PHOTO FLASH: Carlo Alban, Penny Arcade, Celia Keenan-Bolger, James Rado et al. at Occupy Broadway

Occupy Broadway, a 24-hour performance protest event, was held at Paramount Plaza, a privately owned public space (POPS) at 50th and Broadway near Times Square, from Friday, December 2 at 6pm and lasting until Saturday, December 3 at 6pm.

Among the performers who participated were Carlo Alban, Penny Arcade, The Church of Stop Shopping, The Civilians (including Broadway veterans Quincy Tyler Bernstine and Celia Keenan-Bolger), Heelz on Wheelz, and Judith Sloan.

James Rado, co-author of Hair, made an unannounced appearance on Saturday afternoon, and participated in a sing-a-long of several songs from that musical. Some of the other artists who performed during the event were Kathleen Chalfant, Mike Daisey, and April Yvette Thompson.

A press release from organizers of the event states, “In a time when downtown theaters are rapidly losing their spaces, being turned into high-end fashion stores, Occupy Broadway is a symbolic attempt to regain the space of theatre as an accessible, popular art form, bringing it back to where it all started – in a public space, for the common citizen. We are using public space to create a more colorful image of what our streets could look like, with public performances, art, and music.”

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