Manhattan Theatre Source and FRIGID New York with The Cooper Union present the 22nd annual EstroGenius Festival from Sunday, March 20, 2022 through Sunday April 3, 2022 Based at The Kraine Theater, 85 E. 4th St., NYC, this year's festival expands to include Cooper Union and Under St. Mark's Tickets are $25 or pay-what-you-can and can be purchased online at http://www.estrogenius.nyc/ by phone at (212) 777-6088 or at the Box Office.

 

EstroGenius celebrates its return to live in-person audiences with a riotous collection of performances by womxn, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and trans dance-makers, playwrights, experimental performers, teens, musicians, burlesque performers, filmmakers, DJs and anyone else looking to break molds and crack gender codes. Many performances will also be available for at home livestreams. EstroGenius, founded in 2000 at Manhattan Theatre Source by Fiona Jones, originated as a short-play fest to support dynamic female characters, always celebrating inclusivity and pushing gender parity in theatre. Heading into EstroGenius's 22nd year, at the helm of the festival are Melissa Riker (Kinesis Project dance theatre, Women in Motion) and maura nguyên donohue (she/they - Director, MFA in Dance at Hunter College/CUNY). Festival curators are Mary Hodges (Actor, Lehman Trilogy, Broadway; Assistant Director, Slave Play, Golden Theatre; Co-President, League of Professional Theatre Women) Julie Ann Lucas (director, actor, producer) and John C. Robinson (On the Boards, Emerald City Music, Meany Center for the Performing Arts.) Now, In its 22nd year EstroGenius is the longest running festival of its kind, and continues to expand an inclusive view of the diverse and creative community that is a womxn's festival.

 

OVERVIEW OF FESTIVAL

Sunday March 20-April 3 - EstroGenius At The Kraine Theater

Sundays during the festival will be special events fostering dialogue, joy and calm - from the Syfy Sistas to Molly Kirschner's poetry - EstroGenius's Sunday afternoons will be a destination for audience members who want to diverge from their usual path. Thursday through Saturday, arrive for dance, dialogue and music by award winning and cutting edge performance artists. 

Wednesday, March 23, 2022-March 27, 2022 - Solo Voce: RE|Claim RE|Build Opens at Under St. Mark's

EstroGenius's 2022 Solo Voce series offers our audiences the opportunity to journey, listen and engage with one powerful creative voice at a time. We are thrilled to share this exciting list of artists with you, closing on the 27th with the voices of talented teens via Girl Be Heard.

See one show, or enjoy the full series brought to you by curators Mary Hodges and Julie Ann Lucas.

Thursday, March 23, 6:30-7:30 PM – EstroGenius dance and music takes The Great Hall Stage at Cooper Union

EstroGenius Festival will bring the drums, dances, and voices of powerful artists to the stage of the Great Hall. Curated by maura nguyên donohue EstroGenius's producers and curators are dedicated to creating stable platforms for artists and introducing audiences to a diverse and talented list of artists. Festival co-producer and curator, maura nguyên donohue explains "Our return to live, in-person events reflects more than a reclamation of space, but a way to recognize the myriad losses and learnings of the past two years. I'm deeply honored to share the path with a collection of artists who are manifesting new realities as they attune to the possibilities beyond binaries, colonies, categories and histories." 

 

DETAILED SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Sunday, March 20, 2022

2-3:30PM – RE|Claim with the SyFy Sistas: Can You Hear Me Now? Black Women Reclaiming Our Creative Voices at The Kraine Theater

From comics to podcasting, from movies to Lt. Uhura. Let the SyFy Sistas lead you in a discussion on how Black women are reclaiming their past, current and future roles in creative spaces.

 

Wednesday, March 23, 2022 

7-8PM Solo Voce: RE|Claim RE|Build SHATTERED by Diana Varco at Under St. Marks

"Clever, brilliant, disturbing, funny, and heartbreaking all in equal measure' - Jodie McVicar, BroadwayBaby.com (***** - Edinburgh Fringe) All her life Diana hasn't hit it off with the fellas. In 3rd grade, she kicked her crush in the crotch and her dating life didn't improve from there. What starts as a quick look into why Diana doesn't date much, ends up a comedic and heartbreakingly raw solo show journey through dating, dysfunction, and sexual devastation - told through the voices of 35+ characters. Diana delivers a fast-paced, powerhouse performance filled with wit, poignancy and vulnerability, as she explores themes such as the psychological fall out of sexual assault, power of Shame, post-traumatic growth and much more. Using comedy to take us through tragedy, Shattered triumphantly tells the tale of one individual picking up the broken pieces of herself and learning to live again.

9-10PM Solo Voce: RE|Claim RE|Build Runaway Princess, a hopeful tale of heroin, hooking and happiness by Mary Goggin at Under St. Mark's

Former New York City call girl Mary Goggin, shares her award-winning true story of sex, drugs and Irish Catholic nuns, told with dark humor, unflinching honesty and unsentimental pathos as she recounts her journey from utter darkness to absolute joy.

