Dixon Place, NYC's Laboratory for Performance"What began in 1985 as a literary reading space, a throwback to Paris salons, is now one of the city's most important and fiercely experimental artists' nests." - The Village Voice Dixon Place is located at 161A Chrystie St. (between Rivington & Delancey). Click here for directions!   Note: the box office opens half an hour before the show. Call 212.219.0736 for reservations. DP / 5K / FB We've reached 5,000 friends on Facebook so we can't add any more! To receive our FB updates, "Like" our page so we can keep you up-to-date! Theater Friday, February 3 at 9:30pm Cara Scarmack / THE ROADSTERS Ohio, Revisited Tickets: $12 (advance); $15 (door), $10 stu/sen and TDF Cara Scarmack, text and direction; Priscilla Holbrook, performance and music direction; Ashley Nease, Stephanie Viola and Nathan Richard Wagner, performance; music composition by the ensemble. The second rendition of an original, experimental theatre piece written by Cara Scarmack, developed and performed by the theatre ensemble The Roadsters. Four siblings in 1950s rural Ohio have their lives are shattered by a premature death. The driving force of this tale of living and loss is fierceness from the survivors to "go on" as well as from the departed to "be remembered." The performance incorporates "extra daily" physicality, transcendent original Americana music (with the actors as orchestra), poetic text, and a host of beautiful objects, taking the audience on a truly joyous theatrical expedition. Theater, Dance, Queer Saturday, February 4 at 9:30pm Janet Werther Are You My Mother?? Tickets: $12 (advance); $15 (door), $10 stu/sen and TDF Created & Performed by Janet Werther. Janet exposes the mythology of finding one's "true" gay family upon coming out, explores multiple facets of the mother-daughter experience, and hypothesizes that the real problem is that nobody truly values femininity. Part song & dance cabaret, part post-modern "downtown" dance, part Gender Performance Theory lecture, and most of all hilarious personal anecdote, Are You My Mother?? is one young woman's realization that she cannot avoid becoming her mother--even if she is fancier! Circus Arts, Variety Monday, FeBRUARY 6 at 8:00pm Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Hour Tickets: $5 suggested donation A first look at NYC's finest emerging variety and circus talents. Get more info on their dedicated web page here. To sign up, e-mail Keith at with "Open Stage" in the subject line. Include a description of your act and the date(s) you are interested in performing. This new series continues throughout 2012: March 5, April 2, May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3, October 1, November 5, December 3. Dance Tuesday, February 7 at 7:30pm Under Exposed Tickets: $12 (advance) / $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Curated by Doug Post, this series provides an opportunity for choreographers who are either beginning or evolving in their careers. Under Exposed presents work by choreographers who are not often given the opportunity to show work in larger venues which demand more "finished" visions. As Dixon Place is an incubator, work shown may be at any stage of development. This month (clockwise from top left): Teresa Fellion, Rebecca Patek, Annika Sheaff, Matthew Westerby. Special Music Event Saturday, February 11 at 9:30pm Shades Alumni Family The Love Concert Tickets: $20 (advance); $25 (door) Performed by members of the Shades Alumni Family: Tina Colon, Bobby Cronin, Cicily Daniels, Creswell Formey, Desiree Gordon, Anika Larsen, Flora Mendoza, Titilayo Ngwenya, Sherri Sandifer, Greg Serebuoh, Kat Webb, Lauren Worsham. A young, emerging musical family explores love, individually and collectively, through a collage of vocal/instrumental performances. As graduates of Yale University and former members of a 23-year-old vocal group called Shades—they have pursued their music individually and achieved notoriety from Broadway to Billboard's Top 40. Though reminiscent of the popular Shades Midnight Love concerts on Yale's campus, this evening is more of a musical homecoming, where the vocalists may inspire and be inspired by each other and the diverse music they play. Romantic obsessive crazy real sexy unrequited & VOCAL—The Love Concert is an odyssey of songs from the