The Civilians R&D Reading Series

The 2013-2014 R&D Group

The time has once again come for The Civilians’ R & D Group Reading Series. This is our first year opening all of our presentations to the public, and I am very excited to see the work our artists have been doing culminate into “something” in front of an audience. In October, I wrote on the blog that all of our pieces had common thread of art and politics. It’s very interesting to look back on that jumping off point and see the diversity of style and content that the R & Der’s explored this year. All of the presentations take place in the Great Room at 138 S. Oxford Street in Brooklyn. They’re free and open to the public, so we hope to see you there.

Performance artist Jeanine Oleson is starting the series off with a presentation of performative material she has been developing with us that ties in with her New Museum residency. Over the year we’ve heard excerpts of the text she’s been working with, seen sketches of the set, which are integral to the performance of her piece, and learned about a new instrument that Jeanine is developing specifically for the project. Director Melissa Crespo is helping her shape her piece for our presentation format. Join us for HEAR, HERE on Wednesday, May 21, at 5:30 P.M. And, catch the rest of Jeanine’s work at the New Museum in the coming weeks.

Sean Cunningham has ended up writing farce about an American businessman hiking to Machu Picchu in the company of a Peruvian businessman trying to convince him to take the alcohol pisco back with him to the States. With incisive wit, and characters hauling a piano up a mountain, Sean delves into the delicate personal and economic relationships of his characters and larger American (Southern and Northern) society. THE MACHU PICCHU PLAY, directed by Michael Leibenluft, is happening Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 PM.

Riti Sachdeva

Riti Sachdeva is writing what turns out to be our only piece derived almost entirely from interviews. Her piece expertly weaves dynamic source material from interviews with people in communities of color suffering from mental illness, family members with relatives who are dealing with mentally ill relatives, and an expert who provides a fascinating perspective on the way intergenerational instances of trauma impact the mental health of these traumatized communities. This presentation is also directed by Michael Leibenluft. We’re presenting LOVE IN A TIME OF MANIC DEPRESSION on Wednesday May 28^th at 8 PM. 

In FAIRLY TRACEABLE, Mary Kathryn Nagle uses interviews, archived media, and legal transcripts as source material to create a fictional narrative about current legislation regarding climate change. The result is a fresh point of view on a familiar Civilians theme. Former R & Der and frequent Civilians collaborator Mia Rovegno returns to direct this piece, which will be presented on Thursday, May 29^th at 7 PM.

Tony Torn

Finally, Juliana Francis Kelly and Tony Torn will be presenting their piece THE REENACTORS on May 30^th at 2 PM. THE REENACTORS was a unique project for the R & D Group this year, in that Juliana and Tony had a full draft when they started in September (often our writers come start writing projects when their time in R & D begins, or are only in the early stages). The team has used their time in R & D to focus the narrative with the dramaturgical support of the group.

Our other R & D artists, Tommy Smith and Teddy Bergman, Robbie Sublett, and Maggie-Kate Coleman, Erato A. Kremmyda and Sam Pinkleton, also had a productive time in the group this year. Each of their projects, NFL, MARIE IN TOMORROWLAND, and EAST 4^TH, respectively, used the time and dramaturgical support of the group to further their investigations and make strides on their projects, clarifying the direction they hope to take the work. The nature of the R & D process means that the development of some projects doesn’t fit into The Civilians season calendar and presentation schedule. We invite you to keep an eye on these projects in future as the artists continue their investigations.

As we come to the close of a productive and fruitful R & D season, we are also keeping our eye on next year. After coming to see the work our artists have been doing over the last 9 months, you can check out our application for next year on The Civilians website,  due June 1.

INSIDE LOOK: Death Project 2013 Investigation: Crime Scene Cleanup

Our Artistic Project Manager, Meridith Friedman, recently spoke with Doug Baruchin, owner of Island Trauma Services, a New York based Crime Scene Cleanup Company. With over 25 years of experience, the staff of ITS are experts in Crime Scene and Trauma Scene Cleanup Service. You can find out more about Island Trauma Services, Inc. HERE.

"We usually know what happened. Um, we'll get a call saying, oh this was a homicide,  and sometimes I'll look on the internet to find out, ok, homicide in Queens or Brooklyn or New York City, just so I have an idea of what I'm going to see before I walk in. Because no matter how many times I do this, walking across a threshold every time is a little bit of like, you know, what am I going to see. 

