Play Reading: La Race (La Raz)

La Race (La Raz) by Bleu Beckford-Burrell

When a recently fired Maxine grappling with depression, unbeknownst to her revolutionist best friend A.J., mobilizes her to run for office; relationships are formed, questioned, and broken with this eclectic committee, from N.Y.C. 31st district as they deal with race, identity, and gentrification.

2020 JCTC Celebration of Community through the Arts!

Destiny Art Exhibition Opening

 

What is Destiny? Are we bound for destiny or does destiny happen to us? Is it coincidence or synchronicity? Do we determine our fate or victims of it? What does our society of diverse & complex human beings believe or avoid believing? What are the cultural norms and do conform to or rebel against those norms? Do artists create, interpret or include destiny?

Destiny features a group of 16 culturally diverse artists:

Geraldine Anderson Gaines, Ian “Billy Bones” Murphy, Nanette Reynolds Beachner, Grigory Gurevich, Catalina Aranguren, Janhavi Firke, Erin Kuhn, Lawrence Ciarallo, Monika Kalra, Tyber Qalipu Mishipeshu Murphy, Donchelle Fulwood, Duda Penteado, Anna Kasperowitz, David James, Cecilia Martinez, and Akil Roper.

Exhibition runs from February 7 – February 28

Play Reading: Mr. Intentional

 

Mr. Intentional by Landon Woodson

Inspired by a Lauryn Hill song of the same name, Mr. Intentional is a theatrical exploration of the precarious construct of masculinity. An irreverent blend of satire and drama, Mr. Intentional is a multifaceted look at the various masks of masculinity and the humanity that lies beneath them.

SELL ME: I Am From North Korea

 

SELL ME: I Am From North Korea is inspired by the true stories of North Korean defectors who risk everything to escape one of Earth’s most repressive regimes. Ms. Baek’s solo performance weaves together relatable young naïveté, the harsh realities of life inside a brutal regime, and the unforgiving struggle of life as an undocumented refugee in order to bring voice to a silenced people.

Voices International Theatre Festival: La Caja

 

LA CAJA (The Box) is an immersive experience by Los Escultores del Aire, a Barcelona-based theater company that has toured internationally. The company is known for using Corporeal Mime as the basis for creation, adding other theatrical arts such as circus spectacles, dance and movement and object manipulation. The company has toured Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Macedonia, Poland, Sweden, Morocco, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. Creative Team: Mai Rojas, Adán, Aguilar, Marc Lorenzo,  Raffaella Crapio.

A group of doctors and medical assistant try to find a cure for Martinez, who suffers from a rare psychic disorder. As days pass, the patient travels deeper into an imaginary world, making the border separating reality and fiction more and more ambiguous as box containing the cure for evil is discovered. But what is inside the box and why is it so hard to open?

Jack Crying Raven Anderson: A Solo Exhibition

 

Jack Crying Raven Anderson Exhibition curated by Atim Annette Oton to celebrate National Native American Heritage Month.

Artist Bio: Jack Anderson is a self-taught contemporary artist of African American and Native American heritage who creates Jazz, Blues, Love and Native American theme.

Lines in the Dust (Main Stage Production)

 

Lines in the Dust, by Obie-Award winning actress & Pulitzer Prize nominated writer, Nikkole Salter, tells the story of the lengths a mother will go through to ensure a better future for her daughter. Set in 2010, Lines in the Dust explores the issue of separate and unequal schooling. The story follows a mother and Newark resident seeking to send her daughter to a better school in Millburn, which seems a risk worth taking, but may end up requiring a bigger sacrifice than she ever could have imagined.

Lines in the Dust is a contemporary fable about the injustices of a public school system where the quality of your children’s education can depend on solely on your street address. Originally commissioned by Luna Stage in West Orange to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Brown Versus Board of Education, the plays
reveals the persistent racial and economic inequities defining public education in 21st century America.

Voices International Theatre Festival: Truth

 

JCTC presents The Truth directed by Piotr Borowski and performed by Studium Teatralne, is a performance about the absence of the sacred, the lack of metaphysics and truth; it exposes life devoid of any mystery, where there is no feeling for life’s meaning and purpose. The protagonist of this play is someone who does not appear on the stage, and the stage itself is taken by the striving for knowledge, for a new creation, as well as by aggression, the survival instinct, envy, insatiability and usurpation that claims a monopoly on the truth. The performance draws from the original texts of the ecumenical councils as well as from the text of the Grand Inquisitor from Dostoyevsky’s “Brothers Karamazov.”

Voices International Theatre Festival: WATCH NOW

 

WATCH NOW – cutting edge, international dance performance from Slovakia delves into issues of identity and privacy in our contemporary, high-tech global society. Accompanied by live music, Watch Now follows a couple undergoing a difficult time in their relationship, where it is never clear whether their movements are affectionate or manipulative, as they both gently touch then refuse contact. Their touches, glances and gestures are interpreted differently by each of them. Watch Now explores issues of watching, information collection, the manipulation of records. and the loss of privacy.

Conceived and directed by: Lucia Holinová
Choreography: Daniel Racek, Lucia Holinová
Cast: Barbora Janakova, Daniel Racek, Vlado Holina, Sandra Pazman Tordova

Visit www.vhlf.org to learn more about Vaclav Havel Library Foundation.