soul. Theater, Dance, Music, Etc. Monday, FeBRUARY 13 at 7:30pm Little Theatre Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) OBIE-winning cutting-edge series (theater, dance, music, performance art, media, robotics, animals -- serious fun). Curated by Scott Adkins, Rob Erickson, Jeff Jones, Tina Satter & Normandy Sherwood Scheduled performances include: THE BLACK WIDOW, written and directed by Siobhan Antonioli: This is a story that lurks behind the floorboards of your mind. This is a story of a darker world that transports Julia Morgan beyond the restraints of her wheelchair. STARVING FOR, created and performed by Amy Virginia Buchanan, in collaboration with Theresa Buchheister: Thresholds and pandas O! MOTHER, THE MOON IS AT THE DOOR, executed by Cori Kresge: Making an effort to learn classical Arabic through contemporary dance MOTHER, GOOSE, AND GRIMM, created by Claire Moodey, directed by Adam Goldman, designed by Abigaill Lloyd: A modern fable CATACLYSMIA, written & directed by Teddy Nicholas, costumes by Sarah Snider, sound design by Peter Mills Weiss, choreography by Mary Mailhot, with: Cara Francis, Mary Mailhot, Jen Taher & Chris Tyler: A fugure for four voices on a theme of loneliness, alienation and the overwhelming sensation of impending doom. International Dance Wednesday, February 15 at 7:30pm Ryan Daniel Beck / Luna / SYNTHESIS DANCE L'amore ToMa Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Tracie Stanfield's SYNTHESIS Dance and Ryan Daniel Beck Present: LUNA Company in L'amore Toma. Tracie Stanfield (Artistic Director of SYNTHESIS Dance Project); Cristiano Marcelli (Director of LUNA Company); Simona Ficosecco (choreographer of LUNA Company); Simonetta Magnani (NYC Italian Cultural Institute). Dancers: (SYNTHESIS) Alana Sampietro, Tara Nixon, Colleen Aherne, Lauren McElroy, Heidi Sutherland, Danielle Bower, Lauren Bernard; (LUNA) Simona Ficosecco, Desiree Storani, Cristiana Taddei, Elisa Ricagni. In this exciting new international collaboration, Tracie Stanfield's stunning NYC based SYNTHESES Dance company presents with Simona Ficosecco's Italian LUNA company. SYNTHESIS Dance Project celebrates athletic ability, technical precision and passionate performances. The company delivers artistry, expression and vitality with magnetic energy and expert performances. Firmly grounded in classical technique and pulling from all styles of movement, the company strives to challenge the boundaries of any singular dance genre. We, instead, invite the audience into the world of honest emotion, bold ideas and pure dance. LUNA Company has been on the forefront of teatro danza, a form of highly stylized and textured European dance, for over twenty years. Simona and Cristiano have forged successful collaborations with the Pina Bausch company and DV8 company, both highly respected innovators in the tanztheater genre. LUNA Company seeks to educate and inspire the world through their deeply invested movement research and commitment to exploration and curiosity. Benefit Event, Music Thursday, February 16, 7:00pm - 10pm Ronald McDonald House / Rachelle Garniez Team Ronald Fundraiser Tickets: $50 or 917- 312-4630 Join Team Ronald for an event benefiting Ronald McDonald House New York. There will be an open bar from 7-10pm, live music by Rachelle Garniez from 8-9pm and raffle prizes all night long. Join us in celebrating and supporting a vital resource for pediatric cancer patients and their families in the metropolitan area. You may purchase tickets online at rmh-newyork.org/dixon-place or call 917 312 4630, Theater Friday, February 17 at 9:30pm Boom Bat Gesture / KATE BREHM Cthulhu's House of Z / THINGS FALL APART Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Cthulhu's House of Z: Created, designed & performed by Boom Bat Gesture: Jon Burklund (co-director), Ilana Stuelpner (co-director), Niko Tsocanos (performer). Cthulhu's House of Z recasts H.P. Lovecraft's sci-fi horror legend as a bumbling simian lunatic who hosts a late-nite electronic dream show. On the program tonight is the story of a husband and wife, whose dreams are infected by Cthulhu's perverted spell. As Cthulhu's somnambulant tantrum-spectacle progresses, his twisted experiments drive the couple insane, homicidal, and obsessed with donuts. Cthulhu's… is experimental performance group Boom Bat Gesture's fourth original piece, and their New York debut. And it's pronounced Cuh-THOO-loo. PLUS Things Fall Apart: A woman attempts to hold her world together, while battling her own propensity to inadvertently break it apart! Things fall apart in this dramatically curious piece of physical object theater by Kate Brehm, imnotlost. Theater Saturday, February 18 at 9:30pm Damaris Webb The Box Marked Black Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Written and Performed by Damaris Webb, directed by Debra Disbrow. The Box Marked Black is a tender solo performance piece, tracing the experience of growing up mulatto in the pre-Huxtable era. With only Jenny Willis from The Jefferson's as a guide, our multi-disciplinary storyteller creates narrative from the perspective of both sides of her interracial family, embodying multiple characters, childhood memories (including a Roots sock puppet re-enactment) and fantasy. Puppets Monday, February 20 at 7:30pm Tim Lagasse Other Forms of Puppetry Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Created and performed by Tim Lagasse with Jim Napolitano. Puppet master Lagasse will premiere a few original short works utilizing puppet styles both new and long forgotten. Shadow puppet master "Nappy" Napolitano will be his special guest. You will also have the privilege to experience Lagasse's famous lecture "What is better: Puppetry or Animation?" and see the premiere of his Bed Bug Circus! And please remember, just because it says "puppet" in the title, doesn't mean it's for f!@#ing children. Queer, Theater Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30pm Inbred Hybrid Collective Somewhere, Something Amazing is Waiting to be Known Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Inbred Hybrid Collective featuring music by Gerald Busby. Inspired by the relationship between quantum physics and mythology, this theatrical exploration uses a quote from Carl Sagan as both title and jumping off point. The vastness of the universe is expostulated in an effort to correct the illusion that there is illusion. The Gods of The Odyssey and their acolytes make small steps toward the evolution of ideas into a self-sustaining transformation from romance to reason and the super-nuclear force that transformation releases into the universe, joined by later re-examinations of those characters; this piece invades the archetypes of human ancestry in order to re-align it with the impetus for human imagination. New Dance SeriesWednesday, February 22 @ 7:30 - 9:30pm NYC Dance Week NYC10 Dance Initiative Tickets: $10 (advance - limit 50); $15 thereafter and at the door NYC10 is a unique dance project designed by NYC Dance Week, where 10 emerging companies or groups are given up to 10 minutes to showcase their work. It's a platform to expand and explore new repertoires or simply try something new. For more info on NYC Dance Week and this program, visit their website. Check back here the 4th Wednesday of every month for a unique opportunity to to see dancers/ dance companies craving to show their work and receive your feedback. Theater Thursday, February 23 at 7:30pm Catherine Mueller & Ben Vigus Mary Poppins: A Show About Mary Poppins Tickets: $12 (advance), $15 / $10 stu/sen and TDF (door) Performed by Catherine Mueller & Ben Vigus; originally conceived by Catherine Mueller; created by Catherine Mueller in collaboration with Ben Vigus. Prepare to get your Mary Poppins on! Past titles have included Popping with Poppins, Something About Mary Poppins, A Nonsensical Exercise into the Whatnots of Mary Poppins as Seen Through the Eyes of Kim Smith, and This is How Good Mary Poppins Could Be if I Were Allowed to Star In It. Kim Smith seeks to inspire, delight and educate her audience with this homage to Disney's Mary Poppins. Part reenactment, part instructional seminar, part tea-service, Kim reveals more than you ever thought you needed to know about Mary. Get the latest on the production on their tumblr site! Queer, Music Friday, February 24 at 9:30pm Corky Has a Band with Nicoll+Oreck The Playground Tickets: $12 (advance); $15 / $10 stu/sen (door) Corky Has a Band Presents: The Playground with special guests Nicoll+Oreck. Named after Chris Burke's character on Life Goes On, Corky Has A Band is a hyper-vaudevillian performance duo. Its members, Prof. Tickles and Sgt. Whiskers (pianists David Broome and Amir Khosrowpour) find various ways of brutalizing a piano, while exploring the extremities of the absurd. Their eclectic and unpredictable shows are presented through the guise of a variety show, consisting of games, skits and songs, all under a sparkling blanket of highly virtuosic improvisation. Sometimes humorous, sometimes crass, and sometimes heart-warmingly sentimental -- Corky Has A Band's Playground is a surrealist playground run amok. Theater, Art, Revival Service Sunday, February 26 at 11:30am Chris Wells and Friends The Secret City Tickets: $10 suggested donation Part revival, part salon, part show, these monthly services feature performance, visual art, music, food & literature, designed to inspire, excite & invigorate the creative community of NYC. More info on their website. Theater, Music Monday, February 27 at 7:30pm Sir Ari Gold The Reel Ari Gold Tickets: $12 (advance); $15 / $10 stu/sen (door) Written and Performed by Sir Ari Gold; directed by Colman Domingo. The Reel Ari Gold is an electro-pop musical memoir that opens in The Bronx, circa 1980's, travelling below-the borschbelt into the Catskills and ultimately landing in the vibrant and historic Lower East Side. Chronicling a career spanning three decades, beginning with an auspicious debut on the legendary Joe Franklin Show, this pop singing superhero comes out and comes of age with an eclectic but stellar group of mentors like Diana Ross, Uncle Moishe & the Mitzva Men and Jem & the Holograms, culminating in a battle for visibility, justice and 'The Real.' The Reel Ari Gold is a true-life, behind-the-musical adventure of identity, sex, show-business, religion, family and love. Dance Tuesday and Wednesday, February 28 and 29 at 7:30pm Katy Pyle / Diana Crum Brink: The Firebird / if I tell myself I have enough time, then I can be with you Tickets: $12 (advance); $15 / $10 stu/sen (door) The Firebird: Choreographed by Katy Pyle with Jules Skloot and the performers: Vanessa Anspaugh, Jess Barbagallo, Becca Blackwell, Devynn Emory, Cassie Mey, Katy Pyle, Francis Weiss Rabkin, Regina Rocke, Jules Skloot, Mariana Valencia. Follow a lesbian princess and a tranimal (part boy, part bird) on a journey through a magically perverse landscape to liberation. The Firebird challenges the roles that ballet has classically prescribed, and seeks new embodied expression through the queering of this old form. Followed by if I tell myself I have enough time, then I can be with you: Choreographed and directed by Diana Crum, performed by Erin Cairns Cella, Kathy Wasik, sound and video by Peter Kerlin. The choreography incorporates movement discovered in dancer-driven improvisations with patterns imagined from the audience's viewpoint. The work frames individual experiences of time and places them in relationship to one another. The layering of experiences presents viewers with opportunities to both witness and exist inside of different time scales, perhaps even simultaneously. Circus Arts, Variety Monday, MARCH 5 at 8:00pm Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Hour Tickets: $5 suggested donation A first look at NYC's finest emerging variety and circus talents. Get more info on their dedicated web page here. To sign up, e-mail Keith at with "Open Stage" in the subject line. Include a description of your act and the date(s) you are interested in performing. This new series continues throughout 2012: April 2, May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3, October 1, November 5, December 3. Photos (top to bottom), Column 1: Wesley Mann (Nicholas Gorham), Jane Yi (Matt Reeck), Jim Moore (Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Kate Brehm, Downtown Clown Revue), Yi-Chun Wu (Teresa Fellion), Quinn Batson (Rebecca Patek), Abbey Roesner (Annika Sheaff), Lydian Blossom (Catherine Mueller), Matthew Westerby (artist), Amir Khosrowpour (Corky Has a Band), Gian Andreadi Stefano (Ari Gold), Ian Douglas (Diana Crum). Column 2: Kathleen Kraus (Pete Sturman).   