BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP BUZZ JANUARY 12 - JANUARY 18, 2018 25 BROOKLYN
CULTURE BRIEFS
COMPILED BY JAIME DEJESUS
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
TRIBUTE
The Brooklyn Music School (BMS) will present
the 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute
concert hosted by renowned baritone and BMS
advisory board member Lester Lynch. Inspired
by King's legacy and message, the program will
feature selections from Lynch's recent recording
“On My Journey Now: Spirituals & Hymns” as well
as performances by BMS faculty and students.
“Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute: Spirit of
Hope” will take place on January 13 at 5 p.m. at
the Brooklyn Music School, 126 Saint Felix Street.
Tickets are $5. For more information, visit www.
brooklynmusicschool.org.
VERED AND THE BABES
Bring the family to the Brooklyn Public Library
as its Events for Youth and Families program
presents a performance by Vered and the Babes.
Vered and the Babes are reminiscent of a
Doo-Wop band, using playful vocal harmonies,
lively horns, pots and pans, and beatboxing to
get everyone jumping and singing along. They
sing songs from their joyful and highly acclaimed
albums, “Good Morning My Love” and “Hello My
Baby,” which both received Gold Awards from the
Parents' Choice Foundation and from the National
Parenting Publications.
The band includes Rob Jost, who also plays bass
in the Sesame Street Band, Matt Hilgenberg, who
plays trumpet for renowned Latin bands, and
Eric Biondo, drummer for Antibalas.
The free event will take place on Saturday,
January 28 at 1 p.m. at the Central Library, 10
Grand Army Plaza. For more information, visit
bklynlibrary.org.
A BROOKLYN SLASHER
FILM
A Brooklyn horror flick returns for three
special screenings with “Psychotic! A Brooklyn
Slasher Film”
The rent is high but the body count is higher
in the film, in which a group of hard-partying
Brooklyn hipsters are stalked and savagely
murdered by a masked maniac known as the
Bushwick Party Killer. It's up to struggling
artists Tim and Stuart to figure out who keeps
killing the life of the party.
The film will premiere on Thursday, January
25 at Nitehawk Theater, 136 Metropolitan Avenue.
For more dates visit, www.facebook.com/
areyoupsychotic.
Brooklyn play "Stoopdreamer" waxes
nostalgic about an earlier time
BY JAIME DEJESUS
JDEJESUS@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Gentrification has long
been a hot topic for
Brooklyn residents.
“Stoopdreamer,” a new play, created
through the collaboration
of a filmmaker, a playwright
and a director explores the displacement
in Windsor Terrace
of over 1,000 families following
a big road project
begun in 1945 by
Robert Moses
and focuses
on characters
looking back at
the old days at a
legendary local
bar, Farrell's Bar
& Grill.
After making
its debut in
Manhattan, the
drama, written by Pat Fenton,
will be performed in Windsor
Terrace, the scene of the play’s
narrative.
Local filmmaker Jay Cusato
had been in the early stages of
directing a documentary on
Farrell's, a bar dating back to
1933 and the setting for “Stoopdreamer,”
when he met Fenton.
“The play is about when Robert
Moses put in the Prospect
Expressway,” said Cusato, who
is serving as producer for this
adaptation. “Over 1,000 families
were displaced and a lot of people
feel it ruined the Windsor Terrace
neighborhood by splitting
it right down the middle. Pat
wrote a play about two people
that hadn’t seen each other since
that moment and they both travel
back to Farrell's for a drink and
reminisce about the neighborhood
of Windsor Terrace back
in the day."
The show focuses on a bartender
and two patrons, a man who is
a regular and a woman he hasn’t
seen since the neighborhood
changed. Throughout, they
look back on their relationship,
Brooklyn itself and changes that
“Stoopdreamers” — a nostalgic
look at Windsor Terrace before the
Prospect Expressway bisected the
neighborhood — will be performed
locally on January 13 and 14.
have taken
place since
that time.
“It talks
about gentrification and what
that can do to a neighborhood
but it has a positive message at
the end of it,” Cusato added.
Cusato noted that it was Fenton
who suggested putting the play
on in the neighborhood it’s about.
“He was excited about this
process and started thinking
about how many people from
the neighborhood would come
out,” said Cusato. “A lot of people
would come out for a play like
this and that’s how the ball got
rolling in doing the play in the
neighborhood. It all fit together
and the response has been
amazing up to this point. We are
hoping for a great turnout.”
Following talks, Cusato
brought director Aimee Todoroff
to helm the play.
Cusato and company believe
the show’s nostalgic element will
engage audiences.
“I think it’s kind of a time capsule
of this neighborhood back
in the day. Even if you didn’t
grow up in that time, you can
still recognize some of the references
made in the play like the
local bars, the local restaurants,
even the people,” he explained.
Photos courtesy of Jay Cusato
“Anyone that grew up in the
Windsor Terrace area, they’ll
know a lot of things mentioned
as well as things like riding the
F train to Coney Island. Anyone
who grew up in Brooklyn, the
play will resonate with them and
bring them back to that nostalgia
they have for their own neighborhood.
Those same themes
play out throughout.”
The cast and crew have been
hard at work as premiere date
approaches.
“From the rehearsals I’ve seen
so far, they’ve really captured
these characters,” Cusato said.
“They’ve done an amazing job
and the director has been brilliant
in bringing it to life in a
different way. It was put together
differently the last time in Manhattan
and what Amy has come
up with for this play and space is
brilliant. It’s about nostalgia and
memories and she did a great job
with setting that up on stage.”
“Stoopdreamer” will be performed
on Saturday, January 13
at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 14
at 3 p.m. at Shepherd's Hall, 245
Prospect Park West. Tickets are
$30. For more information, visit
www.eventbrite.com and search
Stoopdreamers. The performance
is sponsored by the Holy
Name Fundraising Committee.