Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens (LUNGS), FRIGID New York & GOH Productions  present

 2024 LUNGS Summer Theater Festival 

Sat & Sun, June 8 & 9, 2024 2pm to 6pm

Festival Schedule

2pm:  CZECHOSLOVAK AND BENGALI STORIES WITH PUPPETS / By Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre / Created and performed by Vit Horejs & Sayma Karim

The Naughty Tiger performed by Sayma Karin and The Devil and The Lawyer & The Twelve Months  performed by Vit Horejs. In addition: The Devil marionette announces his 2024 Presidential Campaign. Sayma Karim and her Muppet Titly will tell a Bengali folk tale she heard as a child in her home country of Bangladesh followed by Vít Hořejš and his Century old marionettes telling his childhood story from Czechoslovakia, where the naughty creatures are, of course, the devils.  Sayma Karim, a versatile puppeteer and educator, worked for 19 years in Bangladesh before emigrating to the USA. As a teacher, she trained emerging talents in voice, acting, and puppetry and acted in television dramas as well as puppetry. She joined the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre this year.

A native of Prague, Vít Hořejš emigrated to the US in 1979. In 1990, he found a trove of antique marionettes in the attic at Jan Hus Church on East 74th Street, in the heart of the once-upon-a-time Czech and Slovak neighborhood and founded Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre in NYC. He has lived in the once-upon-a-time Czech and Slovak Lower East Side since 1980.

3pm: EL TENDEDERO  / Presented by Something from Abroad / Written and Directed by Regina Romero / Performed by Regina Romero, Silvana Gonzalez, Pelayo Alvarez and Martha Lorena Preve

In El Tendedero Latin New Yorkers Zaira and Nadia deal with the arrival of new neighbors; and with everything that it might imply: gentrification? Love? Infidelity? This short comedy is set in the perfect chisme (gossip) spot: a rooftop “Tendedero”. The reflection of a quintessential NY community. Something From Abroad produces material from different cultural backgrounds to give “outside” stories a voice in America today. It is a theater company made up of a couple of broads from abroad, proud to promote art created by women. Our mission is to provide an opportunity for actors from all over the world to perform on stage in New York. We tell the stories of our people and our struggle as immigrants. We believe that the differences and diversity that an international group brings to the table are our strength.

4pm: OUR DAD IS IN ATLANTIS / Written by Mexican playwright Javier Malpica / Directed by Roman Primitivo Albear / Performed by Daniel Gutierrez & Isaiah Garcia

The play concerns two young Mexican brothers who are left with their grandmother in a rural village while their father goes to the United States to look for work. Motherless, missing their father, and left in the care of relatives they scarcely know, the boys rely on one another for emotional support they are unequipped to provide, and for physical support in a naive and desperate attempt to reach their father in “Atlantis.” Roman Primitivo Albear, playwright, poet,  director, and painter, was born in Mexico City and lives in New York City.

5pm: LORCA’S LAST NIGHT / Written and directed by Charles Krezell /Directed by Daria Fain, Music by Leonid Galaganov / Performed by Leonid Galaganov, Rocco George, Jhonathan zapata Garcia, Owen Engesser and David Fasano. Guitar by David Barish

Lorca is captured by the Guardia de Civil (“Civil Guard”) in fascist Spain. He is waiting for the morning to come.

The 3rd Annual LUNGS Summer Theater Festival is supported in part by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. The festival was curated by Erez Ziv, Riki Colon, Roman Primativo Albear, Bonnie Sue Stein and Charles Krezell. Special thanks go to 6B Garden, Sally Young, and Rina Root. Festival banner by Theresa Linnihan