Staff Picks No. 14
“Refract” Album Release Performance: Jason Moran, BlankFor.ms, Marcus Gilmore
Public Records
Friday, October 6th 2023
Jason Moran’s new record Refract, a collab with glitch experimentalist BlankFor.ms and brilliant drummer Marcus Gilmore is a totally compelling intertwine of noise, jazz, ambient and postmodern classical. Like spinning the Golden Record in a LaserDisc player. Like cupping fragged hard drives over your ears in Smalls. Like the future and the past. This show is gonna bend space-time. Come through!
Staffer: Joshua Dumas
Mahinerator: Steve Mellor, Jerry Lieblich
The Tank
September 28th - October 22nd 2023
I got to see an early iteration of this fascinating dive into language and storytelling in the very nuanced performance vessel known as Steve Mellor back in 2021 as part of Gestating Baby at The Brick. I cannot wait to experience this extended (in length and weirdness, I am sure) version at The Tank!
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Judson Presents: Momma i Rode the Beast: Jordan Deal, Kwami Winfield, Jim Strong
Judson Memorial Church
Wednesday, October 4th 2023
This show is curated by Malcolm X. Betts and Arien Wilkerson and coming to NY after running for a month at Philly Fringe/Cannonball—so you know it has that edge you're missing during Libra season. But the event also has the community spirit of Judson's former Wednesday night event STUFFED: come early and you'll break (free) bread with your fellow audience members. And aren't we all trying to have a social moment between the crush of shows this month? Aren't we all trying to have a little bite to eat before we witness "a hyper meta-physical dive into the indulgences of undercurrents, dark matter, and worlds that shapes our social and political landscapes"...?
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
Exposure: Ilan Bachrach, Kristel Baldoz, Blaze Ferrer, Hannah Kallenbach, Julia Mounsey & Peter Mills Weiss, Alexander Paris, Matt Romein, Alex Tatarsky, Kristin Worrall
Saturday, October 7th 2023
Collapsable Hole
I mean!!!! Family night!?!?! (tfw your family is a band of raucous, freaky performers)
BIAS ALERT: I love Radiohole. I love the Collapsable Hole. I love these damn performers! And I'm loving PREDLUDE! EXPOSURE is a group show of performance works exploring the body and PRELUDE is a "completely free survey of the current New York moment and the work being prepared for the next season and beyond." So this is a pretty HOT combo and I just happen to know that the vibes in the room on this particular night are going to be OTHERWORLDLY: clownish, despairing, vile, sexy, GAY, funny.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
Please Do Not Touch the Indians: Eagle Project
Prelude (Martin E. Segal Theater Center)
Wednesday, October 11th 2023
Lately, I've been extremely fascinated by how theater can recreate experience - and not in the boring-ass Western way, but in a way of grief, of surreality, of past the material realm. The brief for this reading promises a unique insight into this concept.
Staffer: kanishk pandey
Once the dust settles, flowers bloom: Olivier Tarpaga
The Joyce Theater
October 3rd - October 8th 2023
I recommend this performance for fans of dance with big passion and big energy. Sometimes I think a group of dancers can shake the stage so much that the Earth moves a little off its rotational path. I hope this dance achieves that. I hear about Burkina Faso usually only from headlines in the news, so I look forward to stories told from an artist, with heart and history.
Staffer: Travis Amiel
Many Happy Returns: Monica Bill Barnes
Thursday, October 12th 2023
The Space at Irondale
Maybe you're like me and know of Monica Bill Barnes from her collaboration with Ira Glass on the show Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host. And maybe like me you've been craving her joyous gestures that make it seem like you're watching someone float (and gloat) above the stage. If so, you're in luck. There are limited tickets remaining for Many Happy Returns (like a memory play with dance, OK!) and they are FREE !!!
Staffer: Travis Amiel
NO BUT I'M DEFINITELY IN A BETTER PLACE THAN I'VE BEEN IN A LONG TIME: Michael Feldman
Union Hall
Wednesday, October 11th 2023
Personal recommendations and introductions from artists with whom I have built trust and a great deal of love are a sure bet for me (98% of the time... which is a good %). So, when Michael Kinnan, of Never Let Go: The One-Person Show of the James Cameron Film Titanic, told me I ought to get to know Tom DeTrinis and Michael Feldman, I was like - Yep. I am down. Let's zoom!
We met up, talked about their show, NY venues, had very many laughs and left the conversation like - we will figure out some way to get your LA show to NY. And it is happening! Oct 11 at Union Hall! I will be there! The tag line is fun and pretty uh-oh-that-is-too-real - "A raging narcissist (effortlessly played by Michael Feldman) attempts to put up a one-man show about his dog as the world is ending." Come get a drink and a chuckle or two!
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Chicken Sister: Anh Vo
Prelude (Martin E. Segal Theater Center
Saturday, October 14th 2023
There are wayyyyyyy too many things to see at Prelude. I even made a separate google calendar so that I could keep track of everything. But I'm super excited for Chicken Sister. The piece is described as an ode to Carolee Schneemann's Meat Joy, a kinetic theater piece where the performers played with raw fish, meat, and poultry. So... you can see why I'm excited.
Staffer: Hillary Gao
The New Black Fest: Keith Josef Adkins, Kemiyondo Coutinho, Dennis A. Allen II, Hayley Spivey
Prelude (Elebash Recital Hall, The Graduate Center)
Thursday, October 12th 2023
The New Black Fest is here! It'll be a great t e a s e with excerpts from 4 new plays by some dope Black playwrights and a panel on "resistance and survival through intimacy, community and knowledge-seeking." This is such a great collab with PRELUDE!
Staffer: Marissa Joyce Stamps
Team Name: Isa Spector, Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Iliana Penichet-Ramirez, Reed Rushes, Kate Williams
Intima
Saturday, October 7th 2023
You would be right to say that IMHO Isa Spector has impeccable artistic taste and lightning-fast wit—not to mention full triple threat capacity. So whatever they’re showing is going to be delightful. Period. The (hot) poster dropped barely a week before the show, which has the ballsy energy of a show that knows its worth. And given that it has already had to add a second show despite the short notice, I'd hurry up and reserve a spot. It's dance btw... I think.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
ANALOG INTIMACY: Jess Barbagallo / Half Straddle, Lucy Taylor, Greg Mehrten, Nile Harris, Charotte Righetti
Prelude (Park Avenue Armory)
Tuesday, October 10th 2023
Jess Barbagallo / Half Straddle can only mean genius or it could mean funny or moving or haunting? Probably it means all. And, well, the cast is actually stacked with unbelievable, enticing, electric performers. And it's a play-in-progress, so if you're like me and like seeing things before they're "finished" or before a show even knows "what it is" or before the performers are even sure of "what they're doing", then I'll be saving you a seat. BTW ITS FREE LIKE LITERALLY ALL OF PRELUDE.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
PROMOTIONAL PREDLUDE: Tess Dworman, Kyle Dacuyan, Mel Elberg, Sonya Gadet-Molansky
The Francis Kite Club
Sunday, October 8th 2023
Fundraiser for a new Tess Dworman show! There are martini glasses on the poster so sexy and fancy are vibes to be expected. There are olives and limes on the glasses on the poster so salty (opinionated) and acidic (witty) might be other tendencies running through the night. My sense is a fun, pick-your-poison of a vibe night lies before you.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein