|
DOWNTOWN
POST NYC
News and Events
in Lower Manhattan
|
|
|
|
Volume 6,
No. 1
Jan. 9, 2019
|
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"The stakes have never been higher. Population data collected in the Census determines how the federal government divides an estimated $700 billion each year nationwide to cities and states including [money earmarked for] public education, public housing, senior centers, infrastructure, Head Start, Medicaid, emergency preparedness and many other critical services. An undercount would have dire consequences for the City."
- Julie Menin, who has just been appointed Census Director for New York City
|
 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: SHUTDOWN
|
|
 |
| Terese Loeb Kreuzer, editor |
|
The National Museum of the American Indian at 1 Bowling Green is closed. Federal Hall National Memorial at Broad and Wall Streets and all other Manhattan National Park Service sites and concessions with the exception of Castle Clinton, are closed. Scheduled programs are cancelled. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are not closed, but only because Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State of New York are paying $65,000 a day to keep them open.
As you know, Donald Trump has shut down the federal government in an effort to coerce the U.S. Congress to authorize $5 billion to build a wall on the U.S./Mexican border.
How ironic that this sledge hammer, which is hurting an estimated 800,000 federal workers who are going without paychecks, should in Manhattan strike a blow to the places where the federal government was formed and took its first steps. Congress first met on the site of what is now Federal Hall and that's where Washington was sworn in on April 30, 1789 as the nation's first president.
What would they think of what is happening now? What would Alexander Hamilton think? He was our first Secretary of the Treasury and is buried in the graveyard of Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street. He was an immigrant, born on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean, who came to the colonies as a penniless teenager after his mother had died and his father had abandoned him. What would Hamilton think of shutting down the federal government in order to strong-arm money for a wall to keep desperate migrants out of this country?
January 11 marks the anniversary of Hamilton's birth, which occurred either 262 or 264 years ago - there is agreement about the day of his birth but not about the year. A series of commemorative events are scheduled to begin on January 10 with programs on January 11 and a concluding day of special programming on January 12 at Hamilton's country home, The Grange, now a National Memorial at 414 W. 141st Street. That is - there will be a day of special programming at The Grange if The Grange is open. It is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and is currently closed because of the federal government shutdown.
For more information about the scheduled Hamilton birthday events, go to the calendar section of Downtown Post NYC. For updated information as to whether or where these events will actually take place,
click here.
Terese Loeb Kreuzer
Editor
The emailed Downtown Post NYC newsletter is appearing less frequently than formerly, however,
Downtown Post NYC's website (www.DowntownPostNYC.com) is updated daily. That's the place to check for urgent messages, breaking news and reminders of interesting events in and around Lower Manhattan. So be sure to look at the website every day, especially if you want to know about breaking news.
HOW TO SUPPORT DOWNTOWN POST NYC - Downtown Post NYC is emailed free to subscribers, but if you like DPNYC and want to support it, you can do that in four ways. 1) Make a contribution to Downtown Post NYC. Email
[email protected] for more information. 2) Support Downtown Post's advertisers by clicking on their ads, and if you use their services, tell them that you read about them in DPNYC. 3) Consider advertising in DPNYC if you have a business, service or event that you want to promote. 4) Tell people about DPNYC and suggest that they subscribe. They can sign up at
www.DowntownPostNYC.com.
|
HOW TO FORWARD DOWNTOWN POST NYC
If you would like to forward this email click the button below. Please do not forward this email in any other way, or your name may be automatically dropped from the subscription list. (That's how this email service works.) Thank you!
|
MAYOR DE BLASIO APPOINTS JULIE MENIN TO DIRECT
PREPARATIONS FOR FOR NEW YORK CITY'S 2020 CENSUS COUNT
|
|
|
Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked Julie Menin to become Census Director for New York City. It is urgent that the 2020 census accurately reflect the city's population in order to ensure that New York is fairly represented in the U.S. Congress and that the City receives its fair share of federal funding. Menin was previously commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. Prior to that, she was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. Between 2005 and 2012, she was chairperson of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan. (File photo)
|
Julie Menin, familiar to Lower Manhattan residents as the former chairperson of Community Board 1, has had two jobs since then in the de Blasio administration and now has a new assignment. On Jan. 2, the mayor appointed her as Director of the Census for New York City. She will also serve as Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy. Menin will organize extensive outreach efforts to encourage every New York City resident to participate in the 2020 Census.
