AT THE GALLERIES

SMUSH GALLERY, 340 Summit Ave, JC. www.smushgallery.com. Opens June 15 (Opening Reception 6-9 pm) and runs through Fri, July 6, (Closing Reception 6-9 pm):  MODERN LIFE: paintings by Tom Wolf. “The opening reception will feature a performance by The Prom Dates.” Performance at 7:30 pm.

FRAGMENTED IDENTITY, 389 Washington, St, JC. Opening Reception Fri, June 8, 7-9 pm. (The show runs through July.) Solo show by Theda Sandiford, a self-taught installation and mixed-media artist based in Jersey City. “Theda began exploring her artistry by transforming collected materials into mixed-media works, photographing her process and then digitally manipulating these images to extend the narrative as part of her personal mythology.”

NOVADO GALLERY, 110 Morgan St, JC. (201) 744-6713; novadogallery.com. Through Sat, June 23:  PERMUTATIONS OF VULNERABILITY. The International Sculpture Center presents an exhibition of artists in ISCs residency program at Mana Contemporary. Artists in the show are Carole Halle, Jessica Taylor-Hale, Christina Dietz and Dominic Sansone.

MANA CONTEMPORARY, 888 Newark Ave, JC. www.manacontemporary.org. Through Aug 1 on the 1^st & 5^th Floors:  PLEASE TOUCH: BODY BOUNDARIES. “The show is an exhibition of more than 50 artists who reference the body to illuminate conceptions of identity, femininity, and the gaze.”

OPEN MIC

SMUSH GALLERY, 340 Summit Ave, JC. www.smushgallery.com. Wed, June 27, 7 pm: SLYCE OF LYFE V: VARIETY HOUR EDITION. “Open mic slots are 3 minutes each, first come, first served. Hosted by Marcus Emel” Tix: $10 online and at the door.

MILE SQUARE THEATRE, 1400 Clinton St, HOBO. www.milesquaretheatre.com. Sat June 30 @ 8 pm; Sun, July 1 at 3 & 7 pm:  THE 8^TH ANNUAL ONE-MINUTE PLAY CONTEST. Works by Brad Baron, Della Brown, Marian Calabro, Alexander Doyle, Mike Duffy, Laura Ekstrand, Lisa Huberman, Steven Haworth, Chisa Hutchinson, Stephen Hiltner, Margo Hammond, Angela Kariotis, Michele Aldin Kushner, Ari Laura Kreith, Mayumi Lane, Lyn Marie Macy, TS Murphy, Lisa Mary MacNair, Erin Mallon, Benjamin Marshall, Chris Oâ€Connor, Barry M. Putt, Nicole Pandolfo, Seamus Scanlon, Sylvia Schwartz, David Lee White, Stanley Werse, Amy Witting, Karin Diann Williams, and Brendon Votipka.

JERSEY CITY THEATER CENTER (JCTC), Merseles Studios, 339 Newark Ave, JC. www.jctc.org. Fri, June 15, 8 pm: JCTC PRESENTS THE BOX: RESISTANCE EDITION.  Thurs, June 21, 7 pm: JCTC FILM: HOW MANY LIVES? Directed by Duda Penteado. Tues, June 26, 6:30 pm: JCTC 12-YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION honoring William La Rosa, former Director of the Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs.

HUDSON SHAKESPEARE COMPANY @ Hamilton Park, Corner of 8^th & Jersey, JC. www.hudsonshakespeare.com.  Thurs, June 21 @ 7 pm: THE TEMPEST. “The Hudson Shakespeare Company (HSC) returns for its 27th season of touring Shakespeare in the parks with one of the Bardâ€s most magical plays.  Admission is free.”

 ARTISANS MARKET

MARKETPLACE JC @ MAGNOLIA LANDING, 136 Magnolia Ave, JC. Sat, June 16, Noon-5 pm. “Marketplace JC brings 20+ artisans, crafters, chefs and vintage sellers to the neighborhood. Come visit the newest pop-up location in the newly renovated plaza behind Journal Square PATH. Live music will be provided by RiverviewJazz.org and will feature some of Jersey Cityâ€s favorite local bands.”

CLUBSCENE

BRIGHTSIDE TAVERN, 141 Bright St, JC. www.brightsidetavern.com. Mon: Jazz Jam Session; Tues & Wed: Karaoke; Thurs: Open Mic Night; Fri: Comedy, Private Parties, Dance, Karaoke, Open Mic; Sat & Sun, Brunch, Private Parties, Dance, Karaoke, Open Mic.

