Staff Picks No. 129
Dream Feed : The HawtPlates, Philip Howze
HERE Arts
January 9th-25th 2026
This is kind of an amazing match between artists, ideas, form, talent, beautifully gelling together. The HawtPlates (whose WATERBOY & THE MIGHTY WORLD I saw the old Bushwick Starr, whose songs still sit in my head) have a new work at HERE as part of Under the Radar and I am more than ecstatic to go experience it. And directed by the brilliant Philip Howze, one of our most imaginative and exciting theater minds. I am rarely hype about a work but…I am hype, guys. Join me 1/9 for an evening we'll see in our somnambulistic expressions (I definitely fucked up the turn of phrase here but whatever!)
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
The Rest of Our Lives : Jo Fong, George Orange, Adam Cobley, Ben Jah
La MaMa
January 7th-17th 2026
I was talking to a friend recently (I say “recently”, this was back in March 2025) about what we saw as a rise of a “theatre of warmth” that wasn’t mawkish or treacly, but had a deep humanistic honesty regarding interpersonal connection and an approach to it that felt genuine and uncynical. This Under the Radar offering, from two UK artists with a deep background in the physical theatre arts, seems to be of that milieu and I think we should all take a moment to experience a work that doesn’t ask us to hate ourselves, every so often.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
Selections From: Tapestries / openings : Suzzanne Ponomarenko, Dominica Greene
Judson Memorial
Saturday January 3rd and Monday January 5th 2026
(the full festival is January 3rd-11th 2026)
Stoked for this spilt bill, part of Pioneers Go East Collective’s Out-FRONT! Festival, a weeklong celebration of radical queer art and dance. Suzzanne Ponomarenko shares bits of “Tapestries,” a dance-theatre work drawn from Ukrainian folklore. And Dominica Greene premieres “openings” an improvisatory exploration of crisis and connection. Greene is making incredible work at the intersection of grief, joy, family, community, and generosity, and I’m thrilled and grateful we get to experience this new work. Come through!
Staffer: Joshua Dumas
i’m going to take my pants off now : Ann Marie Dorr, William Burke, Megan Lang, Caroline Mraz, Elizagrace Madrone
LifeWorld
January 3rd-17th 2026
My first show at Exponential this year! Ann Marie is an awesome human and artist, and to be able to catch one of their new works is probably the best way to roll in the new year. So come on down to Life World with me (10pm show, anyone?) and find out what the cod fish it’s all about.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
This is the first show of The Exponential Festival! Opening a whole week before anything else! I cannot wait to see it next week. Ann Marie did a show called Good and Noble Beings with Paul Ketchum and Kedian Keohan back in January 2020 and it really introduced me to the type of experiments Ann Marie was interested in concocting… they baked cookies, did karaoke, danced, divulged and also did 8 shows in one day… And, as with that show, this upcoming show has a team of collaborators to die for.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
What To Wear : Richard Foreman, Michael Gordon, Alan Pierson, Paul Lazar, & Annie-B Parson, St. Vincent and an incredible cast
BAM
January 15th-18th 2026
Treasures mined from the deep, surely - Richard Foreman and Michael Gordon’s opera about…fashion? Society? Fashion as fascism? comes to BAM as a part of the PROTOTYPE Festival, carefully reconstructed by the folks at Big Dance Theater, legends Paul Lazar and Annie-B Parson. If you missed his “final” work, SUPPOSE BEAUTIFUL MADELINE HARVEY, you now have a chance to dig through time for another chance.
Staffer: Reuven Glezer
It is a short run but doing the schedule gymnastics to fit this one in will be worth it. I got some sneaky photos of props storage and it made me so so excited. Nobody did props like Foreman, that is for sure. (Google “Richard Foreman props” for fun. A little taste - giant salt and pepper shakers with play card-esque red hearts, a tricycle on a platform with a little pyramid cage attached, mystical orbs…)
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister