Held in our historic period rooms, these insightful conversations throughout the year feature artists, scholars, cultural leaders, and social trailblazers who gather to offer new points of view and unique perspectives on Armory productions, explore a range of themes and relevant topics, and encourage audiences to think beyond conventional interpretations and perspectives of art.
Looking Back | Looking Forward: Culture in a Changing America
Saturday, February 17 at 12:00pm, 3:00pm, and 6:00pm
Tickets: $15 per session
In Collaboration With The Aspen Institute Arts Program And ArtChangeUS
Artists, thinkers, activists, academics, and community leaders gather for a symposium of conversations, performances, and open studios exploring artistic, social, and political perspectives on the 50th anniversary of the extraordinary world-changing events of 1968 and the promise of the next fifty years.
Artist Talk: Yerma
Thursday, March 29 at 6:00pm
Tickets: $15
Director Simon Stone and Anne Bogart (Co-Artistic Director of SITI Company & Professor, Columbia University) discuss adapting Federico García Lorca’s 1934 play for contemporary audiences.
Sunday Salon: Film
Sunday, April 15 at 1:45pm & 3:00pm
Tickets: $25
Acclaimed Australian immersive artist and film director Lynette Wallworth hosts an afternoon salon exploring the power of emerging interactive technologies and gestural interfaces, including virtual reality, to reveal fragile human states of grace and connect people with the natural world. View Wallworth’s Emmy-winning VR film Collisions (Commission & World Premiere, World Economic Forum, 2016) and the multi-channel HD video Still Walking Country, as well as a presentation and Q&A with the artist in the historic Veterans Room.
Confrontational Comedy
Friday, May 11 at 7:00pm
Tickets: $25
Aparna Nancherla (Late Night with Seth Meyers, Master of None) headlines an evening of comedy sets and a conversation highlighting the power of humor to confront stereotypes and engage audiences around uncomfortable topics. Joining her are comedians Jordan Carlos (Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Broad City, The Colbert Report), Jena Friedman (former field producer, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and writer for Late Show with David Letterman) and Jes Tom (who regularly shares stages with artists of myriad styles, mediums, and points of view). The evening is hosted by Warrington Hudlin (Founding President, Black Filmmaker Foundation, producer of House Party and Boomerang).
Artist Talk: The Let Go
Thursday, June 7 at 6:00pm
Tickets: $15
Nick Cave explores the inspirations, ideas, and creative development of his installation with artistic collaborators Bob Faust (Principal and Creative Director, Faust), Nona Hendryx (songwriter and musician), and Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson (Executive Music & Programming Director, The Mama Foundation for the Arts & Sing Harlem Choir). This talk is moderated by Armory Artist-in-Residence Malik Gaines (writer and artist).
Artist Talk: The Damned
Thursday, July 19 at 6:00pm
Tickets: $15
Visionary director Ivo van Hove discusses the creative process and development of this landmark work with James Nicola, Artistic Director of New York Theater Workshop.
Sunday Salon: Literature
Margins, Centers, Realisms, Interiors
Sunday, September 23 at 3:00pm and 5:00pm
Tickets: $25 per session
Armory Artist-in-Residence and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins hosts fellow playwrights and collaborators in an intimate afternoon of conversation, readings and performances featuring both rising talents and luminaries, all of whom are actively exploring and testing the boundaries of the literary art form.
3:00pm–5:00pm: Session One
3:00pm–3:45pm
Veterans Room
Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls, MCC Theater), Aleshea Harris (Is God Is, Soho Rep and the upcoming What to Send Up When it Goes Down, A.R.T./New York Theatres), and Antoinette Nwandu (Pass Over, Lincoln Center Theater) have all produced new works to critical acclaim this past season. Their plays reveal a rich exploration of themes, including beauty, female adolescence, responses to racialized violence, and dreams of a better existence. Gathered together for the first time, these three award-winning playwrights reflect on the inspirations that drive their writing process, as well as the joys and challenges surrounding their New York premieres. Introduction by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
4:00pm–4:50pm
Board of Officers Room
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins hosts a session introducing the boundary-bending work of some of the finest emerging playwrights. Michael R. Jackson (writer, composer, and lyricist of A Strange Loop, premiering at Playwrights Horizons in Spring 2019) will share a sample of his work with a set of songs, featuring special guest vocalist L. Morgan Lee. Following the performance, three playwrights will read from their latest works-in-progress: Geraldine Inoa (writer for AMC’s The Walking Dead and SCRAPS which will have its 2019 world premiere at The Flea Theatre), Jeremy O. Harris (Daddy, Vineyard Theatre and Slave Play, New York Theatre Workshop, both premiering in 2019), and Princess Grace Award-winning playwright Jonathan Payne (Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, which recently debuted at The Duke on 42nd street).
