The Theater for the New City (TNC) is marking the 50th anniversary of the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March with a series of free virtual performances that will be available on the organization’s website throughout the weekend of June 26-28.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Off-Off-Brodway theater, located on First Avenue between Ninth and 10th Streets, has been an inclusive performance space since its founding, and in its 49-year history has produced works from LGBTQ artists including Maria Irene Fornes, Harvey Fierstein, H.M. Koutoukas, Charles Busch, and Moises Kaufman, among many.
Among the video performances available this weekend will Don Arrington, singing “Back Again,” from his musical revue “Back Again: On the Block.” The song looks back at previous decades while also reminiscing about his years in the city dating back to 1966, including the Stonewall era.
Other performers include Ayana Lowe, who TNC describes as “a regular at Greenwich Village’s 55 Bar.” Lowe is bringing “her unique style to ‘I Am What I Am’” and her original song ‘Free, Black, and 61,” TNC said in a press release.
Amanda Boekelheide, meanwhile, will perform an excerpt from Barbara Kahn’s “Cyma’s Story.”
Playwright Kahn, who is curating the weekend performances, produces a new play each year at TNC. Her most recent works are “Where Do All the Ghosts Go?,” “Verzet Amsterdam (Resistance Amsterdam),” and “Ghost Light Now & Then.” “Cyma’s Story” was produced as part of the 2010 Fresh Fruit Festival.
Performer and choreographer Terry Lee King, as the Legendary Amaz’n Grace is portraying “What Is America to Me,” while Peter Zachari is putting on “Coming In at Theater for the New City,” a comedy featuring parents who receive unwelcome news from their son. Zachari is joined in the show by Lori Funk and Joey Mirabile.
TNC regular Robert Gonzales, Jr., an emcee at the Lower East Festival of the Arts, will sing “Stars and the Moon” from Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World.”
TNC was founded in 1971 by Crystal Field, who sought to create an accessible center for the community, discover new writing, and welcome in visions not subjected to commercial constraints, among other goals.
TNC’s Pulitzer Prize came for its 1978 production of Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child,” the first Off-Off-Broadway show to win that accolade. The theater has also been awarded 43 Obie Awards.
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