"Macbeth" by the New York Classical Theatre

"Double, double toil and trouble; 
Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
 

Don't miss New York Classical Theatre's 18th season this summer! An incredibly powerful production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth", directed by Stephen Burdman, is playing in Battery Park till 8/20; then in Brooklyn Bridge Park 8/22-8/27 [excluding Thursdays & rainy days]. All performances start at 7pm and are free to attend. Read this glowing and descriptive review by Pete Hempstead in TheaterMania.com >

The Three Witches in front of Castle Clinton, Battery Park

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair" 
 

The Three Weird Sisters and Banquo (Clay Storseth)

Macbeth (Will Dixon) and Banquo (Clay Storseth)

Malcolm (Ian Antal)

"Things without all remedy 

Should be without regard:  

what's done, is done"

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Macbeth (Will Dixon) and Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

"Come, you spirits. That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full. Of direst cruelty."
 

The Three Witches and Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

"-What three things does drink especially provoke?

-Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance"
 

The Three Witches

Banquo (Clay Storseth) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

"Are you a man?"

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon) over Banquo's body

"Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it."

 

Macduff (M. Scott McLean) and Malcolm (Ian Antal)

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

 

Mad sleepwalking Lady Macbeth  (Jenny Strassburg)

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, 
a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage 
and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, 
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
 

Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Make sure to check out some amazing reportage art of this production by my friends Veronica Lawlor, Charlotte Noruzi, Margaret Hurst.

"The Rivals" by the New York Classical Theatre

The New York Classical Theatre's 18th season started with Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy "The Rivals" (pictured below) and continues with Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" (first performance is July 31 at the Battery Park's Castle Clinton.)

"The Rivals" is from 1775; it's a romantic comedy about tension between marriage for the sake of love and artifice for the sake of money. As always, I was blown away by the performances and loved drawing the actors (so much so that I attend 3 shows: at the Rockefeller Park and at the Carl Schurz park, with artists Charlotte Noruzi and Margaret Hurst. Check out their wonderful drawings of this play by clicking on their names).  New York Classical's stage is all of the park, and audiences follow actors from scene to scene. Performances are free to attend - all you have to do is show up at 7pm. It's an absolute treat and delight! Get the dates and locations for the upcoming "Macbeth" performances here>
 

Lydia: "How charming will poverty be with him!"

David (right) about Lydia: "She has a lapdog that eats out of gold, she feeds her parrot with small pearls, and all her hair-curlers are made of bank-notes!"

Sir Anthony Absolute to Mrs Malaprop: "Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge!" 

Sir Anthony Absolute (right) to his son Jack, talking about his arranged marriage: "...the lady shall be as ugly as I choose"

Sir Anthony Absolute: "..don't put me in a  P H R E N Z Y!"

Mrs Malaprop (right) to Lydia (left): "I don't know any business you have to think at all. Thought does not become a young woman."

Julia to Faulkland: "My heart has known no other guardian - we will fly together."

Jack Absolute (right) to Faulkland (left): "You are the most teasing, captious, incorrigible lover!—Do love like a man"

Faulkland to Julia:"If I loved you less, I should never give you an uneasy moment" 

Capt. Jack Absolute (right) to Faulkland: "YOU DON'T DESERVE HER!"

Sir Lucius O'Trigger (right) to Bob (left): "Can a man commit a more heinous offence against another than to fall in love with the same woman? Oh, by my soul! it is the most unpardonable breach of friendship." 

-Capt. Jack Absolute [Reads.]:  "As for the old weather-beaten she-dragon who guards you.–Who can he mean by that?"
-Mrs. Malaprop:  "Me, sir!–me!–he means me!"

Sir Lucius O'Trigger: ''Modesty is a quality in a lover more praised by the women than liked.''

The End!

The Not My President's Day Rally

On this President's Day, an estimated fifteen thousand people came to the Not My President's Day rally near the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle in New York. According to the Facebook event for NYC, 47 thousand people marked themselves as planning to go. There were two dozen sister rallies happening around the country. The fact that this president lost the popular vote cannot be denied. "A lot of people are angry because he lost the popular vote and is ruling like somebody who won by a landslide," Lexell said (from a CNN article here).

One month into the presidency, We the People resist the new administration's executive orders that ban refugees and Muslim immigrants, that dismantle Wall Street regulations and environmental protections. We the People resist attacks on women's rights, LGBTQ rights, free speech and free media. We the People are outraged at the endless conflicts of interest, murky dealings with the Russian government and demand an investigation into the Russian interference in the election. We the People are appalled by the constant lies and the lack of moral integrity... The list just goes on, and on, and on... We the People do not accept the 45th president as legitimate. We the People want him impeached.

See more drawings by my fellow artists for democracy on Instagram @ArtistsForDemocracy

"You're Fired!"

Trump International Hotel and Tower surrounded by the protesters chanting "Not My President".

Central Park West packed with people from Columbus Circle to 68th street

Swarms of cops with batons, unleashed to disperse the rally

A faction of Trump supporters showed up after the sunset - way after the rally was over - to chant "USA! USA!" and to yell over the human wall of police separating the opposing sides "Snowflakes" and "Go Home".  They still believe in "Drain the Swamp" campaign promise, apparently. And...they are, somehow, angry, even though their "beloved" is now in the oval office.

Muslim Solidarity Rally in Times Square

Thousands of people gathered in Times Square last Sunday to say "Today I'm a Muslim Too". It was a beautiful event, with speakers of all creeds - Hindu, Jewish, Christian - who denounced the Muslim Ban and the xenophobic rhetoric of the government. The message was one of unity and equality: "Make America for Everyone". Check out @ArtistsForDemocracy on Instagram to see drawings of this event by my fellow artists.

#resist #nobannowall

LGBTQ Solidarity Rally NYC: A Liberal Diversity Blizzard

This past Saturday, February 4th 2017, my fellow @ArtistsForDemocracy and I were at yet another rally, this time in solidarity with the LGBTQ community. All minorities feel threatened under the new administration, and the LGBTQ rights are as fragile as ever. Many of the rally speakers talked about being refugees, persecuted in their native countries for having different gender identities. So their confluence of sexual orientations, gender identities, countries of origin and immigration or refugee statuses made them that much more vulnerable in present-day America. However, Senator Chuck Schumer, Comptroller Scott Stringer and other officials, who attended this rally, repeatedly vowed to keep New York a sanctuary city. The mood at the rally was most positive and optimistic.

Director of NYU Islamic Center started his speech with "Our Jewish Brothers and Sisters..." He condemned the president for omitting Jews in his speech on the Holocaust Remembrance Day. He ended with "You don't have to be Jewish to stand for Jewish rights. You don't have to be a woman to stand for women's rights. You don't have to be gay to stand for gay rights. You don't have to be Muslim to stand for Muslim rights."

Openly gay New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, who had swastikas etched on his house after the appointment of Bannon. The Senator called everyone to text the word "TAXES" to the 41411 number, as a way of casting a vote for disclosure of taxes for presidential candidates.

Portraits of more speakers. One of them is a Jewish gay man who fights for Muslim rights. Oliver from Nigeria, who was persecuted for being a gay activist there, found his refuge in America; he pleaded with us not to preach to the choir, but to those who support Trump.  And another speaker, whose name I, sadly, didn't catch, said that being called a liberal snowflake is appropriate, because no two snowflakes are alike, and together we create a diversity blizzard. I loved that metaphor.