Breaking News: Another Honor for The Ghosts of 14th Street
The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation of Palm Springs, California, has awarded The Ghosts of 14th Street a production grant for its presentation of gay and lesbian life in a positive manner, in a historical setting.
This is the seventh award presented by the Foundation to Theater for the New City for its productions of Barbara Kahn's historical plays that explore the often ignored or distorted lives of LGBT persons in history and popular culture. She has written about real-life lesbian, gay and transgendered pirates in 1720 Jamaica; the celebrated 19th century actress Charlotte Cushman, whose wife Emma Stebbins designed the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park; women pilots during World War II; an Irish immigrant who loves a Jewish orphan in the 1855 Five Points neighborhood; two men separated by the draft in World War I; two young women whose love for each other defies the limits of time and space in the year 1900; two refugees who have to hide their love to avoid separation in the aftermath of war in 1946 Berlin, Germany. These are just some of the LGBT stories uncovered and dramatized by award -winning playwright Barbara Kahn.
The Ghosts of 14th Street has also been honored with a grant from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs.
This is our final weekend! The Ghosts of 14th Street is playing at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave, through March 30, Thursday - Saturday at 8PM, Sunday at 3PM. Reservations: 212-254-1109 or http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net
The Ghosts of 14th Street, written and directed by Barbara Kahn, is set in New York City in 1908, when 14th St. was the entertainment capital of the city. In the Biograph Film Studio, the actors film scenes of a primitive one-reeler, while between takes they reveal their dreams, fall in love and practice routines they hope will take them to the Vaudeville stage. A husband and wife acting team are forced by scandal to work in the “flickers,” an immigrant housekeeper leaves her gangster husband from an arranged marriage, a dancer finds love at the gay hangout, his sister laments her unrequited love for the housekeeper, an African-American dancer refuses to perform in blackface, and two stagehands are determined to win the New York Times Limerick Contest. In the Olympic Theatre, the play replicates a typical evening of Vaudeville, including dance, comedy skits, female mimickry (cross dressing), and the song “Yiddishe Yankee Doodle Boy” (lyrics by Barbara Kahn, music by Allison Tartalia), as well as the finished film. Featuring Jocelyn Adams, Dan Burkarth, Robert Gonzales, Jr., Larray Grimes, Matt Lara, Victoria Levin, Dan McVey, Jake Nicholson, Mallory Portnoy and Kyle Wood.
nytheatre.com: “a loving pastiche of a little known and exciting time in New York City history”
Chelsea Journal: “A magnificent celebration of show business”
NY Theatre Wire: In 1908, vaudeville, legitimate theater and the emerging film industry all competed for the patronage of theatergoers. With vaudeville still at its height, however, few could anticipate that within a few short years, it would be completely eclipsed by the silver screen viper it was nurturing in its breast. This is the exciting time Barbara Kahn so vividly portrays in her new play, "The Ghosts of 14th Street."… [The Ghosts of 14th Street] tackles the thorny subjects of gay love and racism at a time when the former was closeted and the latter was acceptable. And it does so in a way that is thoroughly entertaining.
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