Take sanctuary this January from the blustering winter blues at the Bushwick Starr Theater, located just steps off the Jefferson L stop. This month the Starr is hosting a special series with the Target Margin Theater (TMT) inspired by the literary prowess of Gertrude Stein. Curated by TMT Artistic Producer John Del Gaudio, over 75 artists will contribute to seven original pieces and three special events. Performances during The TMT Stein Lab: When this you see remember me begin January 9 and run through February 7.
The TMT Lab has enlisted the talents of over 1,000 theater artists since 1993. TMT curates each season’s Lab under an overarching theme. Luck for all the literary junkies out there, Gertrude Stein takes center stage this season. Check out a detailed list of upcoming events on their website.
Here are my top choices for the month:
A Nice Story or We Get It, Gertrude
Thursday 1/22 – Saturday 1/31 at 9:30pmLead Artist: Megan Hill with Estelle Bajou, Gardiner Comfort, Kaaron Briscoe Minefree, and Amy Staats
From the description on the TMT website, A Nice Story sounds like a theatrical trip: “Too much information. No common sense. A mysterious assemblage. Famous friends. A dance that looks like a dance but is not a dance. Maybe a cello. Maybe a laugh. Maybe a maybe a maybe a maybe. Wake a question. Eat an answer. Rinse. Repeat. That’s the answer.”
Double Feature: She Counts Her Dresses and Stein-Drag
Thursday 1/29 – Saturday 2/7 at 7:30pmLead Artist She Counts Her Dresses: Nikki Calonge with Wendy Yang Bailey, Mike deAngelis, Mike Mikos, Eh-Den Perlove and Jay Ryan.
Lead Artist Stein-Drag: Aaron Ethan Green with Avi Glickstein, Charlie Nicholson, Clayton Dean Smith, James Tison, and Nicole Wood
She Counts Her Dresses is inspired by the illustrations of Ethel Mars and Maud Hunt Squire and celebrates Gertrude Stein’s depiction of this real-life couple through the compulsion to travel and dance. Miss Furr and Miss Skeene demand that the audience “read with us, be gay with us, be regularly gay with us, and to sing until we can be proud of tomorrow.”
In Stein-Drag, love notes exchanged between Mr. Cuddle-Wuddle and Baby Precious, otherwise known as Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, provide the building blocks for this whirlwind drag romp.
The Bushwick Starr is located at 207 Starr Street, Brooklyn, NY 11237. Tickets for the above shows are $15 at www.bushwickstarr.org. To RSVP to free events, send an email to [email protected]