FOX & CROW, Bar & Restaurant, 594 Palisade Ave, JC. www.foxandcrowjc.com. Thurs, June 21, 8-10 pm: SPAGHETTI SESSIONS SHOWCASE. Fri, June 22, 8-10 pm: PAUL SANCHEZ.  Fri, June 29, 10-11:59 pm: DEMOLITION STRING BAND.

FOR THE KIDS

 LIBERTY SCIENCE CENTER (LSC), Liberty State Park, 222 Jersey City Blvd, JC. (201) 200-1000; www.lsc.org. Now showing: One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure “Join Sesame Street friends in an out-of-this-world planetarium show!

Explore the night sky with Bird Bird, Elmo, and a friend from China named Hu Hu Zhu. In this show, you’ll learn about the Big Dipper, the North Star, the Sun and the Moon. The show is the newest feature at the JENNIFER CHALSTY PLANETARIUM AND LSC GIANT DOME THEATER at LSC, the largest and most technologically advanced planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. Only three others in the world—two in Japan and one in China—are bigger.”

NEW VICTORY THEATER, 209 W. 42^nd St, NYC. (646) 223-3010; www.newvictory.org. Through June 17: PANDAâ€S HOME. “Fusing ancient art forms and contemporary dance, Italy’s Compagnia TPO with Teatro Metastasio Di Prato and China’s TONG Production invite children to follow a panda’s footprints and roam a bamboo forest as they explore the five elements of Wu Xing—wood, fire, earth, metal and water. With kaleidoscopic imagery and the sounds of traditional instruments, PANDA’S HOME is anything but black and white.”

 SEND US YOUR ARTS LISTINGS. If you have an art opening or performances coming up including visual arts, performing arts and street arts, send an email to:  riverviewobserver@gmail.com and weâ€ll list it in ARTScene.  ALL ARTScene LISTINGS ARE FREE.

The post ARTScene/JUNE 2018 In & Around Hudson listings first appeared on River View Observer.

The Hudson Shakespeare Company of Jersey City kicks off its
24th Shakespeare in the Park series with a new twist on old favorite presenting a cross gendered “Love’s Labours Lost” where the men play the women and the women play the  men. The show is running coming to:   Saturday, June 20 at The Historic Jersey City and Harismus Cemetery at 435 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ. A
suggested $10 donation will be charged at the door and
concessions are available.

Show Detail:
When many of us are introduced to Shakespeare in school, one of the details that often stand out is that only male actors played all the parts. While this practice seems strange to us, it was the accepted convention that on the  professional London stage only men were
considered suitable enough for a dubious profession of being “an actor”.

Despite the fact that it was illegal for women to be actors and women did appear on stage in England but in regional
religious festivals and on the professional stages of Spain, France and Italy. This curious English only practice was so
entrenched in their culture that even decades after
Shakespeare died and women finally came to the stage some of the
old guard actors decried the practice saying that actresses couldn’t truly depict women on the stage.

“Each season, Hudson Shakespeare likes putting new and fresh spins
on popular titles and exploring titles that  audiences may not be normally exposed to,” said director Jon Ciccarelli. “Love’s Labours Lost on its own is a fun romp of a romantic comedy and a feast of Shakespearean poetry but we wanted to see how else to delve into what is  essentially of men and women trying to outwit each other when it comes to seduction of the other gender. So we decided to take the commonly known Shakespeare practice of men playing all of the roles and expand it to having  women take on male characters,” Ciccarelli said.

Ciccarelli urged that the show isn’t some treatment on
gender studies or making some bold statement but having fun
with the Shakespeare convention of cross gendering. “Shakespeare’s male actors did it their day and many of his other
plays feature cross dressed women who dress up as man, so we’re going more for what behaviors or attitudes make up what it
means to man or woman as played by the opposite gender and we’ve found there are really no hard fast characteristics. They run the gamut and “Love’s Labours Lost” is a hysterical play to explore how the other half lives”,  he added.

