THE BREAD & PUPPET THEATER RETURNS! Thursday, May 5th in McAlpin Hall (please use the 86th Street entrance)
The Bread & Puppet Theater returns to West Park with The Public Access Center for the Obvious Presents: The Situation, a new work written and directed by founder Peter Schumann. This musical and dark clown-show features cardboard horses, an anti-extinction angel, proletariat broom dancers, a 100 watt light bulb, a ship of fools, and a swinging brass band: all of whom are urging the Not-Yet-Existing-Upriser-Masses into reality. Straight from New Orleans, “the singing, dancing and imaginative qualities of the show is appropriate for children…the audience is inspired by its social message.Tickets are $0-$25, sliding scale. For more In go to BREAD AND PUPPET EVENTS
Open Choir at West Park
Wednesday 4/13 7-8:30pm; Monday 4/25 8pm; Monday 5/2 8pm
The Open Choir is a free, public event, where everyone is welcome to participate. A core of artists leads participants and guests, both new and returning, through a flow of songs, looking for the possibility of a simple and alive kind of experience and interaction. Everyone is invited to join through dance and song, or find his or her own way to support what happens. During these non-sectarian encounters through songs of the African diaspora, participants of different backgrounds become co-authors of the meeting, creating an artwork that respects and embraces cultural variety. Created by the world-renowned theatre group the Open Program of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards and developed with the West Park-resident NYC Seed Group, the Open Choir appears periodically at West-Park for just a few evenings every few months. Come sing with us while you can! Wednesday 4/13 7-8:30pm; Monday 4/25 8-9:30pm; Monday 5/2 8-9:30pm
The Open Choir at West-Park is part of the NYC OPEN CHOIR MOVEMENT 2016, which also includes a host of events at the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx. For the full program and updates, check out: www.facebook.com/openprogram or www.theworkcenter.org
For information write to: nycprojects@theworkcenter.org
GIRL OF DIAMOND MOUNTAIN
Wingjammer

– Wingjammer –

On February 13th at West Park Presbyterian Church, Composers Concordance presents its next ‘Wingjammer’ – a feast of contemporary music featuring improvisation plus an ample reception of buffalo wings. Compositions by Paul Carlon, Dan Cooper, Emily Doolittle, Scott Hoefling, Ryo Noda, Payton MacDonald, Gene Pritsker, Raul Quines, David Sanford, Daniel Schnyder, and Dorian Wallace will be performed by: Gene Pritsker – guitar, Daniel Schnyder – saxophone, and Payton MacDonald – percussion, and by the The Wheatley Quintet: Scott Hoefling – saxophone, Peggy Ho – clarinet, Steve Fitzko – trumpet, Dylan Ebrahimian – violin, and Anneke Schaul-Yoder – cello.
PRESS:
Film Screening “Trigger”
February 2016 Events at
West Park Presbyterian Church
Monday, February 8 at 7pm
FILM SCREENING: TRIGGER: The Ripple Effects of Gun Violence – Whenever an act of gun violence occurs, communities are fractured at every level. This is what makes TRIGGER such a powerfully moving film. It shares the stories of individuals that encounter gun violence in various sectors of our communities: parents, children and siblings of victims, school teachers, trauma surgeons, law enforcement, legislators, pastors and grief counselors. Although we often think of a bullet as being an end, for those affected, it is only the beginning. Click HERE for some of the stories, or “ripple” highlighted in the film. There is a $10 requested donation.
Film Festival Winter 2016
ANTIGONA IS BACK…
Back by popular demand…announcing the return of #Antigona!
Join us for Sophocles’s timeless tale of love, betrayal, and family… Noche Flamenca style!
Our Winter 2015 run opens on Friday, December 11 and closes on Saturday, January 23 at West-Park Presbyterian Church.
CAROLS OLD and NEW
and CANDLELIGHT
December 24th, 2015 at 7PM
Service led by
Rev. Dr. Robert L. Brashear
Jed Distler of Composers Collaborative.
An Interfaith celebration and exploration of the three cultures and religions of Andalusian Spain.
Special Guests – Rabbi Rolando Matalon, B’nai Jeshurun
Chaplain Rabia Harris, scholar in residence for the Community of Living Traditions at Stony Point Center.
Featuring singers, musicians and dancers from Noche Flamenca(and other special guests)
WHERE: West Park Presbyterian Church, 165 West 86th Street
WHEN: Sunday, January 10 at 6 PM
Background: In a day and time when politicians in the US and globally exploit fear of our Muslim neighbors, it is helpful to revisit a time when our communities lived in collaboration and cooperation with one another. The result was a “golden age” of philosophy and culture where all three traditions influenced each other. The evening will feature performances of music and poetry from the traditions and conversation with Dr. Brashear, Rabbi Matalon, Chaplain Harris and Mr. Santangelo.
For more information contact:
Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear 646-541-3329
Take a look around.


