Alphabet Arts, the local puppetry theater who brought you City of Hamburgers and Puppets Got Talent, are back with a weekend of shows at The Bushwick Starr. The first Puppets + Poets show is going on as I type this but they are performing from Friday through Sunday, including family matinees on Saturday and Sunday so you've got plenty of opportunity to see them this weekend.
I love their work and hope to get to one of the free(!) matinees with my son to see Sweatshirt Boy head to Coney Island.
The Bushwick Starr and Alphabet Arts present:
Puppets + Poets 207 Starr St. (between Irving & Wycoff)
Performances December 6 - 9, 2012
Thursday - SundayEvening program for mature audiences:
Thursday - Saturday at 8pm. Tickets $12. Family friendly Matinee program for all ages:
Saturday + Sunday at 4pm. FREE!
BROOKLYN, NY -Puppets + Poets is a workshop and performance festival produced by AlphabetArts to create and cultivate collaborative hybrid art. The festival includes two programs of eclectic performances blending poetry and puppetry, two of the world's oldest and most diversely practiced art forms. Featuring collaborations by poets, puppeteers, musicians, actors and other artists, including Sweatshirt Adventures by Alphabet Arts, Another World Is Possible by The People's Puppets of Occupy Wall Street, Your Parents' Cocaine by political hip-hop legends The Coup, and much more.
Artistic Director: Amber West
Producer: Sarah Engelman
Workshop Facilitators: Chris Borchardt, Joe Therrien, Amber West
Family Program Director: Chris Borchardt
Lead Puppeteers: Joe Therrien, Kirsten Kammermeyer
Stage Manager: Neelam Vaswani
Directions:
Via Subway take the L Train to Jefferson Street, exit at Starr Street, walk against traffic on Starr, and the theater is 3/4 of a block on the right.
About Alphabet Arts:
Alphabet Arts is a nonprofit artist collective founded in NYC in 2009 by a poet, a puppeteer, and a producer. The collective blends a variety of art forms to create innovative performances and educational programs for both family and mature audiences. Learn more at alphabetarts.org.
More about Puppets + Poets:
Alphabet Arts introduced this unique program in 2011 to create opportunities for diverse artists and youth to collaboratively explore the relationship between puppetry and poetry, art forms practiced throughout the world and across the ages. Participants in the collective's inaugural hands-on workshops created original "puppet poems" and performed to sold-out audiences at Brooklyn Arts Exchange and Creative Arts Studio. Thanks to this success, The Bushwick Starr invited Alphabet Arts to produce a larger festival in 2012 that will continue as a lively annual event providing opportunities for artists and youth to create, collaborate, and build community across artistic disciplines and other borders. The development of Sweatshirt Boy's crazy Coney Island Adventure, which Alphabet Arts will present at the free Puppets & Poets family matinees in 2012, is supported in part by the Greater NY Arts Development Fund of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council.
We're back! Sorry to anyone who came out last week, since we are off of our usual second-Thursday schedule. I calculate that my apology is relevant to zero people.
Anyway, here's who we've got this week:
James Adomian (Last Comic Standing, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson)
Jena Friedman (writer for Late Show with David Letterman; SXSW Comedy Festival)
I forgot to post last month but that doesn't mean Lincoln Park Tavern didn't host a great show. Thanks to everyone who came out despite my negligence. We've got another great show next Thursday and I hope to see you there.
Our lineup for May 10:
Lucas Molandes (Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, Montreal Just For Laughs Festival)---->
Jamie Lee (NBC's Last Comic Standing; Portland Bridgetown Comedy Festival)
Adam Newman (MTV's The College Humor Show; Boston Comedy Festival finalist)
Brooklyn Kids Rock is coming up this Saturday, March 3rd, at Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. The event features live music, arts & crafts, face painting, snacks and raffle prizes. All proceeds go to the Maple Street School.
Tickets are on sale in advance at the Maple Street School website, and will also be available at the door.
Here's the lineup:
11:30 The Deedle Deedle Dees 12:30 Rolie Polie Guacamole 1:30 Jeremy Plays Guitar 2:30 Captain Kirk Douglas 3:15 Jon Samson
Brooklyn Kids Rock! Saturday, March 3rd 11am - 4pm Brooklyn Masonic Temple (map) 317 Clermont Ave, Fort Greene
On the heels of a great show last month I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to get the November show on their calendars.
As always, on the second Thursday of the month at Lincoln Park Tavern, Pant-Hoot Comedy will bring some of the best comics in New York to PLG. This month we've got:
The best thing about Halloween in PLG is... everything. We are near Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Safe Walk... its all fun. Maybe I'm biased because I have a little guy to dress up but I love Halloween.
On Monday, October 31st (of course!) kids from around Flatbush will come to PLG on Halloween for the SafeWalk - trick-or-treating on traffic-free streets with houses prepared for the onslaught. PLOG has a map of the walk, but for the more textually inclined, here it is:
Start at Rutland & Flatbush. Walk Rutland Rd. to Rogers Ave. Left on Rogers, Walk to Midwood St. Left on Midwood, Walk to Bedford Ave. Right on Bedford, Walk to Maple St. Right on Maple, Walk to New York Ave. Left on New York, Walk to Empire Blvd. End at New York & Empire @ the 71st Precinct.
But the SafeWalk is the end of a weekend of costume opportunities. On Saturday, Ghouls & Gourds makes its annual return to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Music, stilt-walkers, a costume parade and a carnivorous plant display, all in the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden which I don't get to often enough. I can even still find some serenity in the Japanese Garden because water always has a calming effect on me.
Prospect Park has a slate of activities spanning Halloween weekend. Boo at the Zoo will have a haunted barn, "spooky" creatures and face-painting. Is a haunted barn not enough? The Carousel will be haunted too. The regular calliope tunes will be replaced by spooky music and I'm sure the decorations will be tamely terrifying. The Lefferts Historic House will have scary stories and skeleton papercrafts.
But the highlight of Prospect Park's Halloween activities is the Halloween Walk and Carnival on Saturday. The heart of the action is at Nethermead, where the Carnival activities will be going on (and where our Gorilla Family got its picture taken last year). There's a haunted walk on Lookout Hill (I can't figure out where that is, sadly...) and there will be fun, games and food. There will also be food trucks parked on the Center Drive for less candy-cornish sustenance.
It is always good to see someone find a use for a vacant storefront and a relief when our world can make space for art instead of commerce. Even better when it is local. From October 13 through November 13 the former Mike's International space 552 Flatbush will be host to a temporary gallery featuring the work of PLG artists.
First, from October 13 - 24, the gallery will host Between Neighbors, featuring the work of Philadelphia-native but PLG-resident Brian Fernandes-Halloran.
Between Neighbors 552 Flatbush October 13-24 2pm-6pm FREE
Second, from October 30 - November 13, a group show will fill the space. The Neighborhood Show, sponsored by PLGNA and PLGarts, will feature dozens of local residents and has an extensive performance and event schedule including music, dance, spoken word and a crafts fair.
The Neighborhood Show 552 Flatbush Ave. October 30 - November 13 M-F 2-8 SAT 10-8 SUN 12-6 For a detailed event schedule, go to PLGarts.
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