Thursday, May 24, 2018

Second Annual East Village Iftar and Spaghetti Garden Party

Friday, June 1, 2018
7PM
La Plaza Cultural Community Garden
9th Street and Avenue C, NYC

Dinner after sunset at 8:30
Admission: $15 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds)
All ticket sales on site.
RAIN LOCATION TBD
Info:  917-319-8104

Featuring:

Ramadan-inspired poets grove including poet SaaliSI and songs by Mariam Bazeed

Great Small Works’ historic “The True Story of Charas” cantastoria

"Pari Banu, Ravi Ahu," a remix of Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, performed by SaaliSI.

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IFTAR is the meal that Muslims eat after sunset during Ramadan to break the day’s fast. It is one of the ceremonial observances of Ramadan and is often done as a community, with people gathering to break their fast together.

Fasting starts at sunrise and ends at sunset. During this time Muslims abstain from food, water, and also wrongful acts like backbiting, fighting, and violence. The meal traditionally starts with water and a date when the adhaan (call to prayer) signifying the end of the fast begins. 


Woman shadow puppeteer Lotte Reiniger's 1926 oldest surviving animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed uses a silhouette animation technique Reiniger invented which involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera. The technique is similar to Wayang shadow puppets, though hers were animated frame by frame, not manipulated in live action. Her work is important to the development of (western) shadow puppetry and film animation in general.  

The story is based on elements taken from One Thousand and One Nights, specifically "The Story of Prince Achmed and the Fairy Paribanou."

SaaliSi will play a live sound track to accompany an excerpt from Reiniger’s film.

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Funding made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Doctorow Family Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, and the NY State Council on the Arts.
THANK YOU!


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Thursday, May 10, 2018

Signs of Spring Spaghetti Dinner


Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner
Thursday, May 17, 2018, 7:30 PM
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South, NYC

Admission: $5-15 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Info: 917-319-8104
No reservations necessary.
Spaghetti Dinner, Judson Church December 2017
Aeilushi Mistry leads candle dance
Photo: Erik McGregor


EAT YOUR WORDS -- WITCHES (oh my!)
BOXCUTTER COLLECTIVE
KAY TURNER
ANNIE WANG
DEER LEONARDO

Boxcutter Collective
"The Possession of Judy"
A new radical hand puppet show.
Creators/Performers: Sam Wilson, Jason Hicks, Tom Cunningham, Joe Therrien
Watch as Judy (a tough-as-nails New York City grandma) rejects the false binary of the left/right political rhetoric, and joins a coven of witches who are harnessing the power of the Divine Feminine in order to take down capitalism and its myriad symptoms plaguing society.

Kay Turner
"Spurning Fertility/Smashing Tchotchkes"
Performed as a lesson in feminist art history, Turner lectures as she shows the evolution of quaint, banal knick-knacks. The deeply, viciously secure understanding of women's fertility as vessel in need of seed is thoroughly dismantled. With a smash and a laugh!

Annie Wang
A dance solo excerpted from "Marigram," a longer work inspired by the mass protests of Tiananmen Square in 1989 and Tahrir Square in 2011, created in collaboration with Mohamed Yours Shika, Tuce Yasak, Yuan Liu, and Kay Hung.

Deer Leonardo
Marin Sander Holtzman and Lee Free's live devotional dance-music band, Deer Leonardo is both Southern Italian Deer magic and love letter to the collective rhythm of body and mind. The vibe is modern with lots of queer disco and fab funk influences to get you moving!
Joined by the dapper smooth T Thompson on bass and vocals, and the indomitable Chris Perraut on vocals and Moog.

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Funding made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NY State Council on the Arts, Scherman Foundation, and Doctorow Family Foundation.
THANK YOU!