Photography / Communication for Artists and Creatives
Charles R. Hale Productions and The Cell Theatre are pleased to present “An Evening with Niamh Hyland and Friends,” at The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd Street, March 30, at 8pm. Details to follow.
Artists Without Walls’ January Showcase at The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd Street, Manhattan, will take place on January 24th. The doors and the bar open at 6:45pm. The presentations begin at 7:30pm. The evenings presenters included playwright Brendan Connellan, actor Faye Franzini, writers Billy Barrett and Suzanne Bernier and musicians Martina Fiserova, Michi Fuji and Maia Nero.
Join Artists Without Walls on Tuesday, February 23rd, at The Cell Theatre for an evening of great entertainment as it begins its fourth year.
“We’ve always been inspired by the flowering of artistic achievement, which often arises when cultures come together. Jazz is one of the great examples. As a result, we were inspired to create a dynamic environment that allows for and promotes cultural collaboration and artistic achievement. We are excited that we have created a laboratory where people can experiment with their ideas in a safe space and collaborate with their peers in new untapped ways.” Charles R. Hale and Niamh J. Hyland, Artists Without Walls cofounders and artistic directors.
The Cell Theatre is located at 338 W23rd St, NYC. The Cell’s doors and bar open at 6:45.
Join Manav Sachdeva Maasoom and a great collection of performers at Artists Without Walls’ Anniversary Showcase, Tuesday, February 23 at The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd St., NYC.
Manav is an international poet and diplomat, and has worked or traveled through forty-five countries. Manav was born in India and currently divides his time between Kyrgyzstan and New York. He studied Poetry and Policy Studies at Columbia University for his Masters of International Affairs and is the Luce Foundation Poet Laureate for the US for 2015. Manav has worked on an Afghan film, “Camp Victory,” as a subtitle interpreter and editor, and written a book, “The Sufi’s Garland”, dedicated to his time in Afghanistan. He speaks Dari, some Pashto, Urdu, Panjabi, Hindi, English, and some Russian, Spanish, and French. Manav worked with the United Nations and other international NGOs and development bodies over the last two decades.
The Cell’s doors and bar open at 6:45.
Alessia Sushko and Sedly Bloomfeld will be performing a scene from Shakespeare’s Othello at Artists Without Walls’ Anniversary Showcase on Tuesday, September 23, at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St, NY. Alessia’s film and television credits include House of Cards, Mysteries of Laura, Sex & Drugs & Rock&Roll, Billions. In New York theatre she has appeared in Death, Please! (Theatre Row Theatre) and MacBeth (The Players Club). Alessia was raised in Belarus where she began her acting and ballet training.
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Sedly Bloomfield grew up in Brooklyn, where his development was stimulated by a Brooklyn’s unique melting pot of culture. After graduating from Erasmus Hall High School, Sedly attended Lee Strasberg and ran his own dance and acting club in Brooklyn NY. He has appeared in stage roles as Oscar Charleston in Cobb, Captain Davenport in a Soldiers Play and Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy, and on television he has appeared in All My Children, Torchwood and The Guiding Light.
The Cell’s doors and the bar open at 6:45
Join Darrah Carr and a great collection of performers at Artists Without Walls’ Anniversary Showcase, Tuesday, February 23 at The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd St., NYC.
Darrah is the director of Darrah Carr Dance, a Bessie-Award nominated Irish dance company that specializes in ModERIN: a unique combination of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. NYC performance highlights include: a return appearance on NBC’s “The Today Show,” a guest performance with The NY Pops at Carnegie Hall, a benefit engagement at Jazz at Lincoln Center, “Victory Dance” at The New Victory Theater and “The Yeats Project” at the Irish Repertory Theatre.
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The company has performed at venues throughout the US including MASS MoCA, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, the San Jose Fleadh and the company’s annual New York season at the Irish Arts Center. Darrah is also a respected scholar of Irish dance and has presented her research findings at the Congress on Research in Dance, the World Dance Alliance, and Dance Research Forum Ireland.
The doors and bar open at 6:45
“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.
1) Who is Rusty Faris Wheel Productions?
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John Faris and I, Justin Adkins, created this production outfit in January 2015 in an effort to make films that we are excited to see. After film school, we both realized that we work well together and have strengths that would benefit the company and our films. As such, we created Rusty Faris Wheel Productions to produce all types of films with a focus on horror and action/superhero fare.
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2) What are you working on at the moment?
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Currently, we are producing a superhero short film called “The Friend.” Principal photography begins on November 2, 2015. We are also finalizing our three additional projects for the upcoming screening.
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3) Do you have any upcoming events you would like people to attend?
We are having the Rusty Faris Wheel Screening Event, presented by Artists Without Walls, on November 6, 2015, at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd Street, NY, 7:00 to 8:30, which will screen all three current projects. (Promo piece below.)
4) What are 3 of your favorite films/shorts and why?