"The stakes have never been higher," she said. "Population data collected in the Census determines how the federal government divides an estimated $700 billion each year nationwide to cities and states including [money earmarked for] public education, public housing, senior centers, infrastructure, Head Start, Medicaid, emergency preparedness and many other critical services. An undercount would have dire consequences for the City."
The Census also affects New York State's allocation of representatives in Congress. New York State stands to lose one Congressional seat if the 2020 Census is inaccurate.
Part of the problem in ensuring an accurate count is that for the first time in 50 years, the Census includes a question on citizenship. This is likely to deter immigrants from responding to the Census, even if their own status is assured. They may have relatives who they are afraid of jeopardizing.
"We believe this question is unlawful and we, as the City, are a plaintiff on the lawsuit against the Trump administration," Menin said. "We will not allow the approximately 38 percent of our city's population who are immigrants to be silenced."
Menin, who holds a J.D. degree from the Northwestern University School of Law, will bring her legal background to bear on immigration issues. As Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy, she will be asked aggressively to pursue innovative strategies to protect New Yorkers who may be hurt by federal actions, including exploring avenues for litigation, legislation and rule-making. In this role, she will collaborate with partners from other cities and from advocacy groups to change the legal landscape on a wide variety of issues from immigrant rights and citizenship to voter protections, gerrymandering and critical federal funding grants directed toward the City and its most vulnerable residents. In addition, she will use her many years of legal experience in consumer protection to advise on affirmative litigation against companies that are preying on New Yorkers.
Menin said that she will be transitioning into her new role by the end of January.
- Terese Loeb Kreuzer
|
|
Tribeca Film Festival 2018
'ROLL RED ROLL:' IN STEUBENVILLE, OHIO A GIRL WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY FOOTBALL TEAM STARS AND THE TOWN STAYED MUM
|
|
| A still from the film, "Roll Red Roll," about how members of the Steubenville, Ohio high school football team sexually assaulted a teenage girl at a pre-game party and the town closed ranks around the young men, refusing to provide information on the crime. "Roll Red Roll" had its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. |
In April 2018 a film called "Roll Red Roll" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was a documentary about Steubenville, Ohio, a town of around 18,000 people on the Ohio River.
The film starts like this: On a dark night, over a background of ominous music, a car drives down an otherwise deserted street lined with modest houses. Then, unseen voices say, "That girl. What did they do to that girl?" "She is so raped right now. (Laughter) Dead body." (There are the sounds of laughter and a party.) Then this: "If that gets around, then you might go to jail." "I didn't do it, man." "This is the funniest thing ever."
The picture cuts to text messages: "What happened last night? I don't know who to ask or believe. - Jane Doe" "Who did that to me? - Jane Doe" "Oh my god. Please tell me this isn't fucking true."
That's all before the opening credits.
But what's suggested in that opening was true. On the night of August 11, 2012 after a pre-season football game, there were parties in Steubenville. A 16-year-old girl from across the river in West Virginia attended one of them, got drunk and was driven by some of the Steubenville football players in an incoherent state to another party. During that car ride, one of the football players raped her. At a third party, the girl vomited before toppling on her side, unable to move. She was raped again. She woke up the next morning in the basement of that home, not knowing what had happened. She was naked.
She didn't know what had happened to her but text messages, photographs and even some videos exchanged among the football players made it clear.
The perpetrators of the rape were star football players. In this impoverished, rust-belt town, the high school football team was a source of pride - almost the only source of pride. It had had a virtually undefeated record for years and had won championship after championship. This was a town where the football players could do no wrong.
Although the town circled the wagons to protect their boys, what was happening caught
|
|
|
|
Alexandria Goddard (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
|
|
the attention of a crime blogger named Alexandria Goddard. She took screen shots of what she was seeing, knowing that the evidence would probably be deleted. Her account came to the attention of The Cleveland Plain Dealer and then was picked up by The New York Times. Pretty soon, the rape trial in Steubenville was national news and a New York filmmaker named Nancy Schwartzman decided to make a documentary. She went to Steubenville a year after the story first broke.
