Channel i

Getting High With Mary

 
Granny’s back in I’m SOOO High: Rev. Mary’s Reefer Revue 
April 6 @ 9:30 at Pangea, 172 Second Avenue, NYC
Rev. Mary and her All-Man Band have made “Granny’sBlue-Mers” the go-to group for wild and woolly wordplay from back-in-the-day.
Specializing in salacious tunes that found unique lyrics to beat the sensors, Rev. Mary recently came across a host of songs that crowded the speakeasies more than mentioning MARIJUANA! 
With nicknames like Blue Sage, Catnip, Dope, Grass, Jive, Jay, Gauge, Tea, Vibe, Mary-Jane, and Jazz Cabbage - not to mention the standard reefer, pot, and weed ... expect a wild night of daring ditties at NYC’s premier downtown hotspot: Pangea. 
The night promises to be unforgettable ... then again, what's that about short-term memory?
Rev. Mary has since taken the cabaret world by storm withher All-Man Band of Dan Furman on piano with Mario Claudio and George Dixon as back-up, with a host of guest musicians - including plans to have powerhouse Jontavious Willis joining her band for her next foray in the recording studio.
Rev. Mary brought down the house at the Duplex with Granny'sBlue-Mers: The Meat Show and Down In the Alley. Both acts having toured clubs such as Pianos, Freddy's Bar and Backroom, Otto's, West End Lounge, and a return engagement at the Duplex. She presented her compelling one-woman exploration in The Lady in Black at Don't Tell Mama on two occasions collecting scores of resounding reviews; and scored kudos as part of the Augusta Heritage Blues and Swing festival in West Virginia, where she first met Willis. She also produced Sing-ular Sensations at Don't Tell Mama, spotlighting three cabaret artists' one-person shows.
 
CAN'T MAKE THE SHOW ... 
 
GIVE TO THE GRANNY PROJECT
Remembering singers who went unsung with new recordings of daring songs about hot-button topics and female empowerment.
“In 2013, I was asked to perform at a club that caters to the more “adventurous” in NYC. They loved my voice and asked if I knew of any racy tunes. I was kind of dumbfounded, but it piqued my curiosity, I started to research and there they were … albums of them! While many were written for and by men, there was a gold mine full of songs written and sung by women as well.  This opened a door for me to explore, which I did. Each of these “dirty” songs was extremely funny and very rich in double entendre and poetry. Then I found an equal cache of songs about marijuana and other taboo topics. They all came from 1910-1950. I was hooked."
Rev. Mary Elizabeth Micari, founder of The Granny Project
Now it’s time to take this further.
It’s time to commit these songs to modernized audio … and video … recording for a new generation. 
The Granny Project is planning to create a music video and audio recording of the ground-breaking tune, My Daddy Rocks Me. This is the first song ever recorded that mention the then-unheard term … Rock and Roll. This will be the first song but certainly not the last. We want to create excitement ... and interest. 
Rev. Mary and her company have chosen Freddy’s Bar & Backroom. This club is a replica of the original speakeasy by the same name in the heart of Brooklyn.
Rev. Mary is in negotiation with guitarist, Jontavious Willis, to join the company.  
