Jelly’s Last Jam/Encores – Nina Conti/SoHo Playhouse – Remember This Trick/Target Margin Theatre – NYCITFF – HUMANISMO PROJECT/LaMama – Love n’ Courage Benefit/Penny Arcade – Plasters/The Flea
La MaMa ETC begins 2024 with the debut of its HUMANISMO PROJECT – a two-part series featuring new, contemporary adaptations of Aristotle and Euripides’ Medea – this winter and spring, announced by Mia Yoo, La MaMa’s Artistic Director. These new works part of the company’s resident Great Jones Repertory’s ANCIENT FUTURES SERIES. January 25-February 4, 2024, ARISTOTLE THINKS AGAIN – with original text by Chuck Mee, directed by Dan Safer (Witness Relocation) – will play at the Downstairs Theatre (66 E. 4 St.) with a cast including La MaMa’s Great Jones Repertory (GJRC) members Maura Nguyen Donohue, John Maria Gutierrez, Valois Mickens and Kim Savarino, along with guest artist Marcus McGregor. www.lamama.org
Plasters debuted at Edinburgh Fringe – ‘What does ‘true’ mean?’ You can only tell a story so many times before it morphs into something else. So by the end, who’s to say what was real? “A snapshot of human life at the Flea Theater, 20 Thomas Street, NY, February 7-11. This limited run is the first leg of Plasters International Tour’. Kicking off at the Flea Theater, this February, the tour will continue in LA, Berlin, Rome, London, and Tel Aviv, in 2024-25. Ticket link: https://www.go-out.co/venue/thefleatheater
NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYCITFF), formerly a program of the New Ohio Theatre returns from February 15 – 18, at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53 St.). The festival, led by Executive Director and Programmer Marc Weitz, and Producer and Programmer Allyson Morgan, is now in its 8th year.
NYCITFF presents work from independent theatre artists who are defying labels and branching out into film and digital media. Feature-length films, short films, filmmaker Q&As and panels with industry professionals will be presented. The full schedule will be announced in January 2024. For more info on the festival visit https://www.nycitff.org
Obie award-winning Target Margin Theater is proud to present the world premiere of Remember This Trick, an exploration of American antisemitism, stories of Jewish survival, troubling conspiracy theories, and the trickster spirit that will save us all. Created by Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits alongside a cohort of artists, Remember This Trick runs February 17 – March 17, 2024, with an opening set for Wednesday, February 28, 2024, at Target Margin Theater’s The Doxsee (232 52nd St, Brooklyn). The cast for Remember This Trick features Danny Bryck, Zoë Geltman, Yehuda L. Hyman, Sarah Suzuki, and Mari Vial-Golden. Run time 70 minutes..Tickets are now on sale at www.targetmargin.org.
The quick-thinking queen of ventriloquism and British Comedy Award-winner Nina Conti returns to New York City with her five-star smash hit show, direct from sell-out seasons in London’s West End and at the Edinburgh Festival. The dating-infused live show, is presented by Michael McKean at SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam St., NYC, February 14-17, 21-24, 27-29, & March 1-2 @ 9 PM – TICKETS: https://www.ninaontour.com/
30 Years of Encores! – JELLY’S LAST JAM Feb 21 – Mar 3: This vivid, impressionistic portrait of legendary jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton is led by visionary director Robert O’Hara (A Raisin in the Sun). Written by George C. Wolfe (Shuffle Along) and set to Morton’s iconic music, Jelly’s Last Jam tells a fable of American history, legacy, and truth.
The cast features: Nicolas Christopher, Joaquina Kalukanga, Tiffany Mann, Billy Porter, Leslie Uggams and original cast members Mamie Duncan Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren and Allison M. Williams. www.nycitycenter.org
Theater for the New City’s Emerging Playwrights Program will be beneficiary of the theater’s 21st annual Love ‘n Courage benefit Monday, February 12, 2024 at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South. The evening honors actress, performance artist and playwright Penny Arcade. Theater for the New City (TNC) is a four-theater complex at 155 First Avenue that has garnered numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize. Each year there are between 20 and 30 emerging playwrights presented.
The evening will be hosted by songwriter/playwright/performer Phoebe Legere and co-hosted by playwright Matt Morillo. Entertainment will include performances by Charles Busch and Accompanist Jono Mainelli, Phoebe Legere, excerpt from “Ella the Ungovernable” (bioplay on Ella Fitzgerald by David McDonald), Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe, TNC Street Theater Ensemble, Carol Tandava (Belly Dance) and excerpt from “The Boy Who Listened to Paintings” by Dean Kostos and Paul Kirby, directed by Lissa Moira.
www.theaterforthenewcity.net. For info call (212) 254-1109. RSVP by February 5. Dress is festive.
