STELLAR EVENING: AWoW'S SHOWCASE at THE CELL THEATRE, JULY 22, 2014

“Artists Without Walls allows the various artists to bring things they “make” to The Cell, to share with others.  Sharing my neon animations, MANAHATTA and THE ATOMIC ADVENTURES OF JACK KEROUAC 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. 

 

Larry Fleischman and Lorin Partalis
Larry Fleischman and Lorin Partalis

Jack Feldstein’s words echo the sentiment of Tuesday night’s performers who clearly were feeding off the energy  of the audience as well as their fellow artists.  Lorin Partalis and Larry Fleischman moved the jam-packed Cell Theatre with a poignant performance of a scene from A Cancelled Note, a new play by John Moran. John’s play, directed by Tess Howsam, transported the audience into the bittersweet world of a father and his grown daughter who find themselves at odds to the breaking point. Will they part forever?  John is currently shopping the full play with a production goal of March 2015. We’ll keep you posted on all future developments.

 

 

Alessia Sushko and Sedly Bloomfeld
Alessia Sushko and Sedly Bloomfeld

Desdemona’s death scene in Othello always comes with a high degree of difficulty and expectation. In the hands of Alessia Sushko and Sedly Bloomfield the audience was witness to a beautiful, passionate and moving scene. Love and fear was on display. Ms. Sushko’s beauty and Mr. Bloomfields’s presence left us wondering, “What would have happened if Desdemona had lived…?”

 

Serena Jost
Serena Jost

Singer Serena Jost captivated the AWoW audience with two of her new songs, “Silver Star” and “Bloom.” Accompanying herself on cello and guitar, the subtle poetry of her lyrics was highlighted by her beautiful, haunting voice. A transportive experience by a unique and delightful artist.

 

 

Vinnie Nauheimer
Vinnie Nauheimer

Vinnie Nauheimer  held the audience rapt as he read two poems about current events. The first, “Nigerian Girls Up in Smoke,” addresses the kidnapped and still missing girls from Nigeria, an event the world has chosen to ignore. The second, “Invisible Victims of Tuam,” deals with the missing remains of eight hundred children in the little town of Tuam, Ireland and the horrors of the Catholic run Mother-Baby homes. Vinnie’s poem suggest the notion that apathy can be the progenitor of evil. Vinnie hopes to include both of these poems in a book of poetry called Remembering the Children

 

Jack O'Connell, Maura Knowles and Luis Villabon
Jack O’Connell, Maura Knowles and Luis Villabon

Maura Knowles’ new play Insult to Injury, which examines why we should never give up on angels or anyone with broken wings, was given a wonderful reading by Maura, actor Jack O’Connell and composer Nathania Wibowo. Maura, accompanied by Sean Chandra Irawan on piano, also provided the vocals to which one of the audience later said, “Such beautiful work, her singing soars through such glorious tones….She made the room sing!  And such wonderful collaborators.”

  

Joseph Goodrich and Honor Molloy
Joseph Goodrich and Honor Molloy

Pat Schneider and Joe Goodrich joined Honor Molloy for a reading from Prisoner’s Cinema, the book to an opera about three long-term inpatients and their psychiatrist. The scene is a darkly layered view into the backstories for the doctor and Natalia, who is actively suicidal. Joe’s portrayal of a psychiatrist was spot on and Honor, well anything Honor puts her voice to is spellbinding. 

 

 

Steve Silver's "The Watchtower with D.J. Sharp
Steve Silver’s “The Watchtower with D.J. Sharp

Steve Silver showed a clip from his feature film The Watchtower, a story of love and survival in notorious Hell’s kitchen, one man’s plight to get out of the gangster life and return to his birth land of Ireland. The audience was captivated by Silver’s sharp humorous dialogue which soon changed to a shocking execution scene of Harvey Steinberg (played by D.J. Sharp), a big time mob tied loan shark. Great ending, which left the audience in breathless silence. 