Live music, great drinks—everything you want from your friendly, neighborhood LES bar. See what musical performances are scheduled and click here for more info on The Lounge. Lounge, Literary Tuesday, February 7 at 7:30pm Jamila Wimberly / Jane Kennedy / Hanna Andrews Belladonna* Tickets: $6 Hosted by Krystal Languell and Emily Skillings. Voices of Belladonna*: Belladonna honors its hard working interns and devoted helpers with a celebratory reading. Featured readers include Jamila Wimberly, Jane Kennedy and guest "elder" reader, Hanna Andrews. Belladonna is a nonprofit feminist collaborative that could not to what it does without the help of many, wonderful interns. Lounge, Music Thursday, February 9 at 9:30pm Maggie Hoffee, Julie Winterbottom, Ric Heald, & Jackie Hecht Catahoula Cajun Band Tickets: $5 suggested donation Come on out for a taste of "Northern fried" Cajun music with New York's own Catahoula Cajun Band: Maggie Hoffee, Julie Winterbottom, Ric Heald and Jacki Hecht. Accordion, fiddle, guitar and song will be on the menu for tonight with a side dish of spirited two-steps and beautifully heartwarming, bittersweet waltzes that express the unique culture of the Cajun people. Lounge, Music Friday, February 10 at 7:30pm THE FAMOUS ACCORDION ORCHESTRA Tickets: $5 cash only at the door The Famous Accordion Orchestra, led by Bob Goldberg (of the late Washboard Jungle), is a group of flexible size that bridges the traditional and the post-modern, ranging from Rossini to Duke Ellington to Paolo Conte to Kraftwerk. They have performed in clubs, gardens, cemeteries and parades throughout the city. The FAO will be back in the Lounge on March 9, April 20, May 11 and June 8! Lounge, Music Friday, February 10 at 9:30pm John Campo & Tom Ryan Vagabound Velonators Tickets: FREE Guitarist and composer John Campo and Tom Ryan on rhythm guitar bring driving beats and arrangements that fall somewhere between Harlem and New Orleans to The Lounge at Dixon Place. Lounge, Theater Saturday, February 11 at 7:30pm Maribeth Theroux Economy Class Tickets: FREE What do you do when you're a directionless young American, and the greedy, corporate world around you only serves to make things harder? If you're Maribeth, you sing, you recite poetry, and you talk the ear off the woman sitting beside you in economy class. In Economy Class, a solo play by Maribeth Theroux, the corporate and the creative come together on a cross-country flight--and the whole thing will go down in flames. (Funny flames.) Lounge, Music Saturday, February 11 at 9:30pm JONNY B. GOODMAN AND FRIENDS The Writer's Bloc: Half Baked Works Tickets: FREE THIS MONTH: Jonny B Goodman and Dan Papson Everyone's had a brilliant idea that's been stalled half-way to realization. Some exotic slice of pizza you could only nibble at; Chinese Democracy; whatever example floats your unfinished boat, or that catamaran you bought, but never sailed. Once a month, The Writer's Bloc at Dixon Place presents pairs of musicians who have worked to resurrect and complete each other's beloved, but perpetually incomplete works, and then debut them together, live. Afterward, stick around for drinks and an open mic salon, where all are welcome to perform their still half-baked songs, in search of a better half to finish them off. Writers' Bloc will be back in the Lounge March 17th. Lounge, Theater Saturday, February 18 at 7:30pm John Watts Going To America Tickets: FREE Written and Performed by John Watts. Divisions between childhood innocence and adolescent self awareness are intensified by the immigrant experience of shifting between cultures. Crossing the pond between the familiar comfort of Wales and the fantasy of America in 1954 becomes an adventure that still shapes life in later years Puppets, Lounge Monday, February 20 at 6:00pm Kate Brehm with Nick Jones Fireside Puppet Chats Tickets: FREE Hosted by Kate Brehm with Nick Jones and Special Guest. Fireside Puppet Chats arose from the premise that puppeteers, people obsessed with visuality and performing objects, might have an interesting take on on other topics too! Don't miss our cozy February chat on TRANSHUMANISM (is this a creepy obsession like furries? would you get a biological implant? what makes us human?). Lounge, Literature Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30pm Jess Arndt, Cheryl Boyce Taylor and Lee Houck Queer Text: Wicked Queer Authors Tickets: $6 Curated by Marty Correia. Get intoxicated by poetry and fiction by queer writers while sipping a cocktail or chugging a PBR in The Lounge. Lee Houck's debut novel, Yield, was the winner of Project Queerlit and Rainbow Awards, and was published by Kensington Books. He is currently at work on a second