By Charles Quittner
On January 1, Williamsburg’s The Brick Theater welcomed Theresa Buchheister as its new Artistic Director. Founded by Michael Gardner in 2002, The Brick has been North Brooklyn’s home for eclectic works and experimental plays—ones so unique they’ve even starred my dog. Since taking over, Buchheister has stepped up with bolder and more focused programming, but that all changed once COVID—and revolution—hit. Now, The Brick is an outpost for protestors and the houseless community.
Read the full article at brooklynrail.org
Year: 2020
CultureBot: Out of an Abundance of Caution, Volume 27
By Dot Armstrong
Luckily, Out of An Abundance of Caution is here to challenge our collective attention span. Volume 27 offered three inventive, evocative works tracing the contours of bodies past and present, along with a running dialogue about the themes of the evening via Twitch’s live chat feature. Host Maya Sharpe expertly ran the livestream and infused the event with vigor, whimsy, and synonyms.
Read the entire article at culturebot.org
NY Times: New York’s Arts Shutdown
Brooklyn Rail: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? OZET Lands at The Brick.
By Adam R. Burnett
Here’s what we know so far…
In 1929, after securing approval from the Eurasian Confederated Socialist States (ECSS), 700 “pioneers” were relocated to passing Comet P41. Leading up to the deployment of the First Generation, the comet was prepared through missions that shaped the landscape for human use.
Read the rest of the article at brooklynrail.org
NY Times: Hungry for Some Unclassifiable Theater? Dinner is Served.
By Elisabeth Vincentelli
Read the full article at nytimes.com
American Theatre Magazine: Where Have All the Festivals Gone: A January Wrap-Up
By Nicole Serratore
More wackiness ensued in the comedic play, Jupiter (Exponential), written by comedy troupe Simple Town. They imagined what would happen if the police infiltrated a group of anarchists by literally embedding themselves in the walls.
Read the full article at americantheatre.org
Bigger and Better: Experimental Theater Festival Returns
By Kevin Duggan
And those in the mood for a lighthearted laugh should check out “Catches No Flies,” a comedic dance performance by Lisa Fagan, featuring bad ventriloquism, a dolphin trainer living her dream, inclement weather, and a sardine escaped from the can.
Read the full article at brooklynpaper.com
The Best Things To Do in NYC This Week
By Oriana Leckert
See the bleeding edge of theater at the Exponential Festival, a month-long extravaganza focused on emerging artists and experimental performance. Some highlights: Good and Noble Beings, an adaptation of Deleuze and Guattari’s poststructuralist text A Thousand Plateaus mashed up with memoir and radical reimaginings;
Read the full article at gothamist.com
WNYC: Review/Preview: January Theater Festivals
With Helen Shaw
Helen Shaw, theater critic at New York Magazine, joins for our ongoing “Review/Preview” series with a rundown of what to check out at the many theater festivals taking place in NYC in January.
Watch the full video on wnyc.org
CBS: NYC Things To Do This Weekend: Jokes, Experimental Theater And Bull Riding
With Will Gleason
Time Out New York’s Will Gleason highlights the start to a whole new year of NYC happenings, including the annual 50 First Jokes show, Brooklyn’s Exponential Festival and bull riding at Madison Square Garden.
Watch the full video on CBS
NY Times: 17 Plays and Musicals to Go to in N.Y.C. this Weekend
By Alexis Soloski
THE EXPONENTIAL FESTIVAL at various locations (performances run through Feb. 2). This monthlong festival lauding local artists returns to Brooklyn. Participating locations this year will include the Brick, JACK, the Doxsee Theater and Vital Joint, as well as a superstore that will play host, wittingly or otherwise, to an immersive, choose-your-own-adventure show.
theexponentialfestival.org
The Observer: What’s Ahead for Off-Off Broadway: The Most Vulnerable but Vital Spaces for Theater?
By David Cote
As the COVID-19 shutdown grinds on, countless questions about theater loom: When can venues reopen? Without a vaccine, will audiences gather in an enclosed space? Are shows canceled for the rest of 2020? But the most basic, existential query is the hardest to answer: Who will survive?
Read the full article at observer.com
Vulture: “There Is No ‘Surplus’ in Nonprofit”: How Off Broadway Is Coping With Closure
By Helen Shaw
When Governor Cuomo’s office announced that Broadway would shut down on Thursday, March 12, in the face of COVID-19, the emails started to come in. Uptown, the state had made the call. But downtown, that decision had to happen artistic director by artistic director — tiny spaces, seating sometimes as few as 40 people, choosing to close. There are a handful still open, some to finish a run or get in one last show, and at Radio City Music Hall, Riverdance still stomped last night. (So did Stomp, 26 years into its run at the Orpheum.) But the dominoes were falling all over the city yesterday — shows, seasons, festivals, rehearsals, auditions, designer meetings, rental business, the works.
Read the full article on vulture.com