Don't miss a moment of the Bushwhack Series

Get “bushwhacked” all over again when The Bushwick Starr’s theater festival, The Bushwhack Series, returns this month to the burgeoning arts neighborhood.

After premiering last year to a positive reception, the festival looks to once again provide a platform for both the neighborhood’s up-and-coming and established performance artists, by providing free rehearsal space; access to their full technical package; the support of their on-site technical director and staff; the opportunity to work with the Starr’s resident designers; a project stipend; and, of course, a weekend of public performances.


The diverse group involved includes those working in theater and dance to film and aerial performance, with new short works being performed this May 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23.

There’s the Lollo Birgitta Duo Trapeze, a duo act that has performed work with Ruby Streak Trapeze Studio, Arts In Bushwick Open Studios, and various arts and performance spaces in the NYC area, including Glasslands Gallery in Williamsburg, since forming two years ago.

Closer to the ground, 31 Down Radio Theater creates audio-based performance work with a heavy emphasis on imagery and mood. There is an invested use of new technologies and interactive systems to create and control the performances; all of the works are automated and controlled by the performers on stage.

Formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, the company’s designers and collaborators include Ryan Holsopple, Mirit Tal, Shannon Sindelar, Jon Luton, Benjamin Brown, TaraFawn Marek and Andreea Mincic.
Artist Ryan Bronz, founding member of The National Theater of the United States of America, performs an original piece, though you may have seen him previously in the company productions of Garvey and Superpant$:Episode #23, Episode #17 of our Fathers, Garvey & Superpant$: Placebo Sunrise, What’s That On My HEAD!?!, and Moliere’s Don Juan, among others. Original pieces include recently “tap tap” and “Randy Lineset Twenty” at the Ontological Theater.

Multi-disciplinary artist Julia May Jonas (who performs under the auspices of Nellie Tinder) has been presented locally at HERE Arts Center, PS122, La Mama, Galapagos Arts Space, The BRIC, BAX, University Settlement, The Bushwick Starr and Tonic. She recently presented her full-length solo show, Take Heart, as part of the SoloNOVA festival, which premiered at PS122 in June 2008.

Last but not least, live artist Jake Hooker has traveled in the same circles as these artists, performing at HERE, La Mama, The Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, The Kitchen, and The Chocolate Factory, among others. Most recently, Jake created and performed a lecture/performance called [What We Should Judge When We Judge...] Loneliness, Loss, Regret, Redemption: Four (4) Lectures on the Recalcitrant Human Condition, Viewed Through The Prism of Modern Art as Refracted Through The Aesthetic of the Ancients...On Sensation presented by the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. He is currently making a new lecture, part of which will be presented by the CATCH Series this October in Brooklyn.

The Bushwhack Series, curated by Sue Kessler and Noel Allain, is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Funding for this project has been provided in part by: The Brooklyn Arts Council, The New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs, The Judith Rothschild Foundation, The Faro Foundation, Brooklyn Brewery, and the generosity of individual contributors.

The series runs May 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23 at 8 p.m. The Bushwick Starr is located at 207 Starr St. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door or by reservation at www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/64079.