New York Is Here! is a performance installation that honors the mythology of our great metropolis. Part funhouse, historical narrative and performance art, New York Is Here! goes inside the city’s chaos to explore how individual tales form the legends of the masses. This site-specific journey leads audiences through the 5,000 square foot raw space on the ground floor of AT&T’s old Long Distance Building, an art deco historical landmark. Task-oriented dances mix with voiced-over text, giving life to a series of vignettes portraying legends like the Chinese food deliveryman stuck in a Bronx elevator, McGurk’s Suicide Hall (a notorious Bowery saloon made famous for its singing waiters and prostitutes’ suicides), the Fulton Fish Market, number-running lotteries, baseball, politics and more.

Direction: Aaron Rosenblum
Scenic Design: Hannah Price
Sound Design: Jason Sebastian
Lighting Design: Carrie Wood
Costume Design: Wendy Yang
Musical Direction: George Francois
Ensemble: Emily Alpren, Jodi Bender, Jennifer Lafferty, Aaron Unger, Elizabeth Ward
Piano: George Francois
Voices: Nick Jaeger, Paul Lazar, Jennie Marytai Liu, Joe Randazzo, Jason Sebastian, Aaron Unger and Elizabeth Ward
Text: E.B. White, Joseph Mitchell, Walt Whitman and Aaron Rosenblum
Manager of Stage: Zaheed Essack
Master of Rigging: Jordan Gable
Special Assistant: Liz Sargent
Transportation: Jaeger and Sons Moving, Inc.

Performers: Douglas Dunn, Liz Filbrun, Jessica Therese Martineau, Sari Nordman, Matt Sweeney, Jessica Weiss, Kindra Windish.

Costume Design: Mimi Gross

Sitelines Curator and Producer: Nolini Barretto
Sitelines Intern: Cornelia McPherson

Thank you to Keith Biesack, Joe Randazzo, Ashleigh Beyer, Cathy Ochoa, Saori Tsukada, Jessica Barbagallo, Matt Cintron and Kathleen Hahn for their work as performers on earlier versions of this piece.

Special thanks to these folks for their time, labor, materials and general goodwill: Joshua Howard, Blake Zidell, Brian Rogers and The Chocolate Factory, Bill Kennedy, Owen Hughes and St. Ann’s Warehouse, Dance Theater Workshop, Big Dance Theater, Nolini Barretto, Megan Sprenger, Nick Jaeger and Brenna Thomas, Brad Kisicki, Shawn King, Aiyana D’Arcangelo, Mirana Moore, Arya “Barbarian” Sundar, Ben Hymes and Djamila Moore

Extra special thanks to these individuals for their financial support: Robert and Audrey Apfel, Mary and Gerry Birnbaum, Jane and Don Cooper, Phyllis Dorfman, Ken Elpus, Gary and Leann Grossman, Jeff Hogan, Joanne Howard, Pat and Ed Hymes, Peter Jacky, Fern and Al Kamine, Vinay Krishna, Paul and Annie Lazar, Sarah Ordaz, Chuck and JoAnne Rosenblum, Paula Rosenblum, Scott Rosenblum, Larry Rosenblum, Lynn and Rick Rosenfelt, Alaap Shah, Giri and Kal Sundar, Judy and Gary Supply, Sieg and David Weiss, Julius Weiss, Kim Whitener

 

 

LMCC gratefully acknowledges the assistance and support provided by Harry Bridgewood, Yana Zhirova, & New Water Street Corporation

This work was made possible, in part, by Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, supported by Jerome Foundation. Sitelines is made possible with lead support from Altria Group, Inc. and the New York Mercantile Exchange. Additional support provided by New York State Council on the Arts, Morgan Stanley, and Harkness Foundation for Dance. Sitelines is presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and in association with the River to River Festival