If you missed Grainne Duddy at Artists Without Walls’ Holiday Showcase on December 23rd, here is your chance to see her perform again. An extract from Moonlight Sonata, written and directed by Brona Crehan, will be part of Manhattan Repertory Theater’s Winter One Act Competition.
Show dates are, Tuesday January 13 at 6:30 pm, Wednesday January 14 at 6:30 pm, Thursday January 15 at 6:30 pm and Friday January 16 at 6:30 pm.
. Manhattan Repertory Theater is located at: 303 W. 42nd St. Suite 614, right past Duane Reade on 42nd St. Enter Right Door to Elevator – go to 6th floor – Suite 614 – You will see signs. Tickets are $20 and reservations are made by email at: mrtreserve@gmail.com
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Annette Homann
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Join Annette Homann for her CD release at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre, 61 Christopher St, January 15th, 9:30pm. Tickets are officially on sale now. “I Would love to share my excitement with all of you!” says Annette. For tickets click here
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Jim Hawkins
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Jim Hawkins will be telling Frank O’Connor Stories on Friday, January 16 at 7pm, at the Inquiring Mind Book Store and Gallery, 200 Main Street, Saugerties, New York. Storyteller Janet Carter who runs this monthly event will also tell Irish stories. Admission is free. Donations are gratefully accepted.
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Terry McCarthy
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Terry McCarthy premieres his new five piece electric band on Friday, January 16th, at Tierney’s, 136-138 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ. Terry will be joined by the fantastic Bern and the Brights. $10 cover.
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Noah Hoffeld, Dan Yurkofsky and Melissa Sytlianou
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Singer, composer, and songwriter Dan Yurkofsky will perform songs from Hoverhill, his recent album on Sunday, January 18th, 4pm, at The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd St., NYC. This will be a full group show and the first ever performance of all the songs from the record.
With Anna Dagmar – piano and keyboard, Thad Debrock – guitar, Noah Hoffeld – cello, and Melissa Stylianou – voice. Click here for tickets, which are $10
Artists Without Walls Montage by Vera Hoar
Artists Without Walls Showcase at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St. Tuesday, January 27th, 6:45 pm.
“The atmosphere is electric; it encourages creativity, imagination, and very importantly, friendship and discussion between like minds amongst the audience and the performers. Everybody is welcome at Artist’s Without Walls.” Eimear O’Connor, Ireland, author, Sean Keating: Art, Politics and Building the Irish Nation.
Here are a few of the great moments from AWoW’s 10/22/14 Showcase:
Ron Vazzano
Ron Vazzano performed a monologue entitled “Ten Totems of Obsolescence in Passing,” adapted from an essay he had posted online in his monthly “Muse-Letter.” This stunning piece, that ran the full gamut of emotions— from pathos to joy— captivated the audience. A highlight, was his bemoaning the fact that the 100 Watt bulb had now been replaced by a new squiggly fluorescent one, which he suddenly produced from his jacket pocket with an existential bewailing: “A light bulb that will outlive me!”
Sana Musasama
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. Describing her mission, Sana said, “Heart first…you touch lives and you are touched by life.” A riveting presentation.
Noah Hoffeld, Dan Yurkofsky and Melissa Sytlianou
Dan Yurkofsky, Noah Hoffeld,and Melissa Stylianou performed “Wyoming” and “MIddle of the Road”, songs from Hoverhill, Dan’s recently released album of his original songs. “Wyoming” featured Melissa’s gorgeous singing voice and Noah’s superb cello playing. Both songs displayed Dan’s evocative composing and lyric writing style. Hoverhill is available for purchase on CD Baby and Amazon.
Laurie Lewis, Mike Visceglia and Liz Queler
Liz Queler and Laurie Lewis, were joined by musicians Mike Visceglia, Seth Farber and Robin Daniels in a piece written expressively for their AWoW performance called “The Owl and the Pussycat. Here are few of the audience’s comments:
“Everything about it was perfection—the contrast between the nursery rhyme and your narrative, the beauty of the underlying melody, Robin’s eerie percussive touches, it all coalesced into an incredibly moving and emotive piece of art.”
“Wow. That was wonderful. It came together beautifully and moved me to shiny tears. I expected the piece to be poignant, but the joy and hope came from the performance.”
