner, Dec. 22nd Concert--and, Hanukah!

SAVE THE DATE!
GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30th
JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH
Great Small Works and friends welcome in the New Year with music, puppets, pasta, and maybe a little champagne!
With guests Heels on Wheels, a new installment of Sandy Sandy Sandy, and other musical and theatrical delights to be announced.
sandy

Lee Frisari, Jenny Romaine, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo. The Drunken Sailor, Salty the Castaway and Coral reflect on Hurricane Sandy at an underwater relief hub. an oral history-based soap opera about Sandy from the perspective of water spirits and creatures who live in the waters of NYC. Photo by mornography.


And - Family, because you are so awesome and deserve some serious Hanukah fun, we offer this holiday happiness latke -- YES! It's...
A Blue Mime Khanike
a mixed media fantasy exploring the history of Hanukah through the eyes of Mimes (!?). Featuring Jenny Romaine, Sam Wilson, Michael Winograd's Infection, mornography, Stephen Kaplin, Jennifer Miller, Sarah-Mina Gordon, Alicia Gerstein, and others. For screenings at your parties, solo moments, or slow shifts. The Light is coming back!!!!


Also, mark your date books for:
A Kholem/Dreaming in Yiddish: A Concert in Tribute to Adrienne Cooper
AC poster
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Kaye Playhouse, Hunter College
Tickets: $18, $36, $54
Or, visit
for details on how to buy tickets by phone, fax, mail or in person.

Featuring: Michael Wex, Michael Alpert, Joanne Borts, Sarah Gordon, Dan
Kahn, The Klezmatics, Psoy Korelenko, Shura Lipovsky, Frank London, Zalmen
Mlotek, Mikveh, Eleanor Riessa, Jenny Romaine, Basya Schaechter, Lorin Sklamberg
SoCalled, Theresa Tova, Veretski Pass, Michael Winograd
Orchestra: Richie Barshay, Dave Licht, Jon Singer - drums; Brian Glassman - bass;
Marilyn Lerner, Dan Rosengard - keys; Avi Fox Rosen, Yoshie Fruchter - guitars;
Patty Farrell, Lorin Sklamberg, josh Horowitz - accordions; Matt Darriau - winds
Dan Blacksberg, Susan Watts, Ben Holmes - brass; Cookie Segelstein, Lisa Gutkin - strings
Special guests: Marsha Gildin, Tine Kindermann, Susan Leviton, Avram
Mlotek, Michelle Miller, Andrea Pancur, Mark Rubin, Miryem Khaye Seigel, Ilya
Schneyveys, Eve Sicular, Josh Waletsky

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

SPAGHETTI DINNER FINALLY RESCHEDULED for NOVEMBER 19th

YES! It's really happening!

GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER
presents

SPOOKY SEASON! 

Monday, November 19, 2012, 7:30pm
Teatro SEA  [new location!] 107 Suffolk St, NYC
tix: $5-15 (sliding scale) | info: 917-319-8104


Join us for a post-storm, post-election, post-Halloween evening of spaghetti, songs, banners, crankies and puppets!

Puppet shows by Great Small Works and friends, Spybird Theater, Rachel Schragis, and Greg Corbino

Music by Villa Delirium

 

VILLA DELIRIUM
Inspired by eerie traditional folk songs of Germany, Ireland and the Balkans as well as murder ballads of the American South, New York band Villa Delirium writes and performs their own startling compositions, as well as choice covers including "Crystal Ship" by The Doors (sung in German and hailed as "Very Brechtian" by Doors' drummer John Densmore) and Warren Zevon’s classic "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" done up as a haunting Celtic waltz. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Villa-Delirium/202478256482598

Tine Kindermann
: Voice, saw and violin. A German chanteuse/ visual artist, Tine’s recent credits include performing in Germany with Iggy Pop and Marc Ribot. John Kruth: Voice, guitar, mandolin, banjo, sitar, harmonica and flutes. Kruth has 9 solo albums, co-leads the world music ensemble TriBeCaStan and has worked with Allen Ginsberg and Violent Femmes. Kenny Margolis: Accordion and keyboards. A member of Cracker and TriBeCaStan, Kenny played in the late great Willy Deville’s band. Christopher Morrow: Trombone. A member of TriBeCaStan and Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra. (Subbing for Doug Wieselman) Steve Bear: Pots, pans, boxes and assorted batterie. Steve played drums in the legendary Wisconsin band Swamp Thing.

JANA ZELLER, Spybird Theater, excerpts from “Eye of the Storm”
An excerpt of our new full-length piece which will premiere in 2013, involving an elegant woman who is waiting for the return of her sailor son on a shrinking island that faces a storm. She is a rod puppet haunted by shadow visions, and her only neighbors are a set of grotesque hand puppets in their puppet booth.  This excerpt features the two hand puppets Kasper and Gretel as they bang around their domestic obstacles.  www.spybirdtheater.com
Full-length piece performed with Zak Grace.  
Directed by Kali Quinn and Ines Zeller-Bass.
Hand puppet coach: Alice Boehm
Music: Anna Patton
Created with support from the Jim Henson Foundation and a commission from Sandglass Theater funded by the NEA.


RACHEL SCHRAGIS, “One Question"
A mini-cranky from the studios of Occupy Wall Street Puppetry Guild

GREG CORBINO, “The Story of Otto Pit-Sling,” a cantastoria

JOHN BELL and TRUDI COHEN, "Living Newspaper" toy theater

and

GREAT SMALL WORKS & FRIENDS, "Sandy Sandy Sandy"
An underwater interpretation of hurricane events from the perspective of mermaids, seaweed serenaders, and the rest of us, with Mary Feaster, Lee Frisari, Turtle Garaufis, Meredith Holch, Daniel Lang-Levitsky, Ben Meyers, Jenny Romaine, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo, Hannah Temple, and more!

###

Friday, November 2, 2012

SPAGHETTI DINNER UPDATE

SPAGHETTI DINNER is NOT happening on November 5th.  Stay tuned for updates as soon as we have them!  Regrets.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Spaghetti Dinner postponed to November 5th


GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER HAS BEEN POSTPONED.
New date:  MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5th.
Now the season is really getting spooky...
Thank you, Teatro SEA!!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner


GREAT SMALL WORKS
SPAGHETTI DINNER
Spooky Season!!

MONDAY, October 29, 2012
7:30 PM
TEATRO SEA, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center
107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY
Admission:  $15 (sliding scale)
Info:  917-319-8104

Join us for an evening of spaghetti, songs, banners, crankies and puppets!




VILLA DELIRIUM
Inspired by eerie traditional folk songs of Germany, Ireland and the Balkans as well as murder ballads of the American South, New York band Villa Delirium writes and performs their own startling compositions, as well as choice covers.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Villa-Delirium/202478256482598

Tine Kindermann: Voice, saw and violin. 
John Kruth: Voice, guitar, mandolin, banjo, sitar, harmonica and flutes.  
Kenny Margolis: Accordion and keyboards. 
Christopher Morrow: Trombone. 
Steve Bear: Pots, pans, boxes and assorted batterie. 

YAEL RASOOLY, excerpts from “Paper Cut”
The language of black and white cinema is transformed to the “low–tech” universe of paper cut-outs and object theater, creating a tension that is absurd, painful and humorous.

Born in Jerusalem 1983. Yael was trained primarily as a classical singer, and went on to study theater design at the foundation program at Central St. Martins college of Art and Design, London. She began developing her unique theatrical language at the School of Visual Theater In Jerusalem, where she specialized in direction, puppetry and design during four years, graduating with excellence and awards by the city of Jerusalem.  Since 2006, Yael has been creating independent theater work and performing at International festivals throughout Europe, USA, South America, and the Far East. Her solo production Paper Cut has won several International awards and is currently on an extensive tour in festivals worldwide.  www.yaelrasooly.com

"'Paper Cut' is one of those artfully quirky solo performances that make the New York International Fringe Festival worth checking out. . . »
The NY Times, August 23, 2011

JANA ZELLER, Spybird Theater, excerpts from “Eye of the Storm”
The full-length piece will premiere in 2013, involving an elegant woman who is waiting for the return of her sailor son on a shrinking island that faces a storm. She is a rod puppet haunted by shadow visions, and her only neighbors are a set of grotesque hand puppets in their puppet booth.  This excerpt features the two hand puppets Kasper and Gretel as they bang around their domestic obstacles.  www.spybirdtheater.com

Full-length piece performed with Zak Grace.  
Directed by Kali Quinn and Ines Zeller-Bass.
Hand puppet coach: Alice Boehm
Music: Anna Patton
Created with support from the Jim Henson Foundation and a commission from Sandglass Theater funded by the NEA.


RACHEL SCHRAGIS, “One Question
A mini-cranky from the studios of Occupy Wall Street Puppetry Guild

GREG CORBINO, “The Story of Otto Pit-Sling,” a cantastoria

SAM WILSON, “Ned Talk: A Few Questions About the Newest and Most High-End Technology of the Police State,” a cantastoria

AND—underwater boat rides and creepiness by GREAT SMALL WORKS’ Seaweed Serenaders!!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Singing Picture Show



Come one come all!
See a brand-new cranky show by Great Small Works, "HEMISPHERIC CASSEROLE"
Learn what Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Wall Street and Montreal have in common!
Special guest appearances by Kenny Wollesen, Jennifer Harris and Sam Sussman!


THE SINGING PICTURE SHOW
July 20th and 21st at 8:00 PM

The Jalopy Theatre
315 Columbia Street
Red Hook, Brooklyn

Banners & Cranks presents The Singing Picture Show
featuring new works by a gaggle of cantastoria artists and musicians.
Performing each night will be:
The Dolly Wagglers combining polkas and barnstompers with tales of pre-post-consumer society;
New York's very own Great Small Works;
Circus Amok's fabulous Jennifer Miller;
from Philadelphia/Providence, Ramshackle Enterprises featuring the wry work of Beth Nixon;
Chicago's Meredith Miller presenting six pieces that exploit "the disturbing subtexts in jazz standards";
Theater Oobleck with new selections from its 7-year project Baudelaire in a Box;
Vermont's Clare Dolan premiering a brand new cantastoria;
Meredith Holch with a gripping piece of labor history in sassy rhyming couplets;
Anna Roberts-Gevalt with her sewn and stitched crankies!
Each night will feature music including the Banners & Cranks All-Star Orkestar with special appearances by Jalopy's own Whiskey Spitters.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

What We've Been Up To!!!


Great Small Works Activities 2011- June 2012

PERFORMANCES AND TOURING

March 18-19
Toy Theater After Dark, Open Eye Theater, Minneapolis
Performance and panel discussion
 http://www.walkerart.org/calendar/2011/toy-theatre-after-dark-open-eye-figure-theatr

April 6
International Puppetry Conference, University of Connecticut
Perform at puppet cabaret   http://puppetconference.uconn.edu/home.html

June 19-24
Banners and Cranks Festival
Premiere performances of Three Graces at Brooklyn Bridge Park and HERE Art Center
http://s1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/BannersAndCranks/Opening Ceremony - Brooklyn Bridge Park - June 19/?action=view&current=_DSC2454.jpg

http://www.greatsmallworks.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

http://bannersandcranks.wordpress.com/about/

July 28
Puppets on the Sound festival, Huntington, Long Island
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1482&bih=1043&tbm=isch&tbnid=8Cwp4DliU5ayOM:&imgrefurl=http://greatsmallworks.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html&docid=Rm2N87RPoFHegM&imgurl=http:ht

