MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 7:30 PM

SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL (THEATRE)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Zizi Azah Abdul Majid: To Raqqa With Love. In her beauty salon in Raqqa, Syria Sofia keeps her doors open to all, even when her town is taken hostage. Zizi Majid is a playwright whose work advocates for a shared humanity. Plays include How To Gild an Eagle (Finalist, Columbia@Roundabout, Semi-Finalist National Playwrights Conference); Return to Fall (Finalist, Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Semi-Finalist National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist Bay Area Playwrights Festival). She is a Fellow of WP Theater’s 2020-2022 Lab, NYC. MFA Columbia University. She is currently an adjunct professor at Syracuse University. Upcoming: They Came In The Night (March 2022, Pipeline Festival WP Theatre). Director: Logan Reed; Dramaturg: Elizagrace Madrone. Actors: Sofia: Mari Vial-Golden; Aminah: Victoria Nassif; Abu: Michael Karadsheh. Lighting Designer: Chris D’Angelo; Sound Designer: Anaiz Majid.

• Sam Affoumado: The Flogsta Scream. International university students, Angelo and Valentina, meet in Flogsta, Sweden where a strange, weekly screaming ritual takes place. The New York war game designer and the Spanish pacifist are attracted to one another but will their ideological differences keep them apart or will screaming take them to the next level? Patrick Dunning (Angelo), Lucía Alvargonzález (Valentina), Rebecca Wilson (Production Stage Manager). Sam Affoumado’s (Writer/director) short play, Peanut Butter Patty, was a semi-finalist in the 37th Annual Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival. Published: The Bully’s Eye, (2015), More 10-Minute Plays for Teens (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books). Memberships: Dramatists Guild, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, NPX, and TRU. samaffoumado.com

• D. Lee Miller: George Floyd. A reporter wants to interview Michelle in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. Her neighborhood is burning and the military is turning down her street. How many George Floyd's are there? Playwright: D. Lee Miller; Actor/Director: Kiarà Lauren. D. Lee Miller’s work has been presented in the US and abroad at Barrow Group (FAB), B3 Productions, EAT, La MaMa ETC, Rover Dramawerks, Stagecrafter's, Shenandoah Valley International Playwrights Retreat, Glasgow’s Rum Diaries, Rebel Radio at Brighton, UK etc. Miller is a member of HONOR ROLL and the Dramatists Guild. Kiarà Lauren is a New York City based actor, director, and producer charged with using storytelling to connect black and brown communities to ultimately change our multifaceted, multicultural, and complex perceptions of the world.

• Leonard Goodisman: Sarah Klakum. Joe, pretending not to be a journalist, climbs a hill above the mighty Columbia River, trying to "sneak" a story about a long ignored and little known Indian tribe. Sarah Klakum is there mending salmon nets but is onto him from the beginning. She seems cold but then, after he is exposed, comes out to meet him and offers to show him the river as she sees it, down a very steep trail. It frightens him, the trail, the river, her, all of it. Written/directed by Leoanard D Goodisman. Leonard's work explores relationships between people, in the light of the sociological, political environment in which the people find themselves. Joe: Aleksandr Gurdzhua; Sarah Klakum: Angelina Gutierrez.

• Cate Wiley: Note To Self. Zoe wants to jump and Jerry wants to stop her. Why would a healthy-looking young woman want to do such a thing? This play is a suicide-prevention tool aimed at destigmatizing depression. Director: Madelyn Chapman; Zoe: Kirrin Tubo; Jerry: Tom Steinbach. Cate Wiley is a recent transplant from Denver to NYC who writes plays that ask questions about history, community, and identity. Recent plays take on sexual double standards in the context of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris; women experiencing homelessness; white supremacy, and white liberal collusion in American racism past and present.

• Laura Gaspari: Donuts. Donuts is about a young woman confronting her Mother about a traumatic issue from her past. Director: Vincent Marano; Francesca: Barbara Halas; Angelina: Michelle Corr. Donuts was a Winner for the Lakeshore Players Play Competition and Semi-finalist in the Soop to Nuts competition - NY. She’s performed off-Broadway and sung the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden.. Memberships: Equity, SAG/AFTRA member.