5:00pm–7:00pm: Session Two
5:00pm–5:50pm
Board of Officers Room
Jocelyn Bioh opens Session Two with an introduction to choreographer Raja Feather Kelly (Fairview, New York Theatre Workshop and Everybody, Signature Theatre) who presents a special site-specific installation showcasing his signature dance style, insatiable imagination, fascinations with pop culture, performance history and Andy Warhol. Performance artist Narcissister (America’s Got Talent, The Mannequin, Self-Gratifier), who herself works at the intersection of dance, art, activism and a range of media, previews the selection of her films (on view in the Parlor Room for the duration of the Salon), as well as her current theatrical collaboration with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Finally, Loy A. Webb (The Light, The New Colony, Chicago) and Patricia Ione Lloyd (former Sundance Institute residence and current staff writer for AMC) discuss developing their work across the nation and internationally.
6:00pm–6:45pm
Veterans Room Conversation
To end the evening session, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins hosts a conversation about the state of American theatre with multi-Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks.
Artist Talk: The Six Brandenburg Concertos
Thursday, October 4 at 6:00pm
Tickets: $15
Choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and conductor Amandine Beyer discuss Bach’s influence on the creation of their latest work set to his masterful score with RoseLee Goldberg, Founding Director and Chief Curator of Performa.
Watch the event on YouTube.
The First United Lenape Nations Pow Wow & Standing Ground Symposium
Sunday, November 18 from 1:00pm to 9:00pm
Tickets: $15 ages 13 and up; $10 seniors, students/military (with ID) and children ages 6–12
Join us for the first large-scale Lenape Pow Wow on Manhattan Island, transpiring on land that once belonged to the Lenape and marking the first congregation of dispersed Lenape elders in the area since their forced migrations in the early 1700s. The Pow Wow has been a traditional gathering by Native Americans for centuries as a way to congregate, celebrate, and share cultural traditions and heritage. Presented in partnership with members of the Lenape community, this event provides an opportunity for members of the Lenape to gather, while also inviting the New York City community to learn about the Lenape’s historical and cultural ties to New York in a fun and interactive day of presentations.
Click here to view a detailed schedule of events.
The Pow Wow features a dance competition for hundreds of dancers of all ages, competing in traditional Native American dress and regalia, with musical accompaniment by drumming and singing groups Red Blanket, Young Blood, and Silver Cloud. In addition, there will be featured performances by Kalpulli Huehuetlahtolli Aztec/Mexica Dance, Inuit Throat Singer Tanya Tagaq, and Taino Dancers from the Kasibahagua Taino Cultural Society showcasing the varied traditions of their respective cultures, as well as opportunities to purchase authentic Native jewelry, crafts, clothing, and food from numerous vendors and artisans.
The Standing Ground Symposium will provide an opportunity to meet Lenape elders as well as hear the perspectives of academics and community leaders regarding key issues facing the Native American community, including internationally renowned activists for indigenous people Winona LaDuke and Roberto Mukaro Borrero, and author Steve Newcomb. The Symposium also includes performances and activities for the whole family including Native flute players and theater groups exploring mythic traditions and stories that the community has passed down through generations, screenings of films that explore the complexities of Native life and made by Native filmmakers, and a display of bespoke creations by Native fashion designers.
Artist Talk: The Head & the Load
Thursday, December 6 at 6:30pm
Tickets: $15
Artist William Kentridge and his fellow collaborators Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi discuss the political context of their latest work and the process behind mounting it in an unconventional space with Dr. Augustus Casely-Hayford, Director of the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art.
Watch the live stream.
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