Industry NewsPerformance Space 122 to Return to East Village homeUnder the leadership of Jenny Schlenzka, the company will move into its newly renovated space in time for the 13th Coil Festival.
By
Olivia Clement
November 06, 2017
Jenny Schlenzka
Performance Space 122 is set to return to its newly renovated East Village home in 2018 after nearly six years of partnering with venues across New York City during the reconstruction of the 122 Community Center. The new PS122 venue will be inaugurated with the 13th Coil Festival in January.
The new design provides Performance Space 122 with two state-of-the-art theatres: a multi-configurable house with 199 seats and state-of-the-art sound and projection capabilities, as well as a smaller, 87-seat space.
The building will also house The Alliance for Positive Change, Mabou Mines, Painting Space 122, and a fifth tenant to be announced. A formal grand opening event for the full building is scheduled for winter.
Earlier this year, PS122 welcomed Jenny Schlenzka as its next executive artistic director. Under her leadership, the company will inaugurate the new space with the 13th Coil Festival January 10–February 4, 2018. The annual showcase of experimental works will feature new pieces by Heather Kravas, David Thomson, Dean Moss, Dane Terry, Angela Goh, and Atlanta Eke.
Following Coil, PS122 will present the first of what will be a semi-annual themed series focused on the East Village, including the institution's own history. The East Village series will launch in February with a tribute to postmodern novelist Kathy Acker, and will include an exhibition co-curated By Bjarne Melgaard and a marathon reading, led by Sarah Schulman, of Blood and Guts in High School.
The series, the first programming curated by Schlenzka, will continue through June.
“What I have considered my job as a curator and now as a director of an institution is to create spaces for new things to happen, things that are of the here and now,” says Schlenzka.
The series will also feature works by artist/filmmakerTiona Nekkia McClodden, Penny Arcade, feminist art collective BRUJAS, Women’s History Museum, and Diamanda Galás, as well as commissions from Sarah Michelson and Yve Laris Cohen and the return of Ishmael Houston-Jones, Chris Cochrane, and Dennis Cooper’s Them.
PS122 was founded in 1979 in New York's decommissioned Public School 122 building. The inistution has provided an artistic platform for a number of performance artists including Eric Bogosian, Karen Finley, and John Leguizamo, among many more.
For the Coil lineup and information on further programming visit PS122.org or call (2120 352-3101.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success.
