New York, NY
Downtown Stories: Dreams From New York's Oldest Streets - Sidewalk Echoes
A play with music inspired by interviews with small business owners.
By Rogelio Martinez Directed by Johanna McKeon John Street Methodist Church (44 John Street) Playwright Rogelio Martinez (Born In East Berlin) and director Johanna McKeon (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot) have created Sidewalk Echoes, a play with music that draws its characters from interviews conducted with small business owners and the Pastor who runs the oldest Methodist Congregation in North America built in 1776. Sidewalk Echoes is staged on the pulpit and in and around the John Street Methodist Church. The cast of Sidewalk Echoes will feature Sheher Azaad, Lakpa T. Bhutia, Chris Crofton and Ashley Noel Jones. The performance schedule for Sidewalk Echoes is Wednesdays-Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 3pm. The Saturday June 25 performance will take place at 8pm. The Saturday 3pm performances will be ADA compliant performances. Tickets for Sidewalk Echoes are free of charge; reservations are required. Proof of Covid-19 vaccination and masks are required to attend.
Audience Role
The performance happens around you.
Ages: All ages
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About Downtown Stories: Dreams From New York's Oldest Streets
Put on your walking shoes with Downtown Stories, a series of theatrical pieces by some of New York’s most inventive artists as they embark on uncovering the stories embodied by the people that live and work in the oldest neighborhood in New York City. It’s art meets anthropological expedition as these artists discover new or little-known facts about downtown that become a springboard for inventive storytelling that provides a fresh perspective on the city that surrounds us. Downtown Stories brings together award-winning playwright Rogelio Martinez (Born In East Berlin) and director Johanna McKeon (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot) for a documentary theatre piece inspired by interviews with small business owners in Lower Manhattan. Their stories are the stories of the United States, immigrants coming to this country to avoid religious persecution, racial prejudice or simply to pursue a better life. Additionally, the program will include two fictional walking tours that will use the rich history of the neighborhood’s landmarks as a springboard for imaginary trips into our past to connect with the people who once lived there. The fictional walking tours are written by Mona Mansour (Vagrant Trilogy, Public Theatre) and Eric Lockley (co-founder Movement Theatre Company), and directed by Jessica Holt (Ironbound, Sense and Sensibility) and Morgan Green (Co-Artistic Director, Wilma Theatre), respectively. Each 45-minute walking tour will be composed of a fictional story juxtaposed against the reality of history and will bring audiences to a series of sites that represent a significant moment from the city’s past, transforming into a fictional moment enabling us to imagine the future. The tours will conclude at neighborhood restaurants where audiences can pick up a meal. En Garde Arts’ month-long series Downtown Stories renews their collaboration with the Downtown Alliance, which launched last May for Downtown Live, a festival that brought 36 live performances to three different sites across Lower Manhattan.