I remember the first one that I did was an elderly man. He was about 78 years old, and he put a pillow in front of his face and shot himself on Easter. And I remember thinking, you know, my God this is what you hear about. Suicide rates increase around the holidays. And I remember seeing this scene, and this poor man who was alone, I don't know why he was sad, maybe he lost somebody, but it got me. That I took home with me. 

I do know that New Yorkers, especially Manhattanites, are very resilient. And very, I can handle this. I've had several people come into the scene with me in New York City. Other people, “I can't go in that room; I don't want to be reminded.” Some New Yorkers I found were very curious, even about somebody they were related to. “So this is where they died, what is this stuff?” This is a conversation I never want to have with somebody. “Oh, this is, you know, probably his blood, this is where his head was.” 

Doug with a fellow ITS technician

I look at the people in Newtown, and how they all came together and supported each other and that's just...beyond anything I've ever done. We actually did call the school to offer to go up there and help them out for free, because it's just, you know, anything you can do to help somebody like that get back together is a huge thing. One of the hardest things to do is to move past what happened while everything is still there. You'll never go into that bedroom again and look at it the same way, but until it's at the very least cleared out, you can't really move past anything."

Thanks Doug and Meridith for sharing! Check back here every Thursday for a look inside our investigation into death, dying and the afterlife in NY. Stay tuned for details on a June performance date!

INSIDE LOOK: Death Project 2013 Investigation: Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps

Our Literary Associate, Micharne Cloughley, recently spoke with Commander Rocky Robinson who founded the Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps. This inspiring volunteer run organization saves lives every day through both their ambulance service and extensive medical training programs. You can find out more about the Bedford Stuyvesant Ambulance Corps HERE.

Check out a few excerpts from that interview below. 

Co Founder and Executive Director Rocky Robinson

No volunteers…

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, and there’d never been a volunteer ambulance corps in the so-call ghetto, because nobody would volunteer. So I didn’t really have anybody, believe it or not my first group of volunteer was recovered alcoholics and drug addicts, people like that, but I said you know what, that’s where the hurt is. Try to help these people. You made it and when I was really young I used to smoke pot, so I understood. So then I changed my whole focus, I went over to Bedford Avenue, and talked to some of the guys and girls there, and they said yeah we want to learn CPR, we want to learn first aid, and I said well I’m starting an ambulance corps."

No ambulance…

"I didn’t have my ambulance. So now, here’s a guy, running through a community, and he’s going to start a volunteer ambulance corps, and he don’t have an ambulance. So now you’ve got this big black guy, me, and this little Puerto Rican, his name was Joe, he was the only one that would follow me."

Daniel Bishop's documentary, Bed Stuy-Do or Die,
chronicling the incredible story of BSVAC

But real life…

"Well we were the first ghost busters. We used to put the oxygen tanks on our back, trauma kits in our hands, scanners, and we used to run, to the injury, on foot, but guess what, everybody would laugh except one person. The person that we were running to, that blood was spilling out on the gutter, and once we put on the pressure bandage, there was not a life threatening situation anymore, but if nobody knew what to do he would have bled out right there."

On saving lives…

"And I’m gonna tell you something, there’s no greater high than saving a life. When you bring somebody back from the dead! Are you kidding me? You arrive on the scene, and there’s a kid laying in the street, 5 or 6 years old, he’s not breathing, not circulating, and you get down there… you open up the airway and you breathe and you, for a couple of … And then you hear that kid say ‘I want my Mommy’, before a couple of minutes, he was dead! That is so good and I’m still a junkie but I’m a life saving junkie now."

The BSVAC team

Please donate to the Bedford Stuyvesant Ambulance Corps HERE!

Thanks Micharne and Rocky for sharing!  Check back here every Thursday for a look inside our investigation into death, dying and the afterlife in NY for a performance coming up in June. 

All photos taken from:  http://bsvac.org/contact.html 

Why do you vote?

Post by Artistic Intern Adam Odsess-Rubin

Why do people vote?  This is the subject of investigation for a group of roughly 30 high schoolers working with The Civilians at Brooklyn High School for the Arts in the middle of an important election season.  With actress and Civilians Associate Artist Marsha Stephanie Blake and drama teacher Frank Proudfoot at the helm, this theater class has become a hotbed of theatrical creation.  Over the past few months, students have been interviewing family, friends, and community members about the upcoming election, and discovering what electoral politics mean to them.  Casting is done, the script is almost finished, and the students are ready for their spotlight.  By stepping into the shoes of others, they are not only learning about politics, but coming to better understand the community around them.

