Shows | Performance Space New York Spring Gala

Disability Pop Movie Night

Pride Month is here and Disability Pop is ready to celebrate with a brand new event! This time we’re highlighting queer x disability narratives with a screening of Rent (2005) and LIVE performances by Dyke Drag. This musical, set at the dawn of the 1990s, has a little of everything: chronic illness, catchy bops, and Taye Diggs.

Come in your favorite Doc Martens, 90’s grunge, and kn95 mask!

This is an accessible and covid safe event.

Access information:

– This event is physically accessible. Wheelchair and accessible seating will be integrated throughout the space and a wheelchair accessible bathroom is on the same floor.
– Unfortunately, there is not an audio described version of Rent (2005). If you want one of the organizers to live describe, please email mzalopany@gmail.com
– Proof of a negative covid test will be required for entry. Tests should be taken within 24hrs of the event. A limited number of masks and tests will be available for those who need them, but please plan to test ahead of time if able.
– Air Purifiers will be present in the event space
– Participants will be asked to wear a mask unless eating/drinking
– The movie will be captioned
– Light snacks will be provided (gluten free vegan popcorn)

“Black Apocalypse”: Afrofuturism at the End of the World, Conversation and Book Launch

Author Tavia Nyong’o will read excerpts from Black Apocalypse, and engage in conversation with artist and choreographer Jonathan González. A Q&A with refreshments will follow.

Science fiction imagines aliens and global crises as world-unifying events, both a threat and promise for the future. Black Apocalypse is an introduction to the past and present of black engagement with speculative futures. From Octavia Butler to W.E.B. Du Bois to Sun Ra, Tavia Nyong’o shows that the end of the world is crucial to afrofuturism and reframes the binary of afropessimism and afrofuturism to explore their similarities.

Interweaving black trans, queer, and feminist theories, Nyong’o examines the social, technological, and existential threats facing our species and reflects on shifting anxieties and hopes for the future. Exploring the apocalypse in movies, art, literature, and music, this book considers the endless afterlives of slavery and inequality and revives the radical black imagination to envision the future of blackness. Black Apocalypse argues that black aesthetics take us to the edge of this world and into the next.

Tavia Nyong’o is the author of The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory and Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life. He is a professor of performance studies at Yale University and a curator at the Park Avenue Armory.

Jonathan González is an artist and choreographer whose research investigates the aesthetics, ethics, and social histories embedded in performance.

Remesas y Sobremesa: Through Their Eyes: Generations of Storytelling in Film

Inspired by the 1960s Young Filmmakers Foundation of the Lower East Side, the Clemente/Historias Youth Film Club empowers teenagers to document their realities through mobile filmmaking. This screening, presented by Gabo Camnitzer and Justin Denis of the 2024/2025 Youth Filmmakers cohort alongside special guests from the original Young Filmmakers Foundation, bridges generations through film. Featuring both new works and archival gems, the screening will be followed by a conversation exploring storytelling as a powerful tool for self-representation and intergenerational dialogue.

Presented as part of the Clemente’s Historias initiative, the Remesas y Sobremesa series invites you to gather around the table, where the warmth of food and shared meals meets thoughtful dialogue. This event will be the third iteration of Remesas y Sobremesa, focusing on Urban Ecology, one of Historias core thematic tracks.

A Person in the World

First Mondays invites our communities to experience readings of unpublished works and works in progress by an intergenerational group of vanguard writers. This season we continue to gather over free drinks in our theaters to hear writers discuss what’s on their mind and get a glimpse of the future of literature.

For more than 5 years, First Mondays has brought readers and writers together to celebrate the written word from diverse perspectives and genres, all for free.

Book Launch – One Thing Follows Another and “Live Choreography” Performance

Choreographers Simone Forti and Yvonne Rainer’s work made a profound impact on the dance scene starting in the 1960s, and the reverberations continue to this day. This event celebrates their legacy with the publication of Valerie Witte and Sarah Rosenthal’s essay collection One Thing Follows Another: Experiments in Dance, Art, and Life through the Lens of Simone Forti and Yvonne Rainer. The evening will feature readings from the book; a “live choreography” performance by Sally Silvers with dancers Benedict Nguyễn and Jimena Paz; and a panel discussion with the authors, performers, and choreographers Kyle Marshall and Donna Uchizono. Hosted by Performance Space New York and New York Live Arts.