This Saturday, March 15th, 7:30pm, Artists Without Walls will be presenting the University College Dublin Choral Scholars in an event called Sailing Away: Songs of Farewell. The evening will be hosted by Niamh Hyland, a former soloist with the UCD Choral Scholars. “It is an exciting program filled with songs of love, loss, parting, immigration and the sea,” Niamh said of the event, which will take place at the historic St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 346 West 20th St., New York City.
UCD Choral Scholars is Ireland’s leading collegiate choral ensemble and is embarking on its first tour of the United States. Eighteen high-achieving, gifted students are awarded a scholarship each September by a panel of professional musicians following a competitive selection process. UCD’s repertoire ranges from popular music to the medieval to the contemporary. Their Parting Glass EP quickly moved to #2 on the charts in the Irish World Music category. Parting Glass is a YouTube hit as well, garnering well over 200,000 views.
We are also pleased to announce that our special guest and Artist Without Walls’ member, historian/author Peter Quinn, will share stories of his family’s immigrant experience. “Peter Quinn is a poet and an historian and one of our finest storytellers,” said National Book Award winner Colum McCann.
Net proceeds from the sale of tickets to this event will benefit the Artists Without Walls’ mission, which is to inspire, uplift and unite people and communities of diverse cultures through the pursuit of artistic achievement.
Tonight promises to be an incredible Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre. A few performers were not available due to the change in date from Monday night to tonight but we have been able to schedule some wonderful replacements. Karl Scully, born in Ireland and brought up internationally, was for six years a member of the famous international group The Irish Tenors and performed with them as a soloist in over a hundred venues in Europe and the USA as well as hosting the 10 part TV show The Irish Tenors and Friends. As a soloist, Karl has performed in hundreds of venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall and the Avery Fischer Hall, Lincoln Centre New York; Wolftrap Mainstage, Virginia; Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, Italy; and The National Concert Hall, Ireland. He also starred as Count John McCormack in the cinematic film Nora starring Ewan McGregor. His operatic roles include: Don José in “Carmen” by Bizet; Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly”; The Duke in “Rigoletto” and many other leading tenor roles. You wont want to miss this great talent.
We often say we have the best intermission in town…well grab yourself a drink, and get ready for the sounds of old-time Louisiana style porch music…practical comfortable and simple in design; songs with nostalgic finishing touches that provide a comfortable respite and opportunity to dance during AWoW’s intermission. Come hear and dance to the Cajun Trio of Julie Winterbottom, accordion, Deborah Monlux, fiddle and Michel Henry, guitar.
And the rest of the lineup? Simply great. Erin Layton will be performing a scene from her one woman play, Magdalen, a play about finding one’s voice in the void. The void being the place where identity and beauty and language are stripped away. This void is what the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland were to the young girls and women who labored in the commercial workhouses operated by religious orders of nuns in Ireland from the 19th – 20th century. Erin’s Magdalen won the Best Documentary Script at the Fourth Annual United Sol0 Festival Awards Ceremony.
Guitarist Ann Klein has toured in Europe consistently for 10 years, played house concerts in the US and has written music for a number of documentaries. As a guitarist, Ann was a featured soloist with Ani DiFranco on several shows; she has had the honor of playing, writing and recording with Kate Pierson of the B-52s, Joan Osborne, Dana Fuchs, Darden Smith, PM Dawn, Randall Woolf & Maurice Sendak (for a ballet of “Where the Wild Things Are”), Keri Noble, Of Ann, Billboard magazine said, “.…a dynamo guitarist and writer.”
Joseph Goodrich is an award-winning playwright and the editor of Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950. His nonfiction appears frequently in Mystery Scene Magazine.Tonight the masterful actor Jack O’Connell is going to read the opening pages of Joe’s short story “Ghost of Brooklyn Past”.
Rounding out the evening will be another outstanding talent, singer, Bernard Smith. Bernard hales from Dublin, Ireland and arrived in NYC in the summer of 1996. He in an actor who has inhabited various characters on numerous stages throughout New York and he has been singing songs and playing his
guitar ever since he arrived. Maybe he’ll do his great version of “Georgia.” And maybe there’ll be a few more surprises as well..perhaps a great poem or two or a short film clip, anything’s possible. This will be a great evening. Join us at The Cell, 338 W 23rd St. NYC, 7pm. This a free event courtesy of Artists Without Walls.