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Between the two of us, three of our favorite films are The Evil Dead (Justin), The Dark Knight (both), and 48 HRS (John). The Evil Dead is Justin’s favorite movie of all time. Sam Raimi is a true inspiration as a low budget, young filmmaker who established a strong career. The Dark Knight is, for both of us, one of the strongest cinematic depictions of any superhero derived from an existing comic book. 48 HRS. is widely recognized as the pioneer American buddy cop movie and is a perfect example of a simple film on a minimal budget that stands the test of time.
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5) Who are the filmmakers past & present that you admire and why?
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Sam Raimi, Christopher Nolan, Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Hill, and Mario Bava. All of these filmmakers are fantastic storytellers who can create a visual, tense, gritty, violent, and beautiful picture for the audience as the stories unfold.
Justin Atkins and John Faris
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6) Who is your greatest inspiration and why?
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For me, Justin, it is Sam Raimi. As stated above, he started out as a young, ambitious filmmaker who raised money, gathered his friends, and made a little cult movie. This led to greater things in the form of the Spiderman movies. For John, it is Christopher Nolan. In the same vein as Sam Raimi, Christopher Nolan started small by writing, directing and producing his first feature film, Following, in 1999, while working a full-time job and using his friends as actors. Nolan proceeded to wow critics with Memento and is credited with the resurrection of the now billion dollar DC Comic Film Franchise.
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7) Name 5 things that you would like to accomplish in the next 5 years?
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-Make at least two feature films
-Work full time on our films
-Help other filmmakers produce their visions
-Continue to develop relationships with other artists for collaboration
-See the distribution of our films
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8) If you could dream of trying something in the arts you haven’t tried, but would like to, what would it be?
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We would like to venture into the musical arts in the form of creating music and scores as well as singing. We also envision making films that are far beyond our comfort zones of the horror/action-comedy/superhero genres.
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9) What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
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We enjoy watching movies as well as creating new characters and stories for our films. We also enjoy the fine art of beer drinking.
“Artists Without Walls creates 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.” Connie Roberts, poet and author of Little Witness.
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Singer/songwriter Terry McCarthy got the evening got off to rocking start. Performing solo for the first time at The Cell, Terry opened the show with two songs from his latest CD The Charm, and followed those with two tunes from his new EP Go Fourth. We’re looking forward to Terry’s upcoming show, Words in Music: An Artists Without Walls Presentation at The Cell Theatre, Nov 15th, which will feature a number of AWoW’s members, including Jack O’Connell, Connie Roberts, Noah Hoffeld, Liv Mammone and Cecil Hooker.
Kathleen Frazier read from her recently released memoir, SLEEPWALKER: The Mysterious Makings and Recovery of a Somnambulist accompanied by cellist and vocalist Serena Jost. Their collaboration was hauntingly beautiful and emotionally stirring. Kathleen is a Norman Mailer Fellow, member of The Actors Studio and envisions a reality show in which Serena plays alongside her day and night:) For more on her memoir visit www.kathleenfrazier.com and for more on Serena’s otherworldly music: www.serenajost.com
Maeve Price debuted a very charming performance piece based on a singing engagement at Maple Grove Cemetery. Looking splendid in her very own civil war era dress, she regaled a delighted AWoW audience with a pithy and charming true tale that included music blowing in a ghostly wind, a chat over champagne with Frederick Douglass and a cameo appearance by a local Raccoon. Clearly everything that could have gone wrong at this gig, did go wrong – but Maeve lived to tell the tale with a little singing and a dash of graveyard humor! Connie Roberts summed up Maeve’s performance perfectly, “H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. Brilliant Maeve.”
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Jim Hawkins brought to life the wit, humor and wisdom of Frank O’Connor’s story, “My First Confession.” He built layers of humor clearly segueing through the plots of the story and the characters as they were introduced. He demonstrated his acting skills bringing to life the characters with a variety of facial expressions and vocal intonations. There were moments in Jim’s telling when the audience were in howls of laughter. Great showcase Tuesday night. Mark Donnelly commented, “Wonderful performance! And Jim even got me examining my conscience about Bad Confessions I’d made, oh so many years ago.”
Brian Carbee is a choreographer, dancer, writer & performer who began his dance career in Cambridge, and has since performed all over the world. Brian performed a scene from a play he and Sarah Carradine wrote called Perch, in which Perch answers an ad to watch over Susan while she sleeps, and arrives dressed as an owl. Of Brian’s performance, Richard Stillman said, “His sense of mimetic movement was impeccable.” Perfect description.
Flutist Sean Schulich heralded in Autumn with the opening few notes from Johnny Mercer’s “Autumn Leaves.” The audience at times was enraptured and at others hypnotized by the Sean’s fluid sounds, which were the perfect denouement to an evening filled with performance art, singer-songwriter music and theatrical scenes. Sean will be appearing at Carnegie Hall, Sunday, Nov. 1st as part of the The Phantom and the Illharmonic Orchestra.
The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre will be on October 27.
Photos by David Goldman.
David Goldman’s photos from AWoW’s Showcase at The Cell Theatre, September 22, 2015
Serena Jost and Kathleen Frazier
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Terry McCarthy
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Jim Hawkins
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Sean Schulich
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Brian Carbee
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Niamh Hyland
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Maeve Price
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Charles R. Hale
