Mabou Mines' Song for New York

Hope you had a nice weekend ...

Ruth Maleczech and Mabou Mines will be offering free public performances of their latest production, Song for New York: What Women Do While Men Sit Knitting, at the Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City, Queens, starting next Friday, August 31. The five-part production, which brings together live music, singing, dance, choral speech, visual art and the performance site itself in the signature Mabou Mines style, will celebrate each of New York's five boroughs from a barge moored at the park's waterfront.

The company commissioned new work from five New York City writers (Migdalia Cruz, Maggie Dubris, Patricia Spears Jones, Karen Kandel and Imelda O'Reilly), their texts then set to music by The Klezmatics' Lisa Gutkin. The extravaganza also involved cooperation from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; the U.S. Coast Guard; and Miller's Launch. Said director Maleczech in a press release: "I do really celebrate New York. I love what the city has meant to Mabou Mines. I don't think we could have made the works we've made anywhere but here. Song for New York is a way to give something back, to say thanks."

Recent Mabou Mines productions have included the critically-acclaimed Gospel at Colonus, DollHouse and Lear from Lee Breuer; over the years they've also proven to be among the most innovative interpreters of Samuel Beckett's work, especially in their adaptations of the prose works Company and Imagination Dead Imagine (with Beckett's approval, I might add); the company's David Warrilow, who died in 1995, was one of Beckett's favorite actors.

Song for New York will be a unique experience. The August 31 performance will celebrate Brooklyn; other performances will take place September 4 (celebrating Staten Island), September 6 (the Bronx), September 7 (Queens) and September 9 (Manhattan). More information at Mabou Mines; in the meantime, further details can be found at American Theater Web

-T