Synopsis of the show:
The King of Navarre and his three companions –
Berowne, Dumaine and Longaville – commit to a life of study exiling
themselves from the pleasures of the world and women for whole three years. But they forget that a visiting part with the Princess of France and three of her ladies are coming on a diplomatic mission, throwing the plan into chaos. The men from Navarre trump each other in a scene in which they are overheard reading aloud
their bad love poems and seek to woo the ladies in strange disguises. However, the ladies are on to the guys and outwit them at their own
seduction. A comic sub-plot is weaved with Armado, a flamboyant Spaniard, his clever page, Moth, a country clown, Costard and a precocious dairymaid, Jaquenetta. Long winded love rhymes, switched up love notes, comic chase scenes, virtuostic verbal
exchanges and a bit some bearded Russians punctuate this delicious Shakespeare comedy through the lens of the opposite gender.

Hudson Shakespeare Company, now in its 24th season of traveling Shakespeare. The company will return in July with
the “Lost Shakespeare Play” The Murder of Thomas Arden of Faversham, a black comedy featuring a bunch of inept killers in their various pathetic attempts to dispose of a rich land owner with a twist ending. For more information visit
http://ellem-fair.wix.com/hudsonshakespeare or call 973 -449 7443.

The post Hudson Shakespeare Company at Historic Jersey City and Harismus Cemetery first appeared on River View Observer.

•Sunday, October 12 @1pm at The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery, 435 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ

•Saturday, October 18 @7:30pm at Fort Lee High School Auditorium, 3000 Lemoine Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ

•Sunday, October 19 @7:30pm at Fort Lee High School Auditorium, 3000 Lemoine Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ

When people think about the movie ”On the Waterfront” usually impressions that come to mind are Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden and the fact that it was mostly shot in Hoboken come to mind. Also, the famous “I could have been a contenda!” scene of Brandoâ€s has become something of a parody as people often try a Brando imitation with this famous line. This usually has more to do with his put on voice in “The Godfather” and some other campier roles. Nothing could be further from the truth in either the scene from the film or the nature of the story itself.

(Terry Malloy (Chris Botte) tells Edie (Noelle Fair) about his days as a prize fighter in a scene from Hudson Shakespeareâ€s stage adaptation of “On the Waterfront”)

SYNOPSIS: The story of “On the Waterfront” is about dreams denied and oppression on both the personal and societal level by those in power. In Hudson Shakespeareâ€s stage production Terry Malloy (Chris Botte) is a has-been at 29. He used to be a prized fighter who headlined fights at Madison Square Garden and now spends his days being a low level mob enforcer, dock worker and his only pleasure in life is tending to pet pigeons that he treats as his children. One night Terry is asked by his brother Charley “The Gent” Malloy (Alex Falaco), a mafia golden- boy, to take part in silencing a local dock worker named Joey Doyle. Doyle has been trying to organize their union against the mob boss “Johnny Friendly” Skelly (Jon Ciccarelli). Skellyâ€s mob has been keeping the locals in poverty taking most of their dock pay in kick-backs or not allowing them to work at all altogether. Terry believes that they are just going to simply rough up Joey to get him to stop his activities but the event takes a dark turn when Joey is instead thrown off the roof of his tenement.

The murder shocks but doesnâ€t surprise the neighborhood as Joeyâ€s Pop (Larry Frank) and Joeyâ€s best friends Runty (Charley Close) and Tommy (Dante Guilliano) try to come to terms with Joey†sudden death. While they are angry, they know that nothing can be done. The police are bought and paid for by Johnny Friendly and any retribution will lead to more killing, so they must remain “D n D”, deaf and dumb. Joeyâ€s firebrand sister Edie (Noelle Fair), who has been raised away from the neighborhood, doesnâ€t take this tact but instead seeks justice against Joeyâ€s killers. Edie allies with the only man who will listen to her pleas, the not quite comfortable in his skin Father Pete Barry (Scott Manganelli). Father Barry reluctantly accepts to try and help Edie but knows it will be an uphill battle not only against the mob controlled waterfront but his own church hierarchy who is also the pay from the mob.

As Father Barry tries to evoke some small change but getting the dock workers to organize it instead leads to Runty getting roughed with a baseball bat but also brings together Edie and Terry. Terry continually tries to dissuade Edie from pursuing justice against Joeyâ€s killers never divulging his full involvement. The idealistic Edie and the cynical Terry collide but find a common bond and attraction to each neither are what the other expected. Father Barry convinces Runty to turn stateâ€s evidence to the Waterfront Crime Commission which results in a rough end for Runty. Escalating the desperation, the Crime Commission is after Terry to testify against Johnny Friendly. Terry is torn between has family, the mob family, his new found love for Edie and a crisis of conscience to confess his involvement with Joeyâ€s murder.

