From left, Terry Lee King, Mark Marcante, T. Scott Lilly, Michael David Gordon and Cheryl Gadsden, as Mr. T (Lilly) descends into Hades.
All the city’s a stage for TNC
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
As New York City looks at ways
to turn streets into pedestrian
walkways and more, Theater
for the New City is doing its part to
turn streets into a stage.
The theater, at 155 First Ave., on
Aug. 3 debuted a new musical on
E. 10th St., complete with portable
stage, puppets, choreography and
trapdoors — as well as a cauldron full
of miscalculations.
The theater took its show, “No
Brainer or the Solution to Parasites,”
very literally on the road, with book,
lyrics and direction by Crystal Field,
Theater for the New City’s co-founder
and artistic director, and music composed
and arranged by Joseph Vernon
Banks. This new musical, with
about 50 performers on and off stage,
travels to locations citywide through
Sept. 15.
The show played on Sat., Aug. 10,
at St. Mark’s Church, at E. 10th St.
and Second Ave., and will play on
Sat., Sept. 7, at 2 p.m. at Washington
Square Park and Sun., Sept. 15, at 2
p.m. at Tompkins Square Park.
“It’s a rip-roaring musical that portrays
our road to national madness as
a bad trip to Hades,” Field said of the
show, which is slated to tour parks,
playgrounds and streets across the
fi ve boroughs.
The company includes 30 actors,
10 crew members, fi ve musicians led
by composer Banks at the keyboard,
three assistant directors, two stage
managers and just about everything
except a partridge and a pear tree.
“The music varies in style from
bossa nova to hip-hop to musical
comedy to classical cantata,” said
Field, who appears in a small role as
the spirit of St. Nicholas Hill. “The
play is a bouncy joyride through the
undulations of the body politic.”
Michael David Gordon plays Joe
Black, a social-service worker and
housing specialist, while T. Scott Lilly
plays Mr. T, a villain whose identity
isn’t diffi cult to determine. Justin Rodriguez
plays an undocumented immigrant.
“People come forward, a doctor
from the Bronx, a nurse from Bensonhurst,
a bra sales person from
Astoria, a teacher from Jamaica, a
preacher,” Field said of the opening
number, “Census.” “All these people
want to be counted.”
We watch the varied mosaic of
New York City assembled in front of
audiences complete with music and
choreography and an undocumented
resident.
“Eat with chopsticks or your fi ngers,
or you use a knife and fork,”
Field said, reciting lines from the
show. “We’re one and all New Yorkers.
We live and love New York.”
Although political theater may
seem more a description of campaigns
and debates than stage, street theater
is part of a tradition that has made a
difference Downtown.
Field fi rst worked on street theater
with Robert Nichols of Bread and
Puppet Theater and Peter Schumann,
the originator of the Judson Poets
Theater at Judson Church.
Field directed a musical Nichols
PHOTO BY JONATHAN SLAFF
wrote called “The Expressway,” seeking
to stop construction of a superhighway
that Robert Moses planned
to plow right through the heart of
Greenwich Village. The musical was
a success and likely helped save the
Village in the process.
“He wanted to build an expressway
that connected the West Side Highway
with the East Side Drive,” Field
said. “It would have gone straight
through Greenwich Village and Little
Italy. They would have had to destroy
all the homes there. We fought against
it and won. This street-theater piece,
which was an hour-long musical, was
a big part of the protest against that
highway.”
Field helped launch Theater for the
New City in the East Village, while
continuing to direct, and then write
street-theater musicals in an enduring
summer tradition.
In addition to humans, various gods
make appearances in this year’s musical,
including Mr. Pluto, played by
TNC continued on p. 23
22 August 29, 2019 TVG Schneps Media