STAGE

Food for Thought | Fri.-Sun., Jan. 28-30

Food for Thought, the long-running series of curated showcases of choreography hosted by Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, gives guest curators a chance to present work by under-represented populations or to announce trends they sense in emerging artists.

For his evening, titled "Young Americans" (Friday), choreographer Miguel Gutierrez is doing both, giving a leg up to choreographers under the age of 23. Gutierrez's criteria for choosing these artists were to find work that wasn't just kinetic and filled with gratuitous people-pleasing movement invention or serving to get post-college ya-yas out. He looked for conceptual rigor and vitality. What he found were whippersnappers who don't seem to be doing post-anything or fitting themselves neatly into the groaning history of the dance canon, but following their own inquiry into new frontiers. And into other histories, like film and installation. He says, "All these artists have an element of mystery. They're making work straight from their own questions and frustrations, like 'What does dance articulate right now?'"

Beth Gill's Marginata, a sly pedestrian Happening for a group of female dancers, is full of stasis and a sort of Cage-ian nothing-happening humor. Michael Helland and Daniel Linehan's collaborative duet, Something Little, was born from curiosity about how to be in the process of the present moment, how to make sense of things in a world that doesn't make sense. Incorporating ideas across the arts, the piece is generated from the impulses of both mental actions and physical actions. Helland says, "Maybe it's not even a dance."

Also on the program are Chase Granoff, Jon Moniaci, Isabel Lewis, Eleanor Bauer and Laura Gilbert. Other programs are curated by Nami Yamamoto (Saturday) and Heidi Latsky (Sunday).

Two cans of food, donated to support neighborhood food-distribution programs, plus five bucks will get you in (or $10).

Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, 131 E. 10th St. (2nd Ave.), 212-674-8194; 8:30; $10, or two cans of food and $5.

-Chris Dohse

The House of Bernarda Alba | Through Feb. 13

A domineering widow with five daughters and a drive to keep up appearances has imposed an eight-year mourning period on her household. In this deft new production of The House of Bernarda Alba, director Shepard Sobel and a multinational cast explore Federico Garcia Lorca's final take on the lives of rural Spanish women. Alba juxtaposes the relative freedoms of those in servitude against the constrictions of their tradition-bound masters, and illuminates the costs that come with limiting people's liberty.

The scenes between Carol Schultz's Bernarda and her servant and confidante, Poncia (Joanne Camp), are a delight; the two women take as much pleasure in lurid village gossip as in secretly torturing each other. Allison Nichols' performance as the youngest daughter, Adela, displays maturity beyond her years.

Theatre 80, 80 St. Mark's Pl. (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.), 212-598-9802; Weds. & Sun. at 2, Fri. & Sat. at 8, Tues. at 7, $40-$50.

-Hector Meza

Dirty Works

Weds.-Sun., Jan. 26-30

In Jamie Linley's new all-British-cast smackudrama, a crew of friends in a London estate struggle through lives of dirty needles and even dirtier nylons. Victor Villar-Hauser plays Darren, the tragic lead determined to avoid both the steel bullets of neighborhood thugs and the viral bullet that struck his friend, Lanky (Jamie Linley). By the time Lanky jabs the wrong man's niece with a dirty needle and Darren's ex-lover starts turning tricks, you can't remember exactly which Irvine Welsh novel the folks at Stiff Upper Lip are trying to adapt. But the story is original and, like Welsh, at times damn funny. One caveat: Even though the average set of Yankee ears should be trained enough by now to ken what's going on, the cockney slang comes fast and furious.

Greenwich Street Theatre, 547 Greenwich St. (betw. Charlton & Vandam Sts.), 212-352-3101; Wed.-Sat. at 8, Sun. at 3, $15.

-Alexander Zaitchik

NYC ComediCares Benefit

Tues., Feb. 1

Of course there's little that's funny about last month's tsunami. But a bunch of area comedians are staging a NYC ComediCares Benefit at PS 122 to raise monies for the victims. And it's an all-star lineup to boot. Demetri Martin, recently named one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 funniest people alive, will deliver his usual deadpan observations on life. Jim Gaffigan and Christian Finnegan, both stand-up veterans, will be in attendance. And for music, feast your ears on the perpetually bizarre Jason Trachtenberg (of the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players). All the proceeds benefits AmeriCares. So come out and share a few laughs, knowing your entrance fee isn't padding the pockets of some shady club owner but rather helping those rebuilding their lives in South Asia.

P.S. 122, 150 1st Ave. (9th St.), 212-477-5288; 8; $25.

-Lionel Beehner