"That's my Wonderboy, the Wunderkind," says Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, better known as American blues musician, Taj Mahal, "He's a great new voice of the twenty-first century in the acoustic blues. I just love the way he plays," he concluded. “Only a few like him emerge every decade or so, when even the most hard core blues fans realize immediately that this is the real deal," writes Frank Matheis in Living Blues Magazine.
Who better than Willis to back-up Rev. Mary and help keep the torch lit for this kind of music and for helping memorialize these great old tunes and the musicians that created them?
Sounds great … but the project is millions of miles away in terms of budget.
What We Need & What You Get
My Daddy – the recording and the video needs:
A cinematographer
A director
Costumes
Make-up
Lighting
Sound and sound editing
Location expenses
Various fees and stipends
Licenses, permits, and insurance
Contract creation
Transportation
Performance and video rights
Marketing and public relations
And so much more.
Contributors will receive rewards such as free tickets to all live Granny’s Blue-Mers shows; autographed music and photos with the company; a free concert at the event of your choice (birthdays, weddings, holiday parties, etc.), and even being an extra in the video itself according to the contribution amount.
The Impact
"As my research went further, I’d discovered that many of the female artists who sang these tunes were brave to do so at that time. The sad part was that – now – so few of these songs were ever published or notated and a really heartbreaking amount of the singers were never even given credit at all.
I had a mission … yes, this was for entertainment but also for enlightenment … and education as well as fun. After all, these songs are celebratory and make people laugh and smile.  They were created at a time when that was sometimes hard to come by, very similar to now."
Mary Elizabeth Micari
Risks & Challenges
To stand in a club or bar and sing these songs and mention Trixie Smith, L'il Johnson, Bessie Smith, Julia Lewis, Sophie Tucker, and Ida Cox, is great. The audience loves it and everyone laughs and dances and just forgets their cares for a short time.  However, to be able to commit these songs to freshly video and recording using updated modern digitized equipment and using the internet with its reach to so many on social media will open the ears of so many more to this 100 plus year old music that is not only fun but historic and quite interesting. 
Professional video equipment and the individuals trained to use them costs money.  We also need to secure rights and proper insurance. We have the passion, we have trained and talented singers willing to donate time and energy; we have the music and have spent many hours notating them - some from scratchy records from as much as 100 plus years ago. NOW, we need the nuts & bolts! 
Other Ways You Can Help
Know someone with professional equipment looking for a tax-write-off? Know someone with sound editing equipment? How about video lighting ... or a costume collection ... or a lawyer needing pro bono work ... or...
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-granny-project/x/20513385#/
Price: $20 - $25 $20 food/drink minimum
Tickets: 
 
