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YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL’S KITCHEN

School Strives to Book a Library BY YANNIC RACK A school between Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen is using every trick in the book to provide its students with a library. The City Knoll middle school (on W. 33rd St. btw. 10th & 11th Aves.) has only been around for two years — but instead of having a room full of books, its 150 kids largely have to rely on a small stack of outdated and yellowed paperbacks. “All the books that are on the shelves are books that were left behind by the school that was here before,” said Victoria Armas, Continued on page 2

Laubach Slaying Trial Ends With Convictions BY DUNCAN OSBORNE Following a month-long trial, a Manhattan jury quickly convicted Edwin Faulkner and Juan Carlos Martinez-Herrera of felony murder and other charges in the 2012 killing of John Laubach. Jurors began deliberations late on Oct. 20, and had to consider depraved indifference murder, a count that the prosecution did not emphasize in its closing statement; felony murder, based on the gay couple causing Laubach’s death while committing another Continued on page 5

‘DORA’ EXPLORES A LIFE, PAST AND PRESENT Bill T. Jones, iconic choreographer and artistic director of Chelsea’s New York Live Arts, discusses part one of his “Analogy” trilogy, Nov. 4 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. See page 4.

Photo by Zach Williams

Police union leader Pat Lynch called for a boycott against filmmaker Quentin Tarantino (right), who called police who killed people of color “murderers” during an Oct. 24 protest at Washington Square Park.

Divided Opinion as Police, Protesters and Residents Intersect BY ZACH WILLIAMS Chelsea resident Eileen Feldman was two blocks from home on Sat., Oct. 24 when hundreds of #BlackLivesMatter protesters blocked her path at the intersection of W. 23rd St. and Sixth Ave. The delay irritated her and she was not reluctant to let that be known to those who were marching. Activist Hannah Raytaylor heard Feldman and confronted her. Protesters were about halfway through the police-permitted march from Washington Square Park to W. 42nd St. as a small group of people stopped to watch Feldman and Raytaylor debate the merits of protesting police brutality on a sunny autumn afternoon. The hottest point of contention between them was whether the controversial deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and other people of color represented the mistakes of just a few policeman or whether law

enforcement as a whole protected a system of racial inequality. Neither convinced the other, but their conversation succinctly covered the ground that defines the ongoing national debate on how to address ongoing discrimination against people of color. “The country is more divided now than ever,” observed Feldman of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, in a later interview. Protesters, she said, “are making it sound like cops are evil…there is so much hate and moronic stuff coming out now. This county’s got to pull together. That’s why I was so pissed off.” Raytaylor acknowledged that some may expect certain protocols to be followed during moments of dissent, but she also asserted that disrupting daily life by marching provides a necessary means to achieve progress on

Continued on page 12

VOLUME 07, ISSUE VOLUME 35 | OCTOBER 07, ISSUE29 22- |NOVEMBER JULY 16 - 04, 22, 2015

City Knoll Gets Creative In Quest For Library Continued from page 1 the school’s principal, on a recent tour of their second-floor library space — a row of mostly empty shelves lining a conference room. “We had been delighted to find all these books, thinking maybe we can use some of them, but [someone from library services] came in and said paperback books are not good for a library,” she said. “It was very disheartening.” Since the boxes of discarded literature turned out to be mostly useless, the principal, teachers and parents at the school have started to get creative. As the vice president of City Knoll’s PTA board, Susan TreacyMannix recently attended a neighborhood assembly for the Participatory Budgeting process — an initiative that gives residents a say over how a portion of the city’s capital funds are used in their council district. TreacyMannix, who lives at Manhattan Plaza on W. 43rd St., and whose son Patrick attends seventh grade at the school, was there to advocate for the library.

Photos by Yannic Rack

Susan Treacy-Mannix and her son Patrick with the City Knoll school mascot.

“We need it, we need it for these kids,” she said. “Downtown had everything, then they got hit by Sandy and got it again. We never had anything to begin with [in Hell’s Kitchen], and this goes back a long time. That’s why I want this library.” Before moving to a new address this summer, the school spent its first year in the building of PS 51 (on W.

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44th St.) for what’s called an incubation period. “We had access to their library, so it was kind of this little grey area,” said Julie Taegel, who teaches math and English as a second language at City Knoll. Although Armas emphasizes that they will always be a small school, City Knoll is still growing fast. It started out with three classes of sixth graders in September of last year, but they have now moved up to the seventh grade and been replaced by a new incoming class. Next year, the ascending eighth graders will bring the school to full capacity. Since there is a library space set aside but not enough books to fill it, the students now rely on classroom libraries — which usually consist of a few textbooks as well as a small collection of fiction and non-fiction. Most of those are either bought from a small amount set aside for books (contained in the school budget), or consist of leftovers from the previous schools that occupied the building — first St. Michael Academy, a private, all-girls Catholic high school, and later the Clinton School of Artists and Writers, which expanded and moved to a new home on Union Square earlier this year. Although New York State law requires schools to have a library as well as a librarian, there are no fines for those that don’t comply. “There’s no money that comes along with that requirement,” Armas noted, adding that she wants to hire a librarian but has maxed out her budget. “I think because there are no sanctions, schools get away with not having libraries. But it’s something I

Principal Victoria Armas, here on the second floor space set aside for a library, says City Knoll desperately needs more books and a librarian.

believe in, and we should have one.” Apart from a fixed funding allocation, schools in the city receive a tax levy (paid per student on the register), with additional money for students with special needs and English language learners. In its first year, City Knoll also received Title I funding, which is available to schools with high percentages of children from low-income families. But this year, they narrowly missed the target to qualify again. “We missed by .5 percent, which was very upsetting,” said Armas. “We’ll see if we qualify for next year, but that was a huge loss for us [in terms of funding]. It’s tens of thousands of dollars.” Taegel thinks the school especially needs a library because many of its students come from lower-income households — City Knoll is one of only three schools out of the district’s 17 that don’t screen applicants on the basis of interviews or test scores. “We kind of have open enrollment,” Taegel said. “It’s a fact that literacy rates are directly tied to access to books. So if kids are coming from a home that doesn’t have a lot of books, or highly literate parents, they’re already starting way behind.” Taegel has volunteered to become a delegate for the Participatory Budgeting process, which this year will award around $1 million to capital projects across Council District 3. Under the program, residents put together a list of viable projects that could receive funding and, after a

Continued on page 17

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‘Dora’ Harvests the Present to Mine the Past

Photos by Paul B. Goode

The ensemble brings their contemporary perspectives to the recollections of Holocaust survivor Dora Amelan.

