Creative dining, contemporary circus, dance theater, and toy drama are on the menu at Culture Lab LIC.
This first-ever New Works Festival will share original work by the venue’s 2024 Emergence Artists in Residence Danie Kohn, Helixx C. Armageddon, Yvonne Huatin Chow (House of Chow), and Gaby FeBland.
Kohn, who has roots as a contemporary dancer, goes first with People in Public: A Contemporary Circus Show. In a series of interconnected vignettes, the cast explores how humans interact and find moments of humanity with complete strangers. The troupe is integrated into the set and setting, as aerial hoops become washing machines in a laundromat, pigeons perch on a trapeze, and the rush hour subway bustle is composed of acrobatic movement. Consider it a love letter to cities, spontaneous connection, and the magic in between.
Tickets cost $44.52, and showtimes are Nov. 7 and 7:30 pm, Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm, Nov. 9 at 5:30 pm, and Nov. 10 at 7:30 pm.
Armageddon, a storyteller who weaves together poetry, music, and fashion to shift her audiences from observers to participants, goes next with The Museum of My Heart, an intimate, avant-garde dinner during which guests take part in creating a collaborative non-edible art feast, exploring love, heartbreak, and healing.
Tickets are $39.19, and the nightly shows all start at 7 pm from Nov. 14 through Nov. 17.
Batting third is House of Chow with The Women In Red. The Child in Blue, a dance theater piece dedicated to daughters who are cycle-breakers. Weaving cultural movement lineages of Hip-Hop Dance, Chinese Kung-Fu Wu-Su, and Asian folk dances, this Shamanic journey tracks a mother and daughter whose healing and freedom are intimately intertwined.
Tickets cost $39.19, and the schedule is Nov. 21 at 6:30 pm; Nov. 22 at 6:30 pm; Nov. 23 at 2 pm and 6:30 pm; and Nov. 24 at 2 pm and 6:30 pm.
FeBland defines “last but not least” with The Undercity, which merges puppetry, toy theatre, and an original score. When an otherworldly artifact falls into her paws, Rat Girl uncovers a vast conspiracy that threatens the fate of the entire rat metropolis in this treatise on unchecked greed, climate catastrophe, and the engineered hopelessness of industrial life.
Buy tickets for $28.52 a piece. Here are the shows: Dec. 5 at 7 pm; Dec. 6 at 7 pm; Dec. 7 at 2 pm and 7 pm; and Dec. 8 at 2 pm and 7 pm.
Culture Lab, whose entrance is at 5-25 46th Ave., is a multi-genre arts promoter based in The Plaxall Gallery, a 12,000-square-foot venue near the East River. The facility includes two fine art galleries, a 90-seat theater, classrooms, and an outdoor event space.
More on the 2024 Emergence Artist Residents
Kohn was a gymnast before getting interested in movement and circus skills. The lifelong New Yorker studied at Barnard, Peridance, and Dance New Amsterdam before discovering partner acrobatics, a discipline that combines all her loves.
Armageddon channels a space for community, connection, and dialogue for her shows. She’s performed at such spots as Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Bowery Poetry Club, Joe’s Pub, Hammerstein Ballroom, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Blue Note Jazz Club, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art.
House of Chow, founded by Artistic Director and Choreographer Yvonne Huatin Chow, is where the wisdom of Asian lineage and a deep respect for Hip-Hop Dance meet. The mission is to educate, empower, and unify Asian Americans through the genre.
FeBland is a Brooklyn-raised writer, puppeteer, and illustrator. She’s a proud co-founder of Foreshadow, an overhead projector shadow puppetry company that performs macabre, fully-scored plays for adults. She’s performed puppetry at the La MaMa Puppet Festival, the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, “Nightfall” at Green-Wood Cemetery, Dixon Place, Coney Island U.S.A., Jalopy Theatre, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, and on television.
Images: Courtesy of Culture Lab LIC