Forty-four years ago Brooklyn lost its beloved Dodger baseball team to Los Angeles, and an Angeleno community lost its home to a new stadium.
That's the pulse of performer-playwright Heather Woodbury's Tale of 2Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks, which ends its run Nov. 7. Six performances will have been given at various venues between Aug. 29 and the closing date.
Each performance, held at different place throughout the New York area, is unique, part of a larger narrative. The show's impetus is the impact the westward movement of the Dodger baseball team in 1957 had on two communities. Brooklynites were shattered by the team's departure and the destruction of its famed stadium, Ebbets Field; while a Mexican-American community in Los Angeles saw their homes and destroyed to make way for Dodger Stadium.
The series alternates between solo performances by Woodbury and performances with fellow artists, including filmmakers, visual artists, musicians and actors. The first six performances took place in Los Angeles earlier this year.
Described as a "living novel," Tale of 2Cities is a three year project Woodbury is creating during a residency at New York's Public Theater, with a $25,000 NEA/TCG fellowship. The final event is Track 12, held Nov. 7 at 8 PM, Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 Fourth Ave., Gowanus, Brooklyn. $5. (718) 857-4816. Tickets for the 60 seat venue are still available but are expected to be scarce by performance time.
Woodbury's previous work, What Ever: An American Odyssey in 8 Acts, had a sold-out run in New York 1995.
Previous performances for Tale of 2Cities were:
Track 7: Aug. 29 at 8 p.m., Galapagos Arts Space, 70 North St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Track 8: Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m., P.S. NBC@HERE, 145 Sixth Ave., NYC. Free. Reservations required.
Track 9: Sept. 26 at 8 p.m., El Taller Latino Americano, 2710 Broadway, Upstairs, NYC.
Track 10: Oct. 10 at 8 p.m., Galapagos Arts Space, 70 North St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Track 11: Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m., P.S. NBC@HERE, 145 Sixth Ave., NYC. Free. — by Diane Snyder