BY SCOTT STIFFLER Like the apex of a dancer’s leap, each action we take has its moment in time, then becomes subject to interpretation — by those we share our stories with, and by ourselves, as the decades accumulate and perspective evolves. Twelve years ago, prolific choreographer Bill T. Jones (with a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in the rearview mirror and a Tony Award in his future) began contemplating legacy — not his

Flats designed by Bjorn Amelan are moved in accordance with shifts in location and perspective.

own, but that of his French-Jewish Children), as a nurse and social worker mother-in-law, Dora Amelan. Now 95, operating inside France’s Gurs and she sat down for a series of interviews Rivesaltes internment camps. Premiered by the New York Live with Jones, the man she has come to Arts-based Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane regard as her third son. These reflections would chronicle Dance Company this past June as Dora’s early years in Belgium through part of Montclair State University’s the time of her mother’s death, as Peak Performances series, “Analogy/ the Germans were marching into that Dora: Tramontane” is comprised of 25 B:8.75”vignettes that blend dance, dialogue country — then proceed to her time spent assisting the underground arm T:8.75”and singing, as performed by a multiof OSE (Organization for Saving the racial, multicultural ensemble.

On, Nov. 4, the Museum of Jewish Heritage will host an evening of video performance excerpts, discussion, and questions from the audience. Moderated by Julie Burstein (author of “Spark: How Creativity Works”), the event will provide a firsthand look at the project’s themes, backstory, and creative process. Appearing on the stage of Edmond J. Safra Hall will be Jones, Dora Amelan and her son, Bjorn Amelan (Jones’ husband and longtime collaborator, he designed the flats for “Analogy/Dora,” which move in accordance with shifts in location and perspective). Part one of a trilogy, its self-contained narrative will be bookended by 2017’s “Analogy/Ambrose: The Emigrants” (inspired by a story within author W.G. Sebald’s 1992 collection). The middle installment, “Analogy/ Lance: Pretty aka The Escape Artist,” is set to premiere on July 1, 2016, at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC. Based on an oral history conducted in a similar manner to the “Dora” project, it draws upon the life of Jones’

Continued on page 15

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Two Felony Murder Convictions in 2012 John Laubach Slaying

Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Edwin Faulkner and Juan Carlos Martinez-Herrera at their 2012 arraignment.

Continued from page 1 felony; robbery and kidnapping, the felonies that formed the basis for the felony murder charge; and second-degree manslaughter. They returned a verdict late on Oct. 21. Going into deliberations, the defense, the prosecution, and the judge fought over the charges and legal instructions that the jury was to consider, with the lawyers making comments that suggested they viewed the instructions as complex. The speed with which a verdict was returned suggests the jurors were not at all confused. Altogether, jurors deliberated for about seven hours. Faulkner and Martinez-Herrera were found guilty of felony murder, which carries a sentence of 25-to-life, kidnapping in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, and second-degree manslaughter. Laubach, a 57-year-old gay man, was discovered dead, gagged, and bound in his Chelsea apartment in March 2012. Police quickly focused on Faulkner, 33, and Martinez-Herrera, 30, as the suspects. Roughly two weeks after the older man was found dead, the couple was arrested in Florida still holding many of Laubach’s possessions they had stolen. The defense theory was that Laubach died from a heart attack during consensual sex with the couple in which he asked Faulkner to choke him while .com

he performed oral sex on MartinezHerrera, who testified in the case. The couple claimed they panicked after realizing Laubach was dead. That they then tied him up, presumably believing that he was dead, and stole his possessions, went largely unexplained. The prosecution’s theory was Laubach was killed during a robbery or kidnapping, but Lanita Hobbs, the assistant district attorney who handled the case with Juan Abreu (also an assistant district attorney) did not have to prove if a heart attack killed Laubach, as a defense expert asserted, or if he died by asphyxiation, as a prosecution expert said. Daniel Parker, who represented Martinez-Herrera, certainly appeared to have presented a credible defense that did not explain all the facts in the case, but may have been sufficient to raise reasonable doubt. Parker repeatedly clashed with Bonnie Wittner, the judge in the case. Toward the trial’s close, Parker and Lori Cohen, his co-counsel, told Wittner that they viewed some of her rulings as errors that might lead a higher court to reverse any unfavorable verdict. Daniel Scott, who represented Faulkner, was a quieter presence in the case. The defense attorneys, the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and some of Laubach’s friends either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

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The cast of “Jazz by Shakespeare” in rehearsal.

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BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC The story of how “Jazz by Shakespeare” — an intriguing hybrid of a show to be performed at the Hudson Guild Theatre next month — came to be starts 59 years ago. Duke Ellington had taken his band to Stratford, Canada for a Shakespearean festival in 1956. Impressed by both how warmly the band was welcomed and the abundance of the Elizabethan bard’s plays, Ellington was inspired to write a suite of music, explained Jim Furlong, director of arts for Hudson Guild, in a phone interview. Working with his longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn, Ellington created “Such Sweet Thunder,” named after a line from “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.” In the ’90s, Furlong, working then as a freelance theater director, had an interest in Ellington and discovered the jazz maestro’s suite. “I did some research, and I found the music, and I eventually ended up putting together a short piece incorporating scenes from the plays which inspired Ellington,” he recalled. The show, which was done with pre-ecorded music in the background, was performed at a few off Broadway theaters and the original Knitting Factory, a jazz club on Houston St., said Furlong. Furlong, who has lived in Chelsea since 1998, also founded the Hudson Guild Theatre Company, a part of the nonprofit Hudson Guild that has served the neighborhood for over 100 years.