• Tom Block: Let’s Pretend. The play concerns two children playing with modeling clay, building a world. It begins with a Japanese toilet and ends with a bullet-proof backpack and a belt-fed rifle, the SFS BFR. One of the little modeling-clay creations is an adopted Chinese Jewish baby with brittle bone disease. Becca: JaneAnne Halter; Amanda: Grace Chang. Written and directed by Tom Block.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 7:30 PM

CELEBRATION OF IMMIGRATION (THEATRE, MUSIC, SPOKEN WORD, DANCE)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Luis D’Elias: For this year's Celebration of Immigration, Luis D'Elias will embody himself the idea of New Caracas, his personal artistic persona based on the city that will always live in his imagination. He will perform a set of new tunes that draw as much inspiration from his Venezuelan roots as from his own personal identity as a citizen of an increasingly globalized world. By being his most personal musical set so far, New Caracas intends to celebrate immigration by honoring his own artistic soul, as unique as it is part of a complicated, multicultural world. newcaracasmusic.com

• Sara Farrington: Honduras. An excerpt of a new one-woman play, performed by Valeria Avina, (valeriaavina.com). In the summer of 2018, one mom hid in the mountains, while one mom was extorted, while one mom was killed, while one mom made it, while one mom lost her kids, while one mom heard about it on the radio, while one mom organized a cross country relay, while one mom waited at the bus station … Honduras is inspired by true events, accounts and personal experience of asylum-seeking mothers and children who crossed the border in the summer of 2018 and the women who helped them. ladyfarrington.com

• Axons Dance Theatre: Belong-ing. Belong-ing depicts the journey of immigration and fitting in. As the privileged few that made it to this land, we must not forget those that paved the way and the weight of those that perished. Under the façade of joy, how do we walk the constant struggle of blending in while honoring tradition and individuality? Choreographer: Joan Liu. Dancers: Raquel Beauchamp, Jessica Frazier, Saeko (Rio) Hayashi, Marisa Pisano, Emma K. Sniegowski. Music: We Fought Valiantly by Hill, Daydream That One Time by Midnight. Joan Liu was born in Taiwan and made the trip to the US for graduate school. She established Axons Dance Theatre in 2019 with the hopes of creating a safe place for vulnerability and exploration and to encourage communication through the art of dance. Liu’s choreography, including a full-length ballet, has been showcased in various historic venues including New York City Center, Dixon Place, Abrons Arts Center, Players Theatre…etc. axonsdancetheatre.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 7:30 PM

SHALOM/SALAAM IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MUSLIM JEWISH SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE (MUSIC AND COMEDY)

The Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee is a grassroots community where Jews, Muslims, and all are welcome. They build relationships to stand against hate through shared values and social action. 

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Rachid Halihal and Richard Khuzami: Richard and Rachid will present Arabic songs of refugees: songs of freedom and struggle. Sounds from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Palestine. Mr. Richard S Khuzami, in his role as musician, producer, and civic activist, has worked to produce and promote the finest in artistic achievement in World Music, with a special emphasis on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Mr. Khuzami, of Lebanese extraction, is an accomplished percussionist, specializing in instruments from the Balkans, Anatolia, Middle East, and North Africa. Rachid Halihal is one of Morocco’s best ambassadors of music and culture. Rachid plays what he refers to as organic music —authentic music that reflects the real spirit, art, and traditions of North Africa and the Maghreb. A classically trained vocalist and instrumentalist, he is a virtuoso on the Oud, the predecessor of the lute, and an accomplished violinist.

• Ryan Milov-Cordoba, Call Me Cordoba. Call Me Córdoba presents an excerpt from Ryan’s most recent project, Ajnabi, “Foreigner,” the first full-length record of Arabic-language songs performed and recorded by a non-Arab American. Call Me Córdoba carefully selected and arranged new versions of these popular Arabic-language songs and shared them with the original artists, sparking a new kind of conversation between American and Arabic-language artists. Ryan Milov-Córdoba (aka Call Me Córdoba) is a multidisciplinary artist and PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. His musical work has been featured by American Muslim Today, The Morocco Jewish Times, Yvonne Saba’s The Bridge, RedBullTV Jordan, and Wikitongues. His most recent project, Ajnabi, is supported in part by a grant from the CUNY Publicslab.

• Natan Badalov: Natan Badalov is a Jewish Uzbek-American comedian raised in New York City. Both on stage and on the page, he talks about things closest to him: his immigrant upbringing, his family, and the newest dollar pizza place in his neighborhood. His work has been featured on Adult Swim, New York Comedy Festival, FunnYmmigrants Comedy Festival, among a host of others. He also created 'Park West', an animated series about his time in yeshiva. For more, follow him and his eyebrows on Instagram and Tik Tok @natanbadalov.