The Tribeca Film Festival, now in its 17th year, always shows a few blockbusters and has its share of A-list stars, but what makes the festival most interesting are the many independent films like "Roll Red Roll" that deal with important issues but that have to hope to find outlets after the festival is over. The festival can be a useful stepping stone to further distribution.
|
|
|
|
Nancy Schwartzman (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
|
|
When Schwartzman started on the film, the "Me Too" movement hadn't yet happened. By the time she brought it to the Tribeca Film Festival, some men in senior corporate and governmental positions had been ousted because of their sexual behavior. But the Brett Kavanaugh/Christine Blasey Ford hearing was still five months in the future.
During the festival, in a room in a Tribeca hotel, Goddard and Schwartzman reflected on the film, given the perspective of almost six years since the events it recounts began to unfold.
Goddard said that after she posted Tweets about the rape on her blog, she was sued and was physically threatened for having dared to bring what had happened to public attention. "I was actually living in California when I came upon the case, and I did receive threats," she said. "I tried to keep my location very private. I made sure when I was posting pictures, that there was nothing in them that someone could use to figure out where I was, and then in November of 2013, one of my former friends posted my address on Twitter and I freaked out and packed the car and drove cross-country to Ohio because I figured if I'm hiding in plain sight, they're probably not going to look for me here."
The "friend," Goddard said, had posted her address because "she was very upset with me for bringing her town into the public eye."
Goddard was the first of a long list of women whose work on a case that most of the people in Steubenville wanted to ignore finally resulted in the trial, conviction and incarceration of the two high school football players who had raped the girl and the indictment of four adults who had participated in the cover-up. The adults included the superintendent of Steubenville City Schools who appears in "Roll Red Roll" saying that the accusations are none of his business and that the football coach would take care of the matter. Ultimately the superintendent was indicted on charges of evidence tampering and obstruction of justice. The charges against him were dropped when he agreed to resign.
On Goddard's heels, there was Rachel Dissell, an investigative reporter at The Cleveland Plain Dealer, who says in the film, "If we don't cover it, I'm not sure it will get covered." And there was Marianne Hemmeter, the lead special prosecutor for the Ohio Attorney General's office, who brought the case to trial.
Nancy Schwartzman, who produced and directed "Roll Red Roll," was backed by eight executive producers, all of whom were women. Schwartzman credited them with enabling her to make the film.
"I think that's what this moment is about," she said. "It's about women looking out for each other, women intervening when something is happening, women boosting each other, women amplifying. This story is important to a lot of people and, yeah I felt driven and inspired by the women who enabled it to grow.
"Once I saw the story and I saw how the community was treating her [the girl who was raped], how adults were treating her, how other women and girls were treating her, and being a survivor of rape, I felt compelled that I had to stand up and say something."
Schwartzman called what happened in Steubenville "a national and international issue" and added "we need to provide education and figure out how we can keep other Steubenville's from happening."
At the time of the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, Schwartzman did not yet have a distributor for "Roll Red Roll." Since then, it has been screened in other film festivals and at several colleges.
"Roll Red Roll" will be released and available for general viewing in 2019, with more information coming soon.
- Terese Loeb Kreuzer
The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival will take place between April 24 and May 5. For more information, including when tickets go on sale,
click here
.
|
|
|
A still from "Roll Red Roll" showing a demonstration outside the Jefferson County Courthouse in Steubenville, Ohio.
|
|
|
Bits & Bytes
SAKS SHUTS BATTERY PARK CITY STORE; TRUMP FRIENDS, LEFRAK AND ROTH, BAIL ON CUOMO'S HUDSON RIVER RAIL TUNNEL TOUR
|
|
Saleswomen at Saks Fifth Avenue in Battery Park City's Brookfield Place awaiting customers shortly after the store opened in September 2016. It never caught on, and is closing this week. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer 2016) |
"Downtown tower's incoming landlord strikes big deal with city hospital system," Crain's New York Business, 1/7/19. "A partnership between GFP Real Estate and Northwind Group has completed a large lease with NYC Health + Hospitals at the downtown office building 7 Hanover Sq. and has big plans for the rest of the 27-story property," says Crain's New York Business. "The partnership plans to carve the building into two distinct properties with separate entrances, one at 50 Water St. that will serve as a private entry for hospital system's 526,552 square feet in the lower half of the building, and another at 100 Pearl St. that will be the entry point for the roughly 400,000 square feet of space in the upper portion. GFP Real Estate and Northwind Group have yet to lease any of the space in the 100 Pearl St. portion but are planning a $250 million renovation to attract tenants, including the addition of a new 11,000 square foot, glass-enclosed penthouse floor on the building's roof that will be attached to a private 9,000 square foot outdoor roofdeck." For the complete article, click here.
"Billionaire landlords bailed on tunnel tour," Crain's New York Business, 1/2/19. "Two real estate titans close to President Donald Trump pulled out of a tour last month of the Hudson River rail tunnels serving Penn Station. The tour had been arranged by Gov. Andrew Cuomo," says Crain's New York Business. "Steven Roth and Richard LeFrak, who each control large real estate portfolios in the city, were to visit the tunnels with Cuomo on Dec. 11 as part of a series of public inspections of Superstorm Sandy infrastructure damage. Cuomo has been locked in a struggle with Trump to come up with $13 billion for a new pair of Hudson River rail tunnels, which would allow the current two tubes to be repaired without disrupting the flow of train traffic. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit use the tunnels, through which hundreds of thousands of daily commuters and others travel along the Northeast rail corridor. Project boosters say as much as 10% of the nation's GDP could be erased if the conduits fail without working alternatives." Roth and LeFrak are friends of Trump and, earlier in his presidency, served on a committee that was to advise the White House on national infrastructure spending priorities and how to fund them." For the complete article, click here.
(Note from the editor: Richard LeFrak is chairman and CEO of the LeFrak Organization which, among other properties, owns Gateway Plaza, the largest residential complex in Battery Park City. Steven Roth is the founder and chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, whose holdings include a majority interest in Independence Plaza. Its three, 39-story buildings dominate a stretch of Greenwich Street in Tribeca.)
"Saks shuts downtown store after two years," Crain's New York Business, 1/4/19. "In a sign of retrenchment ahead of rivals' expansion, luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue is shutting the doors of its women's store at Manhattan's Brookfield Place this week-a location it opened just two years ago," says Crain's New York Business. While Saks's smaller men's store will stay open, the failure of the women's shop shows that New York remains a department-store battlefield-and highlights how the competition is intensifying. Both Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus will be opening Manhattan locations this year, infringing on the turf that's long been associated with Bloomingdale's, Macy's and Bergdorf Goodman....Brookfield, meanwhile, will soon announce a new 'amenity-focused tenant to take the majority of space Saks will vacate,' according to a spokesman for the mall." For the complete article, click here.
"Battle Of The Barge: NYers Fear Floating Billboard Company Will Turn Waterfront Into 'New Times Square'," Gothamist.com, 1/2/2019. "For the last few months, New Yorkers have reported a massive LED billboard floating through Manhattan's near-shore waters," says Gothamist.com. "On both sides of the island, the boat has been spotted hauling a double-sided, 60-foot screen blaring high-definition digital ads for a range of products-Heineken, private helicopter trips, and the Walking Dead among them. According to industry experts, it's the first time that a watercraft dedicated to advertising has taken up station on the city's rivers." For the complete article, click here.
"Port Authority wants to rescue half-built Greek Orthodox church," New York Post, 12/22/18. The New York Post reports that "the Port Authority wants to play the white knight" at the World Trade Center site. "The bi-state agency, which took 12 years and spent $4 billion to build the Oculus transportation hub, is ready to step in and rescue a half-built Greek Orthodox church and shrine," which sits on land owned by the Port Authority at Liberty Street. The Port Authority's executive director, Rick Cotton, is suggesting that the PA "could facilitate construction based on appropriate commitments or could assemble a group to take over construction. We could also assist with redesign of the project to make it financially feasible." For the complete article,
click here.
"Work Continues For 45 Broad Street, The Financial District's First Impending Residential Supertall,"
New York YIMBY, 12/27/18. "Located to the south of the New York Stock Exchange on a narrow rectangular strip of land along Broad Street, the Financial District's first residential supertall will soon rise at 45 Broad Street," says New York YIMBY. "The tower will eventually soar 1,115 feet above the crowded streets of Lower Manhattan, and should make a very dramatic impact on the skyline in the coming years. Clad with bronze-colored aluminum panels and an intricate mix of sleek vertical and curved lines, it is the 5th-tallest skyscraper currently under construction in New York City. CetraRuddy is the architect, while the developers are Madison Equities and Pizzarotti LLC." For the complete article,
click here.
|
|
Downtown bulletin board
CONNECTION BUS RIDERSHIP SURVEY; CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP;
FREE ADMISSION TO SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM
|
|
Every day, the free Downtown Connection bus traverses a route between the South Street Seaport and Broadway near City Hall, making 36 stops. Through March 2019, the Alliance for Downtown New York, which operates the bus, is conducting a survey to better understand how riders use the service so that they can continue to improve it. For more information about the Connection bus, click here. To take the survey, click here.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
|
Free admission to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum: The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is offering free admission to New Yorkers on
Feb. 2 and
March 2. To take advantage of this offer, go to the museum's ticket window between 9 a.m. and noon with a valid I.D. such as a New York State driver's license, a New York State identification card, an IDNYC card, a student identification card from a school located in New York or a New York library card.
