Blog – Art in Odd Places

By Georgia Ossorguine

“Election Selection, or You Bet” is Theater for the New City’s 40th annual Street Theater musical, written and directed by Crystal Field with music composed by Joseph Vernon Banks. Photo by Julia Slaff.

Street Theatre’s “Election Selection, or You Bet!” was a free public theatre experience that I saw playing on August 14th at the Naumburg bandshell in the heart of Central Park. It was part of the Theater for the New City’s 40th annual Street Theater musical, and was written and directed by Crystal Field, with music composed by Joseph Vernon Banks. The plot of the show focused on a working class man-a classic neighborhood guy and a survivor of the 2008 Great Recession-who works twelve hours a day at three part-time jobs to try to make ends meet. He is a dog walker, an MTA janitor, and has a one-day job as a poll worker in the New York presidential primaries.

The show begins with the citizens of the man’s community expressing their frustration with this election year and with the government in general, as the people discuss the importance of issues such as broken voting machines and how disorganized the voting locations are in the New York area. The community fears that their voices are not being heard and their votes have little significance in the sea of votes from around the country, with a song with lyrics including “Nothing’s Gonna Change, How Could it?”

Here we meet a passionate right-wing, African American conservative, whose flawed logic and absurd views hold slavery, the oppression of his people, as the historical backbone of America’s financial wealth. He proudly says that he will be supporting Donald Trump for president, and that he is strongly against affirmative action, claiming it is demeaning to a worker’s reputation. After primary day, through a series of dream-like experiences that were caused by a traumatic near death experience on the subway tracks, our two polar opposite main characters, the conservative and the working class man, witness different historic events and examples of discrimination against minorities throughout history and, as a result, are educated about the importance of affirmative action. These events include the discrimination of Mohammed Ali, The Stonewall Riots, the Seneca Falls Convention and the experience of hispanic immigrants in America. The conservative character’s journey helps him to realize the importance of taking action and fighting for justice, rather than sitting idly by, waiting for fat cat politicians and CEOs to change the world for us.

The show explores the idea of activism and the notion that it only takes a few passionate members of a community to create change and unite people towards a common goal. The show also illustrates the different struggles of the working class and highlights growing problems of income inequality. Although this show is geared towards the education of children, with an eye toward engaging young people in both local and global issues, it utilizes distinctly adult ideas and themes. As a white teenage girl living in New York, it was engaging to see the fears and concerns of the diverse population of America portrayed on the stage, and helped me keep in mind the struggles of those in completely different worlds than me, even though they might live around the corner. “Election Selection, or You Bet” is playing for free at various parks around the five boroughs through September 18th. For more information and to find a performance near you go to http://www.jsnyc.com/season/stth.htm.

Georgia Ossorguine is a high school student and summer intern for Art in Odd Places. While on her school break, Georgia has been out exploring art all across the borough of Manhattan and reporting back to AiOP what she had seen. Below, Georgia discusses an installation that took place in the East Village at the St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery church, which dealt with gun violence, as well as a plaque installation for Jean Michel Basquiat at his old residence and studio in NoHo.

Vigil:

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Gun Violence Awareness Month installation. Photo courtesy of Lara Zarum/The Village Voice.

During the month of June at the St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery church in downtown Manhattan, young victims of gun violence are being honored to support Gun Violence Awareness Month. Each orange t-shirt set up in the yard outside of the church represents one New York citizen under the age of 21 who lost their life to gun violence in 2015. According to the church’s Facebook page, the project is, “Our witness to ‪#‎GunViolenceAwarenessMonth to raise awareness of needless and senseless gun violence in New York communities, and find solutions to make those communities safer. “ The piece is available to the public to pay their respects and to reflect on the impact of Gun violence on the New York community. This project follows the vigil at St. Mark’s church to honor the victims of the attacks in Orlando, Florida at Pulse Nightclub. More t-shirts were added after the tragedy in Orlando to represent those lives lost. This project comes along with the many other art pieces that occur at the St. Marks Church performance space, which raise awareness for many different causes, such as the vigil for the Orlando victims on June 29th, co sponsored by the Danspace Project, The Poetry Project, the New York Theatre Ballet, and the St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, with performances by Ricardo Maldonado, Julia Guez, Ballez (Artistic Director, Katie Pyle), Jeannine Otis, New York Theatre Ballet, and more.

Jean-Michel Basquiat Plaque:

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Jean-Michel Basquiat plaque. Photo courtesy of Hyperallergic.

A true legend of the art world finally has a permanent mark on his former home in New York. Thanks to the efforts of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the artistic genius of Jean-Michel Basquiat will be forever honored at his former studio in NoHo. The building itself is littered with graffiti and street art honoring the late artist. The tributes and messages for Basquiat are now joined by a plaque on the building’s front, which pays tribute to his life of artistic achievement. On Wednesday July 13, a crowd of inspired lovers of Basquiat, joined by curious onlookers, gathered outside the former home and studio at 57 Great Jones Street to unveil the monumental plaque. The event included performances and speeches by Phil Hartman, owner of Two Boots Pizza, Michael Holman, artist, director, writer and producer, Ayanna Jessica Legros, co-founder of Still Fly @ 55, an event in March honoring the art and life of Basquiat on his would be 55th birthday, Chauvet Bishop, co-founder of Still Fly and a poet, and Greg Masters, a New York Based poet.

AiOP Intern Witnesses Some Political Theater

AiOP Intern Explores Art in the Village