 

William Considine INTERVIEW for Moral Support

Join us for MORAL SUPPORT, William Considine’s intense study of survival in a dysfunctional family. FINAL WEEKEND:
 
 “…this play will get you thinking …”
“… strong performances by Cynthia Shaw (the mother) and David A.P. Brown (the father).”
“This play isn't easy to watch, it might make you cry, but it resonates deeply.”
Show Score
 
“Moral Support is a gentle memory play; nostalgic and autobiographical. William Considine has written a bittersweet tale about an estranged mother’s cry for help and her son’s lifelong struggle to believe her. It’s a slice of life, well written and acted with skill; a personal cri de coeur that resonates long after the final curtain.”
Jan Ewing, Hi Drama (Spectrum Cable)
 
LISTEN TO HIS INTERVIEW with WILLIAM CONSIDINE on PASSIONPIT
 
 

Henry & the Improv'rs (IRTE)

IRTE 2019: Fasten your seat belts!!!
Tammy’s Bachelorette
FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS March 8, 9, 15 & 16, 8:00pm
Tickets $15 Online / $17 at the Door
The Producers Club
358 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
Conceived by Nannette Deasy
Directed by Robert Baumgardner 
With Special Guest Improvisers and Musical Guests!
Blonde, beautiful Tammy Tucker is getting married, and you’re invited! She’s reunited all her besties, one male stripper and an ex-boyfriend or two to say goodbye to single life in this improvised and interactive Bachelorette Party of the CENTURY!
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Quisqueya Productions presents a limited showing of a re-imagined version of Shakespeare’s HENRY V. Shakespeare’s definitive parable of war and warriors will directed by Broadway veteran, Mary Lou Rosato, at the legendary American Theatre of Actors – one of the last great theaters of the famed off-off Broadway movement – for a special limited run, February 21 – 24 (Thursday – Saturday @ 7:30 p.m. with special matinees on Saturday & Sunday @ 2:00 p.m. – Invited previews start Feb 18) The ATA is located at 314 W 54th St, New York City. Tickets available at https://www.smarttix.com/Event/hen393
Presented in contemporary dress with allusions to period style, Quisqueya Productions hopes to show – in this stunning new production – the duality of mankind; the eternal battle between modern thinking and warlike desires. Producer/performer, Laris Macario, who appears as Henry was quoted as saying “Henry gets caught up in his own legend … as we all do,” Macario has accepted the challenge of playing several of Shakespeare’s men of conviction, who see their missions as a way to justify a place on the throne and, in many respects, come closer to God. Others in his canon are Marc Antony in Julius Caesar and Lucius in Titus Andronicus leading the pack. “In these uncertain times, the story of a valiant soul leading the common man to victory is that much more necessary,” he concluded.
Broadway luminary, Roger Rathburnappears in the production as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the King of France. Rathburn was seen on Broadway in No, No, Nanette, Five O’Clock Girl; OB: Children of Adam; Las Vegas: Mame; among others. His own canon of appearances in Shakespeare include The Tempest (Gonzalo and Prospero), Henry IV, Hamlet, As You Like It (Corin, Adam).
Helming the production is another Broadway notable: Mary Lou Rosato with credentials including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet and Henry V; with non-Bardian Broadway works including Salome in the first Broadway production of The Robber Bridegroom; Once Upon A Mattress, The School For Scandal, The Suicide, The Inspector General, The Three Sisters, The Time Of Your Life, Edward II, and The Beggar’s Opera.
The ensemble cast includes, Sylvain Panet-Raymond, Sam Tilles, Julian Evans, Megan Smith, Kaitlyn Farley, Joe Penczak, Jared Kirby, Patrick Hamilton, Yosef Podolski, Diego Tapia, Mark Guerette, Suzanne Kennedy, and Tom Kalnas.

Coast to Coast with Power-Players: Opplaud in NY and Joel Eisenberg in California

https://opplaud.com/about/
 
We help you find events and activities you'll love.
Let's be honest: going out is hard! Finding a sitter or dog walker, dealing with trains or traffic, and don't even mention the crowds! Worse yet, what happens if you get to a show and hate it? Is it OK to leave early, or are you stuck? Can you get your money back? If you have to use the bathroom can you return to your seat? Will you even get a seat? It's enough to make you want to stay home and watch TV!
But life's too short for that, so we created Opplaud™™: a free service where alive human fun-finder uses the latest computer technology to seek out and recommend events and activities you'll absolutely love, based on what you've enjoyed and disliked in the past. No listings to sort through and no irrelevant emails, just timely spot-on suggestions that make you glad you didn't stay home.
Our goal is to make our service so great, you'll cancel other plans just to check out our personalized recommendations. Even if your plans were just Netflix† and Seamless‡.Especially if those were your plans!
Join our community today and start to enjoy going out more!
We never share personally-identifiable user data with anyone.
 
