In sickness and in health: Judy Fabjance and Kelly Beeman explore life as newlyweds who mine their personal crisis for “Tales of Stage 4 Cancer.”
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | TALES OF STAGE 4 CANCER: Equally adept at satire and survival — and no strangers to battling hostile forces from within and without — Chicago-based performers Judy Fabjance and Kelly Beeman make their NYC debut with “Tales of a Stage 4 Cancer.” Sketches, songs and monologues offer a defiantly unsentimental take on the grim realities and goofy pleasures of their life as newlyweds facing the ongoing struggle of breast cancer. “So many people feel like they are trapped in this depressing, scary story,” says Beeman, “but we want to help them find the humor, find the lighter side, find the release.”
That means frank revelations on everything from restrictive diets to their sex life to questionable aspects of the “Big Pink” cancer support industry — and some jaunty tunes as well! Keeping things light but grounded in a respect for reality is Second City faculty member Angie McMahon, who directs. Award-winning composer Amanda Murphy does musical direction duties, and shares Second City roots with Fabiance, who has been an instructor at the famed comedy hub since 1999. Beeman can’t claim such cred, but does have a gig writing and performing training sketches for the likes of Lambda Legal and Motorola. Somewhere along the line, these folks found room in their busy lives to make light of a devastating cancer diagnosis!
Mon., May 4, 8:30 p.m. at Magnet Theater (254 W. 29th St. at Eighth Ave.). For tickets ($7), call 212-244-8824 or visit magnettheater.com. Artist info at beefabproductions.com.
MATTHEW BRODERICK HOSTS (UN)SILENT FILM NIGHT
What does a Broadway actor do on his one night off? If you’re Matthew Broderick — currently starring in “It’s Only a Play” as the lone voice of reason among a crew of loopy thespians — you head below 42nd Street for a tribute to kindred spirits Chaplin and Keaton. Broderick does the hosting duties, when The College of Performing Arts at The New School presents (Un)Silent Film Night
This first annual edition also marks the debut of the Mannes Theatre Orchestra. Charles Neidich conducts a new score by Craig Marks that sounds out the 1924 silent comedy “Sherlock, Jr.” Perennial underdog Buster Keaton delivers elegant slapstick, as a lovelorn projectionist whose dream world adventures gave birth to countless film-within-a-film imitators. Also on the program: Barcelona-born Brooklynite Alexis Cuadrado leads the School of Jazz Improvisation Ensemble, in the premiere of his original score to Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 silent feature, “The Immigrant.”
Free. Mon., April 27, 7 p.m. at the John L. Tishman Auditorium at the University Center (65 Fifth Ave., at 14th St.).
You haven’t heard this one before: a rapper, two dancers and a cellist walk into choreographer Patricia Noworol’s mind — in “Replacement Place.”
PATRICIA NOWOROL DANCE THEATER: “REPLACEMENT PLACE”
Choreographer Patricia Noworol puts her dance theater troupe through some all-new paces, in a world-premiere work that blends “ferocious, fiery athleticism” with equally deft wordplay and a score that draws upon the deep-seated fears and dreams of its genre-hopping, definition-defying ensemble. And it’s a formidable ensemble. Troy Ogilvie and Nick Bruder reprise their bloody good roles as the power couple in the “Macbeth”-based immersive theater experience, “Sleep No More.” They interact with Brooklyn dancer/rapper AJ “The Animal” Jonez and electro-cellist Chris Lancaster, to depict Noworol’s alternately tense and playful exploration of competing ideas, power structures, intimacy and violence.
April 30–May 1 at 7:30 p.m., May 2 at 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. At New York Live Arts (19 W. 19th St. btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). For tickets ($20-$30), call 212-924-0077 or visit newyorklivearts.org. Artist info at pndance.com.
Young authors celebrate the release of “We Are New York City: A Poetry Anthology by Lower Manhattan Students” (April 30 at Poets House).
LAUNCH PARTY & POEM IN YOUR POCKET CELEBRATION
With 60,000 volumes on its shelves, Poets House is uniquely positioned for National Poem in Your Pocket Day (an annual event that encourages people to carry a poem and read it — aloud, and often). On April 30, Poets House staff and volunteers will distribute pocket-sized poems in Battery Park City and Tribeca. Back at their home base, starting at 9 a.m., young authors will begin the day-long launch party for “We Are New York City: A Poetry Anthology by Lower Manhattan Students.” Their subject matter covers everything from the Brooklyn Bridge to Times Square to thoughts about 9/11, from those not yet born in 2001. At the Neighborhood Poetry Read-In (3–6 p.m.), you can read the poem you’ve been shepherding around all day. Or, just borrow from the sizable Poets House supply. They won’t mind one bit.
Free. Thurs., April 30, all day at Poets House (10 River Terrace, at Murray St.) and various locations in Battery Park City. Call 212-431-7920 or visit poetshouse.org.