Voices International Theatre Festival: Jazz Italiano

 

JAZZ ITALIANO features IDR (Italian Doc Remix), an internationally renowned Italian Jazz ensemble. Building on a base of powerful Southern Italian folk music, JAZZ ITALIANO is a A sonic journey into the memory of Neapolitan folk songs and tradition with an all-star NYC based band. IDR is led by Italian guitarist virtuoso Marco Cappelli and features the Toronto-based Italian singer Francesco Pellegrino. d– Experience an evening of unforgettable, cross-cultural music!

Guitars: Marco Cappelli
Clarinets: Doug Wieselman
Double Bass: Ken Filiano
Drums: Jim Pugliese
Vocals: Francesco Pellegrino

Amend the 13th! An Event to End Mass Incarceration

 

Artists, Community Activists, Leaders, CBO’s, Elected Officials, Students and Families come together to stand on the issue that deeply affects us all. Lets end profit incentive for incarceration, and abolish slavery in NJ once and for all! Hosted by the Jersey City Theater Center and White Eagle Hall. Produced by Guazabara Insight, LLC.

Trojan Women (Main Stage Production)

 

Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) presents Trojan Women, a multimedia and multilingual adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy reimagined for today’s turbulent times.

This multimedia production – directed by Olga Levina, Artistic Director of JCTC – features a diverse cast of more than 15 actors with nearly as many additional artists as part of the production crew. These talented individuals include artists of international stature as well as those with regional renown.

Moon Festival

 

Moon Festival – a culturally-rich Asian American dance concert that celebrates diversity, family, women and motherhood – is a collaboration between the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and Akhilandeshwari Vasudevamurthy .The two dance companies will perform then invite the audience to join in this ancient celebration as they invoke the power of the moon through ritualistic dance and trance-inducing rhythms. In keeping with Asian tradition, Moon Cake, a traditional Chinese delicacy where legend has it was first baked by resistance fighters during an uprising in China more than 1000 years ago – and authentic Indian Pudding – will be served.

Prologue

 

Prologue is a mixed-media performance created as a composition of moments – snapshots into the life and thought of French philosopher, activist, and mystic, Simone Weil (1909 – 1943.) As an actor prepares to play Simone Weil, he reflects on the mystical and artistic processes, and on the indispensable role of “the other” to bring depth and meaning to our experience.

The performance was accompanied by an immersive video art installation.

Theatre in Residency: Yarns by No Dominion Theatre Company

 

No Dominion Theatre Company is one of Jersey City Theater Center’s 2018 Artists in Residency.

Yarns, an original devised production from No Dominion Theatre Co., explores the parallels between sex work and fiber arts as a group of five women seek change and empowerment despite the hostile world that surrounds them. Utilizing texts from various sources with interviews from sex workers and fiber artists, Yarns takes us to a brothel where the women survive by turning tricks and creating warmth from the yarn that surrounds them under the watchful eye of a man who calls himself their protector. Culminating in an unforgettable burlesque performance, Yarns shows the true meaning of female empowerment and how “women’s work” is a force to be reckoned with.

Out of Bounds

 

Out of Bounds, an evening of high-caliber modern dance celebrating innovative New Jersey and New York choreographers by some of the leading dance companies and dancers in the region.

Curated by Meagan Woods, co-producer of Your Move, the largest dance festival in New Jersey, the White Eagle Hall dance concert brings together a rare grouping of some of today’s most innovative practitioners of dance and movement. In addition to Woods, Out of Bounds features Robert Mark Burke, Lauren Connolly, Katelyn Halpern, Joe Monteleone, Morgan Refakis, Nick Sciscione and Heather Warfel in evening of eight distinct dance vignettes. Each piece was created or selected specifically for Resistance, JCTC’s current thematic series.

Decline and Fall

 

Based loosely on the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Decline and Fall is an original work created by nocturne Productions which analyzes the experience of individuals who make decision on behalf of many, the masses affected by such decisions, and the muddy filter of communication which separates them.

As a group of representatives, each beholden to their own promises, passions, and opinions, attempt to build a better world together, clashes of human behavior, ideals, and identities inevitably occur. When something so important becomes so primal, few individuals win while many are forgotten. Decline and Fall deconstructs the historical events that birthed our modern geo-political system to examine the fundamental human flaws that still plague our world today.

W. E. B. Du Bois: A Man for All Times

 

An emotion packed play about the life and times of Civil Rights Activist –W.E.B. Du Bois, (1868-1963). With this riveting drama we are transported into Du Bois’ private and political world. An inspirational journey through almost one hundred years in this great man’s life. An experience both humorous, touching and enlightening.

The Disruption Project

 

The Disruption Project is an evening of performances by two leading New Jersey-based based dance companies: Robert Mark Dance and Connolly & Co. Developed for JCTC’s Disruption series, The Disruption Project features QUAKE, choreographed by Robert Mark Burke, Artistic Director of Robert Mark Dance and An Endless Pause, choreographed by Lauren Connolly, Artistic Director of Connolly & Co.

Inspired by the Disruption theme, Burke and Connolly developed The Disruption Project to explore our current reality of constant change: The two full-length pieces in the project – QUAKE and An Endless Pause – are drastically different, yet incredibly physical and exhilarating new dance works. Using movement and dance, The Disruption Project addresses the pertinent questions we all ask about tumultuous change: What is being lost? What is being gained? How do we survive the upheaval?