OCTOBER 31
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
VILLAGE HALLOWEEN COSTUME BALL
To celebrate the spookiest night of the year with art, music, and community spirit, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will host its 50th annual Village Halloween Costume Ball. A large outdoor festivity will be held from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM outside the Theater on East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues (or if it rains, in a big tent), featuring performances and a costume competition for kids. The celebration moves inside from 7:00 PM to midnight with nonstop performances, ballroom dancing, an aerial dance concert, and dining in a pop-up restaurant (The Witch's Cauldron) where for $4, guests can savor gourmet dishes donated by local restaurants. The evening culminates in a costume judging with prizes at midnight. Admission is free for the outdoor program and $20 for the indoor festivities. Costumes or formal wear are requested.

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/halloween.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2DAcB6dXvLamrT487

NOVEMBER 9
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"THE BIRD IS DONE"
What happens when a family gathers for Thanksgiving hoping to bury old grudges, only to discover that some wounds run deeper than anyone imagined? "The Bird Is Done" by Michael Fishman, a new family dramedy, serves up a holiday feast of combustible personalities, long-simmering resentments, uncomfortable revelations and unexpected tenderness. Jim Semmelman directs a cast that includes veteran stage and screen actors Marilyn Chris, Mitch Poulos and Liz Keifer.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Bird_Done.htm
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/vjpJxyapbPADgjsg9

NOVEMBER 28 TO DECEMBER 13
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY"
"ILL WINDS" BY GARRY BATSON
An African-American family struggles to hold itself together against the pressures of poverty, addiction, racism, and the uncertain future of a disabled child. The dreams of Al, a former boxer, to reclaim his glory collide with the harsh realities of addiction, poverty, racism, and family responsibility. He fights to provide for his teenage son, John, who has muscular dystrophy, but his drug habit and deteriorating health threaten their future. Meanwhile, Al and his wife, Gladys, clash over how best to care for John, whose own dreams extend far beyond his wheelchair. Al risks everything for one last shot at boxing glory. This powerful family drama explores the costs of pride, the resilience of love, and the struggle to survive. Diretcced by Evria Inch Waldron.

DECEMBER 3 TO 6
LA MAMA E.T.C.
"EN MER AVEC LOUISE BOURGEOIS" BY MICHELLE BESHAW
A haunting found-object bioplay in which discarded things reveal fragments of the memories and obsessions that animated Louise Bourgeois’s work well into her 90s. Part of La MaMa's Puppet Series 2026. Conceived, written and directed by Michelle Beshaw, performed by Michelle Beshaw and Deborah Beshaw-Farrell. The Beshaw sisters are stalwarts of Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. French-American artist Louise Bourgeois is famous for her monumental spider sculptures, raw explorations of childhood trauma, and deep psychological art that bridged modernism and contemporary installation. Her eight-decade career tackled themes of memory, sexuality, and abandonment through unconventional materials.

DECEMBER 24 TO JANUARY 10
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATRE IN "A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANNUKAH, MERRY KWANZAA, HAPPY RAMADAN"
Ring out the old year with a joyful burst of multicultural mischief as Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre performs its beloved holiday mashup, "A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa," a Dickens remix adapted, directed and reinvented by Vit Horejs. It features over 30 exquisitely carved puppets by Milos Kasal including a quartet of Rockettes in Slovak, Moravian and Ruthenian folk costumes and holiday songs in Czech, English, Hebrew, Slovak, Spanish and Swahili.

Into Dickens' familiar story is woven a surprising and delightful blend of English, Jewish, African, American and Czech winter rituals and customs, all performed by over three dozen marionettes ranging in size from four to twenty-four inches, as well as found objects and toys.  Mr. Horejs operates the whole cast of puppets, backed up by a live chorus: an "a capella monumentale" choir of Katarina Vizina and Valois Mickens. The piece is still set in Old London, but with Czech accents.  Imagine that the familiar tale was told to you not by an English serial novelist, but by your Czech grandmother.

