Off-Off Broadway

Astoria, Queens has long been celebrated for its affordable rents and authentic Greek cuisine, but New Yorkers should really add “thriving cultural district” to its list of amenities. Within a few blocks, you’ll find Kaufman Astoria Studios, a bustling TV and movie complex that’s also home to the TDF Costume Collection; the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), which celebrates its 25th anniversary t

By ERIC GRODE

Sometimes the unused scraps of one show become the starting point of another. For the award winning, Brooklyn-based ensemble the TEAM, that’s exactly what happened with RoosevElvis , now playing at The Bushwick Starr through Nov. 3. RoosevElvis (pronounced “Rose-of-Elvis”) takes on two titans of American history, Teddy Roosevelt and Elvis Presley, and emerged from the research and rehearsal proces

By MARK BLANKENSHIP

“I do a lot of moving from one discipline to the next, but I feel like there is a lot of consistency with what I am trying to do,” says Karinne Keithley Syers, a multidisciplinary artist whose work involves playwriting, performance, music and sound, dance, and academic scholarship. (She’s currently getting a PhD in English from the CUNY Graduate Center with a focus on 19th-century American literat

Matthew Freeman wanted to create a satire of Park Slope, Brooklynites. Since these folks are his neighbors in real life, he knows them well and thought a roast would be fun to write. Esoteric experimental theater, artisanal cheese, how Barclay Center construction is affecting morning commutes—all topics were up for grabs, and all still appear in the final version of his play Why We Left Brooklyn .

By MARK BLANKENSHIP

What do H.M.S. Pinafore , Anything Goes , and Eugene O’Neill’s Thirst have in common? They are all set on boats. And now at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, The Boat in the Tiger Suit , written by Hank Willenbrink and directed by Jose Zayas, is joining the ranks of those nautical entertainments.

By MARK BLANKENSHIP