OFF Stage: the East Village Fragments

A site-specific, multi-venue walking performance tour celebrating the birth of the Off-Off Broadway movement. The production will travel throughout East Village streets, featuring a company of 80 actors and 17 directors. As the journey proceeds, short scenes from landmark Off-Off Broadway plays will reawaken the actual sites where they originally premiered.

There will be four 2-hour tours each performance day at 7:00, 7:30, 8:00 and 8:30 p.m.

Tours will start on the trapezium-shaped traffic island at the center of Astor Place, which is most notably home to the sculpture known popularly as “The Cube” (near East 8th Street and 4th Avenue). As the tour proceeds, short scenes from landmark Off-Off Broadway plays will reawaken the actual sites where they premiered, with additional original performances between the stops.

The two-hour performance journey through the birth of Off-Off Broadway, this time in the East Village, enriches everyone: from New Yorkers who regularly attend alternative theater to visitors looking for a different kind of Manhattan walking tour.

Playwrights and plays will include: Tom Eyen (Why Hanna’s Shirt Won’t Stay Down); Diane di Prima (Monuments); Paul Foster (Balls); Ilsa Gilbert (The Bundle Man); Robert Heide (Why Tuesday Never Has a Blue Monday); Israel Horovitz (The Indian Wants the Bronx); Michael Locascio (A Corner of the Morning); Charles Ludlam (Conquest of the Universe or When Queens Collide); Murray Mednick and Anthony Barsha (The Hawk); Leonard Melfi (Birdbath); Rochelle Owens (Futz); Robert Patrick (Camera Obscura); Sam Shepard (Cowboys); Megan Terry, with music by Marianne de Pury (Viet Rock); Phoebe Wray (The Mulberry Bush); and Jean-Claude van Itallie (America Hurrah).

Stops will include the site or location of the following: La MaMa E.T.C., the original site and the 3 subsequent ones; Theatre Genesis/St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery; Tempo Theatre/New York Poets Theatre (now Trash & Vaudeville); The Five Spot; Off-Bowery Theatre; The Public Theater; Astor Place Theatre; Tambellini’s Gate Theater; and the Playwrights Unit.

The 17 directors will include: Tim Cusack, Jessica Davis-Irons, Mark Finley, Jeff Janisheski, Anna McHugh, Bryn Manion, Casey McLain, Belinda Mello, Chris Mirto, Kay Mitchell, Elaine Molinaro, Gabriel Shanks, Jonathan Solari, and David Vining.

Box Office Hours: 1/2 hour prior to showtime

Group Sales Number (8+): 212-529-3626

Appropriate For Ages: 13 and over