September 17
Perform at Puppet Slam, University of Connecticut
puppetslam.com

October 31-November 4
Suspense Festival, London, U.K.
Toy Theater performances, workshop, panel discussions
http://www.suspensefestival.com/content/home

November 18-19
Velaslavasy Panorama, Los Angeles, hosted by Automata
Premiere performances of Soil Desire People Dance
http://www.experiencela.com/calendar/event/42592
http://www.panoramaonview.org/
http://www.manualarchives.org/automata.htm

February 3-4
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Performance program, with talk-backs
http://middletown-ct.patch.com/blog_posts/interview-with-mark-sussman-85-co-founder-of-great-small-works
http://scribblers.us/nhtj/?p=2496

March 8-10
Castelliers Festival, Montreal
Performance and workshop
http://finearts.concordia.ca/newsandevents/events/fofa-gallery-feb-13-to-mar-11.php
http://greatsmallworks.blogspot.com/2012/02/toy-theater-of-terror-as-usual-in.html

March 29
Columbia University, NYC
Premiere of new Toy Theater of Terror As Usual episode

June 21-24
Toy Theater festival in Mexico City  Festival Internacional de Teatro de Papel, http://forodeltejedor.com/boletos/index.php?cPath=1_12&nombreEvento=Festival+Internacional+de+Teatro+de+Papel


WORKSHOPS, ARTS IN EDUCATION, COMMUNITY PRODUCTIONS

January-May 2011
P.S. 84, Astoria, Queens
Cantastoria  workshops with 5th and 6th graders on “Respect in Queens”
Sponsored by Queens Museum of Art and NYC’s CASA program

March 19
You Better Work, a Very Precarious Purim, a Pageant of Laborers and Lovers
Collaboration with intergenerational team of individual designers, organizers, builders and performers, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Domestic Workers United.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/violentgrind/5544815869/in/photostream/
http://www.greatsmallworks.blogspot.com/2011/03/purim-march-19th.html

July 24, Ice Cream Sunday is Coming!  Old fashioned homo-sexual Ice Cream Social with full gender spectrum Dairy Royalty Pageant, Dixon Place, NYC
Co-sponsored with Milk Not Jails and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.   milknotjails.wordpress.com, http://www.greatsmallworks.blogspot.com/2011/07/ice-cream-sunday-is-coming_17.html

July-August
Production sessions with Sara Peattie to build chickens for indoor and outdoor performances directed by Jenny Romaine
https://picasaweb.google.com/lpaulina/ChickenWorkshop?feat=email

September 15-24
Truth in Gay Clothes: Your Goose Is Cooked.  Sukkos Mob takes to the streets of NYC, reinventing the traditional harvest holiday with live music, Yiddish/Spanish/English languages, and giant chickens.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2496355056885.2143597.1493108224&type=3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/workmenscircle/4034217659/in/photostream/

January-March 2012
Return to P.S. 84 in Queens with workshops sponsored by CASA and Queens Museum.

March 3, 2012
My Hamentashn Are Killing Me: A Purim Ball for the Body, this year’s installment of the annual Purim bash, with dozens of artistic and activist collaborators in collaboration with  JFREJ and the Caring Across Generations campaign. 
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151389500960301.820049.687650300&type=3

http://www.facebook.com/search/results.php?q=chickens jenny romaine&init=quick&tas=0.8459655395708978 - !/photo.php?fbid=782289763014&set=a.782289353834.2197260.13303042&type=1&theater


SPAGHETTI DINNERS AND SOIREES

Spaghetti Dinners:

September 24, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150293353742109.333275.718702108&type=3

December 30, Judson Memorial Church, NYC

January 31, 2012, One Arm Red, Brooklyn

Soirees (new event in GSW studio for sharing of developing work):

April 10
May 22
June 12
October 23
February 19

STUDIO
Moved from 45 Main St. to 20 Jay St. in May-June, the 5th move in 11 years, and second move in 12 months.  Now stable with a 5-year lease and reduced monthly rent.  Studio has been very lively with use by other artists who contribute to rent, including:  Chinese Theatre Works, Foundry Theater, Hungry March Band, Rob Ebeltoft, and Occupy Wall Street Puppet Guild.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKNQU_nJGj4&feature=relmfu

OTHER

Exhibition of Great Small Works: Terror As Usual, Episodes 1-12 installed at FOFA Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal.  Retrospective of the series, originally built with the Queens Museum of Art in 2010.


