Theater for the New City - LES: The 14th Annual Lower East Side Festival Of The Arts

L.E.S.

THE 14TH ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

Friday, May 22rd, 6pm - 1am
Plays, Music, Dance, Poetry, Comedy and More in the Johnson Theater and the Cabaret Theater

Saturday, May 23th, 10am - 1am
10am - 6pm - OUTSIDE ON E. 10th STREET - Cultural Fair, Performances, Food, Vendors!
2pm - 5pm - INSIDE - Youth Performances in the Johnson Theater
12pm - 12am - Film Festival in the Cabaret Theater
6pm - 1am - Plays, Music, Dance, Poetry, Comedy and More in the Johnson Theater

Sunday, May 24th, 5pm - 1am
5pm - 7pm - Poetry Readings in the Community Space Theater
6pm - 1am - Plays, Music, Dance, Poetry, Comedy and More in the Johnson Theater and the Cabaret Theater

FREE!!! FREE!!! FREE!!!

More Fabulous than ever and Still Free After All These Years!

Can’t afford to spend your holiday weekend in some exotic clime this year? Nevermind! Laugh at the Depression with us by luxuriating in the Arts instead. Spend your Stay-cation saturating your senses, exercising your funny bone and going for an intellectual joy ride at the still free and more fabulous than ever, LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS. And if you’re a Tourist trapped by Up and Midtown Prices, break free with LES’s Free Breakout Entertainment and culture. It is what the Real New York has always really been about.

Join our literally hundreds of performers as they gather at Theater for the New City to gift you with their time and talent at our 14th Annual LES. As always, we will sing hosannas to the Lower East Side and East Village’s Artistic Past, dig its Present and sneak preview its Artistic Future.

Classical Theater, Yiddish Theater, Vaudeville, Burlesque and the nascent Silent Film Industry all flourished here. George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Yip Harburg, Eddie Cantor, the Adlers, Molly Pican, Charlie Parker, Eugene O’Neill, Garcia Lorca, Mark Twain, the list goes on and on. They all lived and created here at one time. Now, it’s our time to both remember them and continue their tradition by continuing to create.

The LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS is Theater, Music, Dance Comedy, Poetry, Film, Video and the Fine Arts as well. Nearly all the Theater and Dance Groups in our area help to make up this cultural cornucopia.

LES has been around long enough for some of our own past to have passed into legend. Arthur Miller, Grace Paley, Quentin Crisp, Kurt Vonnegut and Ron Silver have all graced our stage.

Some of the groups and individuals already aboard for 2009 include Jazz great, Composer, Writer and Kerouac Collaborator David Amram, Raconteur talk-show inventor, the Nabob of Nostalgia himself, Joe Franklin, Broadway Actress and Activist Vinie Burrows, The Living Theatre’s Living Legend Judith Malina, the New York Theatre Workshop, Rod Rodgers Dance Company, Folksinger Judy Gorman, La Mama, Comedy Couple Epstein & Hassan (The Black and The Jew), Joe’s Pub, Kinky Clown and Interactive Provocateur The Red Bastard (Eric Davis), The Mariana Bekerman Dance Company, DADA New York, excerpts from Theater for the New City’s most successful recent shows and highlights of what’s upcoming, the Bangladesh Theater of America, Kinding Sindaw Dance Company, and the list grows every day.

Writers Eduardo Machado, Barbara Kahn, Lissa Moira and Larry Myers will contribute New Works.

LES – MAY 22, 23 and 24, 2009
FRIDAY, SATURDAY and SUNDAY

Date	Johnson Theater	Cabaret Theater	Community Space Theater	Outside on East 10th Street
Fri, May 22	Performances 6pm – 1am	Performances 7pm – 12am
Sat, May 23	Youth Program 2pm – 5pm Performances 6pm – 1am	Film Program 12pm – 12am		Cultural Festival, Performances, Food, Vendors and More 11am – 6pm
Sun, May 24	Performances 6pm – 12am	Performances 7pm – 12am	Poetry Readings 5pm – 7:30pm

Friday, May 22nd – ALL INDOORS
We kick off at 6pm until 1am, Upstairs in the Johnson Theater: Non-stop sensational performance, hosted by Crystal Field, Alberto Minero, Sol Echeverria and Susan Gittens.