Year round, the 9/11 Memorial Museum continues to offer free admission on Tuesdays. Tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the museum each Tuesday starting at 4 p.m. The distribution time is subject to change. For more information,
click here.
Caregiver support group: A support group for the caregivers of disabled adults will have its first meeting at 200 Rector Place on
Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. The group is open to anyone who is caring for a family member or friend with physical and/or cognitive disabilities. Subsequently, the group will meet on Mondays to
share resources and ideas, learn about helpful programs and fight isolation, which so often results from caregiving responsibilities. The group will evolve to meet the needs of those who attend. The support group is being sponsored by Battery Park City Seniors and by the Battery Park City Authority. It is open to
anyone who lives or works in the greater Battery Park City area. For more information, email [email protected].
MiniMATES at the South Street Seaport Museum: miniMATES is the South Street Seaport Museum's interactive early childhood program. It uses themed songs, stories, art projects, and hands-on activities to teach program participants and their caregivers about boats and ships, marine life, and artifacts in a playgroup setting. miniMATES targets key aspects of development for children ages 18 months to 4 years, from language to creativity to fine-motor skills.
The South Street Seaport Museum's miniMATES Winter Season
starts on Jan. 9, 2019 and runs through March 28. There are three time slots available for the 10-week winter session: Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and Thursdays from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The cost is $250 with discounts available for Family level museum members and additional children. To register,
click here. For more information about miniMATES, e-mail
[email protected].
The South Street Seaport Museum also opens the miniMATES space as a playroom to parents/caregivers and their children during Open Play. Open Play sessions will be offered twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., allowing families the flexibility to drop in and play at times that work best with their schedules. The drop-in rate is $15 per session, per child. Session bundles are available, and families enrolled in miniMATES programs are entitled to discounted Open Play bundles.
Please note that all children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for miniMATES and Open Play. Children cannot be left with museum staff in the play space.
Manhattan Community Board applications: Community Board membership applications are now open. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer says, "We're looking for passionate and engaged New Yorkers who are dedicated to making a difference in their neighborhoods. Community Boards play an important role in shaping the character of our city. If you live or work in Manhattan, you're eligible to apply for the 2019-2021 class of board members."
Community Board members are volunteers who, at a minimum, meet with the committees on which they serve and attend the monthly board meetings. Community Board members serve two-year terms after which they must reapply.
To apply online,
click here or complete a paper application (
downloadable here as a PDF). The online application must be completed in one sitting.
All applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. After you apply, someone from the Manhattan Borough President's office will contact you about next steps in the screening and interview process. Appointments will be announced in the spring.
Holiday diaper drive: For the third year, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is helping to sponsor a holiday diaper drive. "For many low-income working parents, getting diapers for their children is a struggle," she says. "Day care centers often require parents to supply diapers when they drop off their kids, so if the parents don't have diapers to bring every day, they can't work. That's why my office, the Food Bank for New York City, and the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York are launching the third annual holiday diaper drive to collect these essential items for New Yorkers in need. We'll distribute the diapers we collect to emergency food pantries."
If you wish to help, bring new, sealed boxes of diapers in sizes 3 to 6 (sizes 4 and 5 are needed most) to either of Gale Brewer's offices: 1 Centre St. (19th floor South) or 431 W. 125th St. (storefront). If you're an Amazon customer, you can
use this link to order from the Food Bank's Amazon Wishlist for delivery straight to their warehouse.
Donations will be accepted
through Jan. 31, 2019.
Weekend closures of PATH World Trade Center station: Beginning in January 2019 and running through December 2020, PATH's World Trade Center station will be closing each weekend, except for holiday weekends, to replace equipment and rebuild tunnels severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy. The station will close at 12:01 a.m. on Saturdays
starting on Jan. 5, 2019 and will reopen at 5 a.m. after each weekend of work. Riders will be given free transfers to daytime weekend ferry service between Exchange Place and Lower Manhattan. Overnight service on the Journal Square-33rd Street line will be increased. The weekend hours of operation at Brookfield Place Ferry Terminal will be extended to 7 a.m.-11:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (regular weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.). For more information,
click here.
