Tickets are going FAST for the Project shows this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s an all new Playmaking production, which means 9 plays written by 9 & 10 year-olds and directed and performed by an amazing array of adults. Come see work featuring Sofiya Akilova, Lauren Blumenfeld, Michael Braun, Maren Bush, Bill Camp, Tina Chilip, Dylan Dawson, Bjorn DuPaty, Arielle Goldman, Jessica Hecht, Jennifer Ikeda, Kareem M. Lucas, Nick Mills, Christina Pumariega, Joshua David Robinson, David Shih, Mirirai Sithole, & Sathya Sridharan. The directors areAlex Barron, Ka-Ling Cheung, Gretchen Hall, Kel Haney, Alexandra O’Daly, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, Tim J. Lord, Don Nguyen, & John Sheehy. And there’s original music by Kim D. Sherman.

You’ll encounter a singing ostrich & a foosball champion polar bear; a motorcycle cop & bad driver; a fire-superhero & a water-supervillain; and a 1 ft. tall box & a pig with hair like Elvis. There’s even a food fight at the Poorphanage.

Shows are Friday, December 5 @ 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, December 6 @ 3 & 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, December 7 @ 3 p.m.

Click “Get Tickets” under the Productions & Events menu above!

Art by Iris A. Brown

Do you know Shirley Rumierk? Wanna know her better?

She’s one of our wonderful success stories (and an amazing board member). Shirley has been profiled by The Oliver Scholars Program. It’s a great piece about her, and her journey and her involvement with the Project.

You can check it out HERE: http://oliverscholars.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/from-hells-kitchen-to-harvard

Hey there,

We’re back from Wareham, and if you’d like to see what we were up to last week, you can check out this short video on the Project’s YouTube page:

http://youtu.be/ccyWpVCyiyE  

These are going to be really FUN shows, and the Sunday performance is already SOLD OUT (waiting list still available, so you know you can still almost certainly get in). The Friday night and Saturday night shows are still up for grabs, so if you can make it to one of those, that’d be great!

Hope we’ll see you this weekend.

We are so excited for this year’s One-on-Ones. We’ll be going to beautiful Block Island off of Rhodes Island on Saturday, July 5th, returning a week later with a new show ready to share.

Speaking of sharing, here’s some info about the production from TheaterMania:

bit.ly/1opneLG

Art by Patrick Jones, color by George Babiak.

So when it comes time for sports championships, mayors of certain cities frequently make bets with rival mayors, and well, the Stanley Cup outcome was going to result in our own Bill de Blasio having to sing “I LOVE LA.” Wishing to bring as much goodwill to this occasion as possible, he invited us to sing along with him on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE last night.

Click here  to see the kids and the Mayor.

It really was a bunch of fun.

The Teens are preparing for Get Yourself Together this weekend. Six new one-act plays to be performed as the culmination of this year’s Ensemble (next year they work on Shakespeare).

We even got some coverage on Theatermania.com. Check it out here. Two shows only: Friday night @ 7:30, Saturday @ 3:00. Free, naturally. In the Productions & Events menu click Get Tickets or call 212/642-5052. Hope we’ll see you here!

After seeing the Fiasco Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure at the New Victory, a couple of the Project teens met with cast members to discuss the show and the moral quandaries that come up in the plot. Take a look:

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We’re super excited to announce the cast for our next production OUT ON A LIMB, Plays That Branch Out, Playmaking Spring 2014.

The Kids: Sevan Asencio, Duaa Alkindi, Jayla Alvarez, Kiara Figueroa, Nathaniel Ortiz, Sebastian Lopez, Sofia Santoni, Daniel Tineo, Karen Tineo, & Milen Tokarev.

The Actors: Carlo Albán, Marinda Anderson, Michael Braun, Dan Butler, Dahlia Azama, Matt Citron, Eric Clem, Michael Crane, Edie Falco, Marco Formosa, Greg Hildreth, Sekou Laidlow, Krystel Lucas, Adrienne Moore, Joe Paulik, Christina Acosta Robinson, Shirley Rumierk, Mauricio Salgado, Wrenn Schmidt, & Laura Woodward

The Directors: George Babiak, Nehassaiu DeGannes, Sarah Krohn, Rebecca Martinez, Christina Roussos, Felix Solis, Jeremy Stoller, Kerry Whigham, Annie Worden & James Yaegashi.

Composer: Andrew Sherman.

Performances:

Friday, April 4, @ 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 5, @ 3:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 6, @ 3:00 p.m.

February 26, 2014 — The 52nd Street Project mourns the loss of Ed Vassallo, a Project Pal if ever there was one. He was first a friend, a great friend, beloved, wonderful company, a man with a delightful gift for friendship. And he was as fine a volunteer as we have ever known, always ready, tireless even, refreshing to everyone around him. He did everything a theater artist does: write, sing, dance, act, direct, dramaturge, mentor, you name it; and he did all of it well and with flair, and then he’d go and play catch or checkers with a kid or two (often the kids with the roughest edges and the biggest challenges, who were drawn to him because Ed was cool and sweet-natured and he saw what was best in you).

He did load-ins too, back when we had load-ins, and for three years in a row he hosted the Playback Weekend up at Franklin Stage in the Catskills, courtesy of his friends Gene, Carol and Carmela Marner. He did everything, not just the fun stuff where everybody tells you that you were great when it’s all over. And no matter what, everything he did with us was shot through with what the Project is all about: pleasure, common endeavor, and the full expression of each kid’s promise and potential.

We will always remember him with abiding love and with deep gratitude for how much he blessed the Project and all of us who call it a place to belong.

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