Past Performances
Occupying the site of a full-size gymnasium with 20 foot ceilings, THE GYM is a fully-equipped, multi-use theater, with flexible seating for up to 200. THE GYM draws on Judson's rich legacy, dating back to the 1960s, of presenting challenging, groundbreaking work, often in the face of attempts to censor artists.
Since opening its doors in May 2011, THE GYM has presented world premieres of Lysistrata Jones, Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn's pop musical, which moved to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway, and Michael John LaChiusa's Queen of the Mist, starring Mary Testa. For more information, contact Nick Gottlieb at thegym (at) judson.org.
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| The Athens University basketball team hasn't won a game in 30 years. But when spunky transfer student Lysistrata Jones dares the squad's fed-up girlfriends to stop "giving it up" to their boyfriends until they win a game, their legendary losing streak could be coming to an end. Join Lyssie and her girl-power posse courtside for the New York City premiere of this boisterous new pop musical comedy. Adapted from Aristophanes' comedy, Lysistrata, Tony-nominated bookwriter Douglas Carter Beane (The Little Dog Laughed) and composer-lyricist Lewis Flinn (The Divine Sister) have given the classic Greek tale a riotous new twist. Directed & choreographed by Tony-nominated Dan Knechtges (Xanadu) and staged in an actual gymnasium, Lysistrata Jones takes student activism to a whole new level and celebrates the journey of discovering and embracing who you truly are. Listen to clips from the show here: | |
PRESS
New York Times, "Lysistrata Jones” suggests that sneering at the pop corniness of old-fashioned musicals is so over. “Lysistrata Jones” is having too much fun to be merely cool.” Read the update on its move to Broadway!
The Hollywood Reporter, “"Bring It On" meets "High School Musical" meets "Glee." In a good way.”
Variety, “This is a plot that launches a thousand laffs, old and new.”
ABC, "This bouncy comedy, which opened Sunday night off-Broadway on the indoor basketball court of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, is performed by a talented, energetic group of attractive young actors who make the most of the athletic choreography, strong tunes and smart, witty lyrics."
CAST
Alexander Aguilar as Uardo
Katie Boren as Lampito Kanagawa
Lindsay Chambers as Robin/Shelley
Max Kumangai as Tyllus
Liz Mikel as Heterai
Patti Murin as Lysistrata Jones
Kat Nejat as Cleonice
Josh Segarra as Mick
LaQuet Sharnell as Mhyrinne
Jason Tam as Xander
Teddy Toye as Harold
Alex Wyse as Cinesius
CREATIVE TEAM
Lighting Design by Michael Gottlieb
Sound Design by Tony Meola Co-Costume Designers David Woolard
Co-Costume Designers Thomas Charles LeGalley
Queen of the Mist
Queen of the Mist is a world premiere musical with words and music by 5-time Tony nominee Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Hello Again). Based on an astounding and outrageous true story, two-time Tony nominee Mary Testa stars as Anna Edson Taylor, who, in 1901 at the age of 63, set out to be the first woman to shoot Niagara Falls in a barrel of her own design. With a soaring score that incorporates turn of the century themes with LaChiusa’s signature complexity and insight, Queen of the Mist is the story of a single great fall, and how one woman risked death so that she could live.
CAST
Mary Testa as Anna "Annie" Edson Taylor, Tony Award nominee: On the Town, 42nd Street, Drama Desk Award nominee: TG's First Lady Suite)
D.C. Anderson, The Phantom of the Opera, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Stanley Bahorek, See Rock City & Other Destinations, Broadway's 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Theresa McCarthy, Floyd Collins, Titanic
Julia Murney, Wicked, Lennon, First Lady Suite
Andrew Samonsky, South Pacific, Tales of the City
Tally Sessions, The House of Blue Leaves, Yank!
CREATIVE TEAM
Choreography: Scott Rink
Musical Direction: Chris Fenwick
Orchestrations: Michael Starobin
Scenic Design: Sandra Goldmark
Costume Design: Kathryn Rohe
Lighting Design: R. Lee Kennedy
Sound Design: Walter Trarbach
Wig Design: Paul Huntley
Casting: Nora Brennan Casting
Production Manager: Charles Hubbard
Production Stage Manager: Wendy Patten
Dramaturg: Kristina Corcoran Williams
Associate Director: Gregg Wiggans
Assistant Stage Manager: Theresa Flanagan
Menders
written by Erin Browne
directed by Heather Cohn
OPENS Jan 21, 2012 @8:00PM
(Previews: Jan 19-20 @8:00PM)
Runs Thurs – Sat until February 11
Additional performances:
Sun, 1/22 @7pm & 1/29 @3pm
Tues, 1/24 & 2/7 @7pm
Wed, 2/8 @8pm
THE STORY
Corey and Aimes are new recruits mending the wall that guards their city from an unnamed threat. But as their teacher Drew tells them subversive tales of the world outside they begin to wonder at the real purpose of the wall, until an unexpected act of passion tears the menders apart. Inspired by Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall”, Menders is a hauntingly lyrical look at what we’re walling out.
THE CAST
Matthew Archambault, Sol Crespo, Vivia Font, Mike Mihm, Ingrid Nordstrom, Raushanah Simmons, Isaiah Tanenbaum
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Will Lowry, Costume Design; Kia Rogers, Lighting Design; Cory Rodriguez, Set Design; Asa Wember, Sound Design; Trevor James Martin, Video Design; Jodi Witherell, Production Stage Manager; Annie-Sage Whitehurst, Dramaturg/Understudy; Anna Lamadrid, Assistant Director; Kelly O’Donnell & August Schulenburg, Production Managers; Postcard Illustration, Kristy Caldwell; Press Representation, Emily Owens PR
PRESS
"Flux Theatre Ensemble’s fervent and valiant production of Ms. McLaughlin’s sophisticated “Ajax in Iraq” makes its case" - The New York Times
"Flux consistently raises the bar when it comes to Indie Theatre and this piece has put that bar somewhere in the sky. An explosive 90 minutes with no intermission, Ajax in Iraq will live on in the minds and hearts of its audiences long after its all too short run." - BroadwayWorld
"playwright Liz Duffy Adams has a few tricks that put her a notch above your average Brechtswept wasteland: A genuinely crystalline ear for rough, poetic dialogue; a handful of simple, honest themes–possibilities for kindness in a savage world, guilt as a luxury and a form of selfishness–in lieu of sprawling world-building; and, most crucially, the savage talents of the Flux Theatre Ensemble." - New York Magazine
Reviews for THE GYM at Judson
"Unusual configuration of the gym space seats the audience on opposite sides of the stage area, in steeply raked rows, looking down onto the proceedings much as spectators would have lined the waterside at Niagara Falls to watch an entertainment. "Queen of the Mist" musically brings to life a colorful and tragic figure long forgotten by history."
- Associated Press
"In the off-off-Broadway historic Judson Gym theatre on Washington Square South, bleachers, tiled panels, poetic language and horrific theatre-reality combine for a powerful experience in Erin Browne‘s Menders. (Forgive me some gushing about the space here, as a new-ish City resident, theatre explorer, and one who respects the smaller theatres with big impact and long histories all around town, my first visit to the off-off-Broadway bastion Judson gym was kinda resonant.)"
- Urban Excavations
Transport Group delivers a fascinating site-specific production, with the action taking place on an actual basketball court at the gym of the Judson Memorial Church, which set designer Allen Moyer cleverly transforms into a variety of locales.
- David Sheward, Backstage