The date for the upcoming Artists Without Walls’ Showcase has been changed from Monday 3/3 to Wednesday 3/5. Same place–The Cell Theatre, 338 W 23rd St, NYC–and same time–7pm. Hope to see you there.
“If you were to put Ed Sullivan, Oscar Wilde and TEDTalks into a blender you’d get Artist Without Walls. The Showcase is a friendly environment for artists to share their work and start unique collaborations in a remarkably intimate setting. One of the most receptive and fun shows I’ve been a part of…” Ed Romanoff
An outstanding lineup of talent has been assembled for Monday night’s “Artists Without Walls Showcase at the Cell Theatre” in New York City. Erin Layton will be performing a scene from her one woman play, Magdalen, a play about finding one’s voice in the void. The void being the place where identity and beauty and language are stripped away. This void is what the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland were to the young girls and women who labored in the commercial workhouses operated by religious orders of nuns in Ireland from the 19th – 20th century. Erin’s Magdalen won the Best Documentary Script at the Fourth Annual United Sol0 Festival Awards Ceremony.
Guitarist Ann Klein has toured in Europe consistently for 10 years, played house concerts in the US and has written music for a number of documentaries. As a guitarist, Ann was a featured soloist with Ani DiFranco on several shows; she has had the honor of playing, writing and recording with Kate Pierson of the B-52s, Joan Osborne, Dana Fuchs, Darden Smith, PM Dawn, Randall Woolf & Maurice Sendak (for a ballet of “Where the Wild Things Are”), Keri Noble, Of Ann, Billboard magazine said, “.…a dynamo guitarist and writer.”
Joseph Goodrich is an award-winning playwright and the editor of Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950. His nonfiction appears frequently in Mystery Scene Magazine. On Monday night the masterful actor Jack O’Connell is going to read the opening pages of Joe’s short story “Ghost of Brooklyn Past”.
Jerry O’Sullivan has been widely hailed as America’s premier uilleann piper. He is also widely recorded on the tin whistle, the low whistle, the Highland Pipes and the Scottish smallpipes. Jerry will be performing with poet Connie Roberts, a County Offaly native.
Connie’s book-length manuscript, Not the Delft School, a collection of poetry inspired by her experiences growing up in an orphanage in the Irish Midlands, was awarded the prestigious Patrick Kavanagh Award. Last May, Connie received the 2013 Poetry Collection Award at the Listowel Writers’ Week Festival. She teaches creative writing at Hofstra University, New York. Also performing with Connie will be AWoW cofounder and singer Niamh Hyland who will be putting one of Connie’s poems to music.
John Mignault drew a lot as a kid, but a horrible experience with oil painting at the age of 13 and the lack of employment for artists led to the pursuit of a degree in comparative literature. “Not a field loaded with jobs,” John said. In 2006 intimations of something–very likely his own mortality–spurred him to get with it and he began drawing again. A rematch with oil painting commenced in 2012. As John said, “Oil painting is winning on points, and I continue Rocky-like anyway.” John will be sharing his work with us on Monday night.
Marion Stein is a New York based writer and blogger with an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence and an MSW from Hunter. Of her novel Loisaida, one reviewer wrote – “if this doesn’t become a cult classic something is wrong somewhere.” You can catch her awesome television recaps over at Happy Nice Time People and on Monday Marion will be sharing one of her stories.
Join us at The Cell, 338 W 23rd St., Monday at 7pm.
Darrah Carr Dance sources from two genres, traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. Darrah pulls in two directions, one toward tradition and another toward innovation, and seeks to create dance in the space between. Dance in Ireland traditionally happened at a crossroads, which is exactly what Darrah has planned for Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at Hofstra University. It’s called, “Dingle Meets Diwali.”
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Darrah Carr, Artistic Director & Choreographer of Darrah Carr Dance, currently teaches at Hofstra University and is doctoral candidate, pursuing a PhD in Dance through Texas Woman’s University. She has been named one of the “Top 40 Under 40“ by The Irish Echo one of the “Top 100 Irish Americans of the Year“ by Irish America Magazine, and one of the “Most Influential Women of 2010“ by The Irish Voice.