Community Center at Stuyvesant High School: The Community Center at Stuyvesant High School (CCSHS) located at 345 Chambers St. in Battery Park City, offers a half-Olympic-sized swimming pool, basketball courts, a gym, fitness equipment and other amenities
. In addition, there are a variety of classes including swimming lessons for children and adults, Tai Chi, Hatha Yoga, tennis for kids and total body boxing. CCSHS is open daily with hours that vary. Since the facilities are shared with the high school, the hours from September to June differ from those in July and August. An annual membership includes free programs and classes. The rates are $199 (adults, 18+) and $79 (seniors, military and youth). Battery Park City residents get a $20 a year discount on those rates. Walk-in passes are available for $15 (adults 18+) and $10 (seniors, military and youth). For more information, call (212) 267-9700, email [email protected] or
click here.
Most of the Downtown Post NYC bulletin board listings are now on the Downtown Post NYC website. To see the bulletin board listings,
click here.
|
|
|
|
Downtown Post Arts
THE PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR THE SEVENTH YEAR WITH A WEEK OF EXPERIMENTAL OPERA-THEATRE INCLUDING 'P R I S M'
|
|
| Rebecca Jo Loeb as Lumee and Anna Schubert as Bibi in the Prototype Festival's production of "p r i s m," a three-act opera about a rape and its aftermath as experienced by a sickly young woman and her doting mother. The first and third acts take place within a transparent box representing the suffocating closeness and co-dependence of mother and daughter. (Photos: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
In a scarred, unpretentious East Village building that is, in fact, world-renowned as the LaMama Theatre, the Prototype Festival is presenting an opera called "p r i s m" about a young woman who has been scarred by rape.
This past year, the composer, Ellen Reid, has been garnering a lot of favorable press in Los Angeles for major works performed by the LA Chamber Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic and the LA Master Chorale. When "p r i s m," Reid's first opera, debuted in Los Angeles in November 2018, it was also well received.
New York audiences may be more skeptical. The music is inventive and under the direction of Julian Wachner, beautifully performed by the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and  NOVUS NY, Trinity Wall Street's contemporary music orchestra. The singers, Anna Schubert as Bibi, the young woman who has been assaulted, and Rebecca Jo Loeb as Lumee, her mother, deliver strong performances and the dancers who portray Bibi's attackers and ultimately the forces that may deliver her from her nightmares, are eloquent.
It is the libretto by Roxie Perkins that isn't eloquent, and no wonder. "p r i s m" took five years to develop into a presentable production. It's about sexual trauma and post traumatic stress disorder. It's about the co-  dependence of a mother and daughter who need each other for comfort and as a reason to go on living in a troubled world. It's about a mother who abuses her daughter and about a daughter who projects on her mother her own lurid fantasies and anger. It seems to be about lives distorted by drugs and poverty.
Program notes for Ellen Reid say "The pain and joy of this piece come out of my own lived experience." Roxie Perkins writes in the program, "With this piece, I wanted to portray Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as I have experienced it: as a prism through which you watch the world that you once understood dissolve into a place of danger and mystery, where time is not linear, language distorts and takes on new meaning, your body freezes and reacts without logical thought, and everyday banalities such as color become seductive, hallucinatory vortexes that lead you into memories from which you might never escape."
That's a lot of freight for a script to carry. Much of the libretto is babble and the use of colored lighting changes to express fear, comfort and other emotions can seem pretentious. There are repeated references to "blue" representing danger, for instance, at which point the lights go blue, and to "yellow" being a cozy state between mother and daughter. (Cue the yellow lights!) And so on.
However, despite this weakness, the show is worth seeing. As one woman said as she exited the theater, "It was interesting!" It is, and it raises questions that viewers may end up thinking about long after the curtain call.