I sat down for informal interviews with some of the students last week, where we discussed voting, the project, and what their vision would be if they were President of the United States.

When asked whether high schoolers should be able to vote, the responses were surprisingly split. For the affirmative one student eloquently said, “I think we should vote. I think we should be able to vote because we’re still humans. We’re still people, we have our say. Four years from now we gonna be in college, so I want to have my say on what goes on in four years.” Other students worried that teens weren’t responsible enough. “Even in my class, teenagers are too easily manipulated. In my drama class, once one person says something, it’s like ‘you’re right, you’re right, you’re right.’ They don’t have the mindset to vote.”

Despite reservations though, many seemed to know exactly what they would do if they were elected into the oval office.  Answers ranged from banning homework to increasing funding for special education programs, but most agreed with this student, who said, “My vision is that everyone would be an equal.  There’d be no need for no lower class, and middle class and higher class.  Everyone would be treated and handled the same.” Others took the duty of presidency more lightly, with one student declaring, “I’d put my feet up on the desk haha.”

Finally, I asked them how they felt about The Civilians and Marsha Stephanie Blake coming in to help them create this production , which is set to go up December 3 and 4 in their gymnasium. One student noted, “I just got interested in politics. Like in 2008, our teacher made us be interested in it. Now I’m starting to get interested again…. I think it’s good cause we get to show how others think. People in the audience get to see how others think …They can relate.” Another spoke to an interview she conducted, saying, “I’ve learned a lot more about voting and interviewing people. I saw a lot of new views on issues I never thought about before, and something that really stuck with me is that someone I interviewed, someone random, someone in the street- they said that sometimes when we think of the President, we think that they’re superheroes, that they’re Superman, that they can do whatever they want. They’re still human, and we all make mistakes.” One student spoke to the empowerment he felt, explaining, “I’m going to be honest, at first I did not like [the project]. But after I saw different interviews, and I saw things come together, and I saw how it was going to play out, I found it really interesting. In this school, we’re used to doing Shakespeare and classical plays, we never get a chance to actually speak our voice. So I think this is very interesting, cause we got aspects of our voice and adults’ voices. …. People are more active than they were when The Civilians wasn’t here.”

So we want to know: Why do you vote? Share with us in the comments!

And here's an awesome video from our program with the Brooklyn High School of the Arts last year, for which they conducted interviews about the 1960's!

Podcast: Atlantic Yards, Part III

This week's episode is from our interviews about Atlantic Yards, the complicated and controversial development in Brooklyn at the site where the new Barclay's stadium is currently being constructed. We hear from some of the key players on both sides of the fight, passionately discussing topics like gentrification, what makes a neighborhood, change, affordable housing, and more. This week features Jennifer R. Morris as a member of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn; Heather Alicia Simms as Bertha Lewis, the head of ACORN; and Joaquin Torres as Saul Zarzana, a union member who supports the project; and Joaquin Torres leading the cast in "The Neighborhood Song" by Michael Friedman.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

The Revolution Will Not be Televised

This last semester, our fabulous Associate Artists Emily Ackerman and Michael Friedman were teaching artists in the drama class at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts. The students spent their semester conducting their own investigation with Emily and Michael's guidance. They focused on the topic of the sixties, and they interviewed local Brooklynites about what it was like back then and asked particular questions about some of the major events of the decade. They worked with a social studies class at the school to research the history that they were examining, and crafted a play from the interview material that they collected.

We've got video clips of the performance! Students at the school painted the art work that you see on stage, plus there is a video at the beginning that features some of the interviewees, auditions, and other behind-the-scenes glimpses. We couldn't be prouder of all the great work these students did last semester!

Check out the monologue, drumming, and dancing in this clip!


This clip focuses on the Civil Rights Movement. These students did not shy away from heavy or difficult material. Don't miss the monologue at the end of the clip - it's an amazing story about racism in the sixties that the students did a great job with!


Here's a clip with their interviews about Vietnam.


Plus, they cover music in the sixties, the space race, and more!
For all of the videos, visit our YouTube channel HERE, and congratulations again to this incredible group of high schoolers!