“The company was founded to provide [theatrical] opportunities for people in the Guild community, which consists of many low-income families in the housing projects — the Elliott-Chelsea Houses and the Fulton Houses,” he said. The company, which puts on three productions a year, has at least one open casting call. It gives people the chance to learn about theater craft, and to work with professionally trained artists, Furlong said. “Both to experience things if they’re interested on a practical level, but also just to be exposed to things as audience members,” he said. Around a year and a half ago, the company applied to the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) for a grant for a multi-disciplinary work. He said he thought of Ellington’s suite, but this time around to produce the show with a “live jazz band, which had also been my dream for the piece.” Furlong explained the company and Hudson Guild have had a relationship with Jazz at Lincoln Center for the past 10 years. The center has brought concerts to children who participate in the nonprofit’s afterschool programs. “They’re very easy to work with, and very generous with time and personnel,” he said. “They were eager to help us with this project.” Jazz at Lincoln Center became a part of the company’s NEA grant application, which strengthened it and helped to make it happen, Furlong said. .com

The Duke, at Hudson Guild Theatre Continued from page 6 Furlong gave an example of the center’s generosity: the budget for the work only included funding for five musicians and “our contact there said, ‘Oh, you can’t do the Ellington harmonies with that few musicians, we’ll throw in three extra for the same cost.’ ” He added, “They’re trying to spread the gospel of jazz, too, so this is a good opportunity — a community center with an underserved population to do that.” “Jazz by Shakespeare” has a total of 13 numbers and is 50 minutes long. “It’s a strange kind of hybrid piece,” said Furlong. “There’s no singing, first of all. Some of the music has just dancing, but most of the music has spoken word over it.” The spoken word is from both dialogue and monologues from Shakespeare’s plays — some of which is spoken rhythmically to the music. There are three scenes from “Othello,” a couple of scenes from “Macbeth,” and scenes from “Hamlet,” “Julius Caesar,” “Henry V,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Timon of Athens.” The actors will be miked, but not the band, he said. “It’s a very novel approach,” he commented. For this incarnation, explained Furlong, dancing has been added. The company has been working with choreographer Matthew Westerby on several projects for the past few years. Westerby brought in four dancers from his eponymous company to perform. Auditions were held for “Jazz by

Image courtesy Hudson Guild Theatre

Giants of literature and music do the mash, in this collaboration between the Hudson Guild Theatre and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Shakespeare.” Two members from the cast are from Chelsea: Joan Ostroff, who will play Puck, is a senior that lives in Penn South, and Mystique Crosby, a visual artist who lives in the Fulton Houses, will make her company debut as Desdemona. The NEA grant has enabled the company to have a higher budget for this production, he said. “This piece is hard to explain to people until you see it, but it’s unlike anything we’ve done before,” Furlong said. “Jazz by Shakespeare” will run select dates from Nov. 6–14 at the Hudson Guild Theatre (441 W. 26th St. btw. 9th & 10th Aves.). Admission

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Enough Already! There’s Plenty of Beer on the Piers THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

Publisher

Jennifer Goodstein

Editor Scott Stiffler

Editorial Assistant Sean Egan

Art Director Michael Shirey

Graphic Designers Rhiannon Hsu Chris Ortiz

Contributors

Stephanie Buhmann Sean Egan Michael Lydon Dusica Sue Malesevic Winnie McCroy Puma Perl Yannic Rack Paul Schindler Trav S.D. Eileen Stukane Zach Williams

Executive VP of Advertising

TALKING POINT I’d like to address my dismay at the Hudson River Park Trust’s (HRPT) ongoing pursuit of locating a Bier Garten directly next to the Chelsea Children’s Carousel (Pier 62, at W. 22nd St). The rational put forth by the HRPT is misdirected and unsuitable. Their claims of Pier 62 as being “underused” should not be grounds to install a bar on park land — especially one next to a children’s area. There are already many commercial operations that liberally serve alcohol near the Chelsea Children’s Carousel. Between Pier 61 and 59 is a bowling alley, at least six party cruise boats, and three very large catering halls that lock up all the best views of that portion of the river — Pier 61 (Lighthouse), Pier 60 (a 2,000-seat venue) and the new Currents that took the space of the city’s largest microbrewery (the failed Chelsea Beer Brewery). Also, just north of the Chelsea Children’s Carousel is the

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• A Hudson River Wild Life Museum in keeping with the carousal’s educational mission. • A Tug Boat Museum with an interactive control room showing tugs docking big ships on a screen (maybe called the John Doswell Museum). The museum could be inside a small, dry-docked, gutted tugboat. • A Shipwreck Museum that details the Coast Guard’s lifeline method used in saving thousands of passengers from the hundreds of shipwrecks that stretch from New York City’s Lower Bay to Montauk

Community Contacts To be listed, email info to scott@chelseanow.com.

Amanda Tarley

Account Executives

Frying Pan, a popular drinking establishment that is rich in maritime history. If the HRPT is so desperate to reinvent the end of Pier 62, they should explore ideas that would be in harmony with the existing Chelsea Children’s Carousel, a oneof-kind ride that spins children clutching to poles atop carved renderings of various Hudson River animals and fish. Below are a few suggestions of alternate uses near the carousal:

COMMUNITY BOARD 4 (CB4) CB4 serves Manhattan’s West Side neighborhoods of Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. Its boundaries are 14th St. on the south, 59/60th St. on the north, the Hudson River on the west, 6th Ave. on the east (south of 26th St.) and 8th Ave. on the east (north of 26th St.). The monthly full board meeting, open to the public, takes place on the first Wed. of the month. The next meeting is Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m. at the Hotel Trades Union (305 W. 44th St., 2nd Fl. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). Call 212736-4536, visit nyc.gov/mcb4 or email them at info@manhattancb4.org. COMMUNITY BOARD 5 (CB5) CB5 represents the central business district of New York City. It includes midtown Manhattan, the Fashion, Flower, Flatiron and Diamond districts, as well as Bryant Park and Union Square Park. The district is at the center of New York’s tourism industry. The Theatre District, Times Square, Carnegie Hall, the Empire State Building and two of the

