Seventh Annual Lower East Side Festival Set for This Weekend

Are you wondering what Suzan-Lori Parks–the Topdog/Underdog dramatist with a fresh Pulitzer Prize on her mantle–is working on now? Here’s a chance for a sneak preview: The Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, featuring a cavalcade of poetry, film, and theater (including Parks reading from an upcoming work), is coming up this weekend, May 24 through 26. The list of artists scheduled to appear is incredibly long and ranges from Tony Randall to Richard Foreman. Theater For The New City favorites Epstein and Hassan will perform, as will Dada NY, playwright Moises Kaufman (also reading from a new work), and the Thunderbird American Indian dancers.

This is the seventh year for the festival, which is designed to focus attention on the vibrant arts community of the Lower East Side; Theater For The New City (at 10th Street and First Avenue), the primary sponsor and organizer of the event, has been a key artistic presence in that neighborhood for 30 years. Sam Shepard’s Buried Child–speaking of Pulitzer Prize winners for drama–was commissioned by TFNC and debuted there.

See the Theater for the New City website for all the details on the festival.