wrack zone is an indoor coastal naturedrag pageant, clown show, and DIY effort to unsettle time. Starring an iron-age bog body, Hulk Hogan’s ghost, Pangea-in-process, and at least one massive flock of endangered shore birds– this puny human play reckons with five billion years of the moon and, meanwhile, an egg salad sandwich in the sun… Bask in cardboard anthropomorphism, poetic semaphore and low-stakes invitations to collaborate through drawing prompts, snack eating and fabric handling.
Suggested Tix Price: $20
Tix to this show are Name Your Price starting at $5, meaning you decide what you pay! We pass on 100% of the single ticket revenue directly to the show’s lead artists, and give them an opportunity to suggest the ticket price that they’d prefer. You can learn more about What’s Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price Tix by visiting our How We Do It page.
Wrack Zone will stream live from Ars Nova on May 29 @ 7pm on Ars Nova Supra. Following the live stream, you’ll be able to watch the show on-demand for up to a year. Get a cancel-anytime $15/mo subscription to stream live or on-demand.
Wrack Zone R&D is ongoing! This WIP has been made possible with the contributions of: Mauricio Salgado’s NYU Climate Action and Research Theater class Fall 2023, The Mercury Store, The Public’s Devised Theater Working Group, Creature Conserve, New Georges, 3rd Thing Press, and many other groups, individuals, and organisms.
Eli Nixon builds portals and gives guided tours to places that don’t yet exist. They are a settler-descended transqueer clown, a cardboard constructionist, and a maker of plays, puppets, pageants, parades, suitcase theaters, and low-tech public spectaculah. Eli collaborates with activists, schools, mental health and recovery centers, libraries and the more-than-human world to expand imaginative capacity and build muscles for collective liberation. Eli is the author, illustrator and lead celebrant of “BLOODTIDE- A New Holiday In Homage To Horseshoe Crabs”, available through The 3rd Thing Press. They are a Rhode Islander living on Narragansett land.
Alex Torra is a theater director of devised work, the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Team Sunshine Performance, and the former Associate Artistic Director of two-time Obie Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company. He has been honored with awards and fellowships from the Independence Foundation, the Princess Grace Foundation, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Drama League, and in 2018 was named a Pew Fellow in the Arts. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theater at Swarthmore College. B.A. University of Pennsylvania; M.F.A. Brown University.
El Beh (all pronouns only in rotation – if just using one: they/them) is a genderqueer, chinese-american theatre artist, performer, actor, musician, singer, composer, drag artist, mover, shaker, educator, forever student and glowing unty to many a nibling. Growing edges and digging deep are their fuel along with shared experiences, community making, alternative mutual aid solutions and constantly trying to fuck up the systems that need fucking. He was most recently seen in Sam Pinkleton’s Wizard of Oz (ACT), César Alvarez’s Noise (Northern Stage), and Taylor Mac and Matt Ray’s Bark of Millions (Sydney Opera House, BAM & Zellerbach Playhouse).
Andrew Neisler is a Georgia-raised, New York-based theatre maker, director, and producer with a passion for joy-forward, laughter-filled, queer-affirming art, as well as a deepening interest in an ecological theatre that works to restore and reimagine our relationship with the natural world. He has developed new projects with artists at institutions around New York City and across the country. He is a co-Founder and Creative Director of the arts incubation company Fresh Ground Pepper and currently serves as an Associate Artistic Director at Ars Nova. He holds a B.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Patrick Costello is an artist whose work comes alive through multispecies collaborative relationships, integrating practices of ecological horticulture, sculpture, printmaking, and performance. He has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; and Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY. He has performed in venues including Ars Nova, New York, NY; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Public Theater, New York, NY; and at intentional communities, squats, and underground venues around the world. Most recently, Patrick received a MacDowell Fellowship. He holds an MFA from Hunter College and a BA from the University of Virginia.
This show will take place at Ars Nova, located at 511 W 54th Street, New York, NY 10019.
Seating is general admission and first-come first-served. So, the earlier you arrive at the theater, the more choice you’ll have about where you sit! (Bonus: cheapest drinks in Midtown are at Bars Nova!)
The only way to guarantee you reserved seats is to become a Super Nova. Super Novas never hear “sold out,” get reserved seats in prime locations, and make fair wages and accessible tickets possible. Learn more about becoming a Super Nova here!