 

Thursday March 24, 2022 

6:30-7:30 PM – EstroGenius dance and music takes The Great Hall Stage at Cooper Union

EstroGenius Festival will bring the drums, dances, and voices of powerful artists Karisma Jay & AbunDance, Kathryn Alter and Potri Ranka Manis/Kinding Sindaw to the stage of the historic Great Hall. Curated by maura nguyễn donohue.

8-9PM - Solo Voce, In Process: RE|Claim RE|Build with Ash Mayers and Shauna Bloom at Under St. Mark's

Shauna Bloom's "itutor"(30 mins): A private tutor helps her students and their parents with school challenges during the pandemic lockdown and Ash Mayers "Untitled" (30 mins) Ash meditates on her relationship to her migraines. She explores what chronic pain has helped her discover about herself while taking us on her journey to find a cure.

9-10PM – RE|Claim: EstroGenius Genius Variety at The Kraine Theater

Canadian singer-songwriter and visual artist Mimi Oz melds elements of soul, rock n' roll, and jazz to her ever-growing sonic palette. As host of this genre swapping evening Oz will play music and create space for amazing artists Sister JSpencer (spoken word), Michi Osato/BrAss Burlesque, and musician Adriana Adeline. Curated by Frigid NY

 

Friday March 25, 2022

7PM RE|Claim is an evening of works including artists from the interrupted March 2020 Festival at The Kraine Theater

Portia Wells (they/them) "Inside Flesh Mountain" and Cory Villegas/Soul Dance Co. "FREED" return to reclaim the spots in front of live audiences, once again. The program includes a return from 2018 Festival artist Kirsten Davis (they/them), whose "They will come" is a series of beginnings exploring the space to start over, to reinstate, to recover. The heart holds memories, the body dances the remembrances thick with knowing and feeling. Newcomer Manuela Agudelo's (she/her) "Magia Cafetera" honors the legacy of Afro Indigenious Colombian women whose sacred connection with earth is what continues to heal and feed so many bodies and souls through their work in farming and harvesting coffee. The Kraine. Curated by maura nguyễn donohue. 

8PM Solo Voce: RE|Claim RE|Build with Deirdre McDowell's "Down To Eartha" at Under St. Marks

This play tells the story of the day that Eartha Kitt was invited to a luncheon at the White House in 1968 and then was blacklisted for over 10 years because she expressed her opinion against the Vietnam War. 

Solo Voce is curated by Mary Hodges and Julie Ann Lucas

 

Saturday, March 26, 2022

5PM RE|Claim with Hunter MFA in Dance Sneak Peek & Mellon Public Humanities Mental Health in Dance Panel at The Kraine Theater

Catch a glimpse of upcoming evening length thesis works from the Hunter College MFA in Dance Program. Francesca Dominguez (she/her) will perform her solo "Reaching out from underneath" live. Maiya Redding (she/her) and Gia Mongell (she/her) will screen excerpts of their films. Redding's "Letters to Medusa" reclaims a disastrous mythology in a consideration of the depth of Medusa's tale and its modern-day significance in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Mongell's "Meet and Run" is a musical film that brings vibrant dance, cinematography and a team of new voices to the field. The program will conclude with a discussion led by Mellon Public Humanities Scholar and CUNY BA student, Elena Sundick (she/her), whose current research is on mental health needs in the dance community. The Kraine. Curated by maura nguyễn donohue. 

6PM - Solo Voce: RE|Claim RE|Build with Ann Richardson's "Doozy/Aan's Side Lady" at Under St. Mark's

A famous actress contemplates memoirs in her last hour. Produced by Mary Hodges and Julie Ann Lucas

7PM RE|Claim with short dance works-in-progress by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, Aretha Aoki, Katherine De La Cruz, Mai Lê Grooves & a WTF is gender panel with visual artist Sasa Yung at The Kraine Theater

Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith's (she/her) feminist works use abstract dance to break down patriarchal systems of female degradation through physical paradigms. As objects of this work, the artists position themselves as recognizable images of female objectification, only to deconstruct and reconstitute these forms through embodied movement and connection. Within this arena of deeply understood femininity and friendship, images dissolve as feelings communicate viscerally. Aretha Aoki's "IzumonookunI" is sci-fi-punk-futuristic mixed media dance piece by Aretha Aoki and Ryan MacDonald. Incorporating dance, built objects, and original sound and video design, the piece braids together the (her)story of Kabuki theater, the women who have been erased in Aretha Aoki's family due to the patriline, and the structure of "strange loops"— cyclic forms that evade their hierarchical and linear-seeming progressions. In "Le pot", Mai Lê journeys through waves of personal challenge relating to self, others, dreams, and growth. Katherine De La Cruz's "Casas de Carton"uses this famous Salvadorean protest song in a reflection of Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano's question "What use does the idea of Utopia have?" as a call to attention about inequality and the exploitation of working class people. The evening will close with a "WTF is gender" panel convened by trans visual artist and Parsons School of Design student Sasa Yung (he/they). Curated by maura nguyễn donohue. 

