Alec Duffy News

On June 24, (Le) Poisson Rouge will host 'JACK Moves,' a benefit concert for OBIE Award-winning performance venue JACK, located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Emcee'd by Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and Octet composer Dave Malloy, 'JACK Moves' is a vibrant evening of life-affirming music, featuring an adventurous group of performers from the Broadway, Downtown, and Brooklyn theater and music scenes, all in support of JACK's move to a larger space in the same neighborhood.

According to The New York Times, JACK is moving on up! The interdisciplinary performance space has signed a 10-year lease to move into a larger home.

In this community conversation as part of JACK's ongoing Reparations365 series exploring the topic of distributive justice for Black Americans, we'll look at the relation between philanthropic giving and radical social change.  We'll explore examples of new philanthropic initiatives that look to shift power instead of maintaining the status quo, also looking at examples of philanthropy around racial justice that have done little more than further existing hierarchies.

As part of its ongoing Reparations365 series exploring the topic of distributive justice for Black Americans, JACK offers a conversation around the theme of repair and the arts, inviting participants to share ideas around shifting power and transforming relationships in the field of the arts.

In an end to a controversial years-long project in which Alec Duffy won the rights in 2007 to a new song by Sufjan Stevens and shared it only through listening sessions in his home, Duffy - now founder/Artistic Director of the non-profit Brooklyn performance venue JACK - has decided to release the song, "Lonely Man of Winter," on Stevens' label Asthmatic Kitty Records, with proceeds going to support JACK's mission of fueling experiments in art and activism.

Alex Poots, Artistic Director and CEO of The Shed, today announced that 52 emerging artists and collectives living or working in New York City have been commissioned to create new work as part of The Shed's inaugural Open Call program. Developed specifically for New York City artists who have not yet had opportunities to create new work with full support from a large cultural institution, Open Call is integral to The Shed's vision: to develop and present the full spectrum of performing arts, visual arts, and pop culture, under one roof, for all audiences. Open Call debuts in The Shed's 2019 season, with works continuing to be presented into 2020.

In an enchantingly fresh take on Carlo Collodi's classic tale, Robin and Clark's musical version of Pinocchio explores the inner journey of the wooden puppet who must learn the meaning of truth, compassion, and courage in order to become 'a real live boy.' MSMT closes its Theatre for Young Audiences series with a colorful, amusing, and tender retelling of this touching story, directed and choreographed by Raymond Marc Dumont and entirely produced and performed by MSMT's Educational Fellows.

As its main stage finale in this Diamond Jubilee season, Maine State Music Theatre chose to present the stage version of one of the most beloved musicals of all time, Singin' in the Rain. With its book by Betty Comden/Adolph Green, and songs by Nacio Herb Brown/Arthur Freed), based on the famed MGM musical, this iconic classic receives a production that recreates the glitter of Hollywood's Golden Age on a dazzlingly grand scale. MSMT's staging, directed/choreographed by Marc Robin, sparkles with the effervescence of fine champagne, bubbles with energy and originality, exudes sunshine and joy, and offers its audiences an exhilarating, entirely magical entertainment experience.

Maine State Music Theatre closes its 60th Anniversary season with the smash hit, Singin' in the Rain. This classic hit runs from August 8-25.

It has been fifty-eight years since the Tony-award-winning Michael Stewart/Charles Crouse/Lee Adams musical Bye Bye Birdie first opened on Broadway, and while the topicality of the material is no longer au courant, still this fresh, charming Maine State Music Theatre revival, directed/choreographed by Raymond Marc Dumont, retains its humor, humanity, and universality.

Maine State Music Theatre closes its 60th Anniversary season with the smash hit, Singin' in the Rain. This classic hit runs from August 8-25.

With the immortal songs of the BeeGees, mesmerizing disco dancing, and a cast of unforgettable characters, the musical version of Saturday Night Fever offers an inherently compelling theatrical experience. Maine State Music Theatre's new production does all that and more: it brings freshness, originality, and strong dramatic narrative to the work, all the while that it envelops the audience in its pulse and passion. This production is white-hot, warm, funny, and genuine.

Maine State Music Theatre is bringing bellbottoms back for its third show of the season, Saturday Night Fever. This platform-tapping flashback runs from July 18 - August 4.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) will present Bye Bye Birdie with two performances on Monday, July 30 at 2:00 and 7:30 PM. 

With what is arguably the largest production in Maine State Music Theatre's history, the company brings a level of opulence, sophistication, and magic to the Pickard stage that makes this production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast a fitting jewel in the Diamond Jubilee Crown. It is no secret that the company has used every single ounce of its resources (and overcome a number of unforeseen obstacles along the way) to create this magnificent production, but the result has been entirely worth the effort. This beloved fairytale dazzlingly comes to life in all its heartfelt beauty.

Maine State Music Theatre steps back in time for its second show of the season, Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This revered fairytale runs from June 27 - July 14. Due to popular demand, the theatre has added performances on July 7 and July 14 at 2 PM.

MSMT's all-singing, all-dancing tribute to Irving Berlin, I Love a Piano, blew the Pickard Theater audience away at two Monday performances with its steady stream of classic hit tunes, its high energy choreography, and the dazzling virtuosity of its youthful cast. This was an afternoon and evening to sit back and revel in the rich history of American popular music and to celebrate a composer whose work provided the soundtrack for the American experience for almost seventy years. It is exciting to watch MSMT's cast of young professionals perform this material with so much connection and commitment. Though this is the music of past generations, the eleven-person ensemble of remarkable triple threat actors brings it vibrantly to life for a contemporary audience, affirming the truism that longevity is what makes great music.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) will showcase the music of Irving Berlin with two performances of I Love a Piano on Monday, June 18 at 2:00 and 7:30 PM.

Writer/performer Kirya Yvonne Traber presents a theatrical mixtape at JACK, sharing songs of necessity and stories of longing. For this mix of concert and theater piece, Traber is backed by a four-piece band, with musical arrangements by Emma Alabaster. Featured musicians include Kala Brame (percussion), Alex Marcelo (piano), Emma Alabaster (bass), and Gwen Laster (viola), with a scenic installation by Jacqui Martinez and lighting design by Marika Kent. What We Needed features original music and text by Traber, and was created, in part, through the Lincoln Center Education Community Artist in Residence Program.

Philly favorite choreographer/performer Annie Wilson returns to JACK with At Home with the Humorless Bastard: an exploration of personal and collective grief that shifts the audience's perspective by bringing them onstage and casting them in the dance. Through the piece, she asks whether immediate and deep intimacy with a stranger is possible, and, if not, whether adding nudity, glitter, or amateur renditions of Charles Manson songs would help. Wilson takes aim at social structures that both allow and inhibit the deep connection many are aching for, constantly, relentlessly, like a low-frequency hum that's a little unsettling in the bowels. The Humorless Bastard pokes at those structures, letting them fill up with water, turning the volume up on that hum.