Tix to this show are Name Your Price starting at $5, meaning you decide what you pay! Best of all, when you name your price, 100% of the single ticket revenue is passed on directly to the show’s lead artists! You can learn more about What’s Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price Tix by visiting our How We Do It page.
If a performance is sold out, you can join a standby line for day-of-show tix made available by minute cancellations and no-shows. Standby will begin 1 hour prior to curtain and will form outsideFolks from the standby line will be admitted into the show on a rolling basis as availability is confirmed. Standby tix are name-your-price starting at $5 + fees.
Additionally, Supra is never sold out! If you can’t make the show in-person, you can always stream online for only $15/mo, which gets you unlimited streaming access to performances from the last year. You can cancel your membership anytime by emailing contact@arsnovanyc.com.
Once you’ve selected your performance date and time at check-out, you’ll see a number of ticket price options ranging from $5 to $100. Select the price point you want to pay and the number of tickets you’d like to purchase and they’ll be added to your cart. After that, continue through the check-out process and you’ll be all set!
Yes. The processing fees are charged by our ticketing and credit card processors, and increase along with the base price of your ticket.
Yes! Ars Nova Supra is our digital platform where you can live stream all of our one-night shows and watch premieres from the past year on-demand. For the low price of $15/mo, you can access an entire seasons worth of comedy, music and theater from our groundbreaking artists, and additionally you can cancel your subscription anytime!
All sales are final – there are no refunds or exchanges.
If you’re unable to use your tickets, you may donate them in exchange for a letter of tax credit by emailing tix@arsnovanyc.com.
We ask that you stay home if you aren’t feeling well or are awaiting the results of a COVID test. Please let us know prior to your ticketed performance, and we will work with you to find a solution if you’re unable to attend.
We welcome and encourage mask-wearing to protect yourself and others. However, as mask mandates have lifted and city, state and federal guidelines have changed, we will not be requiring them at performances.
We no longer require proof of vaccination, but we strongly encourage all audience members to get vaccinated and boosted in accordance with public health guidelines.
Our staff will clean and sanitize the theater and common areas and we’ll continue to provide hand sanitizer for your personal use.
Signage is posted in all spaces encouraging washing or sanitizing hands frequently.
Ars Nova is uncensored. We provide content advisories — to the best of our ability — to inform audiences when shows contain racial violence, racist language, sexual violence or nudity. We provide information about this type of content in advance, based on our core values, so that each audience member can make an informed decision about if and how they’d like to engage with that content. We welcome artists to share additional information about their shows based on their own core values.
Ars Nova is wheelchair accessible. If you wish or need to remain in your wheelchair throughout the show, our staff will remove the theater chair. This can be done by letting us know your needs/plans in advance; just email Declan Zhang. It can also be done without prior notice when you arrive! If you wish to transfer to the theater seat from your wheelchair, we are happy to store your wheelchair or motorized mobility aid in the lobby during the performance. The House Manager will return your mobility device to you at the end of the performance as this show has no intermission.
About 25% of the seating is on the ground floor of the theater and does not require using stairs to access. There are five six-inch steps to get into the building.
All remaining seats require no less than one and no more than three steps to access.
Licensed service animals (any dogs that are trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities) are welcome at Ars Nova. They must rest in your seating area throughout the performance and are unable to occupy the aisle. Please bring proof of certification or a license for your service animal and be prepared to present it to the House Manager upon request. You can send advance notice to Declan Zhang, which is appreciated, but not required.
Our bathrooms are stalled, all gender restrooms – everyone is welcome to use any bathroom of their choice. We have two single-person restrooms in the lobby; with the wheelchair accessible option located right outside the theater on the first floor (doors 7 feet 10 inches x 3 feet 10.5 inches).
We have space that can be made to offer privacy for feeding should you need at any time. See the House Manager onsite and they will arrange a comfortable space, with storage and refrigeration for your materials.
The audience seating locations could be in, around and throughout the playing area. Performers will be within 3’ of you.
The seating is a combination of chairs.
Black Chairs with back: 19” wide x 32.25” high x 21.75” deep with a 500lb capacity
Black Counter height: 16.5” wide x 38” high x 18” deep with a 500lb capacity
The doors for entry into the building are 7 feet 10.5 inches x 3 feet 7 inches (external) and 7 feet 10 inches x feet 10.5 inches (internal).
Box Office height is 3 feet 6 inches and the Bar height is 3 feet 8.5 inches.
