The OPENING of the PS122 building after years of renovation proved to be worth the wait!
The two new spaces – Derek Lloyd stage and Neilma Sidney Theatre – were utilized for the OPENING NIGHT ‘Avant-Garde-Arama.’
Here are my images and video from the AGA Extravaganza on this night!
Opening the show in the Derek Lloyd Stage was Pat Oleszko and her beautiful inflatables.
The theater was packed for the AGA show in the Derek Lloyd theater.
Salley May and the ensemble players bust open the place with a great song and dance exorcism.
Performer list:
Mediums: Jacqueline Zahora, Pedro J. Rosado Jr.
Pure Evil: Salley May and Tony Stinkmetal
Kid Evil-Slayers: Louise May, Annabel Sexton-Daldry, Graham Greene, Lois Houck, and Logan Martinez.
Ghosts: Heidi Dorow, Laurie Berg, Agosto Machado, Nicky Paraiso, Annie Lanzillotto, Simba Yangala, Audrey Kindred, Jodi Bender, Sarah Trignano, Diana Y Greiner, Ed Boland, Jessie Weiner, Lizzie Donahue, Julian Fleisher, David Thorpe, and Sam Zalutsky
Bringing together a cast of Felliniesque performers including Annie Lanzillotto and Heather Lewerenz was Salley May.
Salley May and Pedro J. Rosado Jr.
Another wild scene from the Salley May piece.
Salley May (with Heather Lewerenz) gathering up her lost possessions.
Summoning the spirit of Ellen Stewart (played by Agosto Machado) who spoke so kindly of the people continuing the work she started.
Tom Murrin (l) and cast from the Full Moon show celebrating the Finale of the show with candles and cupcakes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .
COMMENTS
FULL MOON CREW HISTORY
BY
TOM MURRIN/ALIEN COMIC
I started doing shows every full moon in Seattle in 1974. These were comic ritual salutes to Luna Macaroona, the moon goddess, and over the years I’ve done them all over the world, at the entrance to the Star Ferry on Hong Kong, outside Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, and in a public park in Bombay, India. And I still do them wherever I happen to be.
In the early ‘80’s I met up with 4 women performers, all dance majors at Ohio University, Athens Ohio, who relocated to New York: Jo Andres, Mimi Goese, Anne Iobst and Lucy Sexton, and we did performances and workshops together. In the mid-80’s Annie and Mimi were living in an apartment on 14th St. near 6th Ave., and on full moon nights we would have performance parties for our friends. I’d do a full moon salute, Annie would organize a fashion show and we might all end up on the roof dancing in the moonlight. Our friend Bill Schaffner, a master technician and stage manager, came to one party and afterwards went to Mark Russell, the artistic director of P.S. 122, and asked him if we could do a full moon show at P.S. when it happened that the moon was full and the house was “dark”, or had no other show on. Mark said, “Sure,” and that was the birth of The Full Moon Crew.
Bill produced all of our shows at P.S. 122. At each show, over the next few years, the audience would sit in the middle of the room, at tables and chairs, beer was served, and we would set up our acts around the room. I’d go first and set the tone with a full moon salute to Luna, and introduce the others. We always had 2 guest acts as well, like Ethyl Eichelberger, John Kelly, or Steve & Mark (Steve Buscemi and Mark Boone, Jr.). So there would be 3 acts, an intermission, and 3 more acts. Mimi would do something frightening, like one night entering from outside the 2nd floor window. Jo would stage a visual magic show; with dance, music, movies, slides and flowing fabrics. And Annie & Lucy, who performed as DANCENOISE, would always close the show. Since they almost always ended their act naked, under a shower of stage blood, no one could follow that.
In the mid-‘90’s and after that, I continued doing Full Moon Shows, at various other venues, sometimes with members of the Full Moon Crew, but often with other performers on the downtown scene. I remember one a few years ago at Dixon Place where my guests were Jonathan Ames, who told stories, Julie Atlas Muz, who did a strip tease inside a huge white balloon, and Mangina (Patrick Bucklew) who wore a plastic bubble over his head which, for a second, became ignited. Luckily he survived with no injuries. Luna seems to watch over those who honor her special night.
Opening the show in the Derek Lloyd Stage was Pat Oleszko and her beautiful inflatables.
The theater was packed for the AGA show in the Derek Lloyd theater.
Salley May and the ensemble players bust open the place with a great song and dance exorcism.
Performer list:
Spiderwoman Theater (Muriel Miguel & Gloria Miguel) had some stories to tell.
Murray Hill was on hand hob-nobbing with the crowd in the hallway.
Lois Weaver and Holly Hughes having a drink together.
Hanging out near the bar before the performance was Patti Spliff.
James Godwin (performing in the Neilma Sidney Theater) and Gary Ray.
The sound and lighting crew did a great job running the shows in both theaters.