Let Me Ascertain You: Podcast Series Launch!

Welcome to the very first episode Let Me Ascertain You: The Civilians Podcast Series!

Let Me Ascertain You is a weekly podcast series drawn from the company’s ongoing live cabaret series of the same title and including the best material from a decade of creative investigation. The episodes cover topics such as Occupy Wall Street, Atlantic Yards, the adult entertainment industry, Evangelical Christianity, and more.

Our first episode features performances of interviews about Atlantic Yards with Brooklynites about the controversy over the largest development project in Brooklyn's history. The site where the new Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets) stadium is being built has been the source of extended and heated conflict, resulting in the enactment of eminent domain in New York State. This episode features the performance of interviews with Atlantic Yards bloggers, local business owners, residents, and activists, examining how the fate of Brooklyn and New York City is decided and what can be learned from this ongoing saga of politics, money, and the places we call home. The material was collected for the company's play In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards.

A lot of the performance is from our Let Me Ascertain You: Atlantic Yards cabaret last fall. It also includes a segment with Colleen Werthmann talking about what it was like to conduct interviews for In the Footprint. She talks specifically about the time that she spent with activist Patti Hagan (a prominent character in the play), and what Colleen has to say is really inspiring!

Featuring: Aysan Celik as a blogger, Colleen Werthmann as activist Patti Hagan, White People written by Michael Friedman and performed by Marsha Stephanie Blake, A scene at Levels Barbershop performed by Billy Eugene Jones and Marsha Stephanie Blake, and The Four Brooklyns written and performed by Michael Friedman

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Young Civilians at Work!

In the spring semester of this academic year, The Civilians piloted a new Education Program at a public high school in Brooklyn! The class, taught by the fabulous Civilians' Associate Artist Emily Ackerman (of THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY and recent THE GREAT IMMENSITY readings), focused on issues of the environment. These high school sophomores talked to family, friends, neighbors, shop keepers in their neighborhoods, and more about their beliefs about climate change and their role in preserving the environment on a local level, covering topics like littering. They then used these interviews to craft a play - sound familiar? Check out the video posted below to see what these extraordinary kids came up with in the funny and interesting presentation that they did at the end of the class!

How are things IN THE FOOTPRINT?

Things are moving along in the construction site at this point. HERE is a video from the Nets Daily website showing the steelworkers putting up the structure, and even more has gone up since then. 

HERE is Norman Oder's commentary on the latest construction alert that details how the plans are changing as the construction progresses.

And as things are going up down at Atlantic and Flatbush, Freddy's bar (the setting of a few scenes in IN THE FOOTPRINT) reopened last week at 627 Fifth Ave. between 17th and 18th streets in Park Slope. HERE is what Norman Oder has to say about it, and HERE are some photos from opening!

IN THE FOOTPRINT in the New York Times! Theater and Journalism?

The following correction was made to Jason Zinoman's recent New York Times Article about theater and journalism. The article asks (among many other questions): "If the company uses tools of journalism and benefits from the authority of real reporting, does it have an increased responsibility to journalistic standards?"

HERE is the correction:
"A Critic’s Notebook article on Wednesday about political theater based on real events, including the show “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards,” misstated the circumstances under which Daniel Goldstein, an opponent of the Atlantic Yards project portrayed in the show, lost ownership of his condo in a building that needed to be emptied for ground to be broken. While he did receive $3 million in a settlement, the State of New York took the condo under eminent domain. He did not sell it."

IN THE FOOTPRINT in the New York Times! Theater and Journalism?

First of all, here is a recap of The Civilians and In the Footprint in the New York Times over the past few weeks:

Review by Charles Isherwood
Photo slide-show
Arts Beat: "Theater Talkback: Giving Thanks in a Thankless Season" by Charles Isherwood
"When News Events Are Retold on Stage" by Jason Zinoman


The last article was put online yesterday and in print today. It's about the role of journalism in theater. Take a look at the article. What do you think? Where is the line between presenting reality and shaping a drama? To what degree are theater artists responsible for facts? In the Footprint addresses in the script issues about the difficulty of arriving at one truth with so many people saying different things for various reasons. Weigh in! What do you think? 


Here are Norman Oder's thoughts about the issues - take a look! The headline is "A theater critic lectures The Civilians on journalism regarding "In the Footprint." He has a point. Maybe the Times should follow it, too."