Director Gene Simakowicz has always been a fan of the movie but was intrigued when he learned that there were several stage versions and delighted when asked by Hudson to direct this production. “I love the era and getting to the meet of the story,” he said. “People love the movie, but you have to forget the movie as that clouds any fresh take on the main story. I tell my actors donâ€t watch the film and try to imitate it. Do your own take. I have each actor provide an on the spot biography where I ask them as the character, ‘who are you?†‘How did you get here?†‘What are you looking to get out of this person†and this allows them to concentrate on the character story and not the film, Simakowicz said on his approach to directing the piece.

Hudson Shakespeare Company is producing this adaptation with The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery will be fundraisers for the upkeep of the historic sight. A $10 suggested donation is asked for admission and concessions will be sold. Both cemetery shows are at 1pm and will be under tents in case of inclement weather. The show will also be held at Fort Lee High School Auditorium at 3000 Lemoine Avenue, Fort Lee on Sat, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct. 19 both at 7:30pm and admission for these shows are $10. The showâ€s second weekend are being produced in partnership with the Fort Lee Film Commission. All tickets can be purchased at the door. Please contact http://www.jerseycitycemetery.org/ and http://www.fortleefilm.org/ for advanced sales on their respective shows.

Hudson Shakespeare was established in 1992 and regularly produces a summer touring Shakespeare program performing lesser done Shakespeare works and unique takes on more popular titles. They also produce modern shows as second stage productions some of which included “Inherit the Wind” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” recently performed in Fort Leeâ€s municipal courtroom. For more information on all the shows, call 973 449 7443 or visit www.hudsonshakespeare.org .

The post Hudson Shakespeare Company presents “On the Waterfront” at The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery and Other Venues first appeared on River View Observer.

Monday, August 3, 7PM, Shipyard Park, 13th street behind Kings, Hoboken, NJ

Monday, August 10, 7PM, Sinatra Park, 411 Frank Sinatra Drive, Hoboken, NJ
Thursday, August 13, 8PM, Ellsworth Park, 23rd Street & Palisade Avenue, Union City, NJ
Monday, August 17, 7PM, Sinatra Park, 411 Frank Sinatra Drive, Hoboken, NJ
Thursday, August 20, 7PM, Van Vorst Park, Montogomery St & Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, NJ
(Rain Date Friday, August 21, 7PM)

The screw ball comedy closes out the theme of the “Mature Comedies” season preceded by last month’s “Troilus and Cressida and “The Winter’s Tale”.

Set in the provincial town of Windsor, England, outside one of the royal country castles, the story opens with the fat knight and career con artist of the Henry IV plays, Sir John Falstaff (Tony White) taking a break from the royal wars and trying out his scams and pick pocketing on the good citizens. Falstaff, finding that his pocket is getting a little thin decides to unleash his “romantic prowess” on the well to do wives Mrs. Page (Tzena Nicole) and Mrs. Ford (Elizabeth Pickett) and steal their purses at the same time.

Sending long winded, romantic letters to each wife, the ladies are intrigued, but aghast at being contacted by the swarmy knight. They compare notes and find that literally they are the same with only their names switched out. Not taking, the romantic form letters and or the attention well, the wives decided to give the would-be Romeo a taste of his own medicine by playing along.

Assisting the wives, although unwillingly is the ultra jealous husband Mr. Ford (Daniel Lugo). After being informed by one of Falstaff’s cronies that Falstaff has designs on his wife, Ford is so jealous that he dons a disguise to lure Falstaff and catch him in the act. As Falstaff arrives at the Ford household for the illicit rendezvous, Mr. Ford arrives with several other townspeople to catch him and run him out of town. Ford, however, is outwitted by the wives at every turn as Falstaff escapes first in a heap of dirty clothes and then cross dressing as an old woman. Mr. Ford frustratingly is made to look like even more of a jealous fool in front of his friends. Along the way, there is a war of accents French, Welsh, cockney, and a Host of others in the comic subplot to obtain the hand of the fair Anne Page, daugh ter to Mrs. Page.

All shows are free, it is recommended to bring either a lawn chair or blanket to each park showing. For more information, please visit hudsonshakespeare.org or call 973 449 7443

The post Desperate Housewives Shakespeare Style first appeared on River View Observer.