7th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival
May 5-22
Extended run to June 6
AT
PERFORMANCE SPACE 122
(150 1st Ave at 9th Street)

WANTED
storytelling and song
MAY 5, 7, 12, 15 at 7PM
MAY 8 at 2PM
Written and Performed by Shontina Vernon
Directed by Kamilah Forbes

Arrested and locked up for writing hot checks, a ten-year-old Texan girl loses her way in a reality where even the adults themselves are lost. Shontina Vernon merges childhood stories with searing songs of fear and juvenile justice.

Shontina Vernon’s voice is “Blood chilling.”
- The Oregonian

BINDING
dance theatre
MAY 5, 7, 12, 15 at 9:15
MAY 8 at 4:15
Conceived and Performed by Jesse Zaritt
Directed by Basmat Hazan
Produced by Theatre C

Violent.  Tender.  Erotic.  Submissive.  Abandoned.  The worlds of pop music, myth and video collide in Jesse Zaritt’s movement-based quest for love, connection and the self.  

REMISSION
verse storytelling
MAY 6, 8, 10, 18 at 7
MAY 15 at 2
Written by Kirk Wood Bromley
Performed by Daniel Berkey
75 minutes followed by a 15 minute Q & AFor 45 years, Daniel Berkey suffered the ravages of schizophrenia with attendant addictions to sex, heroin and alcohol.  At the age of 51, he experienced complete remission.  This is his story.

MONSTER
multi-character thriller
MAY 6, 8, 10, 18 at 9
MAY 15 at 4
Written by Daniel MacIvor
Directed by Steve Cook
Performed by Avery Pearson
Produced by Really Sketchy

Daniel MacIvor’s celebrated chiller returns to the New York stage with Avery Pearson stepping into the skin of 16 characters.  Peeling back psychological layers to reveal the heart of an individual experience, MONSTER dissects the true nature of evil.

''Monster is Mr. MacIvor's suggestion that the dark side is as intrinsic to our natures as consciousness itself.  It not only aspires to creeping you out, it also wants you to examine your own voyeuristic impulse to keep staring after the ax falls."
- The New York Times

ROOTLESS: La No-Nostalgia
bi-lingual theatrical cabaret
MAY 11, 14, 16, 20 at 7
MAY 22 at 2
Written and Performed by Karina Casiano

Sexy.  Bold.  Bilingual.  Take a journey through the emotional life of migrants with songs ranging from tango to rock.  Unraveling the psychological toll of displacement, Casiano ferociously and personally criticizes the role of newcomers and probes their responsibility toward their own countries.

www.karinacasiano.com
www.lacriatura.org

THE W. KAMAU BELL CURVE: ENDING RACISM IN ABOUT AN HOUR
comedy
MAY 11, 14, 16, 20 at 9
MAY 22 at 4
Written & Performed by W. Kamau Bell
Directed by Paul Stein

Black President or not, racism continues to make a comeback.  And W. Kamau Bell is here to make (non)sense of it all.  Irreverent and thoughtful, The W. Kamau Bell Curve skewers pop culture, news pundits and the man himself, Barack Obama.  According to Comedy Central, Kamau told the very first Obama joke way back in 2005

“Smart, stylish, and very much in the mold of politically outspoken comedians like Dave Chappelle and Margaret Cho.”
- San Francisco Weekly (though he was more excited that they called him “handsome.”)

“W. Kamau Bell is the most important guy doing comedy right now. Do yourself a favor and go see him. He’s got the most astute, hilarious and completely righteous material going and he’s going to be a legend in his own lifetime like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce. Think Bill Hicks but slightly taller.”
- Margaret Cho

BRING A FRIEND OF A DIFFERENT RACE & GET IN 2 for 1!

IT OR HER
a dark comedy
MAY 13, 17, 19, 22 at 7
MAY 16 at 2
Written by Alena Smith
Directed by Jessi D. Hill
Featuring Brian McManamon*

Somewhere between Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and The Tell-Tale Heart, Alena Smith's provocative dark comedy IT OR HER explores the basement of a suburban home where Andrew has devoted himself unconditionally to his incredible collection of figurines. Suffering the loss of The Red One, he seeks to uncover The Ultimate Arrangement before his hideout is invaded, and his dark secret is revealed.

Selected by soloNOVA as the Best Solo Performance of FRIGID NY Festival 2010 & Winner of the Audience Choice Award, FRIGID NY Festival 2010

*Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

PUPPY LOVE: A STRIPPER'S TAIL
musical multi-character comedy
MAY 13, 17, 19, 22 at 9
MAY 16 at 4
Written & Performed by Erin Markey
Travis Chamberlain

In her new musical, Erin Markey reveals the details of her graceless debut into the world of professional performance — as a stripper at Déjà Vu in Ypsilanti, MI. Assuming the stage name Bridget, after the patron saint of babies, Erin must learn to navigate the lap-dances, lawnmowers, and hot girl-on-girl bromances of southeastern Michigan. Pole-dancing and delusions of diaper-changing threaten to consume Erin’s dreams of becoming an artist as her alterego Bridget falls in love with the money she makes and the dancer who inspired her to make it.

"Bizarre, character-shifting performance artist Erin Markey is so totally out there that she fits in perfectly with the OHP (Our Hit Parade) aesthetic.  Key song: A funny-creepy version of Jeremiah’s ‘Birthday Sex,’ performed in the diaper, bonnet, bib and voice of a newborn baby."
- Adam Feldman, Time Out NY

THE 2010 soloNOVA FESTIVAL EXTENDED, AND AS PART OF THAT EXTENTION A SPECIAL ADDITION JOINED
NOTES!!!
A very dramatic reading of a parody of Notes on a Scandal 
Conceived and created by Jack Ferver and Phillip Taratula
Featuring: Christian Coulson, Jack Ferver, Jenn Harris, Randy Harrison, Phillip Taratula, Matthew Wilkas
JUNE 5 @ 10PM
JUNE 6 @ 6PM

An over the top, insane evening of lesbian lust, sociopath school teachers, and outlandish fighting, sex, and more fighting- all done with British accents! Played with camp hysteria (and quite a bit more actually) of the 2006 film that it parodies, this reading features stars of film, television, Broadway, Off-Broadway, and... contemporary dance?

Middle aged, lonely and bitter teacher, Barbara (played by Philip Taratula), falls for the young, lonely, and idealistic new teacher on the block, Sheba (played by Jack Ferver). However Sheba is married. Not a lesbian. And into her 15 year old student. When Barbara discovers Sheba’s transgression, what ensues is a tense tete-a-tete of two desperate women. There will be tears before bedtime.

terraNOVA Collective honors
NILAJA SUN
soloNOVA ARTIST OF THE YEAR
On May 21, 2010, terraNOVA Collective honored Nilaja Sun
for her work as an educator, playwright and performer.
Here are some photos from this special night.
Nilaja Sun says "I am beyond thrilled to be receiving this honor from the terraNOVA Collective, a group whose mission of highlighting the impact of solo work has always been so very close to my life's work."

NILAJA SUN is the solo writer and performer of the Off-Broadway smash No Child..., which concluded its run at the Barrow Street Theatre in June 2007. For her creation and performance of No Child..., Nilaja won 19 awards including an Obie, 2 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 2 NAACP Theatre awards and a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play. Over the 2007-2008 season Nilaja toured No Child…to several regional theatres including the Lookingglass Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, Center Theatre Group, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. A native of the Lower East Side, she has worked as a teaching artist in NYC since 1998. Nilaja will be performing "No Child..." at Long Wharf and Actor's Theatre of Phoenix in 2010.

This evening will be directed by Stephen Dimenna