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Vit_Carol.htm
Current photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7s8F9qo7BNosxKK99
Historic Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7eaYStdviUi2FL9S8

JANUARY 14 TO 31
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
"GETTING COMPLETE" BY SANTO D. MARABELLA
In “Getting COMPLETE!” by Santo D. Marabella, two former high-school classmates confront the lasting consequences of bullying, buried pain and the struggle to become one’s authentic self. A childhood act of savage bullying returns to haunt two former classmates twenty years later. Danny, a successful scientist, has never escaped the humiliation and violence inflicted on him by Jo-Jo, who has since transitioned and lives as Jo. When Jo reaches out to apologize, Danny agrees to meet, but his intentions remain uncertain. What begins as a long-overdue confrontation takes a chilling turn when Danny reveals how deeply the past has damaged his life. Then a gun appears, and Danny sets in motion a terrifying plan that will force Jo to experience the helplessness he once endured. Will revenge bring Danny peace, or destroy them both?

FEBRUARY 5 TO 14, 2027
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS' POW-WOW AND DANCE CONCERT
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Pow Wow and Dance Concert will include dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. The event has become a treasured New York tradition for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans. TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for Native American students. A Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. Throughout the performance, all elements are explained in depth through detailed introductions by the troupe's Director and Emcee Louis Mofsie (from the Hopi and Winnebago tribes).

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Pow_Wow_2027.htm
RECENT YEARS' PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/tcrxbtPYtF2hdvhV6 and https://goo.gl/photos/SLr4PXEHJrsq34j9A
HISTORICAL PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/wUcenp6ZcPDcBCYD7

VIDEO ON DEMAND

"USED AND BORROWED TIME" BY SOPHIA ROMMA
"Used and Borrowed Time," written and directed by Sophia Romma, is now available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Roku and the Vyre Network. This experimental avant-garde film, a psychological drama phantasma, has amassed over 45 festival awards and 26 festival film selections. An interracial couple's idyllic love rises above the hatred of a vengeful white supremacist family in segregationist Alabama during the 1960s. The film pays homage to the French New Wave films of Goddard, Truffaut and Agnès Varda. It has been translated from its original English into Greek, Spanish and Italian.

COMPLETE INFO: www.usedandborrowedtime.com

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY & NEW YIDDISH REP PRODUCTION OF "THE DYBBUK"
"The Dybbuk" is arguably the most well-known play in the Yiddish theater lexicon. It was premiered on December 9, 1920 by the Vilna Troupe at the Eizeum theater in Warsaw. Its success catapulted that company onto the International stage. It has since been translated into 27 languages and performed worldwide. From December 9-13, New Yiddish Rep celebrated the play's 100th birthday with a live performance streamed from Theater For The New City. A recording of the production has now been released for the general public to view on YouTube.

MORE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/Dybbuk.htm

"Feathers of Fire" is the most elaborate shadow theater experience ever created, and this recording, captured on an actual theater stage, transforms it into a video-on-demand production for all ages. The story is adapted from Shahnameh (the Persian Book of Kings) and tells the action-packed tale of two star-crossed lovers of old Persia. Zaul, an outcast albino boy, is brought up by a bird-goddess and grows up into a wise ruler. He enters into a forbidden love with Rudabeh, a princess who is the granddaughter of the dreaded Serpent King. Their young, impetuous romance survives many precarious adventures before they finally receive blessings for their union. When they ultimately have a child, it is Rostam, "the Hercules of Iran." Aspects of the story are reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet," "Rapunzel," "The Firebird" and "Jungle Book."

The piece is created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist living in Brooklyn. It is endorsed by Francis Ford Coppola, who called the production "Fantastic! One of the greatest epics of all time and my favorite Shahnameh brought to life in a spectacular fashion by Hamid Rahmanian with shadow puppets design and cinematic wizardry."

COMPLETE INFO: www.jsnyc.com/season/feathers.htm