Atlantic Yards News - IN THE FOOTPRINT

If you aren't coming to In the Footprint on Wednesday, check out the Atlantic Yards Traffic Forum, presented by our friends at the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Association. According to the PHNDA's website, it's: a forum on traffic and transit issues raised by Atlantic Yards construction and the planned opening of the Barclays Center in 2012.

* What impacts are already being felt?
* What is coming from the arena and future construction?
* What does the recent court decision mean to the community?
* What can we do now?

Join Council Member Letitia James, Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council at their Atlantic Yards traffic forum at PS9 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 8, 2010
7:30- 9:00PM
WHERE: PS9, 80 Underhill Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238

In other news, Norman Oder reports that the ESDC has granted a seven-year extension to build up the arena block, which is Phase 1 of the overall construction project under the EB-5 Program. Get the details at the Atlantic Yards Report HERE. The EB-5 Program allows Forest City Ratner to accept investments in exchange for greencards. Take a look at the EB-5 Memorandum that shows that this is actually legal HERE.

Additional Speakers for IN THE FOOTPRINT Talk-Back Series!

Our talk-back series has been going great! New York City Council Members Brad Lander and Stephen Levin provided some great insights into the role of the city council in the project moving forward, and Brad gave us some fascinating history about Brooklyn's development patterns and community involvement. Tonight, we've got Tom Angotti, Urban Planning Professor from Hunter College, to give us more insight into how these development decisions that literally shape our cities are made.

Also! Next Monday, December 6 we are lucky to have

Deb Howard, Pratt Area Community Council
Jo Anne Simon, District Leader, 52nd Assembly District
Gib Veconi, Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council

They will talk about the future of the Atlantic Yards development, since it's not over yet! Gothamist sums up the current situation:

"...twenty community organizations led by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) filed a motion with New York State Supreme Court seeking to halt all construction at the project... The motion for a stay follows a November 9th decision from Justice Marcy Friedman, finding that the ESDC 'lacked a rational basis for assuming that Atlantic Yards project would be completed in ten years.'"

So make sure you come to the show and stay for the Post-Show Events. Put your questions to some of the people who have real answers for you. And if you'd like, there's an opportunity to help ensure that AY moves forward with more attention to the surrounding environment: use code FUTURE when purchasing tickets and a portion of that ticket price goes to the community organizations involved in the motion to help with their legal fees.

"They say they don't want the arena... bagel."

Our investigation of the Atlantic Yards brought The Civilians from barbershops to community forums, and one of the places in between was A.R.E.A. Bagel, located at 55 5th Avenue in Park Slope. In an interview, the owner describes a controversy that erupted when he was choosing the name:

"When I was building the store, the news pop out “Arena is coming in”. I did not know, my designer, he say you know, “Arena is coming, is a plus point, name Arena.” I say “No, I’m not sure, I just want to go with Slim’s Bagel, like in Queens.” He say, “No, no, no, go with Arena”. I said “Fine, put the name in.” But then, the people start complaining. They say they don’t want the Arena…Bagel. So in the papers, on the internet. It was about 15 to 20 running sites about this controversy. About the bagels, yes."

- From our interview and IN THE FOOTPRINT

Here's an early report saying that Park Slope residents were going to protest the A.R.E.N.A. Bagel and the owner's response: "'I can’t do anything that goes against the neighborhood because I’m a neighborhood guy. These are my customers and I can’t go against them.'"

Here's the Brooklyn Paper's reporting about when the name changed:
"The good news is that the sign-maker agreed to change the design for free. And Aggarwal says he intends to hang the absent “N” on the wall of his shop, surrounded by newspaper clippings of the controversy."

If anyone has the links to the protest sites, please forward them along!

AND NOW FOR THE LATEST, BREAKING NEWS:
Here's Park Slope reported today that the name might be CHANGING BACK to A.R.E.N.A. - there's a pic of the new sign in the post, wherein the name includes all the periods as well as the controversial "N." Will Park Slope let this happen, or will the independent business owner rule the day? Is he reclaiming the word ARENA for the people, or playing into Bruce Ratner's hand? Speak, Brooklyn, speak!

