Larry Myers' "Jack Kerouac: Catholic" set for NYC premiere this Sat., May 2

Award-winning Off-Broadway playwright Larry Myers stages a special spring showcase of his new play, “Jack Kerouac: Catholic” on Saturday, May 2, 7 p.m., Saval Auditorium at 101 Murray Street. The play—part of Dr. Myers’ Theater Project at
St. John’s University, and will be directed by Kat Georges—exposes a unique and rarely-discussed side of the multifaceted originator of the beat movement. The event will also feature presentations by Kerouac experts and poets including George Wallace, Peter Carlaftes, Ryan Buynak and Claire Ultimo.

The play stars a cast of 12 astounding actors, including David DeCuir, Robert Grant, Michael Kostas, Brandon McCluskey, Mickey Pizzo, Jordan Spoon, Manny Liyes, Harry May-Kline, Joshua Dudley, Jeremy Patrick Hamilton, Janice Bishop and Ivan Perez.

Myers, Associate Professor, continues his effort to bring New York Theater professionals and established literary figures to the Manhattan St. John's campus. This allows the students to interact with those in the professional field. Myers hopes to institute an International Playwriting Center at St. John’s in the middle of Manhattan. Ms. Georges, was founder and artistic director of San Francisco’s Marilyn Monroe Memorial Theater for 10 years and has been directing in New York for five years.

Called by the New York Daily News “one of Off-Broadway’s wittiest & more prolific playwrights,” Dr. Myers has written many plays about Vincentian concerns: the homeless, physically challenged, environmental issues. His “Finding God's Face” (about St Vincent de Paul) premiered at the main campus starring Peter Facinelli as Young Vincent. Facinelli is currently starring in the film blockbuster "Twilight." Myers’ “Limericks from Undisclosed Locations” was a response to his post-Katrina volunteerism. He set up drama workshops in both Manhattan (Long Island City, Chinatown & Roosevelt Island) & San Francisco working with the homeless & seniors. At Roosevelt Island’s Coler Hospital he did drama therapy with the severely disabled. Several of his plays concern notable Catholics, including Mary Anderson, the great 19th-century stage star & Tennessee Williams.

The Saval Theater is at 101 Murray St. (between Greenwich & West). Take the #1 train to Chambers Street, walk down two blocks, over two. This project is an open classroom project. Email threeroomspress@mac.com for reservations.

Poet Elizabeth Harrington at Cornelia St. Cafe This Fri., May 1

Elizabeth Harrington’s poems have appeared in The Hudson Review, Field, Nimrod, The Sun, Rattapallax, and other journals, and in an anthology about divorce. She was a winner of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award and second place winner in The Ledge Poetry Contest. Her chapbook “Earth’s Milk” was first runner-up in the Main Street Rag Chapbook Poetry contest. She has a Ph.D. in Psychology and works at a market research company in New York.

Join us for a great night of poetry, including the infamous Son of a Pony Open Poetry Reading before the feature. Arrive early to sign up on the list. Host for this wondrous event will be TRP's own Kat Georges, who is proud to be a part of what many folks call "The best poetry reading in New York City!" See you there!

Friday, May 1, 6 p.m.
Son of a Pony Poetry Reading series
Feature: Elizabeth Harrington
Host: Kat Georges
Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia St (between W. 4th & Bleecker)
212-989-9319

Incredible Poet Peter Carlaftes launches new collection this Friday at Cornelia St. Cafe

Peter Carlaftes is one of the most unique minds on the poetry scene. His work is often humorous, always insightful, and hell-bent on being drop dead original, though it resonates with overtones of Bukowski, Baudelaire and Bogart.

This Friday Three Rooms Press and Cornelia St. Cafe present Son of a Pony, featuring Peter Carlaftes and the launch of his new poetry collection. "Progressive Shots" is the final book in his Bar Poems trilogy--all on Three Rooms Press. The book is a rare riot, and the reading is sure to be a blast, too. The $7 admission includes a free drink.

Plus there's an open reading before the feature--hosted by TRP's Kat Georges! Prepare for loads of fun! Arrive early to sign up.


Son of a Pony Reading
Friday, April 17, 6 p.m.
Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia St. (between W. 4th and Bleecker)
New York City
212-989-9319
Doors open 5:45
212-731-0574

Phenomenal Paris-based Sephardic Singer Makes NYC Debut April 12

Phenomenal Sephardic singer Annie Darmon, whose five-octave range has ignited rave reviews in France, Germany, Brazil and Britain, makes her New York debut with two performances on Sunday, April 12, including an 11 a.m. opening slot for the Klezmer Brunch at City Winery and a 6 p.m. solo show at Cornelia Street Café.