Joel Eisenberg is a writer-producer, whose current eight-book fantasy saga with co-author Steve Hillard, The Chronicles of Ara, was sold to Ovation TV for an eight-hour miniseries. The deal was unique for a network in that the series was published by the independent Incorgnito Press, and was printed digitally on-demand. He is represented by CAA.
In 2001, Eisenberg co-wrote Out of the Black with Karl Kozak, an independent feature that won 17 national film festival awards. The film starred Tyler Christopher, Jason Widener, Dee Wallace Stone, Sally Struthers and Sally Kirkland.
In 2004, Eisenberg, an avid book collector, was hired by a private party to identify, organize and archive a substantial lot of unidentified handwritten materials. These materials were soon verified as original John Steinbeck writings considered “lost” to history, and have been since referred to by a noted historian as “one of the most important literary discoveries of the century.”
In 2005, he wrote the non-fiction inspirational tome, How to Survive a Day Job, which featured contributions from established public figures as to how they survived the day job experience, en route to working professionally within the arts. Contributors included Clive Barker, Stephen J. Cannell, director Robert Wise (in his final interview), Brad Meltzer, Laurell Hamilton, Larry Hagman and others. Later that year, he co-founded All Cities Media with partner Eric Shaw, an entertainment-centric networking group hosted by Paramount Studios, Warner Brothers Studios, Sunset-Gower Studios and more. The goal of ACM was to level the playing field between filmmakers and finance. Eisenberg concluded his participation in the group in 2014.
April Showers was a critically acclaimed feature film executive produced by Eisenberg, and released in 2009. Based on the Columbine School Shootings tragedy, April Showers was written and directed by Columbine survivor Andrew Robinson, and was awarded a special citation by the U.S. House of Representatives for its co-star Tom Arnold and his fight for the continuance of school safety standards.
He is developing several film projects, including the Alzheimer's-themed January Rain as co-writer and producer, and Louis vs Schmeling, a boxing biopic co-written with Gilbert Adler (producer of Superman Returns, Valkyrie, Constantine, Tales from the Crypt) to be directed by Bill Duke. Eisenberg is also Executive Producing Then Again with Herbie J Pilato, an Inside the Actor's Studio-type talkfest focused on classic television, for Decades Network, a CBS and Weigel Broadcasting station, and Shadow Show with Vincent Price, based on the bestselling anthology edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle, and the subsequent IDW Comics adaptation.
For other networks, Eisenberg continues to develop several projects based on various pop-culture brands. Letters from a Drugstore Cowboy, based on the unpublished writings of James Fogle - the inspiration for the film, Drugstore Cowboy - was optioned to FOX Studios in 2013.
Since 2014, he has been penning the eight-volume The Chronicles of Ara fantasy novel series with Steve Hillard, a continuation of Hillard's book, Mirkwood: A Novel About J.R.R. Tolkien. Eisenberg and Hillard formed Mirkwood Partners, LLC in 2015, a feature film and television development company. In 2017, the company was renamed Council Tree Productions. Co-Production deals set up through Council Tree Productions include the reality-based “Race For Space” with Roddenberry Entertainment, “Farway Canyon” based on the independent comic book of the same name with Buffalo 8, and “Terror Talk” with the Roku station Terror TV.
Eisenberg has been writing professionally since 1986 in varied media, starting as a columnist for a series of national professional wrestling and martial arts periodicals. He has successfully marketed various projects to Public Television supporters for national and local program funding, including California’s Gold with Huell Howser, American Playhouse, Masterpiece and The Puzzle Place.
Eisenberg supports Special Education programs and worked as a teacher for at-risk youth, including gang members, drug abusers and victims of physical abuse, in such avenues as Creative Writing. He is an in-demand speaker who offers his seminars, "How to Network Your Book into a Film or TV Deal" and "Catching the Muse: How to Claim Your Artistic Spirit" to conferences nationwide, including those for Writer's Digest.

