January

01.07.2005
Freestyle Love Supreme

Imagine a spontaneous fusion of live music, comedy and hip-hop. Six performers create a whirlwind of musicality as they riff off audience suggestions in a show that is never the same twice.

01.09.2005
A Conversation with William Finn

Composer/lyricist William Finn will be interviewed by David Finkle, senior theater critic for TheaterMania.com, in the next program of the website’s continuing series of talks with theater professionals at Ars Nova. Finn will chat about his new musical THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, which begins previews at Second Stage Theater on Tuesday, January 11 and opens on Monday, February 7.

Finn has indicated that he might sing at least one song during the program, “to prove I can sing.” He will also discuss his career, which includes Tony Award wins for the score and libretto of FALSETTOS. His most recent scores are for ELEGIES: A SONG CYCLE and A NEW BRAIN, which includes the new cabaret standard “I’d Rather Be Sailing.” Finn himself has fronted a Joe’s Pub revue of his material; he will talk about his performing as well.

01.10.2005
Broadway Spotlight: Shayna Steele

Throughout her musical journey, Shayna Steele has kept her roots firmly planted in her love for R&B and Soul. Continuing her collaboration with musical director David Cook, Steele and her band will rock the Nova serving up original music, including songs from her self-released six song EP. Steele is currently performing as Dynamite in the hit Broadway musical, HAIRSPRAY!

01.13.2005
22 Doors: An Evening with Pattie Canova

Psychic Intuitive Pattie Canova explores life, love and relationships through an interactive evening full of myth and mystery, tarot tales and psychic glimpses. Even skeptics will fall in love with Canovas humorous storytelling and inspiring candor.

01.13.2005
Thursdays at Ten: Lisa Jackson + Girl Friday

Lisa Jackson & Girl Friday are quickly becoming one of NYC’s most buzzed about rock acts, combining a perfect mix of punk rock energy with that late 70’s/early 80’s brand of arena rock you know you wanna raise your lighters to.

01.15.2005
Head Games

Sheila Head’s tour de force plunges the audience into a motivational workshop given by fictional cult figure Sandra O’Day, renowned transformational expert and possible felon, whose singular take on self-help veers into the dangerously unconventional. Head portrays O’Day, as well as seven other “transformed” characters who have survived her outlandish seminars.

01.20.2005
Thursdays at Ten: Automatic Vaudeville

Hosted by downtown ringleaders Bridgett Everett (At Least It’s Pink) and Kenny Mellman (Kiki and Herb), Automatic Vaudeville provides a solid lineup of oddities, music acts, comedy and all out fun as the audience decides who gets the hook and who gets the dinette set.

01.20.2005
An Evening with Greg Walloch

In this follow up to his acclaimed piece, WHITE DISABLED TALENT, solo artist Greg Walloch intertwines new monologues about life and love in the urban jungle. On a bare stage, stripped down and unplugged, the power of Walloch’s work is simply his story.

01.24.2005
Out Loud: Aerodynamics of Accident

by Deborah Stein

In 1897, an ambitious young girl crashes to her death in an experimental flying machine. Left to pick up the pieces are a reclusive widow, who won’t leave her house; an upstart professor, who can’t get inside; and the ghost of the dead girl, who haunts them all.

01.25.2005
British Invasion: The UK Stars of "Whose Line is it Anyway?"

After Monty Python, but before Drew Carey, there was a comedy revolution. Stephen Frost revitalized improv and inspired a whole new generation of British comedians. The British cast of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” has paved the way for comedians such as Sacha Baron Cohen (“Ali G”) and Ricky Gervais (“The Office”). It also received the ultimate compliment of being turned into an American T.V. show with Drew Carey. See rare appearances by Steven Frost, Jim Sweeney, Steve Steen, Andy Smart and Richard Vranch in NYC!

01.30.2005
My MS and Me

Written and performed by Jim Sweeney.

CHRONIC DISEASE IS THE NEW ROCK’N’ROLL
“My vision became blurred in 1985. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1990. The walking stick appeared in 2000. I decided to make some money out of it all in 2004.” - Jim Sweeney

01.30.2005
Set Deconstructs: The Good, The Bad, and the Headachy

This is it! The ultimate deconstructing show. Seth Rudetsky is sharing everything from his private video collection and showing you how to deconstruct. Learn how to analyze 70’s variety shows and question why there was a distinct lack of blinking. You’ll be able to differentiate the best belting in the world versus Bonnie Franklin. Judge classic videos like THE BRADY BUNCH VARIETY HOUR, The Liza/Joel Grey/Ben Vereen Spiritual Medley, and Barbra Streisand singing “People”, being forced to take it down a third and then a fourth as she progressively ages. Finally, see the clips “they” don’t want you to see!

