When: June 8–25, 2022
We the People (not the Bots) extended until June 30th
Where: Lower Manhattan

Experience your Lower Manhattan adventure with three theatrical Performances

Experience your Lower Manhattan adventure with three theatrical Performances

A little-known landmark, the smallest street in Manhattan, an historic graveyard…
These are just some of the places you will discover through Downtown Stories.
Downtown Stories is a series of three theatrical adventures that bring to life the secrets and stories of Lower Manhattan, both real and imagined. It’s art meets anthropological expedition as audiences traverse lower Manhattan to discover new or little-known facts about downtown that provide a fresh perspective on the places we pass by every day.

This month-long series will consist of a theater piece, Sidewalk Echoes, and two fictional walking tours: Uncovering Downtown: a Magical Expedition of Unrecorded Dreams, and We the people (Not the Bots).

Come and see one, two or the three of them to discover what are the dreams behind the oldest streets of New York:

*The performances of We the People (not the Bots) on June 29th and June 30th will take place at 7:00 pm.

SIDEWALK ECHOES

By Rogelio Martinez
Directed by Johanna McKeon
– Sidewalk Echoes is entirely free-

A play with music drawn from interviews with small business owners, we hear their heartwarming and illuminating stories about what it takes to survive against all odds.

A barber moonlights in the evenings with his Yiddish wedding band. A liquor store owner holds down four jobs so he can start his own business. A Pakistani woman leave the nest of her Muslim parents to tour the world and found a threading salon with her Irish husband. Four actors, three guitars, a grand piano and a large dose of humour, performed in the sanctuary of the historic John Street Methodist Church

Photographs by Maria Baranova.

INFORMATION

June 8th through 25th
Where: John Street Methodist Church (44 John Street)
On Saturdays, the performances that take place at 3.00pm will be outdoors at 1 Battery Park Plaza.
Wednesdays-Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 3pm. There will be an additional performance on Saturday June 25 performance 8pm.
Saturday 3pm performances outdoors and ADA compliant.
COVID PROTOCOL: Proof of Covid-19 vaccination and masks required.

UNCOVERING DOWNTOWN: A MAGICAL EXPEDITION OF UNRECORDED DREAMS

By Mona Mansour and Jessica Holt
Directed by Jessica Holt
-$20 ticket cost with a corresponding $20 voucher to use entirely at a local participating restaurant–

When an out-of-work Downtown performance artist takes a job leading a Hamilton Walking Tour even further Downtown, she is prepared to give the standard tour about the trendiest Founding Father. But when an unexpected fork in the road presents a path not taken, she can’t help but follow it.

Join our Further Downtown Guide on Uncovering Downtown: A Magical Expedition of Unrecorded Dreams, as she uncovers the secrets contained within the oldest streets in New York and reveals the New York you always knew, or wanted to know.

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INFORMATION

June 8th through 25th
Starting Point: Bowling Green Park
Wednesdays–Saturdays at 12.30pm and 5.30pm. 
Saturday Tours are ADA compliant.
COVID PROTOCOL: Proof of Covid-19 vaccination required, masks optional outdoors.

CREATIVE TEAM & CAST

WE THE PEOPLE
(NOT THE BOTS)

By Eric Lockley
Developed and directed by Morgan Green
-$20 ticket cost with a corresponding $20 voucher to use entirely at a local participating restaurant–

Javel Washington, an accidental time-traveler, arrives in present day NYC with a warning from the future. In a race against the Bots of his time, Javel hopes to enlist you to help him save the human race from destruction.
Maybe the stories of New Yorkers, will offer insight into the value of resilience and with your help, Javel, could discover that what makes us human will always be our secret weapon.  

INFORMATION

June 8th through 30th
Starting Point: At 140 Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Cedar Streets across from Zuccotti Park.
Saturday Tours are ADA compliant.
COVID PROTOCOL: Proof of Covid-19 vaccination required, masks optional outdoors.

CREATIVE TEAM & CAST

Downtown Stories is made possible with support from:

BIOS — CREATIVE TEAM

Morgan Green (she/her) (director We the People (Not the Bots)) is a film and theater director based in Brooklyn. She is currently a Co-Artistic Director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and a co-founder of New Saloon Theater Company. Recent directing work includes Fat Ham by James Ijames (The Wilma Theater, New York Times Critics Pick), New Saloon’s MINOR CHARACTER: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time (The Public Theater), The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe (Marin Theater Company) and Cute Activist by Milo Cramer (The Bushwick Starr). Morgan is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, former artist in residence at Bric, Mabou Mines, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Proud member of SDC. MorganClaireGreen.com
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Jessica Holt (she/her) (director Uncovering Downtown: A Magical Expedition of Unrecorded Dreams) is a director and experience creator who has directed and developed new and contemporary work at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Alliance Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Virginia Stage Company, Magic Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Rivendell Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, & Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor among others. She was a co-founder & lead deviser of Guided Tour, a collective that created site-specific, reality-blurring, immersive fictional walking tours of real spaces in New Haven, CT. MFA, Directing: Yale School of Drama. Member: SDC, Ring of Keys, and Wingspace.   www.jessicaholt.org
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Eric Lockley (he/him) (playwright and performer We the People (Not the Bots))  is an award-winning actor, writer and producer. Writing credits include comedic web series Blacker and his inspirational short film, The Jump and plays and solo shows including Blacken the Bubble, Without Trace and Last Laugh. Lockley also produces with The Movement Theatre Company and Harlem9. Eric’s Afrofuturistic play Sweet Chariot will have a presentation at The Public Theater in Summer 2022. @iamericlockley
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Mona Mansour (she/her) (playwright Uncovering Downtown: A Magical Expedition of Unrecorded Dreams) is a Lebanese-American playwright and television writer based in Brooklyn. Her plays include UNSEEN (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Gift Theater); THE VAGRANT TRILOGY (Public Theater, Mosaic Theater); WE SWIM WE TALK WE GO TO WAR (Golden Thread); THE WAY WEST (Labyrinth Theater, Steppenwolf). The full-length version of THE HOUR OF FEELING was at Actors Theater of Louisville’s Humana Fest; an Arabic translation was presented at NYU Abu Dhabi in 2016. URGE FOR GOING was presented at the Public Theater and Golden Thread productions. Mona was a member of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group. With Tala Manassah she wrote FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS, an EST/Sloan commission. Their play DRESSING is part OF FACING OUR TRUTHS: SHORT PLAYS ABOUT TRAYVON, RACE AND PRIVILEGE, commissioned by the New Black Festival. Awards include: 2020 Helen Merrill Award, 2012 Whiting Award. 2014 Middle East America Playwright Award. Residencies include: MacDowell Colony, Space on Ryder Farm, Sundance Theater Institute, New Dramatists Class of 2020. Mona writes for NBC’S NEW AMSTERDAM, and is working on a script for AMC International. In 2019, she formed a theater company, SOCIETY, with Scott Illingworth and Tim Nicolai.
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Rogelio Martinez (he/ him) (playwright Sidewalk Echoes) is an award-winning playwright whose plays have been workshopped and produced in theaters across the country and abroad. His play, Born In East Berlin, was first performed at the Stasi Museum, Berlin in both English and German. The play had its world premiere at the San Francisco Playhouse in February 2020.  More recently, Martinez worked on The Seven Deadly Sins project for Miami New Drama. It was the largest theatrical production allowed by equity during the pandemic. The project was created and directed by Michel Hausman. It won the Drama League Award – Outstanding Interactive or Socially-Distanced Theater. In 2021, Martinez worked on a new television project for Tom Fontana, based on the book, Year of Dangerous Days. Martinez is writing a new play for En Garde Arts that will be produced this summer: Downtown Stories, Dreams from New York’s Oldest Streets. Recently, Syracuse Stage commissioned Martinez to write a new play tentatively titled Havana Syndrome. In addition, Miami New Drama has commissioned Martinez to write a new play about Elian Gonzalez. The play will have its premiere in Fall 2022.
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Johanna McKeon (she/her) (director Sidewalk Echoes)  Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Olney Theatre Center), First Down (59E59), Noura (Old Globe), Tokio Confidential (Atlantic), Comedy of Errors, (Williamstown), I Have Loved Strangers (Clubbed Thumb and Williamstown Premiere). Associate Director on 6 Broadway musicals including Funny Girl, Hedwig, American Idiot and Grey Gardens. In 2020 she directed a site-specific staged reading of Rogelio Martinez’s Born in East Berlin at the former Stasi Headquarters in East Berlin. Drama League, Boris Sagal and Fulbright Fellowships. MFA UT Austin.
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BIOS — CAST

Sheher Azaad (she/ her) Sheherazaad is a film & theater actress, composer, and writer originally from the Bay Area, California. Her work seeks to represent voices and stories from the South Asian-American diaspora. Her original album “Khwaabistan” released in 2020 and she is set to release her second album and debut novel this year. www.sheherazaad.com
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Lakpa T. Bhutia (he/ him) Lakpa has had a long association with the New York City Players since 1996, participating in a multitude of plays directed by Richard Maxwell. The most recent productions during the pandemic that he took part in was the ‘Field of Mars’. He was also part of the ensemble team with the Incoming Theater Division of the NYCP and last performed in the ‘The Vessel’ on the deck of a boat, in front of the Statue of Liberty.
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Chris Crofton (he/ him) Chris Crofton is an actor, musician, comedian and writer. His 2018 album “Hello It’s Me” got a 7.4 from Pitchfork! Vanderbilt University Press published his brand-new book, “The Advice King Anthology” in April of 2022. This will be his first time working with Johanna McKeon since they collaborated on “Functional Drunk” at St. Mark’s Church in 1997, and he is thrilled. 
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Ashley Noel Jones (she/ her) is an actor/musician/writer/director and graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has appeared in-Film/TV/Podcast: Rare Objects (Dir. Katie Holmes) Limetown (Sylvia), Anomaly, Storm Before The Quiet, Grave Mysteries, featured in Grammy nominated artist James Bay’s narrative album/short film ELECTRIC LIGHT. Theater: (Next Door@NYTW, The Public, A.R.T/NY, Williamstown, Corkscrew Theater Festival, The New Ohio, NOLA Project), Musician: (Mercury Lounge, World Cafe Live, Rockwood), featured by Afropunk, Instagram, AirBNB, Hilton Hotels. She can be found on social media at: @noelashley(Instagram/Twitter), @ashleynoeljonesmusic (Facebook)
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Michelle J. Rodriguez (she/ her) performs and writes in the worlds of music and theater. Select performance credits: The Conversationalists (Bushwick Starr; “gorgeously sung” -NYT), La Havana Madrid (lead u/s, Teatro Vista/Steppenwolf/Goodman) (ALTA Award for Music Direction). Raised in the Pacific Northwest and Kentucky by Puerto Rican parents, Michelle’s work explores kids-of-immigrants stories, divinity, intuition, joy-as-resistance, healing and spaces in-between. Michelle is currently commissioned by Portland Center Stage, Baltimore Center Stage and Black Cap Productions, and is a Van Lier Fellow at Ars Nova in their Makers Lab. BA Williams College. www.michamusica.com
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Pictures (except header) are courtesy of Andrew Bordwin.