All Write! Doug DeVita & Christopher Struck

https://www.dougdevitaplays.com
A member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Doug’s play Phillie's Trilogy (AKA The Phillie Trilogy,) was recently named a Semi-Finalist in Barrington Stage Company's first ever competition for the Burman New Play Award, placing in the top 60 out of over 450 submissions. It also won Scrap Mettle Arts Inaugural Emerging Playwrights Program competition, was chosen to inaugurate Great Griffon’s “Seeking The Queer Voice” reading series in January 2017, and was produced as part of the 2017 Fresh Fruit Festival, where it recieved a Fresh Fruit Award of Distinction for Outstanding Production. Other work includes The Fierce Urgency Of Now, also produced at the 2016 Fresh Fruit festival, where it won four Fresh Fruit Awards of Distinction, including Outstanding Play, and Outstanding Production; Upper Division, recently named a Semi-Finalist for Normal Avenue's New American Play Series; NELL DASH, The Gruesomely Merry Adventures Of An Irrepressibly Sensible Capitalist With A Vengeance; and Just A Rumor (co-written with Gary Lyons) which was a Semi-Finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Playwright’s Conference and has had readings at New York’s Abingdon Theatre Company and London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. His ten-minute play, Checking The Basement for Leaks (the first play in Phillie's Trilogy) has been performed at the Gallery Players Black Box Festival in New York, The Driftwood Players Short Works Festival in Seattle, Ramapo College in New Jersey, and The Warner International Playwrights Festival in Connecticut. He has also collaborated with actress Lane Bradbury (the original Dainty June in Gypsy, starring Ethel Merman) on her one-woman show Let Me Entertain You, Again, which was performed at the Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles, as well as Feinstein’s/54 Below, and Don’t Tell Mama in New York. Doug belongs to both Rogelio's Rogues, and The 36th Street Writers Block (formerly Abingdon Theatre Playwrights Group 1) in Manhattan, and has studied with Karen Hartman, Rogelio Martinez, and Eric Webb.He has also worked as an Art director/Copywriter for such advertising agencies as Grey Global Group, J. Walter Thompson, and N.W. Ayer, and was the marketing director for Abingdon Theatre Company for four years. He was also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Advertising Design Department at F.I.T. in New York. All of the above, along with a Catholic school education and his mother, have given him an unbelievable amount of material. 
 
https://www.struckchris.com/about
Contemporary Novelist, Christopher M. Struck (Chris Struck, C. M. Struck) will make his debut with Kennig and Gold, to be released with BHC Press this coming June.
Prior to living his childhood dream as a New York writer, Chris received 6 degrees, traveled to 19 countries, taught at 3 universities, and studied 2 foreign languages.
Today, he can be found reviewing for Cabaret Scenes magazine, helping out at the Museum of Interesting Things, or attending NYU's Posthuman Philosophy summits. His early reviews of New York theater have helped inspire and inform his later work.
Official Author Page at BHC Press
Cabaret Critiques at Cabaret Scenes Magazine
Theater Reviews Posted to ShowScore

Organizers on getting ORGANIZED

Bob Ost, founder of the Leading Network for Developing Theater Professionals
Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is a nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and best navigate the business of theater. Our membership roster includes self-producing artists as well as career producers. If you are a theater professional, take this opportunity to become a part of the leading professional development, mentorship and networking organization in the industry!
https://truonline.org/
 
Marcina Zaccaria is a writer, director, and arts administrator.  She has directed readings and plays in venues that include New Dramatists, TheaterLab, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, Soho Rep, Dance Theater Workshop, and the Ohio Theater.  She curated a Salon at Dixon Place.  This one day event featured visual artists, spoken word artists, dancers, filmmakers, and theater artists. She is a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, and is a reader for the New York Musical Theatre Festival.  Arts administration experience includes providing support for the Executive Director/ Contemporary Programming at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.  She has worked in ticket sales at the Roundabout Theatre Company and Manhattan Theater Club.  She has written monologues, published in InterJACtions:  Monologues from the Heart of Human Nature (Vol. II), available on Amazon.  She is published in the New Crit section of Howl Round, and her clips can be found on Twitter.  She has an MFA from Columbia University.
 
Village, My Home
 
LIT Space Grant Residency

Addiss & Kierstead give their regards to off ... off ... Broadway!

Pat Flicker Addiss is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Finch College NYC. She created a Promotional company Pat Addiss Enterprises to support 3 children as a single Mom. After 30 years, she gave the business to her daughter Wendy(who still runs it in Va) so she could Produce on Broadway.Starting with LITTLE WOMEN in2005 Pat has produced over 18 plays on and Off Broadway such as CHITA RIVERA: THE DANCER’S LIFE, BRIDGE AND TUNNEL, SPRING AWAKENING, PASSING STRANGE, 39 STEPS, A CHRISTMAS STORY,THE MUSICAL, VANYA SONIA MASHA AND SPIKE, ECLIPSED, BECOMING DR RUTH, DINNER WITH THE BOYS, BUYER AND CELLAR and many more. Pat also produces events The current favorite is Oral History for the League of Professional Theatre Women with Lincoln Center Performing Arts. Pat is an advocate for Women’s Equality and often speaks at events. She Co hosts with Magda Katz YAYA Dinners to empower and network women. She is on the Boards : League of Professional Theatre Women, and NJ REP.
 