novel, and blogs at GrammarPiano.com Jess Arndt writes long and short stories and has most recently been published in Put A Egg On It, The Diner Journal and RANDY artzine. She was a 2010 NYFA fellow, is a co-editor of the New Herring Press, and teaches writing at Rutgers. Cheryl Boyce-Tayloris the author of three collections of poetry: Raw Air, Night When Moon Follows, and Convincing the Body. She curates the Calypso Muse Reading Series and lives in Brooklyn with her partner of fourteen years. Lounge, Benefit Performance Saturday, February 25 at 7pm Ready Set Go Theatre Company Fundraiser Tickets: $9 (advance); $12 (door) Featuring: The Mighty Fine Muscadines, Brian Elmquist, Todd Carlstrom & the Clamour, Johnny Giovanni (aka Christian "Chopper" Jacobs), and Casey Biggs. Raffle prizes including tickets to Punchdrunk's Sleep No More, headshot packages, coaching sessions, gift certificates and much much more! Check out their website for more info. Lounge, Music Tuesday, February 28 at 7:30pm ZoË Sundra bringing sequins BACK to folk music Tickets: $5 cash only at the door Zoë Sundra is a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter bringing the sequins back to folk music. With her brutally honest lyrics and acoustic sound, she matches her songs with a full band, including additional vocals and multiple saxophones. Zoë uses her influences of Patti Smith, Stevie Nicks and Neko Case to create a dynamic stage presence and experience for her audiences. Her upcoming album, The Hunt is set to be released late March 2012, along with a southern tour in the spring and a west coast tour in the summer. Zoë's music, tour dates and a slew of captivating videos and photos can be found on her website. Lounge, Music Wednesday, February 29 at 7:30pm Pete Sturman Tickets: FREE Transplanted from New Orleans, "Pistol" Pete Sturman is a witty, fun and somewhat sex-obsessed singer-songwriter. An entertainer first and foremost, he has a huge repertoire of quirky originals that will have you laughing and crying, often in the same song! "A remarkable troubadour/wordsmith...a Bob Dylan for the gay community." Lounge, Comedy Wednesday, February 29 at 9:30pm Greg Walloch and Mark Allen Pitch! Tickets: $7 cash only at the door Hosted by Greg Walloch and Mark Allen with special guests! A live storytelling event with a twist. Four fearless storytellers perform in front of an audience while simultaneously pitching their story to a publishing industry heavyweight! The guest editors will share their feedback and maybe even a possible yes or no on the spot! Willing audience members are also invited to submit a rapid fire 15 second pitch. DP NEWS HOLLY HUGHES' THE DOG AND PONY SHOW (BRING YOUR OWN PONY), which was presented in the 2011 HOT! Festival, has been nominated for a 2012 GLAAD Media Award. Congratulations to Holly and her excellent team for another stellar production! DP is Greener Our website, hosted through Fat Cow, is 100% powered by wind energy! It's a small part of our overall efforts to be better stewards of our planet. We hope you'll help us: if you don't take your program with you, please leave it on your seat and we'll recycle it for you. We also have bins set up in the theater to collect bottles and cans from the bar in the theater (so please don't put them in the trash!). TUMBLR Check out DP on TUMBLR for blog posts, photos, videos and more! DP Seeks INTERNS: Click Here for more Info "MOST ESSENTIAL AND NECESSARY THEATER SPACE" Paper Magazine named Dixon Place the 2010 "Most Essential and Necessary Theater Space". Submissions: Deadline april-june 2012 EVENTS: Friday, February 3 (postmark). Dixon Place has an open submission policy... read guidelines here!Please no calls or emails. Thank you! DONATE! Dixon Place could not survive without YOU. Help us support the incredible art and artists who make DP "the most essential and neccesary theater space!" —Paper Magazine VOLUNTEER! We need always need help to make Dixon Place work! Wanna be a part of our team? Send us an email! 161A Chrystie IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTALS! Rehearsal space dimensions: 22' x 15', 8 ' ceilings, marmoleum floor (sprung). Available: piano, boombox, chairs; E-mail contact@dixonplace.org only: NO CALLS. More Info >> Special thanks to and to our sponsors and to our downtown arts partners Review Dixon Place