Jewish New Year
Members of the Battery Park Synagogue threw bread into the water Thursday as part of the celebration of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. The Tashlich ceremony represents casting off of the year’s sins and making a fresh start. Religious Jews around the world will fast to atone for their sins on Yom Kippur, Sept. 25.
Tribeca Theater Festival
Tribeca, it’s not just for film anymore. This October, Robert De Niro’s pet project, the Tribeca Film Festival, will present its first Theater Festival, a two-week sampling of new works, panels, a playwrights program and films about theater.
Downtown Plays, a series of short plays will be held at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University. Douglas Carter Beane, Peter Hedges, Neil LaBute, Kenneth Lonergan, Paul Rudnick and Frank Pugliese are among the playwrights presenting their world premieres. As previously reported in June by the Downtown Express, the festival will eventually take place in the new Lower Manhattan Development Corporation-created arts and museum complex, which is expected to open five years from now on two parcels near Greenwich and Fulton Sts. — one located on the W.T.C. memorial.
The State On Screen film series, a series of films about the craft of theater, will be held at Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick St. Some of the highlights include Elia Kazan’s “A Street Car Named Desire” and Christopher Guest’s “Waiting for Guffman.”
For the lecture-loving crowd, playwrights, directors, actors, agents, critics and other theater insiders will discuss the craft at Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick St.
For tickets and more information, visit www.tribecatheaterfestival.com or www.dramadept.org. Tickets go on sale through the Tribeca website during the week of Sept. 20.
Libeskind, Arad, Calatrava, oh my
Three of the leading architects involved in the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site are hosting their first joint public discussion this Saturday at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center.
The panel discussion entitled, “Design: Ground Zero”, features Daniel Libeskind, designer of the master plan for the World Trade Center Site; Santiago Calatrava, designer of the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub; and Michael Arad, designer of the W.T.C. memorial.
Tickets are on sale for $35 for general public, $20 for students and senior citizens. Advance tickets can be bought online at www.aia.org/learningfromlowermanhattan, by phone 212 358 6126, in person at the Center for Architecture at 536 LaGuardia Place. Tickets are also available on the door, Saturday, Sept. 18, 1 p.m. -2:30 p.m., 199 Chambers St.
Oktoberfest early
Visitors can enjoy a taste of Bavarian culture Friday Sept. 17 at the German-American Oktoberfest at the South Street Seaport.
Oktoberfest arrives a month early in New York this year in order to honor German Friendship week. The event, held from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., will feature traditional German foods, ethnic dancers, an oompah band, hundreds of participants dressed in authentic costume, and, of course, beer.
The 47th Annual German-American Steuben Parade will cap off the week on Saturday at noon on Fifth Avenue from 63rd to 86th streets. For more information on any of these events, call 212-575-4545.
C.B. 1 meetings
The upcoming week’s schedule of Community Board 1 committee meetings is below. Unless otherwise noted, all committee meetings are held at the board office located at 49 Chambers St., Room 709.
On Mon., Sept. 20, the Landmarks Committee will meet at 6 p.m. to pass resolutions regarding the following applications: to legalize work done in non-compliance with the certificate of appropriateness regarding the lintels and sills at 452 Greenwich St; to install new entrance infill, a canopy, light fixtures, ramp and railings and new HVAC equipment on the roof at 82-92 Beaver St.; to install a store-font infill at 302 Canal St.; to amend the approved design of a new hotel 377-383 Greenwich St.; to legalize the installation of mechanical equipment on the roof without LPC permits at 325-333 Broadway; to replace the flagpole on the front façade with a pair of flagpoles at 1 Hanover Square.
On Tues., Sept. 21, C.B.1 will hold its full board meeting at 6 p.m. at Seaman’s Church Institute, 241 Water St.
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