‘How to Make an American Family,’ with Jeff Seabaugh, is part of the 10th annual Midtown International Theatre Festival, which begins July 13. / photo by Dennis Kwan
Summer can be a trying time for theatergoers. If you’ve been vigilant about staying up-to-date with Broadway’s latest, there’s very little to tempt you as actors and producers take a much needed break before the start of the new season. Luckily, summer is also the season of festivals. And before the Fringe Fest returns to downtown Manhattan in August for the 12th year, fans of up-and-coming writers and performers have more choices than they can handle thanks to the undergroundzero festival and the 10th annual Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF).
Curated by Paul Bargetto, the third annual underground zero festival offers over 20 productions from July 7 through July 26 at Downtown mainstay P.S. 122. Dedicated to presenting the works of experimental theater companies and artists, the festival boats a more offbeat sensibility than theater festivals in New York City usually do.
Much of this year’s festival seems inspired by other artists and other works, from 3!, a multimedia experiment inspired by Fassbinder’s film The Third Generation, to Blessed Unrest’s contemporary adaptation of Chekhov’s rarely produced first play, Ivanov. Columbia School of the Arts, meanwhile, will present a contemporary revisiting of Moliere’s evergreen The Misanthrope. And Apocalypsis Cum Figuris and The Constant Prince will commemorate the work of innovative Polish director Jerzy Grotowski.
The fest will also include original works like The Consequences, an indie-rock musical written by Kyle Jarrow and Nathan Leigh, the brains behind rock band Super Mirage, and what sounds like a more typical summer festival entry, Selling Splitsville, in which two TV shopping hosts sell specialty products for divorced families.
A few blocks uptown, meanwhile, the Midtown International Theatre Festival will present its usual diverse mix of audience-pleasing productions. Celebrating a full decade of performances, this year’s MITF ranges from Assholes and Aureoles (one hour, two women, 13 taboos) to How to Make an American Family (in which a gay man struggles with notions of what makes a family).
Much like the Fringe Festival, the MITF usually guarantees plenty of pop culture-obsessed offerings. On the heels of last year’s hilarious Kidnapping Laua Linney comes Exposed! The Curious Case of Shiloh and Zahara. Set 20 years in the future, Exposed! discovers that celebrity children are either housebound, unable to date or the spawn of Satan. Also turning modern culture upside down is Facespace, in which a social networking site comes equipped with a life coach who dispenses bad advice—and whom only you can see.
Which is not to say that the MITF is content to present a series of satirical jabs at contemporary living. A Poisonous Tree is a serious look at Navy officers involved in a Vietnam-era court-martial trial, while Pound: The Poet on Trial, offers Ezra Pound the treason trial he was never granted before being locked in an insane asylum by the American government for 18 years.
Some plays may be content to serve as fluffy summer entertainment, but the underground and Midtown festivals also serve as reminders that there’s always a new generation of writers and actors arriving on the scene—and the festivals are your chance to discover them before the rest of the world does.
The undergound festival runs through July 26. P.S. 122, 150 First Ave. (at 9th St.), 212-352-3101. For tickets and a full schedule, visit www.ps122.org.
The Midtown Theatre Festival runs July 13 through July 31. For tickets and a full schedule (including venues), visit midtownfestival.org.
Curated by Paul Bargetto, the third annual underground zero festival offers over 20 productions from July 7 through July 26 at Downtown mainstay P.S. 122. Dedicated to presenting the works of experimental theater companies and artists, the festival boats a more offbeat sensibility than theater festivals in New York City usually do.
Much of this year’s festival seems inspired by other artists and other works, from 3!, a multimedia experiment inspired by Fassbinder’s film The Third Generation, to Blessed Unrest’s contemporary adaptation of Chekhov’s rarely produced first play, Ivanov. Columbia School of the Arts, meanwhile, will present a contemporary revisiting of Moliere’s evergreen The Misanthrope. And Apocalypsis Cum Figuris and The Constant Prince will commemorate the work of innovative Polish director Jerzy Grotowski.
The fest will also include original works like The Consequences, an indie-rock musical written by Kyle Jarrow and Nathan Leigh, the brains behind rock band Super Mirage, and what sounds like a more typical summer festival entry, Selling Splitsville, in which two TV shopping hosts sell specialty products for divorced families.
A few blocks uptown, meanwhile, the Midtown International Theatre Festival will present its usual diverse mix of audience-pleasing productions. Celebrating a full decade of performances, this year’s MITF ranges from Assholes and Aureoles (one hour, two women, 13 taboos) to How to Make an American Family (in which a gay man struggles with notions of what makes a family).
Much like the Fringe Festival, the MITF usually guarantees plenty of pop culture-obsessed offerings. On the heels of last year’s hilarious Kidnapping Laua Linney comes Exposed! The Curious Case of Shiloh and Zahara. Set 20 years in the future, Exposed! discovers that celebrity children are either housebound, unable to date or the spawn of Satan. Also turning modern culture upside down is Facespace, in which a social networking site comes equipped with a life coach who dispenses bad advice—and whom only you can see.
Which is not to say that the MITF is content to present a series of satirical jabs at contemporary living. A Poisonous Tree is a serious look at Navy officers involved in a Vietnam-era court-martial trial, while Pound: The Poet on Trial, offers Ezra Pound the treason trial he was never granted before being locked in an insane asylum by the American government for 18 years.
Some plays may be content to serve as fluffy summer entertainment, but the underground and Midtown festivals also serve as reminders that there’s always a new generation of writers and actors arriving on the scene—and the festivals are your chance to discover them before the rest of the world does.
The undergound festival runs through July 26. P.S. 122, 150 First Ave. (at 9th St.), 212-352-3101. For tickets and a full schedule, visit www.ps122.org.
The Midtown Theatre Festival runs July 13 through July 31. For tickets and a full schedule (including venues), visit midtownfestival.org.