TRADITIONS IN MOVEMENT – Final Weekend Events
November 19th, 7 pm: One Day – A Festival (including other West-Park artists)
November 20th, 8 pm: I Am America
November 21st, 5 pm: A Conversation, A Get-Together, and A Potluck Dinner
We are delighted to invite you to the presentation of I AM AMERICA at West Park, as part of TRADITIONS IN MOVEMENT – Final Weekend Events (November 19th – 21st). The weekend is intended as a living exploration of artistic and community practices over three evenings, including guest performances, open discussion, and a potluck dinner. *Entrance to all events is free. Donations are most welcome!A city, a crowd of passers-by. We see them, we seem to recognize, remember. Strangers calling to joy, to the century, for the illumination of America. Fireworks of visions flow out in speech and song. It is a multiple-million-eyed monster. Each eye speaks the story of a coming from somewhere. Desire, fight and fail, rise. What is it all about? America?
Directed by Mario Biagini (Associate Director of the Workcenter) and premiered in 2009 in Italy, to date I AM AMERICA has lived several incarnations and has been performed throughout the world. The current ensemble hails from three different continents, from countries including Brazil, Colombia, France, Italy, Poland, Canada, and Argentina.
In I AM AMERICA, Allen Ginsberg’s poetry is braided together with shouts and traditional songs from the South of the United States in a dynamic flux of poems, songs, and actions. Original compositions by members of the Open Program dialogue with these sources, creating in confrontation with them a piece that questions our place and function within the transforming contemporary landscape, and our being alive – intentionally.
With: Mario Biagini, Robin Gentien, Tabby Johnson, Agnieszka Kazimierska, Felicita Marcelli, Ophelie Maxo, Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez, Jorge Romero Mora, Graziele Sena.
Music by Open Program of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards.
Poetic texts by Allen Ginsberg; For the Allen Ginsberg texts, Copyright © by the Allen Ginsberg Trust, used with permission of The Wylie Agency LLC.
PAST EVENTS
WHERE: West Park Presbyterian Church (86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, NY, NY)
WHEN: Tuesday, November 10, 2015
TIME: 7 – 9 pm (Doors open at 6:30 pm)
Suggested Donation: $ 5 at door
PANEL SPEAKERS
Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President
Helen Rosenthal, City Council Member (District 6)
Eadaoin Quinn, Sims Municipal Recycling
Emily Nobel Maxwell, The Nature Conservancy
Brett Mons, NYC Department of Sanitation – Commercial and Residential Recycling
Ermin Siljkovic, GrowNYC – Residential Curbside Organics Recycling
Thadddeus Copeland, GrowNYC Recycling Champions Program – Schools Recycling and Organics Recycling
Caroline Bragdon, NYC Department of Health (Pest Control)
Albe Zakes, Terracycle
Audience Q and A – bring your questions and a notebook or e-device for notetaking!
FREE RAFFLE AT END OF EVENING TO WIN ECO GIFTS!
SPONSORS (in addition to panelists’ organizations):
Community Board 7; The Center at West-Park; NYC Coalition of Block and Community Leaders (CBCL NYC); Mothering Mother; Friends of West-Park; Sierra Club (NYC); 350nyc; United for Action; Citizens Committee for New York City; Bag the Habit