Jim Kierstead is a two-time 2013 Tony® Award-winning producer of the Broadway, touring, Toronto, and London productions of Kinky Boots and the revival of Pippin.  He also is involved with the international hit musical Matilda on Broadway and on tour and is a co-producer of the 2016 Broadway musicals Waitress andNatasha & Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 starring Josh Groban.  He has been a co-producer of the Broadway productions of The Visit (Tony nominated), You Can’t Take It With You (Tony nominated), Side Show, It Shoulda Been You, and Rocky.  Jim has worked in New York theatre since 2000 investing and raising money for shows including Something Rotten, The Glass Menagerie, the revival of Hair (Best Revival), American Idiot, The Addams Family, Catch Me If You Can, among others.
Jim began his career by developing and producing the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway premiere of Thrill Me – The Leopold & Loeb Story (nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical in 2005) and produced its original New York production in 2003.  He founded his production company Kierstead Productions, Inc. in 2004.  In 2010, he produced the Off-Broadway premiere of Yank! – A World War II Love Story.  Jim has been an Executive Producer on the films Between Love and Goodbye, Kiss Me, Kill Me, and the upcoming Wakefield starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner. Currently, Jim is developing a new musical entitled Unexpected Joy with book & lyrics by Bill Russell (two-time Tony® nominated for Side Show), a play entitled Cover by Bill McMahon, and a play entitled The Dodgers by Diana Amsterdam about the draft dodgers during the Vietnam War which had its World Premiere production at The Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles.  Jim is on the Board of Directors of The York Theatre Company and The New York Theatre Barn.

Robert Viagas IS the Theater!

Robert Viagas is an author, editor, journalist, critic, librettist and project manager with more than twenty years' experience working on Broadway, most of it with Playbill Inc. and the Tony Awards. Viagas was founding editor (1994) of the first and still biggest theatre site on the web, Playbill.com. He has published 19 books on performing arts, plus one on golf. He is founding editor of the annual Playbill Broadway Yearbook series, recently took over writing and editing the "At This Theatre" column from Louis Botto, hosted the Tony Awards webcasts from 2002 to 2008, and edited the special Tony Awards Playbill from 2002 to 2010. He enjoys the rare honor of serving on the nominating committee for the Tonys (2012-2014). The New York Times’ CyberTimes described him as “encyclopedic” in his knowledge of Broadway. Among his other books, he was chosen by the original cast of A Chorus Line to tell their story in On the Line: The Creation of "A Chorus Line" (Morrow) and by the creators of the original The Fantasticks to tell their story in The Amazing Story of "The Fantasticks" (Citadel). In The Alchemy of Theatre (Applause Books) he worked with the likes of Edward Albee, Wendy Wasserstein, Hal Prince, Chita Rivera and others to codify how one collaborates in the world of theatre. The roll-out book-signing event sold out the 92nd Street Y in 2006. Viagas pioneered Playbill Radio (which introduced theatre to Sirius satellite radio) in 2002 with a show he hosted for six years, Playbill Books (including the “Playbill Broadway Yearbook” series), and PlaybillEDU.com, a search tool for college arts programs across North America. Viagas' 2009 book "I’m the Greatest Star!" (Applause) contained biographies of 40 brilliant stars of Broadway musical history. It was adapted as a stage musical and premiered at Hofstra University. He has written three other librettos for musicals.Available as freelance writer, book co-author, book editor or librettist.