October 29 - November 04, 2015

region’s transportation hubs (Grand Central Station and Penn Station) fall within CB5. The full board meeting, open to the public, happens on the second Thurs. of the month. The next meeting is Nov. 12, 6 p.m. at Xavier High School (30 W. 16th St. btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves.). Call 212-465-0907, visit cb5.org or email them at office@ cb5.org. THE 300 WEST 23RD, 22ND & 21ST STREETS BLOCK ASSOCIATION Contact them at 300wba@gmail.com. THE WEST 400 BLOCK ASSOCIATION Contact them at w400ba@gmail.com. DISTRICT 3 CITY COUNCILMEMBER COREY JOHNSON Call 212-564-7757 or visit council.nyc. gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml. STATE SENATOR BRAD HOYLMAN Call 212-633-8052 or visit bradhoylman.com.

and also on Long Island Sound. The museum could be inside a stranded small two-masted schooner that could include Coast Guard lifeline demonstrations. • Or maybe all three boutique museums, with a cafe menu featuring aquatic life that inhabitats those wrecks today. Please join me, and other members of the community, in saving the Chelsea Children’s Carousel. A CB4/WPE meeting will be held to discuss this matter on Thurs., Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the office of Community Board 4 (330 W. 42nd St., 26th Fl.). I beg you to voice your concerns. Sincerely, Donathan Salkaln • Communications Chair, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club • Secretary, Chelsea Waterside Park Association • Treasurer, 458-460 W. 23rd St. Owners Corporation

THE MEATPACKING DISTRICT INITIATIVE Visit meatpacking-district.com or call 212-633-0185. PENN SOUTH The Penn South Program for Seniors provides recreation, education and social services — and welcomes volunteers. For info, call 212-243-3670 or visit pennsouthlive.org. THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER At 208 W. 13th St. (btw. 7th & 8th Aves.). Visit gaycenter.org or call 212-620-7310. GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC) At 446 W. 33rd St. btw. 9th & 10th Aves. Visit gmhc.org. Call 212-367-1000. THE CARTER BURDEN CENTER FOR THE AGING This organization promotes the well-being of individuals 60 and older through direct social services and volunteer programs oriented to individual, family and community needs. Call212-879-7400 or visit burdencenter.org.

THE GREENWICH VILLAGE-CHELSEA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Call 212-337-5912 or visit villagechelsea.com.

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POLICE BLOTTER GRAND LARCENY: Nighttime booty raid Gold and diamond jewelry worth $8,675 disappeared overnight from an art studio at 450 W. 15th St. A 45-year-old female employee told police that the valuables were put on a shelf before closing time on Fri., Oct. 23 — but were gone by the next morning, she told police, also noting that the cleaning crew does have access to the video-taped store after hours. No suspects have been arrested, according to a police report.

LEAVING THE SCENE: Adding insult to injury Injury became a laughing matter for the driver who ran over a 74-yearold Chelsea man’s foot on Sat., Oct. 24. The man was near the northeast corner of W. 21st St. and Ninth Ave. when the New Jersey-registered automobile hit the man at about 10 a.m. The driver stopped, chuckled, and then hit the gas. The victim refused medical attention.

ASSAULT: Possible ninja attack Someone wearing all black ambushed a Chelsea resident outside her home on the corner of W. 28th St. and Eighth Ave. on Sat., Oct. 24. The 53-year-old victim had just left her building just before 10:30 a.m. when the assailant punched her in the face and fled southbound on Eighth Ave. Police could not track down the attacker. The victim was taken to Lenox Hill HealthPlex to treat swelling and substantial pain, according to a police report.

GRAND LARCENY: Big city welcome for Texan Someone stole $4,450 worth of electronics from an unlocked charter

CASH FOR GUNS $100 cash will be given (no questions asked) for each handgun, assault weapon or sawed-off shotgun, up to a maximum payment of $300. Guns are accepted at any Police Precinct, PSA or Transit District.

bus on Fri., Oct. 23. The victim, a 29-year-old man from Texas, was playing with a band at the time inside the Highline Ballroom (431 W. 16th St. btw. 9th & 10th Aves.) He returned to the bus at about 10:30 p.m. to find that his MacBook Pro, iPhone, and other electronics were long gone. The unknown thief also grabbed a $100 Pendleton scarf. Security cameras were in the vicinity, but police have not located a suspect.

LEAVING THE SCENE: Street safety be damned The driver of a 2007 gray Nissan Infinity with New Jersey plates hit a construction worker on Fri., Oct. 23 as he directed traffic on the 500 block of W. 28th St. The driver disregarded the safety flag waved by the worker and did not stop to say he was sorry after striking his left elbow at about 8 a.m. A police report did not state whether the 41-year-old victim sought medical treatment.

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Rhymes With Crazy

His ‘First Class’ Idea: Bring Broadway to School BY LENORE SKENAZY Peek into any school on any day, and chances are you will see a little magic. Or a lot. I peeked into PS 347 on E. 23rd St. in Manhattan last week and who should be there but Gregory Jbara, star of stage (the dad in “Billy Elliott”) and screen (he is on “Blue Bloods”), reading out loud about some very scary carrots. Next to him stood an interpreter signing every word, because this is the American Sign Language and English Lower School. “Jasper knew his parents were wrong. Creepy Carrots were real!” Jbara intoned as a group of about a dozen first graders sat at his feet on the rug (wriggling a bit, of course, but wide-eyed with interest). “Where are the carrots?” Jbara asked the kids, pointing to a page of tombstones. “In the deadness!” yelped a little boy. “In the graveyard, yes,” Jbara nodded. So what brought a Tony Award winner to a school where all the kids are deaf, hard of hearing, or “deaf-allied” (that means children of deaf adults)? Facebook and fandom. Gary Wellbrock, the kids’ teacher, has always been a Broadway fanatic. He was a performing arts major back in the day. Now he has a doctorate in deaf education. But if you’re a theater fan and you work in New York City, and you’re active on Facebook, after a while, your worlds merge. So on July 3, just to see what would happen, Wellbrock posted

