Meet the artists, musicians and dancers who are performing our June 4th, 7pm show celebrating the work of NYC playwright, actor and poet EDGAR OLIVER at Caveat in The Lower East Side.
OUR HOST - PENNY ARCADE
Penny Arcade is a poetic context provider and a map maker. "I deal in a cartography of the poetics of being, in what it means to be human." Penny Arcade is a writer ,poet, performer, theatre maker and international icon of artistic resistance known for her magnetic stage presence, her take no prisoners wit and her content rich plays and one liners. She is the author of 16 scripted performance plays and hundreds of performance art pieces. Her work has always focused on the other and the outsider, giving voice to those marginalized by society. Her willingness to speak truth to power at the expense of career concerns has made her an international icon of artistic resistance. Her decades long focus on the creation of community and inclusion as the goals of performance and her efforts to use performance as a transformative act mark her as a true original in American theatre and performance. Visit https://pennyarcade.tv/ for more info, and stay connected by joining her Patreon community.
Penny on Edgar:
I have been friends and colleagues with Edgar Oliver (and his painter sister Helen ) for over 30 years. Edgar starred in my 1990 play Invitation To The Begining Of The End Of The World at LaMama. in 1996 we improvised a short film together with Heiko Kalmbach NY Is Disappearing (from a poem of mine about the hyper gentrification of NYC) based on an idea of mine to play a version of Edgar's sister. I always fantasized out loud about being the "third" Oliver. I have always loved Edgar and felt very close to him. We are both flanuers...walkers in the city and simultaneously inhabit more than one epoch.
One of Penny's favorite quotes from Edgar's work:
Human beings break apart so easily.
ADIRA AMRAM & THE EXPERIENCE is a satirical musical comedic group. Adira is a comedian, singer/songwriter, dancer, choreographer and writer. Jessi Colon is a dancer, teacher and choreographer as well as an accomplished pole dancer. Maresa D’Amore-Morrison is a multidisciplinary dance artist and choreographer. They are frequent collaborators of Kid Koala in addition to performing with other artists including Ophira Eisenberg, Broad City, Arden Myrin and Kristen Schaal. They released their first record Hot Jams For Teens on North Street Records. Their music videos have been featured on funnyordie.com, huffingtonpost.com and ucbcomedy.com.
Adira is responding to SAVANNAH REVISITED:
All social media: @adiraamram
RALPH DENZER
"I’ve come to love Mr. Oliver, his existential lostness & aloneness, his vulnerability, his relentless exploration of the dark aspect of human nature, à la Edgar Allan Poe."
Trumpet player/composer/cross border wanderer/multi-instrumentalist/lover of cats and, sometimes even: people/member of eclectic vocal/instrumental ensemble Swoon Quartet in Montreal: almost a klezmer band, not quite a jazz band, sort of Francophone, Irish, etc..
Swoonquartet.bandcamp.com
Ralph's new song: HUNGER AND LIGHT in response to Edgar's poem:
JASON TRACHTENBURG
Jason Trachtenburg is a Bushwick based songwriter, playwright, and actor. He specializes in theme songs and love songs, and has presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ted Talks, and the John F. Kennedy Assassinologist Convention.
Jason's new song is "That's Because We're Different" inspired by A SEVEN YEAR VACATION.
A SEVEN YEAR VACATION by Edgar Oliver
SUSAN HWANG is the founder of Bushwick Book Club and a singer songwriter, performing musician and actor. She's a longtime fan of Edgar's and ran into him twice within one year and thought she should try for three with a Bushwick Book Club show celebrating him and his work.
IG: @soozee3 | FB: @susanhwanglalala
Susan is responding to Edgar's "East 10th Street: Self Portrait With Empty House"
RISA MICKENBERG NYC-based Writer/Director/Performer
Editor of Hermette Magazine - underground news for the modern recluse. Lyricist/singer for Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse. Currently working for disgraced British Impresario Seymour Hare on a new musical project: The Glass Bikini
Risa on Edgar:
I wish to be a child, to have Edgar and Helen and their Mother as my friends, to be a child of the trees too.
Risa is responding to a story Edgar told about his mother, the Black Arts and harpist Dean Owens.
DON RAUF is the founding father of the long-running NY/Brooklyn chamber punk ensemble people call Life in a Blender. The NY Daily News called him a manic combination of Alice Cooper and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He has performed at many Bushwick Book Club shows, which he finds both terrifying and mindblowing. His band has a huge show at Rockwood Music Hall on Friday, June 24, at 8 pm.
www.lifeinablender.net
The poem Don is working from is ON THE SAND. You can read it on Edgar's Facebook Page:
LIANNE SMITH
"The sound of his voice tells its own story." -- Lianne Smith has a new song written in response to several works of Edgar Oliver. Come June 4th, (6:30pm doors) to Caveat in the Lower East Side and watch her perform it live for the first time! About Lianne: I like songwriting because it's faster than writing a 400-page novel. https://liannesmith.bandcamp.com/