- Terese Loeb Kreuzer
The Prototype Festival runs through Jan. 13 with 11 productions in 11 venues. "p r i s m" will be performed on Jan. 9, Jan. 10, Jan. 11 and Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the LaMama Theatre, 66 East 4th St. For tickets for this and other Prototype Festival productions, click here.
|
|
|
The third act of "p r i s m" with Anna Schubert as Bibi and Rebecca Jo Loeb as her mother, Lumee.
|
|
|
CALENDAR: January 2019
Spotlight: Alexander Hamilton's Birthday
|
|
A statue of Alexander Hamilton was on exhibit at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street in Manhattan. The museum, now closed because of a flood, was housed in a former branch of the Bank of New York, which Hamilton founded. However, on Jan. 11 at 10:30 a.m., the Museum is sponsoring a 90-minute walking tour of the Financial District, with an emphasis on Hamilton's contributions to financial history. Meet at 48 Wall St. Fee, $15. For more information, click here. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer 2011) |
Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11 on the Caribbean island of Nevis. Historians debate whether the date of his birth was 1755 or 1757. Since Hamilton spent so much of his life in Lower Manhattan and is buried in the graveyard of Trinity Church, his birthday is enthusiastically celebrated here with lectures, wreath laying at his grave and tours associated with his life in New York City.
The Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society is the impresario for the multi-day celebration. It begins on
Jan. 10 at the Fraunces Tavern Museum with a lecture entitled "Alexander Hamilton and the Reynolds Affair" by Dr. Dianne Durante. (Reservations were required and the lecture is sold out.)
On
Jan. 11 at 10:30 a.m., there will be a flag-raising ceremony at Bowling Green (New York City's oldest park and one that Hamilton would have visited. It is directly across from the site of his law offices at 26 Broadway.) Members of the Bowling Green Association with dignitaries and citizens from the island of Nevis will raise the flag of St. Kitts and Nevis to honor the place of Hamilton's birth.
At noon on
Jan. 11, Dr. Kate Elizabeth Brown, author of "Alexander Hamilton and the Development of American Law," will be officially recognized by the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society as a National Hamilton Scholar in a special presentation ceremony. Dr. Brown's groundbreaking research relates how Hamilton helped establish the relationship between the states and federal government with his work within the Executive Branch and the Judiciary; and how law was at the foundation of all his financial and economic systems such that it was able to persist for centuries, in spite of much opposition. Dr. Brown's talk will take place at the historic John Street United Methodist Church, 44 John St. Admission is free.
Following Dr. Brown's talk, at 2 p.m. on
Jan. 11 there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Hamilton's grave in Trinity churchyard. The next event of the day is supposed to be a video presentation entitled "HamilShow: Alexander Hamilton's Legacy in Images and Music" by Marianne Als. It is scheduled to take place at the National Archives at New York City at 3 p.m. However, the archives are housed in the former Alexander Hamilton United States Custom House at Bowling Green and the building is closed at the moment because of the federal government shutdown.
The day was scheduled to conclude with a candlelight procession starting at 4:15 p.m from the U.S. Custom House to Hamilton's grave at Trinity Church followed by a social gathering from 5 p.m to 8 p.m. at the Fraunces Tavern bar, 54 Pearl St.
On Saturday,
Jan. 12, there was to be a full day of programming at Alexander Hamilton's home, The Grange, at 414 W. 141st St. When the Hamilton's lived there, it was in the country and offered a tranquil respite from the heat and congestion of the city, then largely concentrated south of Wall Street. Now The Grange National Memorial is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and is closed because of the federal government shutdown.
For more information about plans as they may evolve during the next few days, go to the website of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society. For the AHA website,
click here.
2019 Annual BPC Art Exhibition: View works by participants in the Battery Park City Authority's art programs. The art will be on view weekdays from
Jan. 28 to March 30, 2:00-4:00PM.The opening reception will be on Sunday,
Jan. 27, at 1 p.m. Place: 75 Battery Place.
A complete list of all programs and activities is on the Battery Park City Authority website. To see and download the winter calendar, click here.
Alexander Hamilton's grave in Trinity Church's cemetery at Broadway and Wall Streets. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer 2011)
For more calendar listings, go to the Downtown Post NYC website.
Click here.
|
|
HOW TO FORWARD DOWNTOWN POST NYC
If you would like to forward this email click the button below. Please do not forward this email in any other way, or your name may be automatically dropped from the subscription list. (That's how this email service works.) Thank you!
|
|
Downtown Post NYC is emailed to subscribers twice a week.
Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer
We welcome comments, questions and letters to the editor. Send them to
[email protected]
All articles and photographs in Downtown Post NYC are copyrighted and
may not be reprinted or republished without written permission.
© 2018
|
|
|
|
|
