Photography / Communication for Artists and Creatives
Mitch Traphagen captured another great night of entertainment at Tuesday’s Artists Without Walls’ Showcase. The next Showcase is on Tuesday, May 22nd, 7:30pm at The Cell, 338 West 23rd St., NYC.
Mitch Traphagen’s photos from Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell, 1/26/16.
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“It made for an event the likes of which you will rarely, if ever, experience. A melding of artists within the walls… it was a memorable night. Yes, it was that good,” said writer Ron Vazzano about a recent Artists Without Walls’ Showcase in Kathleen Bennet Bastis’s art gallery. Ron will be opening tonight’s (Tuesday, January 26) Showcase at The Cell Theatre with a new multimedia creation.
Richard Stillman, accompanied by Flip Peters, perform a few numbers from, “The Spirit of Vaudeville,” a show that won the Best Concert Award at the 2014 United Solo Theater Festival in New York City. Richard writes and performs shows that combine music, storytelling, singing and percussive dance, and plays a wide variety of folk instruments from around the world. As an actor, Richard has performed on Broadway, the Kennedy Center, National tours, PBS Television and in regional theaters from New Jersey to Alaska. He was in “Hamlet” with Rip Torn and Geraldine Page and he performed with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in “Take it From the Top.”
Craig MacArthur, actor and Fitzmaurice voice work instructor, will be making his AWoW debut on Tuesday. Craig received his MFA in Acting from Rutgers University and he will be sharing a monologue from “Misterman” by Enda Walsh. The full show, which runs 85 minutes, had its Western Regional premiere in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, last year. Upcoming roles include Kaffee in A “Few Good Men” by Aaron Sorkin.
Not only does Artists Without Walls strive to bring diverse cultures together in artistic achievement, but we aim to give young performers an opportunity to step onto a New York stage as well. Performing at tonight’s Showcase at The Cell will be Izzy Levine, daughter of AWoW member Phoebe Farber, and Ella McDonald. Izzy and Ella are juniors at Montclair High School in Montclair, New Jersey and have been performing together for the past two years. We are thrilled to be presenting them to our AWoW audience.
First time presenters, “Mountain Maidens,” including Marie Mularczyk O’Connell , Candice Baranello and Lorraine Berger, are three voices blended in splendid harmonies that will lift your spirits and warm your heart. They sing ballads, folk songs, love songs, country and gospel songs, including themes of social justice, to the accompaniment of guitars, banjo, dulcimer, mandolin, spoons and castanets. Marie, Candice and Lorraine are greatly inspired by Appalachian mountain music and have brought the deep modal harmonies of this tradition to their repertoire.
AWoW regulars, actress Mary Tierney and playwright David Loughlin will be performing a scene from David’s “The Senior Case Manager, a comedy about civil service, devil’s food, red-headed rivals,space aliens, intense loneliness, and unrequited love… and all in less than twelve minutes.
Niamh Hyland and Charles R. Hale, Artists Without Walls’ Artistic Directors, will be emceeing the event. The doors and the bar at The Cell Theatre, which is located at 338 W23rd St., open at 6;45. Hope to see you there.
“They (Artists Without Walls) create the space—literally and figuratively—for artists of all stripes to be their best selves, to push boundaries, to experiment, to collaborate in a safe, nurturing environment. They are also the glorious pied pipers who keeps bringing us back again and again to these marvelous events.” Connie Roberts author of Little Witness.
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Over the past three decades, Walter Parks has forged a distinctive international career as the lead guitarist for Woodstock legend Richie Havens, half of the folk-duo The Nudes, and guitarist and leader of the swamp/blues-outfit Swamp Cabbage. His original music is inspired by the swampy gospel blues that wails from storefront churches and roadhouses in and around the southeast Georgia low country. We’re looking forward to Walter’s first appearance at an AWoW Showcase.
Actor/dancer/singer/writer Melissa Ritz will perform an excerpt from her award-winning one-woman show Journey of a Bombshell: The Ina Ray Hutton Story, which is now appearing at the Soho Theatre in New York City. Based on true events, 1930’s famed Big-Band leader Ina Ray Hutton found success and heartache on the stages of Broadway and beyond, with a secret she couldn’t afford to reveal at that time.
Mary Deady, a member of the National Folk Theatre of Ireland for many years, will also be appearing at her first Showcase this Tuesday. Mary has performed extensively throughout Ireland, Europe, the United States and Canada. A resident of New York City, Mary has appeared in a wide variety of venues and, most recently, with Jeff Cubeta on piano, at the Laurie Beechman Theatre/West Bank Café, where she musically traced her journey from Ireland to America through the richness of the American songbook.
Veteran stage, film and television actor Jack O’Connell, an AWoW charter member and frequent performer, will soon be starring in “Stoopdreamers,” which will be directed by Kira Simring and will be running through the month of September at The Cell Theatre. Jack will be performing a short scene from “Stoopdreamers” during Tuesday’s Showcase. Jack has appeared in many popular TV programs including The Sopranos, Law and Order, Blue Bloods, and Boardwalk Empire and films such as Doubt with Meryl Streep and Men In Black 3.
Mary Tierney, Ron Ryan and Larry Fleischman will be performing in a short play, The Perfect Cup of Coffee, written by award winning playwright David Loughlin at Tuesday’s Showcase at The Cell Theatre. Gus and Shorty, two cowboys from Wyoming, set-off across America in search of the perfect cup of coffee. After more than a hundred disappointments, they end-up in Sally’s Place, a diner in Vermont, wondering if they’re searching for something that doesn’t exist—the perfect cup of coffee. Playwright: David Loughlin is a member of the HB Studio Playwright’s Unit, The Dramatist Guild, and The Pulse Ensemble Theater’s Playwright’s Lab. His award-winning plays have been produced from New York to Brooklyn, Florida, California, and beyond.
Charles R. Hale’s show “The Musical History of the Lower East Side” was performed by AWoW members at Rockwood Music Hall in the Spring. Charles has created a companion piece film, which he will debuting at AWoW’s Showcase. Charles is a co-founder and artistic director of Artists Without Walls.
Join us on Tuesday, August 25th for an evening of great fun and conviviality at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St., NYC. The doors and bar open at 6:45. We hope to see you there.