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ABOUT THE PROJECT

LINEUP (The following 5 short plays are performed every night as one production):

 

EVICTION NOTICE (Bushwick)

Director and Creator: Tracy Cameron Francis

 

BEAUTIFUL MESS (East Village) 

Director: Lana Russell

Playwright: Korde Tuttle

 

BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW (Flushing)

Director: Ilana Becker

Playwright: Tori Keenan-Zelt

 

UNDERNEATH (Harlem) 

Director: Estefania Fadul

Playwright: Christine Jean Chambers

 

97 ORCHARD ST. (Lower East Side)

Director: Melody Erfani

Composer: J.P. Makowski

Around the Block is an evening of investigative and community driven theater comprised of five individual short pieces that explore five neighborhoods in New York City. From a complete history of Bushwick told through movement, to a devised interwoven-monologue look at the fabric of the Lower East Side, to scripted plays exploring the people in and storied pasts of Harlem, Flushing, and the East Village, AROUND THE BLOCK is a 90-minute tour through some of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Each piece in AROUND THE BLOCK is based on personal experiences, interviews, research, and dreams. In collaboration with writers, composers, dancers, actors, and designers, five directors create five interconnected and original works of theatre based on the past, present and imagined future of their respective neighborhoods. AROUND THE BLOCK asks if a consistent community can exist within our constantly changing neighborhoods. What does it mean to be a “New Yorker”?

 

As we investigate each neighborhood, we hope to take steps closer to its respected community and varied culture. Each 15-20 minute piece in this project is being developed with a mind toward a larger, longer running production, spanning several locales and extending into New York City’s various neighborhoods in order to strike deeper bonds within and across communities.

 

AROUND THE BLOCK will :

- bring audiences into neighborhoods they’ve yet to explore

- deepen audience members’ connections with their own communities

- pique audience members’ curiosity and expand their appreciation for their neighboring communities

- bring audiences to local businesses, museums, community and arts centers throughout New York City

- ask questions about our relationships to our neighborhoods

- tell stories about the past, present, and projected futures of these unique and vibrant neighborhoods.

 

Presented in four different NYC neighborhoods over the course of five performances, the show will run from June 8th - June 16th, 2014. Check out our Tickets page for dates and venue information!

 

AROUND THE BLOCK is co-sponsored by Hybrid Theater Works and Pleiades Productions.

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