Darrah has been active for over fifteen years in both the Irish and modern dance communities as a choreographer, dancer, educator, and writer. In addition to her work as the Artistic Director of Darrah Carr Dance, Darrah has collaborated independently with a number of esteemed artists. She served as the assistant choreographer to Seán Curran for the TONY award winning Broadway musical “James Joyce’s The Dead“ and has set original works on Trinity Irish Dance’s Junior Company, the Nassau Dance Theatre, and the Mise Eire Irish Dancers.
Darrah has had the privilege of performing with many renowned musicians including: Mick Moloney, Natalie MacMaster, Andy Cooney, and Arlo Guthrie & The Vanaver Caravan. Carr has performed on NBC’s “The Today Show,“ and New York 1. She can also be seen tapping away in “The Guru,“ a feature film starring Heather Graham. Carr’s own work is the subject of a New York University Master’s Documentary entitled “Reel Steps“ and she choreographed the film “Right Foot/Left Foot.“
Dancing with Darrah Carr Dance will be Brigid Gillis and Mary Beth Sheehan. Brigid Gillis is a native Long Islander, who started her formal dance training in competitive Irish dance and later explored her passion for modern dance at The College of Brockport SUNY, where she acquired her BFA. Brigid has performed in various professional venues in New York City with Zehnder Dance and Darrah Carr Dance.
Mary Kate Sheehan began her dancing career training in Irish step dancing, ballet, and jazz. She competed in Irish step dancing for over 15 years on the international level, placing in the top 10 in the World. She moved to New York City in 2010 to shift her focus to modern, contemporary, and ballet as a pre-professional trainee at the Joffrey School.
Join us at Hofstra University, Tuesday, February 18, 2:15pm in the Helene Fortunoff Theater located in Monroe Hall. This is a free event sponsored by Hofstra’s Irish Studies Program with a generous grant from the Hofstra Cultural Center.
Artists Without Walls in this week’s Irish Echo, featuring photos from AWoW’s Collaboration Night at the Cell and Charles R. Hale’s “Rise Up Singing: Women in the Labor Movement.” Photos by Vera Hoar and Cat Dwyer.
“Eloquent writing, beautiful voices, charismatic performers who connected with each other — it was an inspired evening.” Justine Blau, author of “Scattered: A Mostly True Memoir,” after attending “Rise Up Singing: Women in the Labor Movement” at Lehman College.
On Tuesday night, The City & Humanities Program, in conjunction with the CUNY Institute of Irish American Studies and the Department of African American Studies at Lehman College, presented writer/creator Charles R. Hale and a brilliant cast of Artists Without Walls’ members in “Rise Up Singing: Women in the Labor Movement” a multi-media event incorporating storytelling, film, photographs and music.
The evening began with Honor Finnegan’s rousing performance of Jack Hardy’s “Aint I A Woman,” a song borne of Sojourner Truth’s speech on gender inequalities. Actor Jack O’Connell followed with an introduction in which he quoted author John Steinbeck: “We learn a great deal about people by listening to their music. Listen to their songs, for into the songs go the anger, fears and frustrations, the hopes and aspirations.”
Throughout American history, activists have adapted the lyrics from spiritual songs and applied them to various causes. Singer Antoinette Montague and pianist Sharp Radway followed a short story, accompanied by photos, of the deadly 1911, New York City, Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, with an inspired rendition of “We Shall Not be Moved,” a American folk song whose lyrics date back to slave era. One-hundred-forty six women, mostly young immigrants, lost their lives at the Triangle factory fire.
A year after the Triangle fire, striking women mill workers in Lawrence, MA were surrounded by the threat of physical harm. They continually sang “Bread and Roses,” a poem written by James Oppenheim, put to music. Honor Finnegan and guitarist Vincent Cross gave rise to the spirit of that event with an intense performance of “Bread and Roses.”