Darmon (vocals/guitar) fills the room with her incredible unamplified voice, singing songs of joy, grief and hope, in a program of poetic music sung in Ladino, French, English and Yiddish. Her voice expresses violence and softness, joy and despair, with a deep, heartfelt intensity. Her way is heavy with history, powdery with the dust of the roads of exile. Her work can be
heard online at http://www.myspace.com/anniedarmon

Critics have long raved about Darmon’s performances. Jacques Julliard of Le Nouvel Observateur reports, “A stunning voice with an unprecedented intensity, with a singular dramatic force that raises even higher [Darmon’s] authentic qualities as an artist…” Madame Figaro notes, “An exceptional voice, that grabs you all at once: body and soul ...” Present’s Hervé Pennven writes, “At times, her voice surrounds you from every part and you no longer are able to tell where it comes from.”

Darmon will perform an opening set Sunday, April 12 at 11 a.m. as part of the Klezmer Brunch at City Winery, 155 Varick St. (between Spring and
Vandam), 212-608-0555. Admission $10.

A solo concert takes place at 6 p.m. April 12 at Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia Street, between W. 4th Street & Bleecker), 212-989-9319. Easily accessible from A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains, exit at W. 4th Street station.
Admission is $12 and includes a free drink.

Email threeroomspress@mac.com for reservations and further information.

Poet Ben Mazer slated for Cornelia St. Cafe reading April 3

This Friday at Cornelia St. Cafe, Three Rooms Press and Son of a Pony proudly present featured poet Ben Mazer, who's work has been lauded by MTV poet laureate John Ashberry: "To read [Mazer] is to follow him along a dreamlike corridor where everything is beautiful and nothing is as it seems." Kat Georges hosts the event.

Ben Mazer's poems have appeared in Fulcrum, Harvard Review, Stand, Jacket, Verse and many other international periodicals. He is the author of The Foundations of Poetry Mathematics (Cannibal Books). He is the editor of Landis Everson's Everything Preserved: Poems 1955-2005 (Graywolf Press), which won the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Foundation, and a contributing editor to Fulcrum: An Annual of Poetry and Aesthetics.

Details:

Son of a Pony Poetry Reading Series
Friday, April 3, 2009, 6 pm
Feature: Ben Mazer
Host: Kat Georges
Open reading before the feature
Admission: $7 (includes free drink)

Arrive early to sign up for the open reading before the feature!

March 21: Kat Georges to direct Larry Myers' new play "Twitter Theater" World Premiere

Award-winning Off-Broadway playwright Larry Myers’ new play, “Twitter Theater,” about the networking phenomenon Twitter, will preview in a special March 21 performance at 7 p.m., Saval Auditorium at 101 Murray Street. The play is part of Dr. Myers’ Theater Project at St. John’s University, and will be directed by Kat Georges.

Myers, Associate Professor, has recently sent the “Twitter Theater” script into cyberspace & already garnered advance reviews on blog sites of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Retriever Weekly, CNET and more. His goal is to have an International Playwriting Center at the SJU Manhattan campus (across the street from the World Trade Center). This project is part of the strategy to involve St. John’s theater students in the production of professional theater in Manhattan giving them the chance to work with cutting edge professional directors, actors and theater technicians. Ms. Georges, now based in New York, was founder and artistic director of San Francisco’s Marilyn Monroe Memorial Theater for 10 years.

Called by the New York Daily News “one of Off-Broadway’s wittiest & more prolific playwrights,” Myers’ works have been seen in Rome, Italy at Teatro Olimpico & Scotland’s Edinburg Festival, as well Anchorage, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Louisville, & two summer long reps in San Francisco & Los Angeles. His work “Stephen Crane & Dangerous Women” was staged at the Crane Museum in Asbury Park, NJ & his “Past Life=Kerouac” was part of Lowell, Massachusetts’ Kerouac Festival. Myers’ plays have had two decades of New York productions both Downtown and Uptown.

The Saval Theater is at 101 Murray St. (between Greenwich & West). Take the #1 train to Chambers Street, walk down two blocks, over two. This project is an open classroom project & there is no admission fee. Email threeroomspress@mac.com.

March 20: Dada Poetry Salon at Cornelia Street Cafe

It's back! And better than ever. The second annual edition of the very special one-night-only Dada Poetry Salon, with Dada hostess Kat Georges! Wear your favorite Dada fashion, bring your Dada-inspired poetry for the open reading (sign up at 5:45, limited spaces available!).

Featured guest poets will include DaDa superstars including boxer/poet Arthur Cravan and dada manifesto creator Tristan Tzara, brought back to life for this special event. Plus the unveiling of a Dada performance play by some of your favorite Son of a Pony poets. Plus: the return of the controversial City Scum Shot duo.

The first 50 people will receive a free copy of the inaugural and only issue of Maintenant Trois (inspired by Arthur Cravan's 1915 Maintenant magazine, which was the first ’zine ever). Prepare for irreverant art and an evening that will challenge your ideas about the nature and necessity of creation in a world suffering the ongoing effects of an “economic Pearl Harbor.”

Doors open 5:45. Admission $7 includes free drink. Cornelia St. Cafe is at 29 Cornelia St. between W. 4th St. & Bleecker. Close to many trains at W. 4th St. station: A-B-C-D-E-F-V. So, Yes We Can get there. Do so...