7pm – Midnight, Downstairs in our “Black Box” Cabaret Theater: More Theater, Music, Comedy, etc – Usually a little more Sub-rosa, more intimate and slightly more outré. Hosted by the lively gifted actor Robert Fitzsimmons.

Saturday, May 23rd
Starts Outdoors from 11am to 6pm on East 10th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue, and there, writer, composer, musician and cultural anthropologist Richard West curates and hosts numerous performers, fellow musicians, singers, belly and flamenco dancers, comics and poets. The Street will be lined with vendors so you can feed your belly, your soul and your need for exotic shopping, all at the same time.

Now, our overlapping events Indoors on Saturday May 23rd
Downstairs in the Cabaret Theater with Film and Video from Noon to Midnight, curated by the savvy, charming, knowledgeable Francesse Maingrette. There will be features, shorts and animation all either thematically or ethnically linked to the Lower East Side or the East Village, or created by local auteurs.

Also, Saturday Indoors, Upstairs in the Johnson Theater from 2pm to 5pm, the Youth Portion of LES, dedicated to Kids, Teens and Tweens, curated by Actor and Teacher, the talented Primy Rivera and Lily Burd. Emceed by John Grimaldi of the New York Lyric Circus, Juggler Extraordinaire, who also does a mean Scottish Fling. Numerous Youth Groups will be performing.

LES Continues on Saturday evening, May 23rd, Indoors, upstairs in the Johnson Theater from 6pm to 1am (while Film continues downstairs). Live performances, stars and stars-to-be keep it going with Theater, Music, Dance and Comedy.

Sunday, May 24th
5pm – 7:30pm, Upstairs in the Community Space Theater, Poetry and Poetical Prose takes to the stage. Curated by Playwright, Director, Actor and Unrepentant Poet Lissa Moira. Never a Slam, always a Jam and completely egalitarian. The Stars and the Newcomers continue to be embraced in the nurturing style established by the founder of LES’s Poetry-Fest, Jushi.

Upstairs in the Johnson Theater, from 6pm to Midnight, Brilliant Theater, Music, Dance and Comedy continues non-stop. And 7pm to Midnight downstairs in our Cabaret Theater, continuous Theatrical Performances.

Also, indoors throughout the Festival, our Lobby Gallery boasts a magnificent large group Art Show, curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe. Human Kinetics and other performance artists will also be performing intermittently in the Lobby. Prepare to be Surprised!

The Theme for the 14th Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS is
Art: A Necessity for Life, in Good Times and Bad Times.

Crystal Field and the entire production committee of LES would like to remind the powers that be that they’ll get a lot more back from A-R-T than AIG. Stimulate us, we’ll continue to stimulate you.

Now everyone, Come on out to LES. Blow your Minds instead of your rent money!

VENDORS!!! ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THE LES OUTDOOR STREET FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY, MAY 24th? CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A VENDOR APPLICATION FORM! TABLES ARE ONLY $75!

TNC's 14th Annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts Exhibit May 20th-June 30th
If you are a visual artist interested in being a part of the LES Festival Arts Exhibit, please download an artist application below. TNC is providing the publicity, the reception, and the card for the event. We are looking to accept work from 35-40 artists who live and or work in the Lower East Side.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE .PDF VISUAL ARTIST SUBMISSION APPLICATION.

LES FILM FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS
Filmmakers interested in submitting their work for consideration for the Film Festival portion of LES can download a submission form below. Please follow the guidelines specified on the form. The Film Festival portion of LES will take place on Saturday, May 23rd from 12pm to 12am.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE .PDF FILM SUBMISSION APPLICATION