about an idea he’d been percolating. He called it “Broadway Books First Class.” His idea was to invite Broadway performers to come to his first-grade class and read a book aloud. Why not? The city’s budget for arts education had been dwindling. So here was a way to give the kids a glimpse of the theater world, and a hint of the gift that belongs to all New Yorkers: We live in the capital of the arts. Drink it in! “I just posted, ‘Is anybody interested?’ And within hours, he was like, ‘Yes. I’m in,’ ” Wellbrock recalled, nodding at Jbara. “I typed back, ‘That would be cool,’ but I was really running around like, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ ” The two had never met, but here was Broadway royalty saying, “See you soon!” By the Fourth of July, Wellbrock had four stars signed up. And now his growing list includes drag legend Charles Busch (should be a great class!), actress Alison Fraser (the stripper Tessie Tura in “Gypsy”), as well as Brooklynite Eden DuncanSmith, age 15, who starred in “The Lion King” on Broadway. She’s also in the movie “Meadowland” with Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson. And she also happens to be a former student of Wellbrock’s. Like I said, if you’re in New York and love Broadway, your worlds will eventually merge. “Let’s thank Mr. Jbara,” said Wellbrock, as the actor closed his

book. In addition to a chorus of audible thank yous, many hands waved in the air — the deaf equivalent of clapping. “Some of the kids want to grow up and become actors too,” Wellbrock told him. “I want to be a doctor!” shouted one boy. “I want to be a slapper of things!” shouted another, proceeding to slap himself in the face until everyone told him to cut it out. “Do we have any questions for Mr. Ibara?” Wellbrock jumped in. “Have you danced on TV?” one kid asked. “I have.” “How do you make movies?” asked another, to which Mr. Jbara gave a kid-friendly description of a typical filming day. “Did you always want to be an actor?”

Bingo! That question sent Jbara back to the time he was exactly the same age as these kids. “We learned a song called ‘Frosty the Snowman,’ and the teacher decided she wanted one of the students to dress as Frosty,” he told them. “Everybody wanted to be Frosty, but the teacher decided it was actually going to be me.” He looked a little misty, recalling his first gig. After all, it set the stage — as it were — for the rest of his life. The kids seemed to understand, and one came over wearing a bunny puppet on his hand, which he hopped up and down Jbara’s arm. “What’s this?” Jbara asked. “A lion,” the boy replied. First grade can be a magical time. Especially if there’s a teacher who makes sure of it. Lenore Skenazy is a public speaker who authored the book, and founded the blog, Free-Range Kids (freerangekids.com).

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Photos by Zach Williams

Footage from the demonstration, quickly became available online as activists shot videos and photos and posted them to social media.

Chelsea resident Eileen Feldman (right) told protester Hannah Raytaylor (left) that protests against police brutality unfairly demonize law enforcement as a whole.

Protests Annoying? Murder Is Infuriating, Say #RiseUpO Continued from page 1 racial issues in a society resistant to change. “I think that inequality is f***ed up, and it should be slowing down and coming to a halt, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen any time soon, so this is very necessary, very necessary,” said Raytaylor, a senior at Bard College. “I told her that if she is annoyed, it is a little more than annoying to have your families murdered constantly. People being murdered, that’s not annoying. It’s infuriating.” A communal sense of urgency prevailed among the activists throughout the event known by the hashtag #RiseUpOctober and organized by philosopher Cornel West and Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Community Party, USA. Protesters largely avoided confrontation with the dozens of police officers who shadowed them throughout the day, but organizers did not mince words at the rally held on the northern side of Washington Square Park. More than a dozen family members of the victims of police shootings came to New York City for the event. Several hundred activists throughout the country listened as they and event organizers urged the crowd to press for police reform as the means to reach a more equitable society. The absence of criminal charges against police who have killed people of color factored heavily into their rhetoric. “Police are killing us all over this country. Those of us who thought we lived in a region where we thought we were safe got a wake-up call,” said Reverend Jerome McCorry. “We will ask the question, ‘Have you ever seen a good policeman?’ And I will say ‘No,’ because I don’t see them testifying against each other.” The legal system aids police officers in escaping accountability for the deaths of loved ones, said the family members. No indictments were issued in the

October 29 - November 04, 2015

People of color said that marching allows them to convey how law enforcement targets them without accountability.

cases of Garner and Brown, and a sense of justice eludes Cephus Johnson, whose nephew Oscar Grant was shot in the back in Oakland, Calif. on New Year’s Day 2009. The police officer that shot Grant served a two-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Johnson invoked a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he told the crowd why he had come to New York City in memory of his nephew. “Cowards ask ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks, ‘Is it political?’ Vanity asks, ‘Is it popular?’ But conscience asks, ‘Is it right?’ There comes a time when neither

safe, political, nor vanity is why you stand. You stand up because it is right. Rise up!” he said. West added that the rally and march were about “love,” but filmmaker Quentin Tarantino told the crowd that he had to call “murderers the murderers.” The crowd cheered. There was room for further vitriol towards law enforcement as the march began to make its way north. A few people among the activists cast aspersions against the police such as “pig” or “the only good cop is a dead cop” but the march as a whole peacefully made its way through the West Village .com

More than a dozen family members of people killed by police spoke on Oct. 24, at a two-hour rally at Washington Square Park, which ultimately made its way to Times Square.

Activists rallied at Times Square as dozens of police looked on following the main march through the West Side.

October Participants and Chelsea by chanting slogans heard throughout similar actions in the past year. They wanted to “shut it down,” and called the NYPD “racist,” as officers confined the march to one lane to maintain traffic in the other lanes of Sixth Ave. The point of marching is to express frustration that despite some progress, black and brown people still face entrenched racism in America, according to Harlem resident Rahim Mcillwain, whose 10-year-old daughter Ablessin marched alongside him. “I think that today should bring about an understanding and letting the people as a whole know what we’re going through,” he said. “There’s a lot on my mind. Words can’t really express how I really feel.” After rallying again at the intersection of W. 42nd St. and Sixth Ave., a group of about 100 activists moved onwards to Times Square. A woman scaled the statue of composer/playwright/lyricist George M. Cohan, just before a ruckus erupted between police and the protesters. A black man with a child on his shoulders had been standing on an adjacent bench, and was suddenly thrown to the ground by police and swiftly taken away. The remaining crowd jeered at stone-faced police, who arrested several other protesters that day. White people among the marchers said that they couldn’t know on a personal level the sentiments of their black and brown counterparts who feel targeted by police on a daily basis. Twenty blocks to the south, Hannah Raytaylor made that case to Eileen Feldman, but the #RiseUpOctober march was as much about self-improvement as spreading the word, Raytaylor said in an interview. “It’s not my experience. I am of privilege. I have never really had real struggle in my life, and I’m aware of that and I want to be able to raise my awareness as much as possible, be as conscious of a human as I can,” she said. .com

Philosopher Cornel West (above at podium) organized the Oct. 24 #RiseUpOctober event with Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Community Party, USA.

