Faye Driscoll News

PEAK Performances and WNET's ALL ARTS today announced the initial lineup for PEAK HD, a partnership formed last year to broadcast performances produced at PEAK Performances' state-of-the-art home, The Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, to audiences across the country.

Zurick Theater Spektakel presents a digital program, HOW TO BE TOGETHER?, August 27-29.

Today (July 29) in live streaming: Shoshana Bean visits Backstage Live, The Chaos Twins are back with Tommy Kail, and so much more!

The OBIE-winning HERE, has announced HERE THERE EVERYWHERE, a return to live in-person events along with expanded online programming for its summer and fall 2020 season, featuring original relevant works by more than 235 diverse artists. A centerpiece of the season is #stillHERE: IRL, an adventurous new series that reimagines the live experience.

Jacob's Pillow has announced Ronald K. Brown as the recipient of the 2020 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award. A master choreographer and visionary storyteller, Brown's distinct blend of West African, Caribbean, and contemporary genres is embedded with an unmatched sense of musicality, spiritual traditions, and humanity.

Today (June 10) in live streaming: Betty Buckley visits Stars in the House, Quarantine Cabaret is back, and so much more!

Presented by the New York Opera Alliance, with support from OPERA America, the 2020 New York Opera Fest has become the 2020 New York Virtual Opera Fest due to the social distancing restrictions put into place by the state government.

Jacob's Pillow hosts Dance We Must: A Virtual Event Supporting Jacob's Pillow on June 20th at 7pmEDT. Co-hosted by Pillow Trustees Kyle Abraham and Wendy Whelan, this event is free, open to all, and will be streamed on Jacob's Pillow's website and social media channels.

Target Margin Theater has announced WE WILL CARE FOR YOU, a performative action distributing 100 face masks via bike messenger across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Handmade by award-winning costume designers Dina El-Aziz, Ásta Bennie Hostetter, and Normandy Sherwood, 50 face masks will be available to the public for a contribution.

HERE will welcome Bengali theater-maker Shayok Misha Chowdhury, playwright and director Normandy Sherwood, and instrumentalist gamin and sound & visual composer Sachiyo Takahashi as new members of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP).

A group of over 50 other New York City artists-including Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Fellowship and OBIE Award winners spanning numerous disciplines-have launched The Trickle Up, a subscription video service to help artists hurt from the COVID-19 shutdown.

PEAK Performances presents two concerts by the United States' only professional piano sextet, Grand Band, a?oethe finest, busiest pianists active in New York's contemporary-classical scenea?? (The New York Times), who arrange and play six pianos in a circle. The unconventional ensemblea?"Erika Dohi, David Friend, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore, and Isabelle O'Connella?"engulfs the audience in the sonic intensity of four landmark contemporary works, including the iconic and massive Gay Guerilla by a?oebrazen and brillianta?? (The New Yorker) late minimalist composer Julius Eastman. 

Each spring HERE offers a window into the creative process of their nationally recognized HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). For 21 years, this exploration of new work in development, previously known as the Culturemart Festival, has blurred the boundaries between theatre, music, dance, new media, and visual art. The 2020 edition, which runs February 23-March 1, not only features seven daring workshop presentations but a new name that better captures the essence of the experience: HERE RAW / Resident Artist Works.

Loghaven Artist Residency, a newly created residency for emerging and established artists in the fields of visual art, dance, music, writing, theater, and interdisciplinary work, announces its first group of artists and the completion of its campus. The launch of Loghaven Artist Residency is the culmination of years of planning, research, design, and input from artists, arts leaders, and the Alliance of Artist Communities.

PEAK Performances presents two concerts by the United States' only professional piano sextet, Grand Band, who arrange and play six pianos in a circle. The unconventional ensemble-Erika Dohi, David Friend, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore, and Isabelle O'Connell-engulfs the audience in the sonic intensity of four landmark contemporary works, including the iconic and massive Gay Guerilla by late minimalist composer Julius Eastman. The Quietus describes the piece as 'one of the most moving pieces ever to be written for eight hands...beginning in lonely stuttering notes, slowly unraveling into defiant crescendos, before the final part repurposes Martin Luther's A Mighty Fortress Is Our God into a queer manifesto.'

The November installment of the Martha Graham Dance Company's popular Studio Series takes audiences inside the creative process of The Auditions, a new work by choreographer Troy Schumacher and composer Augusta Read Thomas, commissioned by Peak Performances.

Peak Performances presents Lena Herzog's Last Whispers, an immersive AV experience dedicated to vanishing languages, accompanied by panel discussions on select days, October 16-20 at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University. Trained in linguistics and philosophy, Herzog, also as an acclaimed photographer, has taken an ongoing interest in indigenous languages, which are disappearing at an astonishing rate. By 2050, half of roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world will fall silent. Herzog's a?oehaunting and singulara?? (The New Yorker critic Alex Ross) immersive oratorioa?"situated at the intersection of installation art, music, and filma?"features spoken and sung recordings of more than 40 endangered or lost languages. www.lastwhispers.org

Peak Performances announces its 2019-2020 season, considering the vocabularies of the body, genre and form, artistic practices and legacies, cultures, and language itself-how they persevere, disappear, or shift over time with new influences and perspectives. This season, Peak Performances offers its state-of-the-art platform to artists who work with-and sometimes against-these established vocabularies in the creation of exhilarating new performance works and the reinvigoration of preexisting texts, compositions, and choreographies. All performances take place at the Alexander Kasser Theater (1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043).

In recognition of its 20th anniversary, the renowned arts philanthropy Creative Capital is pleased to announce that it will be moving to an annual cycle of awards and retreats from its previous, more irregular cycle.

The stars were on their feet (toes, taps and standing ovations) on a warm Sunday night, May 19th, for the Chita Rivera Awards a?" an annual ceremony recognizing the very best in dance on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in film that honors icons and trailblazers while also nurturing future generations simultaneously. It could have been dubbed a?oeChita Rivera's Dance Salona?? for the presenters, attendees and honorees read like a Who's Who of Chita's friends, fans and fellow Fosse favorites, including hosts Ben Vereen and Anne Reinking.