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Jack Feldstein
Jack Feldstein

Jack Feldstein closed out the evening with two fascinating neon animations, MANAHATTA, from the poem of the same name by Walt Whitman, and THE ATOMIC ADVENTURES OF JACK KEROUAC.  If you’d like to contact Jack for collaborations or simply to keep in touch, Jack asks that you feel free to find him through his website www.jackfeldstein.com

 

And we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the contributions that Noel Kilkenny, Consul General of Ireland and Hanora O’Dea Kilkenny made to New York’s Irish American community. They will now move on to their next assignment in Athens, Greece. Athens’ gain is our great loss.

 

Connie Roberts, Hanora O'Dea Kilkenny
Connie Roberts, Hanora O’Dea Kilkenny

Noel and Hanora’s efforts on behalf of business, tourism and promotion of the arts were tireless and they were gracious hosts to countless events during their four years in New York City. Additionally, Hanora was an enormous supporter of Artists Without Walls, referring many artists and constantly singing the group’s praises. During the evening Hanora was presented an award for her generous commitment of time and support of Artists Without Walls and the New York City multi-cultural arts community. She and Noel will be greatly missed.

 

The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase is on August 26th, at the Cell Theatre.  For more information about AWoW write to: info@artistswithoutwalls.com

 

All photos by Vera Hoar

STELLAR LINEUP for AWoW'S SHOWCASE at THE CELL THEATRE, Tuesday 7/22 7pm

Alessia Sushko
Alessia Sushko

Why attend Tuesday’s Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at the Cell Theatre? Here’s what singer/songwriter Jenai Huff said about a recent Showcase:  “What an extraordinary night. I feel blessed to have been a witness and a participant to the magic.” Jenai Huff

 

Here’s the cast of performers:

 

Russian born actress and model Alessia Sushko and screen and TV actor Sedly Bloomfeld will be performing the death scene from Othello. “I am thrilled to be performing at AWoW again,” Alessia said. “Being able to expand my craft and exercise my performance muscles with the beauty and the complexity of Shakespeare’s language is a gift.”

 

 

Jack Feldstein
Jack Feldstein

Jack Feldstein will be presenting his neon animation films, Manhatta (by Walt Whitman and The Atomic Adventures of Jack Kerouac. Originally from Sydney, Australia and now based in NYC, Jack Feldstein is an award-winning scriptwriter and neon animation filmmaker. His scripts “A House Like Any Other” and “Three Months with Pook” have won prizes in Australia and Britain. His neon animations have been screened and won awards worldwide from Lincoln Center in NYC to Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His philosophy is “search for an interesting life.”

 

 

Maura Knowles
Maura Knowles

 

Actress/playwright Maura Knowles will be presenting a scene from her new play Insult to Injury, which examines why we should never give up on angels or anyone with broken wings. The piece is inspired by actual events drawn from Maura’s life. Nathania Wibowo is her composer.

 

 

 

 

Vincent Nauheimer
Vincent Nauheimer

 

Vinnie Nauheimer, a long time advocate for children and a voice against abuse, will be reading two poems that deal with current events related to the abuse of children. The first poem concerns the three hundred abducted Nigerian girls and the second deals with the events recently disclosed about an unwed mother home in Tuam, Ireland. Though thousands of miles and years apart, the stories are very much connected through the apathy shown to the plight of these children.

 

 

 

Serena Jost
Serena Jost

Serena Jost is a Swiss-American singer/songwriter/cellist whose music invokes vivid emotional landscapes. Serena’s new album, A Bird Will Sing, was exquisitely produced by the legendary Anton Fier (Golden Palominos) and was named one of the Top 50 Albums of 2013 by New York Music Daily. Serena can be seen at some of NYC’s top venues including Brooklyn’s Barbès and Joe’s Pub, and tonight performs both songs from the album and new material.

 

 

 

Honor Molloy
Honor Molloy

Rounding out the lineup will be long time AWoW fav Honor Molloy, who will present a segment from Prisoner’s Cinema–the book for a new music-theatre work about three patients held in a long-term psychiatric facility who believe they are Christ and their psychiatrist; John Moran, whose scene from his play “A Cancelled Note,” a story of mystery and forgiving will be directed by Tess Howsam and stars Lorin Partalis and Larry Fleishman, and Steven Silver’s film “The Watchtower” a film about the Westies of Hell’s Kitchen. which stars Steve and AWoW member David Sharp.

 

 

Tuesday’s Showcase at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St, NYC begins at 7pm. We hope to see you there.  This is a free event.