“I just loved the piece – as lulling as a lullaby but oh so subtly becomes an adult odyssey, daydream, night mare….”
Idan Morim
Israeli born Jazz guitarist Idan Morin said, “My playing is based off of jazz, but is influenced by rock, classical and world music. The music that I write tends to be very melodic, cinematic at times.” Idan began his set playing an improvised intro to an old jazz standard called “My Ideal,” followed by the actual tune. He followed with two originals, the first called “Mental Comp” and the second “Movement.” Idan is clearly staking out his own territory with his technical brilliance and melodic sound.
Richard Deane
Richard Deane read a scene from his novel in progress “When Yesterday Comes.” In this scene Richard invites us into the private retrospection of a young woman reflecting upon the psychological abandonment and abuse that haunted her childhood. Elle Hatcher’s survival comes at the cost of her innocence and portends consequences that will affect not only her own life but those of her younger sisters. Richard’s words evoke a universal poignancy meant to scratch below the surface of our sympathetic responses to life’s tragic disappointments.
Warren Malone and his son Gibson lit up the theatre with three inspired tunes. Warren began with one of his own works, a soulful tune called “Ash and Smoke,” then was joined by his son Gibson on piano for “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Mean Woman Blues.” Have a listen below.
Artists Without Walls next Showcase will be at The Cell Theatre on November 25th. For more information contact info@artistswithoutwalls.com
Vera Hoar’s photos from the Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre, October 22, 2014. The names of the photographed appear above each photo.
“Artists Without Walls allows the various artists to bring things they ‘make’ to The Cell, to share with others. Sharing my neon animations last night was a real honor. To have been able to offer the crowd a touch of fun and joy is the icing on the cake for an artist.” Jack Feldstein, animator and scriptwriter, after a recent AWoW Showcase.
And they’ll be more of the same on Wednesday, October 22nd, 7pm at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd Street, NYC.
Ron Vazzano
Ron Vazzano is a writer and poet, and his monthly on line “Muse-Letter” (a mix of essays, reviews, poems, quotes, wordplay etc) just reached its tenth anniversary this month. Ron’s essays have been posted on the Artists Without Walls’ website and he’s also read his poetry on a number of occasions at Showcases over the past year. In a former life, he spent some years as an actor appearing in theatrical productions in New York City as well as on the road. Ron will be working in both capacities on Wednesday, doing a character monologue that he has adapted from an essay appearing on his website this month, entitled: “Ten Totems of Obsolescence in Passing.”
Laurie Lewis
Laurie Lewis is a nationally and internationally acclaimed composer/producer/owner of Incommon Music, an original music production company, established in 1990. Incommon Music has produced hundred of scores and songs for film, commercials and multi media installations. Joining Laurie will be Liz Queler who is a touring and recording artist. Liz’s first theater piece ‘Still Will be
Liz Queler
Heard’ was recently commissioned and produced by Montclair State University to rave reviews. AWoW is delighted to reunite Laurie and Liz – a songwriting and production team that began 25 years ago. They’ve developed a piece called “The Owl and the Pussycat” specifically for Wednesday’s performance.
Sana Musasama
World traveler, humanitarian and ceramic artist Sana Musasama will be joining us once again this Wednesday to discuss her efforts on behalf of abused young girls around the world and her work, which as she says, “Is about an experience that triggers an emotion, sometimes of a place or a time.” She then submerges herself with information that informs these ideas and concepts. “When I feel this overwhelming presence I poetically call my extra heart beat. I then pick up my clay and begin to build.” If you missed Sana when she visited us six months ago here’s another chance to meet this very compelling woman.
Warren Malone
Singer/songwriter Warren Malone loves to sing, write songs and play guitar. “I love traditional folk music as much as I love a great pop song. The first record I ever put on was a Hank Williams’ record when I was four years old. As a kid I loved Elvis.” Joining Warren on the piano for some old time rock ‘n’roll will be his son Gibson Malone. If you haven’t heard these two play together you’re in for a treat
Richard Deane
Richard Deane will be reading a scene from his novel-in-progress, “When Yesterday Comes.” At a reading earlier in the year Richard read a scene that poignantly explores the existential conflict between a cabdriver’s skittish trepidations and the allurement of his prurient desires as he drives two menacing street pimps uptown to Harlem on Christmas Day. We’re looking forward to another excellent passage from Richard’s work.