• Rachael Sage: Rachael has been making music that strives to achieve a higher level of consciousness and to promote a broader message of peace, for over 25 years. She has forged a career on the premise that if she composed music that healed herself, it would necessarily help heal others. Sage has devoted much of her life examining the concepts of faith, forgiveness and empowerment through creative work that asks questions as much as provides answers, and that offers comfort and connection through melody, poetry, and a generous dose of humor. Since founding her own label MPress Records two decades ago, NYC-based alt-pop artist Rachael Sage has toured with an eclectic list of artists including Ani DiFranco, Beth Hart, Howard Jones, and Grammy® winners Shawn Colvin and Judy Collins. In addition to being a six-time Independent Music Award-winning musician and producer, Sage is also a visual artist and former ballet dancer who performed with the New York City Ballet. rachaelsage.com

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 7:30 PM

DANCE FRIDAY 

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Valerie Green/Dance Entropy: man/Mother. Choreography by Valerie Green in collaboration with the performers. Performed by Fumihiro Kikuchi, Jonathan Matthews, Richard Scandola. Original Music by Philip Butta. Set Design by Valerie Green. man/Mother composes three separately made solos to original music by Philip Butta that translate emotions, specifically connected to each dancer’s experience of the global COVID-19 pandemic. A thick branch, suspended down stage center, both an obstacle and a comfort, confronts us with hard truths that demand reflection and action. Valerie Green has been an active dancer, choreographer, and teacher in the New York City dance community since 1995. She created her own company, Dance Entropy in 1998, adding a permanent company home in 2005 called Green Space in LIC. Her choreography has been seen throughout NYC, the US, and internationally in nearly two dozen countries. DanceEntropy.org and GreenSpaceStudio.org

• Lattice Works: For Sake. Two women begin a similar journey with hopes of personal achievement, they are met with vastly different obstacles on their individual paths. A tale of privilege. Dancers: Rebecca Ibarra, Caroline Yamada. Choreographer: LatticeWorks Dance/Rebecca Ibarra. Rebecca Allen (MFA Dance, MA Dance Education) is the Artistic Director of LatticeWorks, the Director of Education for The Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation, and a Teaching Artist with NYCB. LatticeWorks was founded in 2012 to create an inquisitive space for artists to collaborate and explore together.

• BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance: Continually Healing (Work In Progress) This series reflects Teresa’s desire to address the U.S. political climate, and how we can counteract the politically driven suppression, oppression, and hate which has historically plagued this country. Using choreographic phrases and key imagery synthesized through prior research of current events, personal reflection, and shared stories, this work explores the process of healing and finding social equity through dance. Original music by Kevin Keller; Costume Design by Nina Katan; Choreography by Teresa Fellion in collaboration with the performers: Nicole Kadar-Greene, Kate Bishop and Emma Iredale. BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance is a contemporary dance company of women and non-binary individuals that capture and communicate universal human encounters through dynamic, purposeful movement.

• Catey Clark: Please, water the plants when I am gone. A coming of age piece, that follows the transitions of adulthood, connections post-quarantine world and what it means to figure out who you are. Dancer and choreographer: Catey Clark; Musician: Ryan Cox; Stylist: Delaney Williams. Through woven themes of social justice, feminine, and humanistic themes, Catey’s goal is to bring a sense of inclusion into the artistic world. Her choreography has been presented at the American College Dance Association, Judson Memorial Church, and dance festivals across the country.

• Dances Unlimited: Emotions & Edible Tales: Mana. Emotions is a re-work of our company repertoire in response to the fight for social justice during the pandemic. Edible Tales is a new hybrid work in progress featuring a dance-based documentary film and staged performances. Created through community-centered choreography labs and talk sessions, Edible Tales explores cultural heritage, social justice and sustainability. Dances Unlimited is a bi-coastal 501(c)3 based in NYC and Honolulu. DU creates authentic moveMEANT narratives for community advancement through creative collaboration, community programs and social justice work. dunyc-hi.com.

• Amy Liou and Sayoko Kojima: A Practice: Alone/Together, created and performed by Amy Liou and Sayoko Kojima. Sayoko was born and raised in a small neighborhood in Japan. Since moving to NYC her passion has shifted to dance/movement. During the pandemic, she also started her sustainable fashion art brand Sayoko Creations and currently works as an independent fashion movement artist. Amy is a performance artist from Taiwan. Influenced by the training she had with SITI Company, she is interested in exploring the continuity and discontinuity between movement and text. She recently expanded her theater practice to puppetry.

