Staff Picks No. 19
Redwood: Brittany K. Allen, Mikhaela Mahony
Ensemble Studio Theatre
Closes November 18th 2023
With commissions galore, Summerworks alum Brittany K. Allen is someone whose name you've maybe seen everywhere, and rightfully so. Her works are always a gift, and now she's giving an arboreal one: REDWOOD, about the highs, lows, and WTFs of tracing a family lineage. Go for what the blurb calls "acid wit" (yes please), stay for some of my favorite actors in town, including, (deeper cut!) RANCHO VIEJO's Tyrone Mitchell Henderson.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
In Hell with Jesus/Top 40: Ivo Dimchev
La Mama
November 16th - November 26th 2023
Ivo Dimchev is a proper provocateur, veering into problematic at times. I often return to videos of his days as a Euro-Festival-Choreographer when I feel the need for inspiration. His live work today is sometimes a rebuttal of that success, but still Bonkers, off-putting, and yet I have to see him when he's in NY.
Staffer: Travis Amiel
Jean Carla Rodea: All Your Sojourns Have Led to This (Omen)
Mark O'Donnell Theater at the Entertainment Community Fund Arts Center
Saturday, November 11th 2023
I’m really looking forward to the culminating performance of Jean Carla Rodea’s 2023 Issue Project Room artist residency. Rodea’s work is deeply multidisciplinary, intersecting video, movement, sound, sculpture, and installation. I read echos of Ana Mendieta’s exploration of ghostings, hiding, identity, camouflage, in Rodea’s work, and I’m excited to inhabit the fog-shrouded spaciousness of this piece. Come through!
Staffer: Joshua Dumas
CRUSH: Molly Rose-Williams
The Collapsable Hole
Friday, November 10th 2023
Molly Rose-Williams is a very singular and captivating performer whose show CRUSH will drag you and your nervous system through the incredible-yet-unbearable anguish of a crush. Molly animates what is so human (read: funny, horrid, exhilarating) about a crush. A crush can jostle ones' life in such a way that it shakes loose some part of oneself that was ready to be freed. Come be jostled.
Anndd, I'll be running tech so please bring all your crushes to me.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
Symphony of Rats: Wooster Group
The Performing Garage
November 8th - November 21st 2023
The Wooster Group doing a Richard Foreman play from 1988. You need me to say more?
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
BAC Open House: Tushrik Fredericks + Rebecca Margolick, Kelly Ashton Todd, Esmé Boyce Dance, CHILD, Constance Jaquay Strickland, Eric Marlin + Ilana Khanin
Baryshnikov Arts Center
November 16th - November 17th 2023
I love when I get to learn about new artists because another artist that I really like is doing a thing. In this instance, Eric Marlin + Ilana Khanin did a startlingly stunning Prelude show so I now want to know everything they are up to AND then of course CHILD features eternal faves Lena Engelstein, Lisa Fagan, Nathan Repasz and Hannah Mitchell. But then I looked up these other artists! I 100% want to know what these folx are creating and see a little behind the curtain. I would put $ on some movement sequences I have never yet beheld and some text that seeps into the folds in my brain.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Evidence of Labor and the Post-Verbal Social Network: Michelle Ellsworth
The Chocolate Factory Theater
November 9th - November 11th 2023
The promo video for this features surrealist contraptions in a kitchen setting, which I adore; and I am curious to witness the "evidence of labor" activity for audience members who attend but don't want to actually attend this performance.
Staffer: Travis Amiel
Breaking & Entering’s PEA FEST: Emma Schillage and Declan Zhang
The Chain Theater
Thursday, November 9th 2023
PEA FEST is back with two new plays! We’ve got a COCKROACHES (inspired by METAMORPHOSIS) looking at sisters’ care in the midst of their grief and we’ve got IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU looking at the revolution of love and underground social revolutions we fail to take notice of.
Staffer: Marissa Joyce Stamps
CUM ONE CUM ALL: Edy Modica
Littlefield
Sunday, November 12th 2023
I literally couldn't NEED to "pick" a show less because every single person in America knows, adores, laughs, and loves Edy Modica. But I WANT to "pick" this show because I think Edy is an incredible artist. Yes a comedian as good as her is an artist! Edy sees the world in such a unique, candid, and unfiltered way—and a loving way. Edy loves people. She loves people who aren't easy to love, some who are, and she loves every freaky thing they like. She'll makes you feel like even you too are a lovable ass bitch. And she's so funny. ENOUGH ok! Get your damn ticket!
Staffer: Lena Engelstein