Just steps away from the Morgan L stop and across the street from the vaguely New York Times-famous Pine Rock Box Shop’s pickle margaritas, a theater troupe is trying to establish Bushwick as an “Off-Off-Broadway” destination. Run by the Canadian acting teacher Michèle Lonsdale Smith, the Gracemoon Arts Company opened with dramatic flair last week, putting up an outdoor red carpet to introduce the various members of the largely Canadian ensemble of actors, now opening its doors in Bushwick. Per their website, these efforts were guided by “humanitarian intent for the immediate community and beyond.”
They are executing this plan on Grattan, located underneath the extremely colorful retailer OOH BABY. Gracemoon Arts is a more subdued addition, operating out of a sparse space largely decorated with paintings by Tal Gottfried, a member of the ensemble who doubles as a formidable painter and adds a psychedelic, expressionist funkiness to the whole entrance.
Gracemoon has started its Bushwick journey by putting on “The Dutchman,” a one-act play written by Amiri Baraka that originally premiered in 1964, precisely 60 years ago and is currently the subject of a second filmed adaptation sometime in the near future and starring André Holland, Kate Mara and Zazie Beetz. Running at the new playhouse from July 12th until the 21st (later stretched out until the 27th), it’s a production that revolves around particular stereotypes: a well-dressed Black man, reading a book on a train, and an abrasively flirtatious Jewish woman. Their charged, train ride-long interaction becomes sexualized before leading to devastating consequences. Evoking Adam and Eve, Lula, played by Leah Doz, chomps on apples throughout, continually offering them to Clay.