Following the Civil War, racial prejudice kept African American women working in jobs such as cooks, maids and laundresses. Spoken word artist Koro Koroye presented a poem that she wrote, called “The Sickness of Freedom,” which poignantly describes the difficulties faced by African American women, many of whom were slaves and daughters of slaves, in the post Civil War era.
Woody Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter whose musical legacy includes hundreds of songs about the experiences of the poor and oppressed. Woody’s song “1913 Massacre” is one of the most powerful interpretations of the Calumet, Michigan tragedy in which seventy-three people, mostly striking miners’ children, were trampled to death on a staircase during a Christmas Eve party. Vincent Cross evoked the spirit of Calumet and Woody with a stirring rendition of Woody’s tune.
Women have written a number of “workers” songs. One of them, Diana Jones, performed two songs she’s written, the heartbreakingly tender “Henry Russell’s Last Words,” in which she was beautifully accompanied by violinist Annette Homann, and “I Told the Man.” Each song tells the story of miners trapped hundreds of feet below ground, writing farewell notes to their families.
In the summer of 1968 six miners were trapped for 10 days in a cold, flooded mine in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia. Jeanne Richie wrote a song from a wife’s viewpoint called “West Virginia Mine Disaster.” Honor Finnegan sang and performed from the perspective of a trapped miner’s wife and Jack O’Connell played the trapped miner who describes the horror of the experience. The back and forth between Finnegan and O’Connell was exceptional and one of the evening’s many spectacular performances.
Addie Wyatt, who became the first African American woman to retain a high position in an international union, couldn’t do enough for people. She was born into poverty in Mississippi in 1924 and grew up in Chicago during the depression. When Addie was a child she played piano for her church choir…she even sang with the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Addie’s life was marked by “getting over” indignities such as discrimination and prejudice. Koro’s poem “Praise,” speaks to the pain of Addie’s setbacks but ends triumphantly with the words “I prayed until I got over.” This was a perfect lead-in to final tune of the evening, “How I Got Over,” which was popularized by Mahalia Jackson. Singer Montague, pianist Radway, violinist Homann and Koro combined to create a unique and rousing ending to the show.
Peter Quinn’s Dry Bones, a spellbinding story of an ill-fated OSS mission into the heart of the Eastern front and its consequences more than a decade after the war’s end, is now available.Dry Bones at Amazon
Matt Keating will be performing at The Bowery Electric 327 Bowery, NYC on Thursday, Nov 5th, 8:00pm. Tickets are $7. FULL BAND SHOW! Allen Devine-guitar, Jason Mercer-bass, G Wiz-drums
Don Creedon’s new short play The Ledge, starring Irish actor and boxing legend, John Duddy, is being produced by Aching Dogs Theatre Company as part of their annual New York Nuts series. Led by the power-house producer-director, Pamela Scott, and featuring no less than eight new short plays, this promises to be a great evening of original theater.
Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 W 26th St. (between 9th & 10th Ave), New York, NY 10001. November 7-10. Thurs-Sat @ 8:00pm, Sun @ 3:00pm Tickets $18, Hotel Trades Council Members: Free Reservations recommended: 212-564-6485 (This show is sponsored by the New York Hotel Trades Council AFL-CIO and The Neighborhood Service Council).
Tara O’Grady and her swinging trio will be at Winnie’s Lounge in the Refinery Hotel Tuesday, November 5 from 6-9pm. 63 W. 38 Street.
Violinist Annette Homann will be performing in the musical White Christmas at the Westchester Broadway Theater, 1 Broadway Plaza, Elmsford, NY. The show opens Thursday, Nov 7 . Performances are Wednesdays at 1 pm, Thursdays 1 and 7 pm, Fridays 1 and 7 pm, Saturdays 8 pm, Sundays 1:30 pm and 7 pm
There will be a festival screening of Subterranean Love by Robert Haufrecht featuring music by Marni Rice and Frank Perowsky at The Big Apple Film Festival in NYC at Tribeca Cinemas, Saturday November 9th at 2:15pm. For Information and tickets here’s the direct link:
Singer/songwriter Ed Romanoff said, “If you were to put Ed Sullivan, Oscar Wilde and TEDTalks into a blender you’d get Artist Without Walls. The Showcase is a friendly environment for artists to share their work and start unique collaborations in a remarkably intimate setting. One of the most receptive and fun shows I’ve been a part of…”
Poet Angela Alaimo O’Donnell offered a powerful reading of selections from her books Moving House, Saint Sinatra, and Waking My Mother. Hers are fierce, finely-wrought poems that embrace unlovely realities–the hard life of “Coal Town,” the families that labor beneath its ashen skies, the death of a father, the loves of a mother, spiritual hope dogged by spiritual despair. O’Donnell’s superb, inspired language and forgiving imagination have somehow survived the “slag heaps” of home. Her passionate performance offered public witness to the power of poetry to speak the unspeakable, to articulate for us all what we cannot, and to redeem our lives and losses through beauty.