IN THE FOOTPRINT: Featured Video

"I had two ladies, one was a teacher, one was a stockbroker... they were a couple; and the both of 'em were both yellin at me, yelling and screaming, saying how could you be for this project, don't you realize if he builds a sixty story building the trees aren't going to get sunshine. You actually believe that, that the buildings are gonna - how in your right mind you gonna believe that? You can't block the sun! I can't remember how many million miles and it still somehow reaches the flowers even underwater - how you gonna block the sun with a building? Manhattan never woulda been built in with that theory. Am I right or wrong?"

Master Builder, Union Member, and Interviewee



Here is a link to Barclay's press release about the groundbreaking in March. Here's what they say about union jobs: "It is anticipated that Atlantic Yards will generate over $5 billion in new tax revenues for the State and the
City over the next 30 years and will create upwards of 17,000 union construction jobs and up to 8,000 permanent jobs when the entire project is completed."

And here is Norman Oder weighing in on the jobs issue.

Lastly, the earth is 150 million kilometers (93.2 million miles) from the sun.

IN THE FOOTPRINT: THE MOVIE

So, first of all, all y'all need to vote for The Civilians on Forbes.com as a "name you need to know in 2011." Because it IS a name that everyone will need to know in 2011. Both as a non-profit business and as a group supporting, developing, commissioning, presenting some of the most exciting and interesting theater in the country! So keep democracy alive, support the company, vote HERE. Or share on Facebook, or Tweet about it. Just make some noise, and the powers that be will listen.

The author, Larry Reibstein, brought up an interesting question in the comments section. In the movie version of In the Footprint (first Neighborhood Night tonight! $20 tickets using the code "Neighborhood" HERE or at the box office for Brooklyn residents and workers), who should the cast be? (That is, assuming that our AMAZING cast for In the Footprint all have scheduling conflicts... )

We all know Marty Markowitz would like to be played by George Clooney.

Here are some thoughts. Leave yours in the comments!
Marty Markowtiz: Brian Dennehy? Ned Beatty?
Bruce Ratner: Tom Hanks? Robert Deniro? John Doman?
Bertha Lewis: Loretta Devine?
Patti Hagan: Sissy Spacek, maybe?

IN THE FOOTPRINT First Preview Tonight!

Tonight is the first performance of IN THE FOOTPRINT! Come out to the Irondale Center in Fort Greene (85 South Oxford Street) and use the code "FOOTPRINT" for $25 tickets! Purchase online HERE!

See you tonight! And performers, break a leg!

IN THE FOOTPRINT: Featured Video

GENTRIFICATION AND A WORD OF ADVICE:



"I remember when Time Out NY did their thing about Fort Greene and the best block to live in NYC was uh- South Portland between Lafayette and DeKalb and at first I was like, no it's not! And then I was like, "Oh shit, they just blew up our spot," So the ironic thing to me is that I’ve now become a gentrifier of Bed Stuy. So that's the sort of weird situation that I find myself in. Sorta like pushed out of one neighborhood into another."

Here's the more recent NY Mag ranking of New York neighborhoods. Park Slope is Number 1; Fort Greene is ranked Number 18.

What do you think the best place is to live in NYC?

IN THE FOOTPRINT in the New York Times!

This is a fantastic article with great photos about In the Footprint! Here are a few tidbits:

"The songs in “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards” (the creators call them blogosongs) serve not as emotional showstoppers but as commentary and explanation — the Greek chorus of the digital age."

"'Being an investigative theater company where we try to engage in important stories, this seemed like the most important local story that we could take on,' Mr. Cosson said recently over brunch in a cafe in Fort Greene."

"Forest City Ratner declined to be interviewed for the show, but Mr. Ratner and his colleagues are represented in others’ interviews and through public statements. (A spokesman for Forest City Ratner declined to comment for this article. The company was also the development partner for The New York Times Company headquarters in Manhattan.)"

Click HERE for the whole article (and to find out what Marty Markowitz has to say about the show)!

IN THE FOOTPRINT Rehearsal!

The first preview for IN THE FOOTPRINT is on Saturday! - which means that we are officially into tech week. The cast and crew is back from rehearsing in Boston at Emerson College through the ArtsEmerson program, headed by Rob Orchard.

Here's a link to his blog, wherein he talks about the show!

Here's a photo from the rehearsal room that ArtsEmerson tweeted:


Also, here's the latest Atlantic Yards news. Norman Oder calls Justice Friedman's decision today the "first clear-cut victory" for Atlantic Yards opponents and critics. The decision is posted at the bottom of his post. Check it out!