Saturday, OCTOBER 11 @ 7pm
DISCOTECA FLAMING STAR: A THOUSAND SQUONKS AND THE EROTICS OF THE EYELID

Berlin-based, Discoteca Flaming Star walks the line between art collective and rock band. Celebrate the American launch of their first book published by the Centro De Arte Dos De Mayo, the new museum of contemporary art in Madrid. Cristina Gomez Barrio and Wolfgang Mayer will perform on/with/through songs, words, film and make-up. Writer Benjamin Godsill will give voice to the weeping squonk. Films by Francois Boué will also be screened. Tickets are $5.

Saturday, OCTOBER 18@ 3pm – Family Matinee
Sonido Isleno: latin jazz

Presented in collaboration with Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series

New York City’s own Sonido Isleño has made its name by forging its singular, signature brand of Latin jazz. Using percussion and strings, this dynamic band melds Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban traditions with jazz and R & B. The musicians will be joined at this family matinee by a troupe of high-energy dancers; together they will introduce children of all ages to the sounds and rhythms of New York’s diverse Latino community. Audience members will be invited to dance and play drums with the band. Admission is free.

Friday, October 24 @ 7:30pm
howard fishman & michael benanav: autumn in romania

Downtown music favorite Howard Fishman and travel writer Michael Benanav are childhood friends who journeyed through Eastern Europe together in 2005. Benanav emerged with a book, Joshua and Isadora, tracing his grandparents’ miraculous escape from the Holocaust, while Fishman wrote a new song cycle – alternately humorous and intensely self-reflective. The evening reunites these two travelers to perform material inspired by their trip, with accompanying photos and commentary. Tickets can be purchased in advance at Brownpapertickets.com.

saturday, november 8 @ 8pm
aaron landsman: how to kill yourself and why

Aaron Landsman, lauded by The New York Times for his “dry, subversive wit,” premieres a staged reading of his newest play How To Kill Yourself And Why. This comedy about suicide and religious faith, performed on a junk store cable-access soundstage, veers scene by scene from memory to slapstick to a kind of devotional romance. Directed by Paul Willis. Admission is free.

friday, november 14 @ 8pm
Saturday, november 15 @ 3pm (family matinee) & 8pm
abigail browde: the home by josephine

Mr. Rogers meets MTV Cribz meets your grandmother’s afghan. Abigail Browde returns to The Performance Project with the full-length version of The Home by Josephine, a virtual house tour with pictures and music. This one-woman piece is a map of the inner workings of Josephine, a person who is terribly afraid of the unknown. It is a musing on home, dwelling, survival, comfort, and habit, a love letter to all those who never opened the door. Family matinee performance is appropriate for children 8 & up.

Saturday, november 22, 8pm
net nite

All over America, ensemble theaters are on the rise, offering up their own brands of artist-driven, collaboratively created, innovative theater. Join us for NET Nite, when four members of the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) will share a piece of their socially relevant and community-oriented work. Curated and hosted by New York’s Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble.

thursday, friday & saturday, december 4, 5 & 6 @ 8PM
brian hayes and tina croll: little impromptu and other dances

Tina Croll and Bryan Hayes were present during the rise and fall of most of the “isms” of New York dance, and went on to create their own choreographic voices. The New York Times has described Croll’s work as “an imaginative, beautifully performed pleasure” and Hayes as “a performer with a grave elegance and purity.” Together they will present a program of new and classic works.

tuesday, december 9 @ 6:30pm
Henry chang: the year of the dog

Chinatown native Henry Chang’s debut novel Chinatown Beat garnered high praise from The New York Times Book Review, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. Join us as Chang reads from his new novel The Year of the Dog. In this authentic Chinese-American tragedy, Chang evokes the sociologies of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, rendering them not only as setting but also as characters. Discussion and book signing to follow. Admission is free.

Saturday, december 13 @ 3pm (family matinee)
diane wolkstein: monkey king: journey to the west

Award-winning storyteller and author Diane Wolkstein will captivate family audiences with a re-imagining of one of the great classic Chinese stories of all time. She and choreographer/ Taoist master Sat Hon have recreated the 16th century epic of Monkey King: Journey to the West after traveling to Taiwan and tracing the traditional steps of the story. At this family matinee they will bring the tale of the monkey king to life. Audience members of all ages will be invited to participate in the interactive telling.

monday, december 15 @ 8pm
bradford louryk: KLYTAEMNESTRA'S UNMENTIONABLES

"A magnitude like that of Sarah Bernhardt at the Comedie Francaise." - Helene Foley, Oxford University Press

Klytaemnestra.  Elektra.  Medea.  Phèdre. 
Before internationally critically acclaimed actor Bradford Louryk received the Drama Desk Award for Christine Jorgensen Reveals, Klytaemnestra’s Unmentionables firmly established the young artist as a formidable practitioner on the New York stage. Originally created in 2000, the evening-length work – constructed of five monologues in the voices of the most significant tragic heroines of classical antiquity – was pre-recorded in Louryk’s own voice expressly to be lipsynched on stage. Now, for an exclusive, one-night-only engagement, Bradford Louryk revisits this stunning play as it was never meant to be seen… or heard: LIVE.