• Ellen Mandel and Michael Lydon: Ellen Mandel and Michael Lydon, with soprano Jessica Crandall, will present their original songs of human wrongs, soulfulness and hope, to lyrics by Seamus Heaney, Daniel Pociernicki, and Michael Lydon.
  

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2:00 PM

ASEEMKALA INITIATIVE (GLOBAL TRADITIONAL DANCE PIECES AND WORKSHOP)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Aseemkala Initiative, The Stories Our Bodies Speak. Each dancer will perform a traditional dance piece that reflects on how women use their bodies to narrate their stories through diverse beats, movements and meditations. The stories explore a gamut of topics, ranging from the political rights of female bodies, the spiritual mythologies surrounding female bodies, to the relationships women have with their physical selves. Aseemkala Initiative is a group of female artists and physicians who use traditional dances to perform stories of healthcare inequity. They are activists who believe that diversity in healthcare stories should be represented by diverse women through diverse traditional dances, empowering unique women while reminding of medicine’s shared goal of improving the human condition equitably. Our dancers include Isha Parupudi, Leila Mire, Rhoda Moise and Suwodi Dutta Bordoloi. aseemkala.org.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 3:30 PM

MUSIC AND CIRCUS

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• The Red Microphone: Neo-Beat, Post-Punk Liberation Jazz. The Red Microphone’s radical poetry and freeform improvisation draws on the fervent history of jazz, the Beat Generation and New York’s downtown underground, incorporating revolutionary anthems, protest folk and original works. The poetry and prose are by John Pietaro as well as masters Brecht, Hughes, Amiri and Amina Baraka, John Reed, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Diane Di Prima, Kenneth Fearing, Woody Guthrie, Patti Smith and others. Featuring John Pietaro: poetry, voice, percussion; Ras Moshe Burnett: tenor saxophone, flute; Rocco John Iacovone: alto saxophone; Dave Ross, electric guitar and Laurie Towers: fretless and fretted electric bass.

• Farm Arts Collective: Farm Arts Collective productions are spectacular indoor and outdoor works performed at Willow Wisp Organic Farm, and performance venues in rural and urban venues in the tri-state area. Their productions address issues of climate change, social justice and the struggles that reside in the human condition. Their artistic work strives to achieve thought-provoking experiences that inspire conversation, laughter and action.. The Farm Arts Collective Ensemble in the IHRAF performance include: Tannis Kowalchuk, Artistic Director; Jess Beveridge, Company Manager; Pam Arnold, Melissa Bell, Michael Chojnicki, Mark Dunau, Gregg Erickson, Adrienne Jensen, Rima Fand, Annie Hat, Doug Rogers, Robert Skotch. Costumes: Sue Currier & Karen Flood. farmartscollective.org

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 5:00 PM

GABRIELLE SENZA (PERFORMANCE)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Gabrielle Senza: IN/VISIBILITY: A Lab Report weaves together stories, dreams, fears and visions offered by people from around the world. Through deep listening and intimate exchanges with participants, Gabrielle collects narratives and traces of people’s lived experiences while sitting in airports, cafés, flea markets and zoom rooms. By translating these data points and narratives into immersive multimedia performances that incorporate spoken word, movement, video, light and sound, she makes visible a universal desire for connectedness, respect, safety and empowerment. Conceptualized, written and orchestrated by Gabrielle Senza, directed by Meryl Joseph, and featuring original texts by G. Delano Burrowes, Karen Cellini, Clemente Sajquiy Ramirez, Nabil Sabi and Kayoko Nakajima, Lab Report is about the survival and erasure of people, time, memory and experience. A multidisciplinary visual and performing artist, and award-winning creative activist, Gabrielle returns to IHRAF for her 4th festival, bringing with her, longtime collaborator and Director, lighting and sound designer, Meryl Joseph (IHRAF 2018 & 2019). Performers: G. Delano Burrowes and Gabrielle Senza. InvisibilityLab.com

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 7:30 PM

CELEBRATION OF AFRICA (DANCE, MUSIC AND PARTICIPATION)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Wole Adedoyin: President of the IHRAF African Secretariat, in Ibadan, Nigeria, Wole will talk about his work bringing the IHRAF to Africa, and what events he has run, books he has published with us and plans for the future. Wole Adedoyin is President of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (SYNW) and the current National Publicity Secretary (South) of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). He also was appointed by the Gibran National Committee in Beirut, Lebanon as the Coordinator of Gibran Khalil Gibran Society in Nigeria and Africa.

