Off-Broadway NewsRosie’s Theater Kids, Kirsten Childs, and More Tapped for Lobby ProjectNew York City Center announces its series of free events in conjunction with Encores! Off-Center.
By
Olivia Clement
July 11, 2017
Kirsten Childs and Rosie's Theater Kids
New York City Center has announced the lineup for this summer’s Lobby Project, a series of free, pre-performance events presented in conjunction with the Encores! Off-Center season. The series will feature a mix of musical performances, lectures, and discussions.
In celebration of the revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins, beginning July 12, New York City Center asked songwriters to submit original songs inspired by the musical. The winners of the challenge, Sebastian Durfee, Taylor Ferrera and Bob Ferrera, Deepali Gupta, and Jess Newman, will present their pieces before three evening performances (July 13, 14, and 15) and participate in a nightly panel to discuss their influences and inspirations.
On July 26, Ayodele Casel, Helga Davis, and Okwui Okpokwasili will discuss their experiences onstage in connection with Kirsten Childs’ musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, which begins performances that same evening. Casel will also perform a piece commissioned especially for The Lobby Project. The following night, composer, playwright, and songwriter Childs will discuss the legacy of black women artists in America.
For the final show of the summer, Maurice Sendak and Carole King’s Really Rosie, The Lobby Project has commissioned original songs from Broadway Bound Kids and Rosie’s Theater Kids. Each youth group will perform an opening number about their neighborhood and New York City. Performances are August 2 and 4, and will be followed by a discussion about how the groups created their songs.
The Lobby Project takes place in City Center’s Grand Tier lobby, located at 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan.
Assassins, directed by Anne Kauffman, runs July 12–15; The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin will be directed by Robert O’Hara and will run July 26 and 27; and Really Rosie will be directed by Leigh Silverman and will run August 2–5.
For more information, or to purchase tickets to any of the shows, visit NYCityCenter.org, or call (212) 581-1212.