Friday, June 8, 2012

JUNE GREETINGS


June Greetings!
It occurs to us, as we live on the planet, that sometimes the most interesting cultural performances going on are not taking place in theaters!

Here, for your inspiration, is a list of activities GSW folk are possessed by this month.  Enjoy. 
..

1. Milk Not Jails (Dairy Distribution business) is now open for business in New York City with Music and Performance! 
Milk Not Jails
 is a new brand of dairy products made by New York dairy farmers who are committed to preserving agriculture in rural New York and to dismantling our state’s dysfunctional prison system.  Sign up and shop to transform NY state with milk, ice cream, cheese, ice cream, butter and yogurt! 
http://milknotjails.wordpress.com                              MNJ

GSW and affiliated artists will be rocking the opening week ceremonies. Schedule below
 .

Saturday June 2 Rude Mechanical Orchestra 12:30-1:15
Location: M'Finda Kalunga Community Garden, Rivington between Forsyth and Christie, New York, NY  Stanton Street “Meet the Farmer” Event 12-2pm

Sunday June 3 Bond Street Theater Stilt Band 4-5
 

Location: Joseph Daniel Wilson Memorial Garden, 216 West 122nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, New York, NY. Harlem “Meet the Farmer” 4-6pm

Tuesday June 5  Kenny Wolleson vibraphone duets 6-8

Brooklyn Beet CSA 5:00-8:00pm Location: YWCA, 70 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday June 6
Brooklyn Bridge CSA 6:00-8:00pm
Rima Fand and Sarah Alden fiddles 6:30-8
Location: Congregation Mt. Sinai, 250 Cadman Plaza West, Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday June 13
Flatbush Farm Share   5:00-8:00pm
Location: Flatbush Reformed Church, 890 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Mariel Berger, accordian 6:30-8


2. LGBTQ month special gift: groundbreaking grassroots kids series SEZ ME premiers. www.sezme.me created by long time GSW collaborating artists Mor mornography Erlich and Lee Frisari.  Kids both interview and are interviewed by members of the community who represent non-traditional gender expressions  The interviews are unscripted and the resulting topics effortlessly flow from hobbies to haircuts, fashion to fantasy, the genderization of color to the basics of identity and human rights.



3. Roberto Rossi performs in Margaret Leng Tan's SATIEfaction
Satie and Satie-inspired music from John Cage, Toby Twining, Federico Mompou and Milos Raickovich, performed on piano and toy piano
with Roberto Rossi, narrator, Ranjit Bhatnagar, sound artist
at Roulette
Wednesday, June 6, 8:00 pm
509 Atlantic Ave (On the corner of Atlantic & 3rd Aves), Downtown Brooklyn

http://roulette.org/events/margaret-leng-tan-6/




4. And more:

June 19-24, Great Small Works will travel to Mexico City to participate in Mexico's first Toy Theater Festival, hosted by our friends from Facto Teatro.  

July 20-21, Great Small Works will participate in the third incarnation of 
Banners and Cranks, presented by cantastoria genius Clare Dolan and graphic artist Dave Buchen, at Jalopy
in Red Hook, Brooklyn (more info coming soon!) 
 B&C

Stephen Kaplin and John Bell are right this moment in Chengdu, China.
John is representing U.S. puppeteers at the quadrennial congress of the international puppet organization, UNIMA. Stephen is performing at an affiliated international puppet festival with Chinese Theatre Works and Bread and Puppet Theater in a new shadow-puppet collaboration.