8PM - Solo Voce RE|Claim \RE|Build with Joan Kane's "Almost 13" at Under St. Mark's

Almost 13 presents memories of a young girl's violent summer in Brooklyn. Emotionally broken from witnessing a murder and more, she finds herself dancing with a ghost. Can she survive being caught between a disintegrating family and racial violence? 

 

Sunday, March 27, 2022

2pm - RE|Claim with Poet Molly Kirschner - At The Kraine Theater

Molly Kirschner's poems draw inspiration from science, eros, and the absurd, inviting readers into the ritual practice of homing in on rapture, humor, beauty, the metaphysical and strange. Kirschner, previously a featured reader at venues including Cornelia Street Cafe (NYC), Bowery Poetry (NYC) Club, and the Maple Leaf Bar (New Orleans), offers these poems to you with the immediacy exclusive to live performance. She has published two books of poetry, and her poems have appeared in journals including The Southern Review, The New Ohio Review, and One Magazine. Her new manuscript was a finalist for the 2021 Four Way Books Levis Prize in Poetry.

3pm - Solo Voce RE|Claim \RE|Build with Girl Be Heard at Under St. Marks

Girl Be Heard's mission is to build leaders, changemakers and activists through socially conscious theater-making, storytelling and performance. These pieces - a series of monologues,vignettes and poems performed by members of Girl Be Heard's Company, explore themes of fear, home, family and acceptance. They are loud in individuality, uniqueness and charisma. Our work is our voice through which we inspire change. Curated by Melissa Riker and Girl Be Heard

 

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

8PM - RE|Build with Paper Kraine at The Kraine Theater

 

Thursday, March 31, 2022

7PM - RE|Build with LEIMAY: Ximena Garnica & Shige Moriya and Marion Spencer + Collaborators at The Kraine Theater

RE|Build with LEIMAY and Marion Spencer + Collaborators is an evening of depth and dancing, a shared bill between two sets of artists who are peeling back meaning in art, social inquiry and community. Curated by John Robinson and Melissa Riker

9PM - RE|Build with Music (To Be Announced) at The Kraine Theater

 

Friday, April 1, 2022

7-8 PM - RE|Build with Amber Sloan, Zoe|Juniper (film), Zhennesse Heinemann, Joanna Kotze (film) at The Kraine Theater

Strikingly beautiful dance paired with candid and eccentric performance are brought together with live performances by Amber Sloan and Zhen Heinemann and two two gorgeous short dance films: Zoe|Juniper's Ordinary Grief (the people to come) and Joanna Kotze's Nothing's changed except for everything created with Ryan Seaton and Chris Cameron. The evening is curated by John Robinson and Melissa Riker.

 

Saturday, April 2, 2022

5-6PM – RE|Build with Amber Sloan, Zoe|Juniper (film), Zhennesse Heinemann, Joanna Kotze (film) at The Kraine Theater

Strikingly beautiful dance paired with candid and eccentric performance are brought together with live performances by Amber Sloan and Zhen Heinemann and two two gorgeous short dance films: Zoe|Juniper's Ordinary Grief (the people to come) and Joanna Kotze's Nothing's changed except for everything created with Ryan Seaton and Chris Cameron. The evening is curated by John Robinson and Melissa Riker.

7-8PM – RE|BUILD with Marion Spencer and Collaborators at The Kraine Theater

This is an evening of dance and depth in two halves - a group work, and a solo work, by Marion Spencer and Collaborators. The group piece, 'part two' is an emerging/ongoing interdisciplinary dance project including collaborating artists Ogemdi Ude, Symara Johnson, Kimiko Tanabe, Tara Sheena, s. lumbert and slowdanger. Curated by John Robinson and Melissa Riker.

 

Sunday, April 3, 2022

2pm - Reading To Be Announced

 

About the Festival

Manhattan Theatre Source's EstroGenius Festival, an annual celebration of female-identifying, gnc, non-binary & trans voices, is New York City's longest running festival of its kind. Founded by Fiona Jones in 2000, the festival debuted with a program of 10 short plays and music. Since then, it has grown into a multi-week event including short plays, solo shows, teen performances, visual art, and dance. In past years, we've also had stand-up comedy, live music, fundraisers for girls' education, and full-day networking events with panels and workshops. Almost completely volunteer run, the EstroGenius Festival has provided thousands of artists the chance to shine; showcased award-winning playwrights Sheila Callaghan, Quiara Alegria Hudes, T.D. Mitchell and Melissa Maxwell; presented Bessie Award-winning choreographers Marta Renzi, Jasmine Hearn and Jennifer Nugent; and provided scholarships for girls to attend school in Niger. “We are committed to providing opportunities to marginalized artists – in a variety of disciplines – ranging from the emerging to the seasoned professional.” The New York Times raves that EstroGenius "lives up to its billing as a celebration of women's work." EstroGenius Festival 2022 is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and administered by LMCC. For more information, visit estrogenius.nyc.