Dozens of police followed the march and arrested several activists along the way. October 29 - November 04, 2015

October 29 - November 04, 2015

.com

‘Dora’ Has a Contemporary Take on Living History Continued from page 4 nephew, a dancer, during a tumultuous period in 1970s San Francisco. “They all have a strong connection to war,” said New York Live Arts spokesperson Kyle Maude of the trilogy, in an Oct. 26 phone interview conducted as she was en route to pick up her mother at the airport. Due to give birth any day at that point (baby August has since arrived, healthy and adorable), Maude noted that all of the “Analogy” works explore variations of “a war happening in the world…how each person is affected by that, and how they deal with it on the inside.” Later that same day, as Maude was anticipating the arrival of a new life, Jones also spoke with this reporter, while on the way to address a family concern of his own. Lance, currently living in Florida, is “in recovery after having lost the use of his lower limbs due to certain medical circumstances not quite understood,” according to a press statement. Absorbing both of these events, and the willingness of Maude and Jones to make themselves available in the midst of such upheaval, puts one in mind of the “Dora” project’s imperative to layer the past, present and future, along with its function as a way to preserve the experiences of a rapidly disappearing generation, for the benefit of generations to come. “Dora is much more fragile than when we did the oral histories. Any day could be her last,” says Jones, who regards the Nov. 4 event — indeed, any time spent with his mother-in-law — as “something very precarious; us sitting on that stage and talking. It’s very urgent that I don’t take any day for granted with her. She’s very much alive right now, so this is a privilege.” This upcoming conversation, like the work it references, functions in part to contemporize Dora’s wartime experiences. “From the very beginning, the piece {“Analogy/Dora”] was conceived to not be totally backward-looking,” says Jones, who wanted his performers “to feel the questions they had in their youth reflected in a time sixty to seventy years prior,” when Dora was in her late teens and early twenties. Rather than asking them to fully comprehend the external conditions of that era or interpret the internal process of “a woman whose first lan.com

guage is French, who speaks Hebrew and German when you sit with her,” the source material arrived with the expectation that it would be “interpreted through their basic knowledge, instincts and skills. They are the contemporary world,” says Jones, whose “gender partitioned” casting has men asking the questions he once posed, and women giving voice to Dora’s responses. “They’re not trying to imitate Dora. That’s why they are themselves,” notes Jones, who counts among his ensemble “a young woman from Taiwan, an African-American woman, and a white woman. Their very bodies represent what is meant when you ‘read the stage.’ To look at them, there is a kind of dissonance when you realize the story being told is from the 1940s.” Although firmly set in the past, Jones emphasizes that “Analogy/Dora” was not created to simply preserve that era, or serve only those interested in exploring it. “What we’re making is not [just] about the Holocaust. It’s about making theater with the people you have now.” Nor is it simply about the word-forword interviews, he asserts. A book could do that just, if not more, effectively. Instead, on the stage, “There’s a system at work,” says Jones, which articulates itself in “the way we handle the flats, the repetition of certain tableaus. When you ask yourself what is being said, it’s almost like the question of right and wrong [that Dora asks, when responding to a question about the difference between cooperation and collaboration]. Is it shifting? Is it lucid? Will it change in your memory over time?” As for how time will impact the “Dora” project, Jones notes that for artists (in general, and certainly specific to himself), “there is a tendency to collect experiences from the world, make your work, and move on. This work, because of how it has landed in the hearts and minds of people, it is not so clear as to what its future will be.” Wed., Nov. 4, 7 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place). For tickets ($15, $10 for Museum members, $5 for students with valid ID), call 646-437-4202 or visit mjhnyc. org. Access more info about The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company at newyorklivearts.org (where Jones serves as artistic director).

Photo by Stephanie Berger

Flip the script on choreographer and oral historian Bill T. Jones, when he answers the questions: Nov. 4 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

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School Looking for Books, and a Place to Keep Them

Photos by Yannic Rack

One of the small classroom libraries that currently serve as the main resource for students.

Continued from page 2 lengthy review process, vote on a final ballot to pick their top five in April. Last year’s winners included a new park on W. 20th St. and a range of renovations for the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies (on W. 17th St.) and PS 3 (on Hudson St.). But even if a library for City Knoll is funded, it could take years until it actually materializes. Out of the projects selected during last year’s inaugural Participatory Budgeting process, none have broken ground so far. So in the meantime, City Knoll is looking for funding sources elsewhere. Last year, one of the new teachers joined from a school that was being phased out — so its principal bequeathed some materials to City Knoll. “We took everything they’d give us, and so that helped a great deal,” Armas said. “We got a lot of art books, so our art classroom has some books now.” A literacy coach also comes in twice a month to bring the kids up to grade level by the time they leave for high school. This is funded by Middle School Quality Initiative, an effort by

the city’s Department of Education that also provides City Knoll with an iPad app that gives access to digital reading materials. The school purchased 20 iPads last year, which are used by classes on a regular basis and wheeled around in two “tech carts.” Armas is planning to expand the collection with laptops and printers, which will be bought with a grant the school recently won from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office. Although the money is a big help, it is limited to technology and can’t be used for buying more books, or to hire a librarian. “We continue to explore how we can do that,” Armas said. “We’ve also been hitting up the construction companies, because this area is booming.” Just a short walk down the street from the school, the $20 billion Hudson Yards project is underway, and countless other developments have sprung up in the area in recent years. “We deal with all the pounding of the foundations. The PTA will talk to them and ask if they can donate something,” Armas said, adding that a library has benefits aside from storing books. “There’s a whole aura about a C

Matt Licari, a social studies teacher, with his small stock of textbooks and teaching materials.

library that is scholarly,” she notes. least you can come to the library and “I think it goes along with the whole take a few books home.” For parents package. I’ve been an educator for like Treacy-Mannix, whose son will more than thirty years, and reading start his final grade at City Knoll next opens doors. year, the point of a proper library is “We have a lot of kids that don’t even more straightforward. have a computer at home. Imagine if “If we can do this, these kids have you haveMX_COMMED_LeslieLohman.pdf to research something and a2:09:50 better 1 10/21/2015 PM shot at getting into good high don’t have access to a computer. At schools,” she said.

