The Deep End Productions

Beyond Wicked: Arts off The Beaten Path, 4/22/08

BEYOND WICKED
Exploring the Arts Off the Beaten Path

Poetry In Bloom

By Anna Becker

It’s April and literary festivals and poetry readings are springing up all over. It’s no surprise to you, I’m sure, that New York City is home to some of the most important and inspiring literary organizations this world has to offer. Here are a few suggestions of events that will transform, inform, and revive your spirit after a long winter’s rest…

The theme for this year’s PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature is Public Lives/Private Lives, which couldn’t be timelier. How do we draw a line between our private and public selves? When must we tell private stories for the public good? How, as readers, writers, and citizens, do we confront threats to our privacy? What is still considered private in the Internet age? The writers in this year’s Festival – which

Beyond Wicked: Arts Off The Beaten Path, 2/19/08

BEYOND WICKED
Exploring the Arts Off the Beaten Path

YOUR STORY OR YOUR LIFE

By Anna Becker

I am currently in the trenches, producing solo shows by two of New York’s finest storytellers. One is Life In A Marital Institution (20 years of monogamy in one terrifying hour) in which James Braly tells tales from the home front about married life, and the other is Wanderlust, where Martin Dockery leaves home to backpack through West Africa. I believe the attraction to storytelling – for audiences and for me – has a lot to do with our current screen-induced hypnotic state. Being in the room with a live person telling a story about their lives provides, believe it or not, an even stronger rush than bowling on the wii.

Beyond Wicked: Arts Off The Beaten Path, 1/15/08

BEYOND WICKED
Exploring The Arts Off The Beaten Path

By Anna Becker

AND THE TONY AWARD GOES TO…

When you think of the Tony Awards or the Pulitzer Prize, you think of Broadway, right? You might want to re-think. Here are a few fun facts about just where all the prize-winning plays really live…

For 10 of the last 12 years, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama has been won by a not-for-profit, Off-Broadway theatre…Last year, 76% of all the Tony Awards went to shows which premiered at or were produced by not-for-profit, Off-Broadway theatres, including The Atlantic Theater Company’s Spring Awakening and Lincoln Center’s The Coast of Utopia…Since 2000, plays that premiered at off-Broadway theatres have been produced more than 300 times at regional theatres across the country.

With these impressive statistics in mind, here are a few recommendations for new plays from off-Broadway theatres that might just be the next Tony or Pulitzer nominee:

Beyond Wicked: Arts Off The Beaten Path, 12/18/07

Wishing You A Dramatic New Year

Under the Radar Festival’s “Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea” – photo credit: Neil Hanna

As I look at the myriad festivals of dance, theatre, and music coming up in the new year, I am reminded of the Mary Tyler Moore show when Rhoda once recounted all of the incredible cultural organizations in New York as her reason for living here. When Mary pointed out that Rhoda didn’t actually get out to any of those venues, Rhoda said “But when you live here, look at what you’re not doing! You can’t not do these things anywhere else!” In hopes that you might be a little more proactive than Rhoda, I thought I’d provide you with my New Year’s theatre-going itinerary.

To ring in an artful new year, I will start downtown at The Public Theater for the Under The Radar Festival that spotlights international emerging and master performing artists. This year they promise an intense and wild celebration and, with producer Mark Russell at the helm, I’m sure they will deliver. In his words: “This is a festival all about seeing something new, something that might challenge your view of the world or at least clean the windows for you. This is a theater festival with a big picture, and many small performances!”

This year’s Under the Radar Festival will include works from England, Ireland, Australia, Brazil, France, Austria and Belarus, as well as Seattle, San Francisco, Harlem, Brooklyn and “that alternative state of consciousness; Oklahoma.” Most of the shows run under 90 minutes, but at least one will operate as an installation with business hours. Shows take place January 9th - 20th.

Christine Ebersole in American Songbook – photo credit: Melanie Dunea

Then I will head uptown for American Songbook, opening January 23rd, the much-celebrated musical series at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The Songbook will feature Broadway, bluegrass, country, rock, R&B, and soul, including Canadian chanteuse K.D. Lang performing selections from her new album Watershed; Sixties music in the hands of John Lloyd Young, the Tony Award-winning star of Jersey Boys; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icon Patti Smith; and two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole.

Across town at City Center, The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players will launch its Gilbert & Sullivan Fest 2008, presenting six classic shows over the course of four weeks in January and June The line-up includes big faves, The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Mikado, as well as productions of Princess Ida and The Gondoliers. Ask about their Free Kids Nights too.

Heading back downtown to Dance Theatre Workshop, I’ll enjoy Fresh Tracks, a dance festival of new and edgy choreography. In addition to performances, the artists also participate in open discussions to foster an understanding of their creative process. January 4th and 5th only.

Even further downtown in Soho, I will cap off my New Year’s Festivities at HERE Arts Center for its 10th annual hybrid performance festival in January, CultureMart. The Festival blurs the boundaries among dance, theatre, music, new media, puppetry, and visual art, melding these forms to the artist’s vision. It provides a vital testing ground where you can sample art in progress, provide feedback, and play a crucial role in the development of new work. Check out Culturemart 2008, and let their images fill your imagination.

So I urge you to make a New Year’s resolution to do a little better than Rhoda this coming year by actually getting out your front door and experiencing the passion, celebration, and great artistry that lie behind your backyard and just a little Beyond Wicked.

Beyond Wicked: Arts Off The Beaten Path, 10/16/07

The following is a reprint of my column in The Examiner of Pleasantville and Mount Kisco. Beyond Wicked will appear in The Examiner on the third Tuesday of every month and will be posted here with more detailed contact and show information, as well as links to the groups mentioned.

BEYOND WICKED
Exploring the Arts off the Beaten Path

By Anna Becker

The cave men were right. There is nothing like a good story to provide a sense of connection to others, to your own inner life, and to something greater than yourself. No surprise then, that, in this over-digitized age (where the letter “I” has become a reference to cyberspace instead of the self) the latest “new” thing in the performing arts scene is, yes, storytelling.

Beyond Wicked: Exploring The Arts Off The Beaten Path, 9/25

The following is the text of a column written for the 9/25 edition of The Examiner of Pleasantville and Mount Kisco by The Deep End Productions' producer, Anna Becker. At the end of the piece is contact information for each venue or performance mentioned.

BEYOND WICKED
Arts Off The Beaten Path

By Anna Becker

I grew up in New York City in the 60s, alongside the growing Off-Broadway theatre scene. Before I was 8 years old, I had already seen “The Dybbuk” at La MaMa as well as the original production of “Hair” at The Public. So I learned early about the magic and inspiration that is a converted factory-turned-performance venue. I have grown up, of course, and so has the off-Broadway theatre scene. Now, they are largely responsible for creating the shows that populate our stages nationwide, as well as the many award-winning shows on Broadway (most notably, “Spring Awakening,” which won eight Tony’s this year and was originally produced at The Atlantic Theater Company – Off-Broadway…).

But you don’t hear much about these gems in Westchester because they just don’t have the advertising budgets. Our loss for sure. So this column hopes to take you Beyond Wicked, to tell you about some truly exciting world-class performances and companies in the city that you otherwise may never hear about.