*Livestream with live captioning will be available on Nov 7, 7pm.
One of the great advantages of living in New York City is that we can hear new ideas as they are being created, instead of having to wait years for those books to appear on bookstore shelves. First Mondays allows us to share accomplished writers’ processes as they are happening and gives us an intimate insight into their new work in-progress, long before publication or performances. Join us every first Monday at Performance Space New York for a special opportunity to hear the future.
Archives: Shows
First Mondays
*Livestream with live captioning will be available on Oct 3, 7pm.
One of the great advantages of living in New York City is that we can hear new ideas as they are being created, instead of having to wait years for those books to appear on bookstore shelves. First Mondays allows us to share accomplished writers’ processes as they are happening and gives us an intimate insight into their new work in-progress, long before publication or performances. Join us every first Monday at Performance Space New York for a special opportunity to hear the future.
John Giorno Octopus Series
Thank God For Abortion presents: “They Live”
A live studio audience/ live-streamed abortion broadcast abortion talk and abortion variety show, come enjoy the finest in post-born infotainment.
With extra special guests:
Pauli Cakes
Founder of xCakesNyc, Community builder, DJ, lover, and artist
Morgan Cousins
Planned Parenthood Community Organizer, Region 1
Viva Ruiz
Thank God For Abortion
Christopher Udemezue aka Neon Christina
Artist, Activist, and founder of RAGGA NYC
Chelsea Williams-Diggs
Interim Executive Director, New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF)
Dance Embodiment: Megan Curet
Dancer, choreographer, educator, Ph.D. candidate community organizer, and movement facilitator
Song Embodiment: Michael Love Michael
Musician, writer, artist, lightworker
At the conclusion of the program visitors will leave the space in a performative enactment ushered by Ruiz as an ejection rhyming with abortion itself.
Beanbags, Mocktails, recuerdos, and K95 masks provided
Using the Octopus’s decentralized nervous system as an inspiration for Performance Space New York’s curatorial practice, the John Giorno Octopus Series invites artists and guest curators to organize an evening-length program with several artists working in any number of disciplines. The series is named after legendary performance poet, John Giorno, and continues Performance Space’s legacy of artist-centric programming and creating space for risk-taking.
John Giorno Octopus Series
With: Aarron Ricks, Akanbi, and Ley
In the Valley Pools our Sorrow is inspired by nightclubs as communal spaces of care, emotion, and expression. On December 1, we will together open a valley within the relentless pulses of daily life.
Our world today is possessed by extraordinary change and turmoil–climate crisis, political upheaval, and an ongoing pandemic create difficult, often violent, conditions for life. Amidst these conditions, capitalist expectations for unceasing production continue. We are driven to continue without pause despite our pain.
Instead, we make space to pause and feel together. In the heart of this valley, we allow our sorrow, anger, hope, exhaustion and drive to keep trying to pour into the fore. These feelings are our sanity.
Nocturnal Medicine creates a deconstructed nightclub that repositions essential elements of the nightclub experience–deep listening, collective movement, and catharsis. An immersive soundscape invokes reflection while a series of cues performed by Aarron Ricks invite guests into stillness, movement, and expression. A ritual sculpture is co-created over the course of the night. In the second half of the evening, DJ Akanbi takes the helm for a potent set, moving us from a meditative state to a high-octane, cathartic dance.
With In the Valley Pools our Sorrow, we acknowledge the painful challenges we face. We honor the strength it takes to weather them. We weave connection to our bodies, one another, and our world.
Using the Octopus’s decentralized nervous system as an inspiration for Performance Space New York’s curatorial practice, the John Giorno Octopus Series invites artists and guest curators to organize an evening-length program with several artists working in any number of disciplines. The series is named after legendary performance poet, John Giorno, and continues Performance Space’s legacy of artist-centric programming and creating space for risk-taking.
John Giorno Octopus Series
Performers: Jeffrey Meris and Vivian Vivas
Using the Octopus’s decentralized nervous system as an inspiration for Performance Space New York’s curatorial practice, the John Giorno Octopus Series invites artists and guest curators to organize an evening-length program with several artists working in any number of disciplines. The series is named after legendary performance poet, John Giorno, and continues Performance Space’s legacy of artist-centric programming and creating space for risk-taking.
*Audio Description is available for the in-person performance.