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ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Dandy Darkly’s Bloody Tales Have Real Guts ‘Trigger Happy’ targets horror, American-style BY SCOTT STIFFLER Capering about the stage dressed in cowboy/disco chic, with pursed red lips and a face caked in corpse-meets-Kabuki makeup, Dandy Darkly is a mincing, lilting, alliteration-spouting avenger whose signature look screams horror — but it’s no mere Halloween gimmick. What you’ll see at the UNDER St. Marks theater on October 29, 30 and 31 is what you get all year long. That’s both disturbing and reassuring — effects that, while seemingly at odds, are twin pillars supporting a solid philosophical foundation. Birthed in 2010 on the stage of the Stonewall Inn and developed through a series of guest appearances on Gotham’s cabaret and storytelling circuit, Darkly is the “Southern fried sissy” creation of Brooklyn transplant Neil Arthur James. Trained from childhood in “the art of Georgia ghost stories,” his work stays true to that narrative backbone, while grafting onto it elements of pop culture, satire, and sexual transgression. It’s as if an unexpected ill wind has blown across a campfire session of one-upsmanship tales, burning eyes and leaving a thick layer of soot in its wake. With this upcoming Halloween gig marking his fourth collection of original material (joining well-polished gems like the anti-misogyny “Pussy Panic” and the pro-homo “Glory Hole”), Darkly has amassed an impressive body of meticulously constructed supernatural morality tales packed to the gills with Vaudevillian one-liners that induce groans, horrific images that elicit gasps, and psych profile character sketches that expose motives both sinister and pure. Joining the Crypt Keeper, Svengoolie and Elvira in the pantheon of creepshow hosts who delight in executing campy framing devices, the actual stories that give a Darkly show its pulpy marrow snake their way toward karmic comeuppances straight out of an Aesop fable or a

October 29 - November 04, 2015

Photo by Bobby Miller

Dandy Darkly is a straight shooter with the mouth of a sailor and the mind of a psycho.

“Twilight Zone” shocker. Everybody gets what they deserve, and nobody emerges unscathed — except in rare instances when, for example, Darkly provides his own spin on ’80s teen slasher flicks. Unlike the victims stalked by Jason Voorhees or Freddie Krueger, it’s a lack of sexual activity that puts his characters in harm’s way. Excess is rewarded, but only if it’s in the service of staying true to your nature.

That’s one of the hard-earned lessons in Darkly’s new show. Thoroughly enjoyed by this reviewer over the summer (at a Dixon Place world premiere just before its well-received Edinburgh Festival Fringe run), “Trigger Happy” is a four-story collection cut with winks and nods that only slightly dilute the potency of outrage directed at America’s weakness for violence, excess, and complacency. Time-

honored boogeymen like werewolves and ghosts spread fear and mayhem alongside more recent horrors like mass shootings and Reality TV. Throughout, Darkly recites long observational and narrative passages at a breakneck pace, gliding with ease through the alliteration-heavy text (an acquired skill that owes as much to the actor’s work ethic as it does to Ian Bjorklund’s corset-tight direction). “Their disco dancing became a bloody ballet, a spray of crimson confetti and tracer fire the color of claret,” he says in the opening story “Silver Dollar” (in which a self-loathing ex-military man’s PTSD figures into the tale of “lycanthropy, anxiety and southern fried sodomy!”). Elsewhere in the show, “Final Girl” begins with the discovery of a once-vivacious starlet in her final role (as a headline-making corpse!), then provides the backstory — a cannibalistic tale in which Hollywood and the insatiable viewing public feed on one of their own. The plucky heroine of “American Apparel” is a drag queen rat named Bidet, who temporarily reclaims an iconic gay bar that’s fallen victim to changing times. “Craigslist, Manhunt and Scruff,” notes Darkly, “took cruising off the barstool and on to the Internet and abruptly, unexpectedly, the Poppycock was padlocked.” When the titular retail behemoth moves in, it does so as a “corporate cancer” growing “inside the hollowed husks of hallowed LGBT hostelry.” The real terror comes when former bar patrons return as gentrified zombies, marching “one by one, to a massive meat grinder where rag dolls chewed them into commercial chum.” Destined to walk the earth with a sweet tooth for underdogs and a short fuse for ambivalence, Darkly uses these blood-soaked tales of horror and revenge as a vehicle for his own eccentric (but righteous) brand

Continued on page 19 .com

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Continued from page 18 of social, political, and sexual activism. With a singsongy voice that chugs its way toward the falsetto range and dissipates into a breathy vapor once it reaches that peak, we’re invited to laugh at his fey nature, even mock it on occasion — an effective ruse that comes back to

haunt, when sudden bursts of violent imagery transport the audience into an unsettling realm where nervous laughter is the only sane response. At 8 p.m., Thurs.–Sat., Oct. 29–31 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place, btw. First Ave. & Ave. A). For tickets ($25, $20 for students), visit horsetrade.info. Artist info at dandydarkly.com.