JB china  Hamidreza Ardalan, Poupak Azimpour and their kids Neekbanoo, Neekjan (from Iran), Basil Twist, and John Bell in a Chengdu theater before a performance of Three Tales of China by Shaanxi Folk Art Theatre Co., Ltd. (for which Stephen Kaplin constructed giant talking lion statues in 2005.)

And Mark Sussman is banging on his casserole in Montreal, in support of massive student demonstrations against province-wide tuition hikes and anti-free speech legislation designed to silence protests.

See you in the streets this summer! 

John, Trudi, Jenny, Mark, Stephen, & Roberto

Thursday, April 19, 2012

MAY DAY SPAGHETTI DINNER


GREAT SMALL WORKS MAY DAY SPAGHETTI DINNER
Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 8PM
One Arm Red
10 Jay Street, 9th floor
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Sliding scale, $5-$15
Info: 917-319-8104

"R-and-R"

Come celebrate after a day of great displays of common interest and shared physical expression. Contemplate the power that arises from collectively withdrawing cooperation and consent, however you do it...


1. Stagger Back Brass Band
Celebrating the 6th annual Stagger Back Brass Band May Day concert/singalong/extravaganza, featuring Don Godwin, Quince Marcum, Joe Keady, Brian Drye, JR Hankins, Ben Holmes, Jessica Lurie, Greg Squared, Michael Winograd, and Patty Farrell, with singers Eva Primack and Michele Hardesty.

2. Great Small Works' improvised living newspaper shadow show about the events of this May Day 2012.


3. "We Shall Not Be Moved: The Musical Story of the 1937 Woolworth’s Sit-Down Strikes"
Written, Directed and Arranged by Phil Andrews,
featuring Cara Francis, Josh Lerner, Xavier, Sully Ross and Jessie Reilly, with Ava Farkas, Naomi Podber and Judy Shatsky Music by Apocalypse Five and Dime: Joe Keady, Phil Andrews, Rebecca Heinegg, Michele Hardesty, Quince Marcum, Cassandra Burrows, Adam Katzman and Heather Cole.


4. A May Day Crankie by Vermont puppeteer and filmmaker Meredith Holch


5. "Bloomberg’s Fifth Largest Army in the World: Puppet Study #1"
Puppeteer Maura Gahan teams up with Brookyn-based Jacobs/Campbell Dance for a brand new work. Dancers shout, spit, and high kick in cardboard masks with movement references from the 1930s Workers Dance League, Mayor Bloomberg, and N.Y.C.’s finest dancers: the NYPD.


Food and drink will be available throughout the night.
Please come by and share stories of how you occupied your May Day!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Performances at MOBIUS in Cambridge, MA

The Art of the UnGrand #4
GREAT SMALL WORKS @Mobius

An Evening of Toy Theater with John Bell, Trudi Cohen and Sara Peattie

A Short Entertaining History of Toy Theater: presented by the singing professor, Dr. John Bell, accompanied by toy instruments

A Walk in the Country: Sara Peattie’s latest venture into small-scale romance and sci-fi

Living Newspaper: Trudi Cohen and John Bell interpret the daily news, torn from today’s headlines

A display of historic and contemporary Toy Theater stages, scenes and images will cover the walls of the Mobius storefront. This can be viewed during show times, as well as during the listed additional gallery hours.

performances: Thursday April 26, 2012, 7:30pmFriday April 27, 2012, 7:30pm
suggested donation: $10
additional gallery hours:Saturday April 28, 3-7pm, Sunday April 29, 3-7pm

Thu Apr 26, 2012 - Sun Apr 29, 2012
@ Mobius
55 Norfolk Street
Cambridge, MA 02139

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Spaghetti Dinner Tuesday March 27th


Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinners
presents

Illocutions:
A Cabaret of Performative Poetries










With reading/performances by
Cara Benson
Lee Ann Brown
Tracie Morris
Tomas Urayoan Noel
Eugene Ostashevsky
Stephen Boyer, Ayesha Adamo, Kari Giron, Ras Osagyefo, Ben Rosenberg read from the #OWS Poetry Anthology
and
Robert Kocik, Daria Fain and The Phoneme Choir
with Great Small Works performing
its brand-new Terror As Usual, Episode 13

March 27, 2012 @7:30
One Arm Red
10 Jay Street, 9th Floor
DUMBO Brooklyn
$15 (and yet no one is turned away)

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Purim Ball this Saturday night!