• Razack Buwaso Ibrahim: A short introduction to the work and struggle of IHRAF Direct Action recipient, Ugandan poet-in-exile Razack Buwaso Ibrahim.

• Jalikunda: Gambian Griot Salieu Suso brings his dance/music troupe Jalikunda to the IHRAF for a special engagement. Featuring Salieu Suso, Kora & vocal; Malang Jobarteh, Kora & vocal; Mamadou Kounate, Jembe; Ebrima Jassey, Balafon & vocal; Bah Bailo, Fulaflute & vocal; Aida Faty, dancer and Tenenfig Dioubate, dancer. Jalikunda is a home for all jali, gewel, and griots to promote and support the Manding performing arts of West Africans in New York City. Griots are musical historians and instrumental virtuosos who have played a key role in ceremonial, political and social life as entertainers, educators and conflict mitigators in West Africa for centuries. As an extended family, ensemble, community and organization, Jalikunda does educational programming within and beyond the West African Community in the Bronx, research documentation on West African performing arts and promotion of West African artists among American audiences. Funded by the New York State Council of the Arts’ Restart New York initiative, this event is part of a six-part series by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance to promote Jalikunda’s members and activities, with other events--each featuring different members of Jalikunda--taking place at community centers, parks and concert halls across NYC. Please visit the Center for Traditional Music and Dance's website (https://ctmd.org/) or Facebook page for further information. This first event will consist of traditional oral narratives, epics, or songs from the griot repertoire.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2:00 PM

THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT (IMPROV)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT (TYFCO): Created and directed by Dubbs Weinblatt, Thank You For Coming Out celebrates LGBTQ improvisers and storytellers of all experience levels from all over NYC. In a safe space, based on the details of a vulnerable and heartfelt coming out story, our improvisers make up a hilariously insightful and creative show on the spot. thankyouforcomingout.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 3:30 PM

SPOKEN WORD (POETRY, THEATRE AND DANCE)

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

• Maggie Munday Odom: IHRAF 2021 Youth Fellow, Maggie Munday Odom, shares a powerful poem: "Untitled Poem for the 573," a found poem about the human rights violation that is capital punishment.

• Jessica Litwak: Matriarch an outtake:. “Matriarch” is a new piece about mothers who are world renowned and privately domestic, young and old, poetic and political, mothers across history, across borders, across languages, across disciplines, across classes and cultures. The play tells a variety of sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic stories that center around courageous generosity and fierce love. This short segment will focus on Jewish and Arabic matriarchs. Dr. Jessica Litwak is an actor, a playwright, drama therapist, creative coach, and international leader in the field of socially engaged theatre. She has taught, directed and performed in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, India and throughout both Eastern and Western Europe. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the H.E.A.T. Collective, a core member of Theatre Without Borders, and a Fulbright Scholar.

• Robin Hirsch: Robin Hirsch was born in London during the Blitz to German Jews who had fled Hitler. He is a former Oxford, Fulbright and English-Speaking Union Scholar, a two-time NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Fellow, and the recipient of numerous awards for his contributions to the arts. But the titles of which he is proudest were self-bestowed: Minister of Culture/WineCzar/Dean of Faculty at the Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village which he founded in 1977 with two other artists and which New York City proclaimed "a culinary as well as a cultural landmark" in 1987. There, in addition to award-winning food and drink, he produced thousands of shows in every conceivable genre (and quite a few inconceivable ones) for over 40 years until vile landlords took over the building and forced Cornelia to close her doors. But she lives on in exile, with shows both on the road and in the air. Robin will share a few tales from his time running the cafe.

• Philippe Garcesto, Pag-Asa Ng Bayani. Philippe offers a performance poetry piece that is an explosive celebration of identity and reclaiming of personal narrative. The title is translated as “Hope of the Hero from Tagalog” and explores Philippe’s perspective as a Filipino-American Warrior Artist. Philippe Javier Garcesto is a Filipino-American Actor, Writer, Martial Artist, and Mixed Media Performance Artist. He most recently starred as the lead in a romantic comedy short film "Filipinos Get Some" hitting the film festival circuit in 2022. He has been a featured performer with Poetic People Power for 7 years writing and performing original performance poetry on topics such as Social Justice, Environmental Activism and Human Rights. philippegarcesto.com

Walk-in music: Mara Rosenbloom, International Human Rights Art Festival presents a Cooking Session in Hell's Kitchen - September 9, 2019.