Theater for the New City’s Lower East Side Festival Celebrates 30 Years of Creativity

The hottest ticket in town in May doesn’t require a ticket: It’s a free festival, May 22- 25 in and around Theater for the New City, at 155 First Ave., near 10th Street, with nearly 100 performers and groups spanning all the arts in a massive art marathon.

“It’s all free to the public,” said TNC co-founder and executive artistic director Crystal Field. “Our doors are always open. That sets us apart from other artist organizations.”

While it’s a big deal every year, TNC’s Lower East Side Festival is special this time: “This is the 30th year. It’s something TNC does every year. It’s part of who we are,” said Field. “Every year is important.”

Thousands of people are expected to attend this showcase of the arts, provided free as a kind of gift to the city.

All the arts at once

TNC’s Johnson and Cabaret stages fill with performances along with street theater, turning the street and sidewalk, on 10th Street between First and Second avenues, into a sprawling stage with shows for all ages.

Families can find fun while, later in the evening, you’ll find daring downtown divas strutting their stuff with a schedule listed at theaterforthenewcity.net.

“We have a lot of theater, music, dance, poetry, puppetry,” said Field. “We have film. It’s a three-day festival that includes all the arts.”

LES was created to celebrate the Lower East Side’s cultural heritage, honoring its reputation as an inclusive melting pot with artists of different ethnicities, religions, racial backgrounds, sexual orientation and identity as well as national origin.

“This year’s theme is: “LES: We will not be silent. Speak Up for Democracy,” Field said of the festival involving playwrights, actors, musicians, singers, dancers, poets, jugglers, aerialists, and visual artists who grace the stages and lobby of the theater’s historic building.

The evening of Friday, May 23, showcases acts in two performance spaces, while Saturday (May 24) afternoon’s festivities include a street fair on 10th Street with performers and vendors. Children perform for children inside on Saturday afternoon.

The LES Film Festival screens films on May 24 from 1 to 11 pm, and the afternoon of Sunday, May 25, highlights the Poetry Festival, with local poets reading their work.

Holding high the torch

While the Statue of Liberty holds a literal torch, TNC has been carrying the torch for downtown arts for more than 50 years, starting in 1971 in the West Village, moving east in 1986, and to its current Second Avenue home in 1991.

A nonprofit theater, TNC does a big Halloween festival; the Dream Up Festival (Aug. 24-Sept. 14 last year); and street theater with a new musical trucked to all five boroughs, bringing theater to the people rather than waiting for audiences to arrive at its door.

Its annual LES celebration also transforms its lobby, always a gallery, into an art exhibit with work by more than 50 downtown artists, curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe.

“A lot of painters and sculptors do sets for shows,” said Field, in addition to a talented team of in-house designers and builders. “We often have fine artists do sets.”

The festival lets audiences see a huge assembly of artists from many disciplines as downtown showcases its stuff.

“We’re very proud of our area of the city,” said Field, who with Ellen Stewart of LaMama and Joseph Papp of the Public Theater, helped give birth to and create the downtown arts scene. “We feel that it’s probably the most artistic part of New York.”

Still new after all these years

TNC has stayed true to its name, presenting new work since launching under Mayor John Lindsey.

“We were going to have a new city. We started out thinking we could call it New City Theater,” Field said. “Then we thought we’d call it Theater for the New City.”

Field said the festival started when drugs and crime were rampant, to show art and artists were alive and well and had a claim to the area.

“I had a friend who lived in the East Village who paid 40 bucks a month,” she said. “He was robbed. They took off the whole front door.”

TNC created the Lower East Side Festival to use art to fight back and take back stages and streets.

“There were many artists living here, partly because the rents were low,” Field said. “We wanted the world to know this was an important place in the life of New Yorkers.”

Renewal every spring

Even the time of year was no accident as the festival became a sign of renewal and a downtown renaissance.

“Spring is what we were trying to bring to the arts in the city,” said Field. “Spring is a time of rebirth and growth. That’s why we chose the end of May.”

The festival combines regulars taking part for as long as a decade and fresh faces and voices for the first time.

“We’re very proud that we don’t just do an author or a playwright once,” she said. “In general, we do a playwright at least three times for at least three years, so they can develop.”

The theater offers rehearsal space, sets, props, and costumes in storage with what Field calls “all accoutrements that an artist needs.” Lighting is set with repertory plots and able to be customized per show.

“We’re living in a very difficult time, when the arts and freedom of speech are being threatened,” said Field. “The artist is always in the forefront of teaching the community about what’s going on.”

Through decades, Theater for the New City has remained true to its name as a home for new work and artists.

“It’s still new,” Field said. “The city is constantly changing, constantly evolving and we hope in the right direction.”

Theater for the New City’s LES Festival, May 22-25, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. between 9th and 10th streets. A free festival of the arts. www.theaterforthenewcity.net