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New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

Performing Arts

NYU’s Skirball Center of the Performing Arts (via NYU).

A Starving Artist’s Guide to Arts Events This Weekend: April 19 to 21

Stay entertained this weekend for $20 or less.
Alex Cullina, Books & Theater Editor April 18, 2019

With 4/20, Easter and Earth Day all approaching back-to-back, I’m sure everyone’s weekend schedules are packed. But on the off chance you have some free time in the next few...

Sarah Teed and David Leeper in "Where Do All the Ghosts Go?" The new play, running at Theater for the New City, follows the ghosts of five historical figures who haunt a soon-to-be-demolished building. (Photo by Joe Bly)

Ghosts Face Gentrification in ‘Where Do All the Ghosts Go?’

In Barbara’s Kahn’s dark comedy, an eclectic group of ghosts who call the St. Denis building home must team up with a young lesbian couple to find new dwellings to haunt before the historic building is demolished.
Julie Goldberg, Staff Writer April 14, 2019

In a historic building just south of Union Square, modernist artist Marcel Duchamp (David Leeper) and Wild West showman Buffalo Bill (Christopher Lowe) play a game of invisible...

From left, Ray Fanara, one of two actors playing Poseidon, Gabriella Kessler, playing Athena, and Wes Braver, writer and member of the band, prepare for their performance. (Photo by Mark T Evans)

Behind the Script of Tisch’s ‘Medusa’

“Medusa” contributes to a long overdue conversation about the intersection of race and assault against women in an empowering, accessible way.
Aashna Agarwal, Staff Writer April 7, 2019

“Medusa,” a new musical presented by Tisch Drama’s New Studio on Broadway, sheds light on how long humans have been grappling with assault at the hands of men in power. Based...

The Fusion Film Festival. (via Facebook)

A Starving Artist’s Guide to Arts Events This Weekend: April 4 to 7

Stay entertained this weekend for $20 or less.
Alex Cullina, Theater & Books Editor April 4, 2019

Midterms are done with, and finals are still a ways away — or so I’d like to think. Why not enjoy the mid-semester lull — and the beautiful weather — by checking out one...

The Broke People Play Festival, made up of original plays by NYU students, gives playwrights a unique chance to develop their scripts through performance. (Courtesy of Broke People Theatre)

Broke People Play Festival Prioritizes Process and Inclusivity

Placing writers at the forefront of the process, Broke People Theatre takes new and exciting work out of the classroom and onto the stage.
Julie Goldberg, Staff Writer March 31, 2019

“Mosaics.” “Pansies.” “Depression Flocks to Black Youths Much Like Moths to Flames.” “A Young Adult Novel by Some White Guy.” These are some of the titles of the...

Activists Marcella Gilbert (Oohenumpa and Ihanktowan Bands of the Lakota and Dakota nations) and Madonna Thunder Hawk (Oohenumpa Lakota, enrolled citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), in the documentary "Warrior Women." (Photo by John G. Larson, courtesy of NMAI)

A Starving Artist’s Guide to Arts Events This Weekend: March 28 to 31

Stay entertained this weekend for $20 or less.
Alex Cullina, Books & Theater Editor March 27, 2019

Spring has finally sprung, people! This is not a drill! Go outside and do stuff! Steinhardt’s “Opera Now: Three to See” at Provincetown Playhouse, March 28 - 31 Come...

Poster for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. (via Facebook)

A Starving Artist’s Guide to Arts Events This Weekend: March 15 to 17

Stay entertained this weekend for $20 or less.
Alex Cullina, Books and Theater Editor March 14, 2019

St. Patrick’s Day is this Sunday — if you want to escape the inevitable onslaught of intoxicated revelers this weekend, check out one of these arts and entertainment events....

Children mourning a young girl’s murder in “Five Easy Pieces.” In the show, which ran this past weekend at Skirball, children confront real-world trauma. (Courtesy of Skirball)

Children Navigate Dark Themes in ‘Five Easy Pieces’

Swiss director Milo Rau showcased his controversial production’s U.S. debut at Skirball.
René Bennett, Staff Writer March 11, 2019

At the junction of childhood, trauma, post-colonialism, political murder and theater is Milo Rau’s “Five Easy Pieces.” The title is projected onto a cloud-filled screen at...

NYU Professor’s ‘NYLON’ Makes a Complex Plot Work

NYU Professor’s ‘NYLON’ Makes a Complex Plot Work

The past is at the forefront in this new play by Tisch Dramatic Writing professor Sofia Alvarez.
Dante Sacco, Deputy Arts Editor March 11, 2019

Nylon is a polymer plastic. It’s a long and durable molecule notable for its ability to hold things together, used in products like ropes, stockings and parachutes. In the new...

Caitlin Gallogly and Christopher M. Smith in the new drama written and directed by Tony award winner Kathleen J. Johnson. Despite its potential for self-indulgence, “Fiercely Independent” soars with the help of witty dialogue and compassionate performances. (Courtesy of Carol Rosegg)

‘Fiercely Independent’ Successfully Tackles Marital Ennui

This one-act play by playwright and director Kathleen K. Johnson explores the ways in which relationships cement themselves in physical space.
Julie Goldberg, Staff Writer March 8, 2019

Hotel rooms seem out of touch with reality; unhitched from the particularities of home and insulated from the rest of the world, they occupy some other plane of existence. It is...

The poster for Steinhardt Educational Theatre's production of "Radium Girls." The play, based on the true story of young factory workers poisoned by the radioactive paint they worked with, still resonates today. (Courtesy of Steinhardt)

Steinhardt’s ‘Radium Girls’ Spotlights Unfair Practices, Then and Now

Steinhardt Educational Theatre’s illuminating production — about the radium poisoning of young female factory workers in the early 20th century — tackles endlessly relevant themes like labor rights, corporate corruption and female rage.
Julie Goldberg, Staff Writer March 4, 2019

Labor rights. Corporate corruption. Female rage. These are only a few of the hot-button topics addressed in Steinhardt Educational Theatre’s new production of “Radium Girls,”...

Sofia Alvarez, a playwright, screenwriter and professor in Tisch’s Department of Dramatic Writing. She co-founded the Blockchain Theater Project, a theater company that seeks to dismantle institutional barriers in theater. (Photo by Min Ji Kim)

Dramatic Writing Professor Brings Blockchain to Theater

Sofia Alvarez, a Tisch professor and the screenwriter of Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” is the co-founder of the Blockchain Theater Project, which draws on blockchain’s peer-to-peer model to dismantle the institutional barriers of the theater world.
Alex Cullina, Theater and Books Editor March 4, 2019

It was late 2017, the height of the bitcoin boom, and Sofia Alvarez, playwright, screenwriter and professor in Tisch’s Department of Dramatic Writing, was looking for a way to...