TNC's 99% REDUCED FAT, OR, YOU CAN BANK ON US Announces Time Change for Today's Show

Theater for the New City 's 2012 Street Theater tour, "99% "Reduced Fat, or, You Can Bank On Us," an operetta for the Street with book, lyrics and direction by Crystal Field and score by Joseph Vernon Banks, will now appear at 6:30 PM (instead of 8:00 PM) tonight, August 17 at Coney Island Boardwalk (at West 10th Street), Brooklyn. The alteration was made in response to revised sound permit regulations.

The production opened August 4 in Manhattan. It tours City streets, parks and playgrounds in all five boroughs through September 16. The running time is one hour; the complete touring schedule is below.

TNC's award-winning Street Theater Productions are elaborate traveling shows, mounted with an assemblage of trap doors, giant puppets, smoke machines, masks, original choreography and a huge (9' x 12') running screen or "cranky" providing continuous movement behind the actors. The company of 30 actors, 15 crew members, two assistant directors and five live musicians shares the challenge of performing outside and holding a large, non-captive audience. The music varies in style from Broadway to Bossa Nova, blues, rap and Gilbert & Sullivan. Complex social issues are often presented through children's allegories, making these free, rip-roaring productions a popular form of family entertainment.

In this year's musical, a gang member learns to fight for his community and morphs into a civic leader. A tough young man named Snoopy, known for stealing tires and bullying store owners, falls for Suzy Freedom, a young and oh-so-innocent activist in Zuccotti Park. Guided by her dreams, he abandons hooliganism to become a community organizer. Along the way, he loses her (a victim of her own idealism, she literally flies off the Freedom Tower) and discouraged, he tries to return to his old life. But a police raid throws him back into the struggle, where he gathers strength from his immigrant heritage, the idea of taking government out of the hands of corporations, and the notion that politics doesn’t die with a single election. The piece mythically reflects the emotional forces at work on today's crop of community activists: dreams versus pragmatism, the hope of the American Dream versus the deflation of the Obama euphoria, the fragility of ideals versus the nuts-and-bolts of self-reliance.

CONTINUING TOURING SCHEDULE:

Friday 8/17 (6:30 PM--time change) - Coney Island Boardwalk (at West 10th Street), Brooklyn

Saturday 8/18 (2:00 PM) - Wise Towers, West 90th Street bet Columbus & Amsterdam, Manhattan

Sunday 8/19 (2:00 PM) - Central Park Bandshell, 72nd Street Crosswalk, Manhattan

Saturday 8/25 (2:00 PM) - Sunset Park, 6th Avenue & 44th Street, Brooklyn

Sunday 8/26 (2:00 PM) - Travers Park, 34th Avenue bet 77th & 78th Streets, Jackson Heights, Queens

Saturday 9/8 (2:00 PM) - Tompkins Square Park, East 7th Street bet Ave A & Ave B, Manhattan

Sunday 9/9 (2:00 PM) - Washington Square Park, Manhattan

Saturday 9/15 (2:00 PM) - Staten Island, Corporal Thompson Park, Broadway & Wayne Street (CHANGED: was Stapleton Playground, Tompkins Ave. & Broad Street)

Sunday, 9/16 (2:00 PM) - St. Marks Church, East 10th Street & 2nd Avenue, Manhattan

For complete information, click HERE.

Pictured: A young gang member (Justin Rodriguez) falls in love with an angelic girl from Occupy Wall Street (Bridget Dowret), abandons hooliganism and becomes a civic organizer in "99% Reduced Fat, or, You Can Bank On Us," Theater for the New City's 36th annual Street Theater musical, which will tour City streets, parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs, now through September 16 in free performances. The rip-roaring musical is written and directed by Crystal Field and composed by Joseph Vernon Banks. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

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