Ceramic artist Sana Musasama began her compelling performance, which included a filmed photo-journey of her art and travels, stating that as a world traveler she seeks out the comfort and protection of women in traditional cultures She visits markets that are dominated by women who invite her into their lives, guide her and teach her; they feed her passion. Sana’s work is about an experience that triggers an emotion , sometimes a place or a time. She then submerges herself with information that informs these ideas and concepts. As she said, “When I feel this overwhelming presence I poetically call my extra heart beat. I then pick up my clay and begin to build.”
Visiting Irish writer Alan McMonagle read from his newly published collection, Psychotic Episodes. In ten captive minutes he excerpted a story that manages to accommodate a six-hundred-year-old woman, a talking cat, a marijuana grower, a pair of deaf and blind philosophers, a notorious womanizer, and a Yoga Master become property developer. We hope to see Alan back in the States soon. A most welcome addition to the AWoW lineup of talent.
Singer/songwriter Diana Jones made a dazzling Showcase debut singing three songs. She opened with “Henry Russell’s Last Words,” a song she wrote, based on a letter a dying miner scratched on a piece of paper while trapped in a mine. Diana followed with “Pony” a song told from the viewpoint of a young Native American girl in the 1920s who is forced to assimilate to a life and culture that is not her own. She ended her set with a song from her brand new release Museum of Appalachia Recordings. Diana combines traditional mountain and old-time sounds with a literate, character-driven brand of storytelling. She will be appearing in NYC at Hill Country NY on Monday, November 4th. I highly recommend getting tickets to hear this great talent. Click here for ticket info
Fiddler Deni Bonet and singer and AWoW cofounder Niamh Hyland accompanied Ed Romanoff on four tunes. Mixing humor and warmth with darker tones, aided by two very accomplished musicians, Ed’s songs, stories of the human condition, captivated the audience. Niamh closed out the set with a touching, soulful tribute to her mother Margaret and grandmother Sarah by performing the old Irish ballad: “The Parish of Knockmore.” She followed it with a haunting and powerful version of Alanis Morissette’s tune “Uninvited”. Beautiful singing and a voice that can go from zero-to-sixty in a heartbeat.
Ron Vazzano read from his books of poems Shots from a Passing Car, in a an exuberant and energetic manner, in the best tradition of spoken word performance. His satiric and cutting edge style was most evident in “Blue Sky Session At Morning,” which recounts moments in time from his previous life as an advertising executive. This piece especially elicited an hilarious response from an audience, obviously attuned to the “Mad Man” culture.
We were pleased to have Jenai Huff join us again last night. Jenai played three songs from her new EP Grace and Elbow Grease. The first song was the title track, followed by “Make This Be” and closing with with “Come Home.” Jenai’s songs are about life, love and loss and she clearly has a reverence for them. Her pure and soulful voice and big smile coax the listener to relax.
The evening concluded with a tour-de-force performance from a work written by the very talented actor D.J. Sharp. His portrayal of Tennessee Williams in his final three days of his life at New York’s Hotel Elysee was spellbinding and brought down the house. A brilliant end to a night filled with one great performance after another.
At the end of the evening AWoW member Ray Lindie said, “Brilliant! Somehow egos are left at the door and you sit there absorbing these wonderful performances. And by the end of the evening you find yourself connected to your soul.”
The next Artists Without Walls Showcase will be on November 26th at The Cell Theater, 338 W. 23rd St., NYC. For more information on Artists Without Walls contact info@artistswithoutwalls.com