The second fair will be held the Holy Cross School Gymnasium, 332 W. 43rd St., between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Application deadline for actors, singers, dancers, musicians, stage managers, dressers, stage hands and anyone else who works in the professional theatre is May 25.
For more information and an application, e-mail [email protected].
The first ActorCrafts took place in October 2004 and included 50 actor/artists exhibiting their work to approximately 300 attendees. The exhibitors were made up of performers, stage managers, dressers and musicians and more exhibiting everything from jewelry, pottery, photography, sculpture, paintings, furniture, clothing, dance wear and knitted items.
"This year I expect to have the same diversity of talents," said organizer Josef Reiter, an actor and photographer who has appeared in Beauty and the Beast and many other shows. "We had a wide variety of theatre pros take part, including several who were at the time working on Broadway. The fair is not juried and the application is just that."
In 2003, Reiter was seeking an outlet for his original photography, note cards and picture frames, and he came up with the idea for ActorCrafts. He started thinking: "Since I know so many theatre folk who make such wonderful crafts and artwork, wouldn't it be great if we could all come together and have some sort of show featuring our other talents?" Reiter said he hopes ActorCrafts continues to grow to a point where spinoff fairs can happen in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
Reiter started his card company, The Hudson Street Card Co., nine years ago while on the road with the national tour of Man of LaMancha. His New York, Broadway and national tour credits include Disney's Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol (Madison Square Garden), Anything Goes and Cats . He recently choreographed Babes in Toyland for the Rich Forum in Stamford, CT and will be doing the same for Stamford Center's upcoming production of The Fantasticks. Originally from Chicago, he holds a BFA from the University of Utah.
