ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS, TONIGHT, at THE CELL THEATRE in NYC

Artists Without Walls December Showcase at the cell theater in New York City, NY. December 23, 2014. Charles Hale, Niamh Hyland, Joseph Goodrich, Ron Vazzano, Ed Romanoff, Michael Sheahan, Nicholas Garr, Honor Molloy, Marion Stein, Grainne Duddy.
Ron Vazzano

It made for an event the likes of which you will rarely, if ever, experience. A melding of artists within the walls… it was a memorable night. Yes, it was that good,” said writer Ron Vazzano about a recent  Artists Without Walls’ Showcase in Kathleen Bennet Bastis’s art gallery. Ron will be opening tonight’s (Tuesday, January 26) Showcase at The Cell Theatre with a new multimedia creation. 

 

Richard Stillman and Flip Peters
Richard Stillman and Flip Peters

Richard Stillman,  accompanied by Flip Peters, perform a few numbers from, “The Spirit of Vaudeville,” a show that won the Best Concert Award at the 2014 United Solo Theater Festival in New York City. Richard writes and performs shows that combine music, storytelling, singing and percussive dance, and plays a wide variety of folk instruments from around the world. As an actor, Richard has performed on Broadway, the Kennedy Center, National tours, PBS Television and in regional theaters from New Jersey to Alaska. He was in “Hamlet” with Rip Torn and Geraldine Page and he performed with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in “Take it From the Top.”

 

Craig MacArthur
Craig MacArthur

Craig MacArthur, actor and Fitzmaurice voice work instructor, will be making his AWoW debut on Tuesday.  Craig received his MFA in Acting from Rutgers University and he will be sharing a monologue from “Misterman” by Enda Walsh. The full show, which runs 85 minutes, had its Western Regional premiere in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, last year. Upcoming roles include Kaffee in A “Few Good Men” by Aaron Sorkin.

 

Izzy Levine and Ella McDonald
Izzy Levine and Ella McDonald

 

 

Not only does Artists Without Walls strive to bring diverse cultures together in artistic achievement, but we aim to give young performers an opportunity to step onto a New York stage as well. Performing at tonight’s Showcase at The Cell will be Izzy Levine, daughter of AWoW member Phoebe Farber, and Ella McDonald. Izzy and Ella are juniors at Montclair High School in Montclair, New Jersey and have been performing together for the past two years. We are thrilled to be presenting them to our AWoW audience.

 

Mountain Maidens
Mountain Maidens

First time presenters, “Mountain Maidens,” including Marie Mularczyk O’Connell , Candice Baranello and Lorraine Berger, are three voices blended in splendid harmonies that will lift your spirits and warm your heart. They sing ballads, folk songs, love songs, country and gospel songs, including themes of social justice, to the accompaniment of guitars, banjo, dulcimer, mandolin, spoons and castanets. Marie, Candice and Lorraine are greatly inspired by Appalachian mountain music and have brought the deep modal harmonies of this tradition to their repertoire.

 

Mary Tierney
Mary Tierney

AWoW regulars, actress Mary Tierney and playwright David Loughlin will be performing a scene from David’s “The Senior Case Manager, a comedy about civil service, devil’s food, red-headed rivals,space aliens, intense loneliness, and unrequited love… and all in less than twelve minutes.

David Laughlin
David Loughlin

 

Niamh Hyland and Charles R. Hale, Artists Without Walls’ Artistic Directors, will be emceeing the event. The doors and the bar at The Cell Theatre, which is located at 338 W23rd St., open at 6;45. Hope to see you there. 

"SPOTLIGHT ON" GUENEVERE DONOHUE


Guen the fighterWho is Guenevere Donohue?   

 

Still figuring that one out.  So far I’m an actor, playwright, singer, director & visual artist from the Bronx.   I spent half my youth growing up in the lower Hudson valley, Beacon and Poughkeepsie NY.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

 

I’m acting in, Passing Through, a new six character play by Tristan Grigsby, which is also my NYC directing debut.  It’s exciting watching the incredible actors we have take my ideas and make them into their own, make them work so beautifully.  This production is a gift, poetic, kind, funny and challenging.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  I’m learning a lot.  Constant work on singing keeps me busy as well. 

 

Do you have upcoming events you’d like people to attend?   

 

Yes, Passing Through is running at Theatre for the New City through April 28th 

 

Otto & Henrietta standingWhat is your favorite theatrical work?

 

Favorite?  Ehh,  that’s not a fair question for the moving mind.  However…

In the 1990’s I saw, Le Cirque Invisible, a conceptual mini-circus comprised of three persons.  They created amazing stage images, acrobatics, and clowning. They had a beautiful family-troop connection, (Exponential Ensemble) Victoria Chaplin, her husband Jean-Baptiste Thierrée, and when I saw it, their son James Thierrée.  Such imagination and beauty I had never seen on stage.  It changed me, the way a masterwork of painting can change you.  James Thierrée is now doing his own original work, and that is thrilling as well.

 

Who are the actors and playwrights you admire?

 

The film director John Sayles is top of my admiration list.  He is a true independent voice.

 

I could list hundreds of actors.  It’s really hard work to be good at this.  I admire the ones that keep going deeper, who strive to make the acting seamless and invisible.  

 

I’ll name a few:

 

David Strathairn is incredible.  Micheal Chumpsty is my vocal inspiration for stage. Raul Julia, John Hurt, Pacino, Peter O’Toole, Gena Rowlands, Yves Montand, Jay O. Sanders, Bill Irwin, Fritz Weaver, Peter Faulk, Shirley Knight, Judy Dench, Austin Pendleton, Ben Kingsley, Meryl Streep, James Dean…but these you recognize. 

 


Constance in KrackI have even more admiration for all the unknown actors really struggling in Downtown Theatres rushing from day jobs to make curtain, those that spend every waking hour working to make it better, get it right, go deeper.  If that fine stew of actors did not exist the ones that rise to the top could never become so good.

 

I admire Playwrights who challenge the audience to think, and think again.

 


Samual Beckett, Tennesse Williams, O’Neill, Shakespeare, Joanna Glass, Valclav Havel, Lanford Wilson, Horton Foote, Marie Irene Fornes, Athol Fugard, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sam Shepard, Edward Albee, Enda Walsh, Tom Stoppard, Pinter…  oh, there are too many, and not enough.

 

Who is your greatest inspiration and why? 

 

Pete Seeger. I met him, and began singing with his Beacon Sloop Club Singers, when I was 10 years old.  He is tough as nails, committed to his ideals and a great musician.  Very few people in this world stand by their principles no matter what comes at them.  Pete always walks the walk.  He never just talks the talk, as you hear many do these days.  He also has a very rare and genuine kindness.  Miriam Makeba’s up there in my book too.

 

 

What are the top five things you would like to do with your life?

 

  1. Sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a not too large boat.
  2. Travel around North America on horseback.
  3. Live in a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking region) in Western Ireland for at least a year, so that I can be immersed in, and learn more of, the language. Simultaneously write an Irish/English bilingual comic screenplay.
  4. The most important show I’ve written, Killer is My Name, has yet to hit the boards in NYC and that is utmost on my Artistic list.
  5. Also, I would like to see extreme north before it melts.  I would love to be invited on an Arctic expedition with Cape Farewell, like my friend Cynthia Hopkins did.  She made a great show about it.

 

 

lDacNiMImeqJ0EdWKjx7q5PzMDO9j36Yil6sBEDtduIIf you could dream of trying something in the arts you haven’t tried, but would like to, what would that be?

 

Found and sing lead in a band that blends Celt, American-Trad, Jazz, Blues, and Folk Rock with what people call an Alternative sensibility.

 

What was the best gift that someone gave you that inspired or facilitated an interest in you art?

 

I have to go with the most recent.  Tristan Grigsby gave me his play, Passing Through, to direct.  His own work put in my hands.  That level of trust has been a great challenge to keep honoring each day.  The play is unusual, somehow in your face and sweet at the same time.  I love doing.

 

 Ticket information for Passing Through

Guenevere Donohue Facebook Page

 

Artists Without Walls

 

 

 

"ON THE TOWN" WITH AWoW MEMBERS AND FRIENDS

Maria Deasy
Maria Deasy

What’s In a Name starring Maria Deasy.  The Chain Theatre, 21-28th Road, 45th Road, Long Island City. Tickets$18.  Tickets for What’s In a Name. Matinee today, 2PM. April 17-21 and April 24-27.

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Guenevere Donohue
Guenevere Donohue

 

 

 

 

Passing Through starring Guenevere Donohue.  Theatre For The New City, 155 First Ave., NYC. Tickets $15. Tickets for Passing Through Matinee today 3PM. April 17-21 and April 24-28.

 

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Tara O'Grady
Tara O’Grady

 

 

 

 

 

Swinging Sakura Birthday Bash with Tara O’Grady. Mary O’s 32 Avenue A, NYC. Wednesday, April 17, 7pm  www.taraogradymusic.com

Noni Stapleton
Noni Stapleton

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A reading of  Two for a Girl starring Noni Stapleton (co-writer) and Aedin Moloney. The Cell Theatre, 338 W. 23rd St., NYC. Monday, April 22, 7PM Free event

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Artists Without Walls
Artists Without Walls

 

Artists Without Walls’ Showcase directed by Charles R. Hale.  Thursday, April 25, 7PM Lehman College, The Studio Theater, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NYC. Free event