You can watch the artists perform, and meet them as well, at Artists Without Walls’ May Showcase at The Cell Theatre, this Tuesday, 5/24. The doors and bar open at 6:45. Presentations begin at 7:30.
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Here are a few of the artists who will be performing:
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Allison Sylvia is a poet/artist/dancer who has performed at a number of Artists Without Walls’ Showcases. Here’s what was said about Allison after her performance at “Permutations,” an AWoW/ Kathleen Bennett Bastis collaboration at Chelsea’s First Street Gallery last Spring: “Attention grabbing, fast paced, stay focused so you don’t miss a thought….Allison is not a rapper, but if Socrates were a rap artist you might think of Allison. Brilliant.”
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AWoW charter member Brendan Connellan, who has written and produced a number of shows that were premiered on 42nd Street, NYC in the past few years, will be presenting a scene from his play, “Savage.” Appearing in the scene will be:
Courtney Torres
Courtney Torres, who frequently works with independent theater companies such as Locked in the Attic Productions and Fengari Ensemble. She has participated in various showcases and festivals in the New York City and currently trains at Playhouse West Brooklyn Lab.
Rebecca Lowry
Rebecca Lowry, who last appeared on the New York stage in the mid-1990s, when she spent a decade traveling the country as a professional actress performing in everything from Shakespeare to Burlesque. She is currently an attorney and legal writing Professor at Saint John’s University as well as an economic analyst.
John Moran
And..John Moran, long time fan and charter member of Artists Without Walls, fresh from filming Danni for “Take it to the Stage Productions” and “Age of Consent” in association with Rusty Ferris Wheel Productions and Artists Without Walls.
And Tuesday night’s “anything” was a distinctly multi-cultural night with performers from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic, Germany and the United States. As member Jim Rodgers once said, “It’s proof that AWoW is becoming the United Nations of the cultural scene here in New York City.”
The Trio Samovili
Tuesday night’s Showcase started off with a delightful taste of chamber music. The Trio Samovili, comprised of Macedonian soprano Gabriela Gyorgeva, Serbian flutist Ana Tanasijevic and Bulgarian pianist Aleksandra Kocheva performed three pieces consisting of two arias by GF Handel: Piangero la Sorte Mia (Giulio Cesare) and Ombra Mai Fu (the famed Largo from Xerxes) and culminating with a traditional Macedonian song Zajdi Zajdi Jasno Sonce, which is considered an anthem of the Balkan area. Through their interpretation you could easily feel the special emotions of homeland and the spirit of the Balkan.
Joanna Migdal
In celebration of this month’s 35th anniversary of The National Women’s History Project, Joanna C. Migdal read “Good Night, Noises Everywhere”, a cento (collage-poem) she had composed of lines by 45 of some of her favorite women poets of the past. The audience (including the men!) were moved as the lines of her poetic soliloquy expressed universal and timeless frustrations and anxieties of these women.
I.S. Jones
With a commanding stage presence and vivacious poems of triumph, tribute, and forgiveness, I.S. Jones’s poetry stunned the audience at AWoW. Her brilliant and heart-warming verse brought the audience from roaring amens to a celebration of the “black body.” I.S. was a delight to experience. We hope to see her again…and again.
Ashley Bell
Ashley Bell thrilled the crowd with a beautiful performance of Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria. She then joined forces with Artists Without Walls’ regular, violinist Annette Homann, for an impromptu, spectacular rendition of “The Prayer” by David Foster.
Allison Sylvia
Allison Sylvia performed her anti-strophe, edon.adan, at this past week’s showcase. “I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity to perform for such a supportive audience,” she said. “There are few words to describe how exciting it was that the audience ‘clapped [that they] believed in fairies.” This is one talented young lady, whose greatness is early in its ascendance.
Larry Fleischman and Courtney Torres
The opening scene, excerpted from Brendan Connellan’s new play Savage, was just the mix of unsettling darkness and bubbling farce that you might expect from some of his prior pieces, POMPA POMPA, Kill the Bid! or Death, Please! Courtney Torres and Larry Fleischman fully captured the awkward daughter-father dynamic as she dropped on him a very unexpected and somewhat unwelcome piece of news. Mary Tierney directed with great imagination and verve. The full play should be completed in the coming months so the fall out will be further explored! Expect further mayhem!
Martina Fiserova
Martina Fiserova closed out this month’s AWoW Showcase with another spellbinding performance. During her three song set of “Silver Streams,” “Song For Brian” and “A Well” you could hear a pin drop as she wowed the crowd with her voice, her guitar, the piano and the poignant stories she told about where she received the inspiration for the songs. As AWoW member Mitch Traphagen posted after the performance ‘”Go to her shows, look on YouTube — whatever you have to do — she is worth it. An incredible talent.”
Another great evening of multi-cultural talent. The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell will be on April, 28, 6:45pm.
The wonderful photographs of Vera Hora and Mitch Traphagen capture the spirit of another exciting evening of performances at The Cell Theatre, last Tuedsay, March 24th.