Dan Yurkofsky
Singer/composer Dan Yurkofsky will present two songs from his recently released CD “Hoverhill. “Although he now resides in New York City, many of the songs on the record are inspired by life in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he lived for several years. He’ll be joined by two of the outstanding musicians that play on the album: cellist Noah Hoffeld and singer Melissa Stylianou.
Idan Morim
Idan Morin, a guitarist who hails from Israel and studied at the Tel Aviv Conservatory of Music and more recently at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary music in NYC, grew up studying the giants of jazz and musicians from all over the world. His ability to communicate without words is cleary present in his music and Improvisation.
“How many more amazing things can I say about Artists Without Walls? It’s an amazing community and an incredible lineup of diverse artists. Thank you for the plug on my show and for the major hugs of support. I love these people.” Erin Layton
“Yes! Last night’s Artists Without Walls Showcase was exhilarating as was evidenced by the energy and smiles at The Cell . Thanks for putting together another evening of performances for the memory book.” Marty Plevel
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Honor Molloy began the evening by reading “What’s Taken,” an expressionistic segment that was dropped from her novel Smarty Girl – Dublin Savage. This piece features Noleen O’Feeney and her father trapped in the ruins of her childhood home. Afterwards, someone asked Honor why it was taken out of the book. “Because it was far too abstract for the audience I wanted…but not too abstract for the gang at AWoW.”
Honor Molloy
The silvery voice of Jenai Huff combined with the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Eugene Ruffolo in a performance of two original tunes written by Jenai and one by Eugene. Eugene followed with a song written in Italian, which will be part of his next CD scheduled to be released in the fall. His beautiful timbre and romantic language delighted the audience.
From the moment Yvonne Cassidy began to read from her latest novel How Many Letters Are in Goodbye? she held the audience spellbound. Cassidy read the first letter from the novel title, a letter from seventeen-year old Rhea Farrell to her mother, Allison who died when Rhea was only three. Writing from Penn Station, Rhea begins to share with her mother her homeless experience but quickly lapses into questions she has always had, questions she wants her mother to answer. Judging by the book sales at the intermission, the audience members too, were keen to find out the answers to these questions! For anyone who didn’t get their hands on a copy, click here.
A delightful new presence on the music scene in New York has arrived from the heart of Europe, the city of Prague. Martina Fiserova’s humor and energy shone through her music and lit up the room. Her soulful authentic approach delivered an emotional urgency; even a melancholic story felt uplifting. The exciting chord work she does sets her apart from being “just another girl with a guitar.” We need more of these European invasions.
Martina Fiserova
Dan Yurkofsky premiered two song compositions from his new CD, Hoverhill. The songs, titled “The Time Zone” and “Walking” featured Mr. Yurkofsky’s melodic singing voice and contemplative lyrics. He was deftly accompanied by two fine musicians, Matt Turk on acoustic guitar and Noah Hoffeld on cello . To learn more about Hoverhill, and to hear listening examples from the CD you can click here.
First time performer, Kathleen Bennett Bastis’, opened the second half of the show with an hilarious and “spot on” perspective of internet dating. Kathleen claimed that this was the first time she had been on stage since she performed in Scheherazade in fifth grade; hard to believe given her poise, charm and insouciance. “As always, a terrific evening of great entertainment and talent,” Kathleen said after the show.
Ashley Bell was next and she dazzled all with a stirring rendition of the opera staple, “O Mio Babbino Caro.” She followed up the showstopper with an original composition, which showcased her lower register and displayed another level of her vocal instrument.
Ashley Bell
Digital poet and recent NYU grad, Allison Fichtelberg dazzled the audience with a spellbinding performance of her epic poem “Scroll.” I am honored to have performed for such a receptive audience and to share the space with such talented artists. That was the first performance I’ve done where I summoned the appropriate chutzpah to make the concluding sword trick work.” (You’ll have to see her perform live to understand that comment.) An absolutely mesmerizing performance.
But Allison wasn’t done for the night. Lyndon Achee, steel drummer and percussionist began with a piece dedicated to his sister Beatrice who died of breast cancer. Lyndon than circulated a bag of instruments—tambourines, maracas, drumsticks and bells–through the audience who accompanied Lyndon in an upbeat tune, which ended with Allison coming back on stage and dancing to the sweet sounds of a steel drum. A wonderful, highly spirited, ending to a great night.
The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell will be on July 22nd at The Cell Theatre, 338 W 23rd St., NYC. For more info on Artists Without Walls write to info@artistswithoutwalls.com
Come be part of the Artists Without Walls’ Showcase, Tuesday, June 24, 7pm at The Cell Theatre, 338 W 23rd St. NYC. Here’s what’s planned:
Dan Yurkofsky
The songs of singer, songwriter, and composer Dan Yurkofsky bring together elements from a number of musical genres including folk-rock, musical theater, and classical minimalism.His new CD, Hoverhill is his first full-length collection of songs. Although originally from New York, many of the songs are inspired by life in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he lived for several years. Other inspirations for the songs include a cross-county road trip, and a residency at the Ucross Foundation, an artist’s retreat in eastern Wyoming. Dan will be joined by two of the musicians who play on Hoverhill: Matt Turk (guitar) and Noah Hoffeld (cello).
Ashley Bell
Ashley Bell has been performing from an early age, starting at age 9 as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and making her Off-Broadway debut at 16 in the world premiere of the musical The Golden Touch. Ashley has since performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia. Recent performances have included Beauty in Giannini’s Beauty and the Beast, Mimi in La Bohème and Katrina in Legend of Sleepy Hollow with Di Capo Opera and the soprano soloist in the Italian Cultural Institute and the Basilica of St. Patrick Old Cathedral’s. Next month she will sing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in the Narni Festival in Italy with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma
Lyndon Achee
Lyndon Achee is a percussionist, keyboardist and composer. Lyndon is an active performer in New York, he has recorded and performed with Nile Rodgers’ R.T. G. Productions, Anthony Braxton, Eric Leeds’ Paisely Park release, David Pleasant, Jay Hoggard, Arnie Lawrence, Winston Grennan, and at the Lincoln Center Summer Concert Series, with the Village Drums of Freedom. He recently composed and performed a score for Derek Walcott’s play “On the Blue Nile” at the Juilliard School. He is currently Musical Director of Village Drums of Freedom, Calendula, a New York-based World Music and Jazz Band.
Allison Fichtelberg
Allison Fichtelberg is a digital poet who has been performing her manifesto, THE GREAT OSCILLATION, in Washington Square Park since its conception in October. Allie will be reading from her epic poem Scroll, her coming of age as a digital artist. “It will be free, multimedia smart phone literature” Allie, said, “because imagine what a world it’d be if everybody playing “Candy Crush” suddenly started reading poetry.”
Martina Fiserova
Singer/songwriter Martina Fiserova, from Prague, Czech Republic, is in NYC to finish up a record of original songs. She released a jazz album Clearing Fields in 2012 and published a poetry book (in Czech) called Martezie in 2013.
Honor Molloy
Author/actress Honor Molloy will be reading “What’s Taken” from her book Smarty Girl: Dublin Savage. “What’s Taken” is a brief section that was dropped from Smarty Girl – Dublin Savage. It’s an expressionistic piece about getting trapped in a family obsession for decades. As Honor says, “I’m sure that people can relate to the family obsession part.”
Jenai Huff
Singer/songwriter Jenai Huff with her soulful voice and beaming smile will be joined in performance by critically acclaimed singer/songwriter and native born New Yorker, Eugene Ruffolo.
Eugene Ruffolo
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two sing together on Jenai’s recordings and now are performing together live.
Kathleen Bennett Bastis
Kathleen Bennett Bastis is a visual/mixed media artist who works with reclaimed materials. Of her writing she said, “I write for myself without the intention of ever sharing what I write. It’s just a way of expressing and exploring what is on my mind or what I have experienced.” This will be the first time Kathleen has read any of her writing before an audience – it was her “white card challenge” to herself – so she’s hoping the audience finds her piece amusing and worth the listen.
Yvonne Cassidy
Yvonne Cassidy was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland and moved to New York in 2011. Yvonne is the author of three novels: The Other Boy, What Might Have Been Me and How Many Letters Are In Goodbye? which was released earlier this month. In addition to writing, Yvonne works at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, the largest and longest running emergency food program in New York, where she teaches creative writing to homeless soup kitchen guests.