01.31.2005
Out Loud: The Speed of Light

by Alice O’Neill
directed by Thomas Kail

When a philosophy professor unknowingly enters into a romantic cyber-relationship with a student he must reexamine everything he has always believed about right and wrong. A sharply-drawn and intriguing play that asks: would you turn your life and moral code upside down for a shot at true intimacy?

02.03.2005
Thursdays at Ten: The Lost Tricks

Having been compared to performers Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Jamiroquai and Ben Folds, THE LOST TRICKS combine piano-based pop and electro-vintage-dance-rock for an evening of high-energy live music.

02.06.2005
Tales from the Sun

A story-telling extravaganza with traditional African dancing and singing, starring Tony Award Nominee Tsidii Le Loka (“Rafiki” in THE LION KING On Broadway), The Harlem Children’s Choir and additional Lion King cast members. In an effort to create a cultural exchange with less developed areas of Southern Africa, this event will also showcase artwork by South African children, and will benefit the Camp of Good Hope. This is an interactive and imaginative event that children and parents alike won’t want to miss!

02.10.2005
Thursdays at Ten: Cock Lorge

Finally, an artist that speaks to the Modern American Man (and Woman). Cock’s saucy anthems dare to say what others only think. Combines the musical stylings of Beck, Lou Reed and Tom Petty with the comic sensibilities of Ali G, Larry David and Chris Rock.

02.14.2005
Out Loud: Out Loud in Love

OUT LOUD celebrates the spirit of Valentines Day. Join us for five one-acts exploring romantic relationships on what is, for some, the loneliest day of the year.

02.15.2005
From Tel Aviv to Ramallah

Taking audiences beyond the sterile headlines and detached news reports, the play presents a vibrant and complex portrait of daily life in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first narrative drama performed in beatbox, “From Tel Aviv to Ramallah” revolves around a day in the life of Amir, a Tel Aviv DJ and delivery boy, and Khalid, a Ramallah internet café owner. Over the course of the day the young Israeli and Palestinian strive to realize their visions of fame and fortune, yet encounter the distinct ways in which political conflict negates youthful dreams.

02.17.2005
Thursdays at Ten: Dorff & Gausas

The cast of “The Mosaic” takes a suggestion from the audience and explores the themes and philosophies it inspires through improvised scenes, ultimately creating a connected show that is whip smart and always hilarious.

02.20.2005
David Edgar on Pentecost

Playwright David Edgar, best known in this country for his eight-hour stage
adaptation of Charles Dickens’ THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, will be interviewed by TheaterMania’s senior theater critic David Finkle, discussing his award winning play PENTECOST, now receiving its New York premiere as the inaugural production in the Barrow Group’s new 99-seat theater, the Barrow Group Arts Center.

A playwright drawn to large-scale projects as well as to scorching political subject matter, Edgar examined American politics in his two-play cycle
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE, which bowed last year at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival but has yet to make it to Manhattan.

02.23.2005
Uncharted: Daniel Zaitchik

Often described as the child of Tom Waits and Claude Debussy, Daniel Zaitchik brings his musical poetry to Ars Nova for one soulful night.

02.25.2005
Erin & Her Cello

Complete with a beat-boxer, a vibrapone, and back-up singers, ERIN AND HER CELLO will leave you laughing out loud and humming her tunes of disastrous woe. Catch them alone and the effect is the same! This fiery duo enraptures the minute they walk on stage; audiences are wrapped around the music of her deft fingers as tightly as the curls in her hair.

02.26.2005
Lucky Record Release Party

Lucky celebrates the release of their first record “Stories by the Fire’s Side” at Ars Nova with a ONE NIGHT ONLY performance.

“Stories by the Fire’s Side”, featuring the chimerical vocals of Myndy K and the dark rhythms of I. Malcolm Francis, Rob Bose and Glen Alger Schricker, paints a picture of plush lounge as a phantasmagoric funhouse.

For more information, visit www.myluckyband.com

02.28.2005
Out Loud: My First Radical

by Rogelio Martinez
directed by Michael Sexton

On the verge of attaining legal citizenship, a young Cuban immigrant must defend more than ever the American ideals he holds so dear. As he struggles to come to terms with his identity in an adopted homeland, he must also find a way to deal with his political dissident father, sex-starved girlfriend, and the actor-turned-president who has just declared ketchup a vegetable.

02.28.2005
Broadway Spotlight: Tituss Burgess

Music Direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell
Directed by Kevin Pease

Tituss Burgess is currently making his Broadway debut as Eddie in GOOD VIBRATIONS. Through his own collection of pop, jazz, gospel, musical theatre and original tunes, Burgess will take the spotlight to sermonize on how to get a job when you have no type!