Ars Nova, “a company known for pop-culture-savvy experimentation, with a hipness that sets it apart” (New York Times), under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan, Producing Executive Director Renee Blinkwolt and Managing Director Casey York, announces details for its 2023–2024 Season, which doubles programming from past seasons and sustains its commitment to accessible ticket prices through What’s Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price tickets. This innovative program allows audiences to name their price, starting at $5, to performances all season long including Ars Nova’s two Off-Broadway productions.
Ars Nova’s first of two Off-Broadway premieres, (pray), a sacred offering by nicHi douglas, directed and choreographed by douglas, with music by S T A R R Busby and JJJJJerome Ellis, will run September 23–October 28, 2023 at its downtown satellite stage, Ars Nova @ Greenwich House. Through music, movement, and human connection, (pray) celebrates and reckons with the complexity of spiritual inheritance, summoning the curiosity, anger, confusion and bliss that transcends generations of Black women across the African diaspora. Channeling the joy and vitality of a Sunday Baptist Church service through a surreal and Afrofuturist lens, (pray) serves as an invitation to examine one’s own spiritual practices and holds space to inspire human transformation through the liberation of the Black feminine divine. Name Your Price tickets to (pray) are available now and can be purchased at www.arsnovanyc.com/pray. (pray) was commissioned by Ars Nova andis a co-production with National Black Theatre.
In the Spring, Ars Nova will present the Off-Broadway world premiere of Travels, a sonic narrative collection by James Harrison Monaco, which will run March 15–April 13, 2024 at Ars Nova (511 W 54th St). Directed by Andrew Scoville, this cross-continental play-meets-electronic-music-set fuses synthesizers with storytelling to share accounts of modern-day travel – from vacation to work trips, border-crossing, asylum-seeking and long-distance relationships. Over the span of a setlist sown with adventure, heartbreak and euphoria, audiences traverse the complex topography of language, borders, power and privilege one beat at a time.
Ars Nova’s 2023–2024 season also includes an expansion of programming at its original home at 511 W 54th Street. Over 50 events will showcase innovative, genre-bending new work and serve as a play space for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. New shows will premiere regularly on-stage and online, kicking off with commissioned artist Sammy Miller & The Congregation in concert Sept 6–8, and including the 17th annual All New Talent Festival, ANT Fest (June 2024), which will once again shine a spotlight on NYC’s wildest and wackiest live performances from fresh talent taking their first swings. Additional highlights include the return of Showgasm., Ars Nova’s monthly variety-show-meets-party, and the CAMP Bonfire series (May 2024). Name Your Price tickets to Sammy Miller & The Congregation’s concert series are available now and can be purchased at www.arsnovanyc.com/sammy-miller-and-the-congregation.
Photo: Marc J. Franklin (pray and travels)