Your Homentaschen Are Killing Me!
A Purim Masquerade Ball for the body, its resilience, its fragility, and its bounce! March 3rd, 2012
220 36th St, Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
D/N/R to 36th St or B35 to 39th St/2nd Ave
8pm–late
$12-$20 sliding scale
No one turned away for lack of cash or costume
Performance and food by Domestic Workers United

Performances start at 8pm sharp with Daddy, followed by
Purim Shpiel Act I
The Rude Mechanical Orchestra
Purim Shpiel Act II
Shelley Nicole's blaKbüshe
Purim Shpiel Act III
DJ Ripley

pre-show guest performances by Glenn Marla, Hana Malia, Shomi Noise and Kaitlin Prest

The event is wheelchair accessible.
Public Transportation directions to our venue at 220 W 36th St between 2nd and 3rd Avenues:
Take the D/N/R to the 36th street stop in Brooklyn. The venue is a block and a half down 36th street. This stop is not wheelchair accessible.
OR
The B35 bus stops at 39th Street and 2nd Ave, 3 short blocks from the venue. MTA buses are wheelchair accessible.

More about Purim and this year’s Shpiel

Purim is the Jewish festival of spring fever, of masquerade and parodies of all sacred things. It centers on the Scroll of Esther, the Megillah, a burlesque of a story that wears the mask of being a factual history. For centuries Jews have made homemade pageants like ours to tell this story and to talk about overreach—about how the powerful turn abysmally stupid and bring about their own destruction. But Purim also has a mystical side, and we learn from the Purim rabbis that this holiday is a campy stare at what scares us the most, in ourselves and in the world. It must be taken seriously.

(Your Homentaschen are Killing Me!) is an original work of art grounded in the traditional pan-Jewish practice of staging transgressive folk plays re-enacting the scroll of Esther, and delivering a fanciful, somewhat drunken but always profound, critique of power. At the heart of the event is a glittering original handmade Purim Shpiel. Expect oversize costumes and puppets, dazzling sets, the drag will be high, low and medium, and the age and gender spectrum will runneth over.

The theme of this year’s Purim Shpiel is the body, its fragility, strength, and resilience “Your Homentaschen are Killing Me” draws on themes of current campaign work and the long time work of artists and activists around issue/crisis of care in the US. We are using the bodies of the heroes of the megillah to tell stories from and related to the campaign work of Caring Across Generations (http://caringacrossgenerations.org/), dedicated to deepening and strengthening our understanding of care through the knowledge that we all give and receive care throughout our lives. This campaign’s innovative strategy brings together members of disability justice movement, home health care workers from Domestic Workers United (http://www.domesticworkersunited.org/) and domestic employers.

The Organizers

The party is created by a collaborative group of artists, activists and civilians
(including Julie Davids, Avi Fox-Rosen, Anna Jacobs, Daniel Roza Lang-Levitsky,
Dr. Rachel Mattson, Abigail Miller, LJ Roberts, Jenny Romaine, Zach Scholl, Hannah
Temple, Josh Waletzky, Cassandra Burrows, and the Occupy Wall Street Puppetry
Guild) in the style of a carnival mas camp. The crew, originally gathered under the
tutelage of visionary Yiddish scholar and beloved Diva Adrienne Cooper (to whom
this year’s Purim shpiel is dedicated), has been working together for a decade, in
collaboration with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (http://www.jfrej.org),
Workmen’s Circle (http://www.circle.org), and Great Small Works (http://
www.greatsmallworks.org).