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October 29 - November 04, 2015

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Hail to the (Blu-ray) King, Baby New ‘Army of Darkness’ edition is great prep for Starz series BY SEAN EGAN Alright, ya primitive screwheads, listen up. You see this? This is a brand new Blu-ray edition of “Army of Darkness.” S-Mart’s top of the line… For both fans of and newbies to the cult classic, the timing of Scream! Factory’s new edition of “Army of Darkness,” the third film in writer/director Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy, could not be any better — Halloween is just around the corner, as is the premiere of “Ash vs Evil Dead,” the highly anticipated Starz network television series sequel to the film (premiering Oct. 31). The trilogy’s plot centers around one Ashley “Ash” Williams, a simple man who works in the housewares department of S-Mart, and has an uncanny penchant for unleashing demons and waking the dead. In the first two installments, Ash (and various unfortunate comrades) unwittingly read from the Necronomicon (the book of the dead) in a secluded, non-descript cabin, unleashing ancient, evil spirits that raise the dead and violently possess people (known as “deadites”). “Army of Darkness” picks up after Ash, while attempting to subdue the evil forever, accidentally time warps to the Middle Ages, shotgun and chainsaw-arm in tow (it’s a long story). The film chronicles Ash’s subsequent culture shock, and, as per usual (for him at least), his epic battle with the deadites and the forces of evil, in an attempt to stop them for good and get back home. The film has held up incredibly well since its release in 1992, in large part because there’s nothing else quite like it. It’s easy to see why it’s become so beloved, and (arguably) the most popular installment of the series with a more general audience. While hardcore horror fans may prefer the more sincere scares of “The Evil Dead” or the gonzo gore of “Evil Dead II,” “Army of Darkness” is the most palatable film of the bunch — everyone from the squeamish horror novice to the genre flick expert can find something to enjoy. It’s certainly more of a straight-up comedy than any of the others, and its goofy, intensely physical sense of humor — not to mention its standalone nature — are amongst its strongest assets. Raimi’s signature hyper-kinetic direction helps to render the zippy, quippy script (co-written with his brother, Ivan) into what amounts to a live-action slapstick cartoon. He’s aided in this .com

Courtesy Shout! Factory

Ash shows off his “boomstick,” as the titular army encroaches, in Scream Factory’s new cover art.

feat immeasurably by some still-stunning Ray Harryhausen-inspired practical effects, as well as his leading man, Bruce Campbell. With the good looks of a matinee idol and the rubber-faced commitment of the Three Stooges, Campbell is a singular, charismatic presence — and his work here solidifies Ash’s position in the pantheon of iconic horror characters. Of course, plenty of people are already intimately familiar with the movie’s charms — and plenty of these obsessive fans already own it in one form or another. Over the years, various cuts of the film have been released dozens of times on home media, and it’s often been frustrating for fans to parse out which edition has what cut of the film, let alone get their hands on the one they want. What Scream! Factory (Shout! Factory’s horror imprint) has done with this collector’s edition is produce what is as close to the definitive edition of

the film as possible. The three-disc set brings together all four official cuts, with all their various quirks and footage, into one package for the first time. The most common cuts are present and accounted for — both the breakneck-paced US

theatrical cut, and the more cohesive director’s cut (which adds back 15 minutes of footage) look great (aside for a few grainy passages in the latter). Most impressive here is the international cut, which looks excellent with a new 4K transfer, while the so-called “television” cut is amusingly presented in academy ratio and standard definition. And if collecting all the various cuts isn’t quite enough to satiate the most diehard fan, the folks at Scream! Factory have included some sugar to sweeten the deal, baby. Spaced out over the set is a whole host of unique special features — the centerpiece of which is a brand new, feature length documentary. It’s a handsomely produced piece, featuring interviews with much of the creative team, including Campbell (but unfortunately not Sam Raimi), and extensive archival footage — an amusing and illuminating watch. One can choose to dive further with other new, extended looks at the visual effects, interviews, and storyboards. Also included are many of the essential extras included on past editions, such as commentary by Campbell, Sam and Ivan Raimi on the director’s cut, and a number of older behind the scenes featurettes. Plus, it’s all wrapped up alluringly in a slipcover brandished with new, beautifully pulpy artwork. And so, this Halloween season, fans both old and new are heartily encouraged to do the right thing and shop smart — shop Scream! Factory, and add “Army of Darkness” to their collections. “Army of Darkness” Collector’s Edition Blu-ray is now available via Scream! Factory. To purchase ($26.97), visit shoutfactory.com, or other major retailers.

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TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT CALL 212-757-3688 October 29 - November 04, 2015

October 29 - November 04, 2015

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Buhmann on Art ‘Nuevos Colores’ at Robert Miller Gallery BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN This extensive and rather timely group exhibition presents a cross-generational group of artists who all live and work in Havana, Cuba. The range of media is eclectic — including site-specific installations, sculptures, paintings, works on paper and photographs, among others. In order to enter the exhibition, visitors will have to pass underneath a site-specific installation by Arlés del Rio, which is comprised of multi-colored, elongated snorkels. Hanging just out of reach, they generate a sense of visceral yearning for what lies beyond. Holding up a pie pan embroidered with thread and beads in her self-portrait photograph, Aimée García also expresses her longing to be freed from the everyday, and her hope to find magic in the mundane. Elsewhere, Ariamna Contino’s Courtesy Robert Miller Gallery hand-cut and meticulously layered Carlos Quintana: “Intriga en el Monasterio” (2015 | 78 11/16 x 86 three-dimensional paper images con9/16 in; 200 x 220 cm). trast the paper’s inherent fragility with the subject matter: deadly weapons used to commit mass murder. What these works have in common, aside from their shared cultural background, is that they reference a Cuban socio-political context. Here, oppression, yearning, dichotomies, and alternate realities are recurring themes. Through Nov. 14 at Robert Miller Gallery (524 W. 26th St. btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Sat., 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Call 212366-4774 or visit robertmillergallery.com.

Courtesy Robert Miller Gallery

Aimée García: “Constelaciones” (2010 | digital photograph on canvas embroidered with thread and beads | 31 7/16 x 20 13/16 in; 80 x 53 cm).

Courtesy Robert Miller Gallery

Arlés del Rio: “La Necesidad de Otros Aires” (2015 | installation: silicone, nylon, plastic and metal no. 2, 3, and 4 [300 plastic tubes] | dimensions variable). .com

October 29 - November 04, 2015

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