"AWoW, WHERE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN"

“AWoW, where anything can happen.” Vera Hoar

 

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
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
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. Migdal
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

 

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

 

 

 

 

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
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

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. 

 

Photos by Vera Hoar. 

 

 

 

 

"TALENTED PERFORMERS, FRIENDLY PEOPLE and TIME to MINGLE": AWoW's SHOWCASE at THE CELL THEATRE, TUESDAY 3/24

Ashley Galvani Bell
Ashley Galvani Bell

As a first time visitor of an AWoW Showcase, I enjoyed everything about the evening…. Talented performers, friendly people, time to mingle … fantastic. I will be back for certain.” Clyde Berger

 

Ashley Galvani Bell has performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia.  Recent performances include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Narni, Italy, Musetta in La Bohème at the National Opera Center, and Norina in Don Pasquale with Rioja Lirica in Spain, where she was called unstoppable in her brilliant singing and a true “stage animal” with her hilarious interpretation of the two sided character of Norina/Sofronia.  This will be the popular soprano’s third appearance at an AWoW Showcase. 

 

 

I.S. Jones
I.S. Jones

I.S. Jones is a spoken word poet hailing from Southern California. She moved to New York to pursue her passion for poetry. Her intense fire & honesty brims through every performance; It has been said she has a voice bigger than her body. Her works have appeared in Chaparral, The Harpoon Review, Fat City and various others literary magazine.

 

 

Brendan Connellan
Brendan Connellan

Mary Tierney will be directing a scene from Brendan Connellan’s Savage. According to Mary, “We’ve given it the Ingmar Bergman treatment. In Sweden, he’d rehearse actors from the National Theater for six months before a production was ‘ready.’ That’s what our actors, Larry Fleishman and Courtney Torres have done. ”  Fleischman, has performed at a number of AWoW Showcases,  and Torres, who recently performed at Beal Bocht in Sacred Sow, will be making her AWoW debut.

 

 

Martina Fiserova
Martina Fiserova

Prague born singer/songwriter Martina Fiserova has established a following on the NYC music scene with her unique songwriting approach and intimate and emotional vocal performance. She is finishing up an album of her original music, which will be her second release after the jazz oriented debut Clearing Fields.

 

Allison Sylvia
Allison Sylvia

 

Alison Sylvia is a “poet.in.progress,” and Tuesday, she will connect her poems with dance.  Allison dazzled the audience with a spellbinding performance of her epic poem “Scroll” at her first AWoW appearance.  “I am honored to have performed for such a receptive audience and to share the space with such talented artists,” she said. “That was the first performance I’ve done where I summoned the appropriate chutzpah to make the concluding sword trick work.” Her’s was an absolutely mesmerizing performance.

 

Gabriela Gyergeva
Gabriela Gyergeva

 

Gabriela Gyergeva was born in Macedonia and studied at University in Bulgaria, majoring in opera and voice. Gabriela performed extensively in Bulgaria and Macedonia before moving to NYC three years ago.  Last year she performed at Carnegie Hall and the Mono No Aware film festival in Brooklyn. Currently Gabriela performs at St. Francis Xavier church in the city.

 

 

Joanna Migdal
Joanna Migdal

 

Joanna Migdal is a poet working on a chapbook of centos, one of which she is reading Tuesday night in honor of women poets of the past as part of the celebration of March Women’s History Month. Her cento will be posted 3/31 on a site called www.womenyoushouldknow.com

 

AWoW’s Showcase is hosted by The Cell Theatre, located at 338 W23rd St., NYC. Drinks at 6:45; the show begins at 7:20. Hope to see you then. 

 

 

 

 

.