Lower Eastside Festival of the Arts
May 22, 23 & 24, 2015
Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue
(between 9th and 10th Streets)
Manhattan
A Multi-Cultural Cavalcade. A free-for-all of Theater, Music, Dance, Comedy, Film and Art that remains FREE for all. LES turns twenty, not yet old enough to legally drink, but old enough to legally think; so, if you have a mind for art and culture and bang up entertainment; and you find yourself in NYC over the Memorial Day Weekend, then there is no better place to be than with Theater for the New City for the FREE Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.
LES is a tribute to all the artists who lived and created on the Lower East Side and in the East Village in the past, a showcase for its current stars, and a glimpse at its up and coming talent.
The Lower East Side and the more recently and perhaps more sexily titled The East Village has always teemed with talent. Like, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Yip Harburg, James Cagney, George Raft, to name a few, all emerged from its tenements. Charlie Parker, Garcia Lorca, Mark Twain, Eugene O’Neill all spent time working here and were inspired by its streets and its myriad of different peoples.
As avant-guardians of this proud history, LES is compelled to gather annually to sing hosannas to our past, while kicking up their heels in the now and foreshadowing our artistic future.
Some of the greats who have graced the LES stage over the past 18 years include, Kurt Vonnegut, David Amram, Quentin Crisp, Arthur Miller, Moises Kaufman, Charles Busch, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Judith Malina, F. Murray Abraham, Charles Grodin, Joe Franklin, Dan Lauria and Phoebe Legere. Groups and Companies who have participated include the New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, Rod Rodgers Dance Company, the Living Theater, . . ..
Johnson Theater
Friday, May 22, 2015
Performances, 6pm – 1am
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Youth Program, 2pm – 5pm
Performances, 6pm – 1am
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Performances, 6pm – 12am
Cabaret Theater
Friday, May 22, 2015
Performances, 7pm – 12am
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Film Program, 12pm – 12am
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Performances, 7pm – 12am
“POOLE PARTY ”
(or Guess Who Ain’t Comin’ to Dinner)
Sunday at midnight
Johnson Theater
155 First Avenue
(between 9th & 10th Streets)
Distant cousins must find a new way to bridge racial & class divides as the Annual 4th of July Family Picnic approaches. A new comedy by Sabura Rashid-Huggins. Featuring *Mary Tierney, *Lisaroxanne Walters, and *Fredric Michaels. (*AEA)
Community Space
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Poetry Readings, 4pm – 7:30pm
Theater Outside on East 10th Street
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Cultural Festival, Performances, Food, Vendors and More, 12pm – 5pm