Items tagged with 'Proctors'
The Collaborative
A screengrab.
The new local arts magazine from Proctors -- The Collaborative -- is now online.
The publication is an outgrowth of the remains of The Alt, and its staff includes former Alt editors David Howard King and Katie Cusack.
Among the first group of stories: talking with choreographer Nadine Medina (from the Troy Dance Factory) about working with Capital Region music acts, a visit to The Lumberyard in Catskill, a bit about the opening of the Electric City Barn, and a look around local photographer Sarah Pezdek's home.
There's also this piece by David Howard King following along as Samson Contompasis painted that new mural of Henry Johnson along Henry Johnson Boulevard. A clip:
Tonight, though, he's drawing even more attention than usual. With the sun long disappeared behind the autumn night sky, Samson pulls up in his light blue minivan and affixes a projector to a utility box on one side of Henry Johnson, connects that to a MacBook, then carries his buckets of black paint and assorted brushes across the street to a lot littered with condom wrappers and discarded snack-food bags. He takes a long painter's pole and attaches a relatively tiny brush to its end.
A man with a sign declaring that he is homeless hobbles back and forth down the opposite side of the boulevard, sometimes answering queries from passersby about why there's a MacBook on the street corner late at night, and why no one's taken it.
Here's a list of spots where you'll be able to pick up a physical copy of the mag.
"On the Trail of Big Cats: Tigers, Cougars and Snow Leopards" at Proctors
A talk / presentation called National Geographic Live On the Trail of Big Cats: Tigers, Cougars and Snow Leopards will be at Proctors next Wednesday, November 14. Blurbage:
Join award-winning National Geographic photographer Steve Winter for a thrilling journey into the world of big cats. From trekking high in India's Himalaya in search of rare snow leopards and stalking the elusive jaguar through Latin American jungles to chronicling the nocturnal activities of the "American lion" or cougar, this determined explorer ventures far and wide to come face-to-face with his subjects. This is no easy task. Since many big cat species are in danger of extinction, they have good reason to avoid humans.
While these felines may be endangered, they're still wild, unpredictable creatures?and caution is required in their presence. Negotiating their habitats can be more dangerous still. Winter has been attacked by rhinos and gotten stuck in quicksand while working in the field. There have been lighter moments as well: mishaps with remote-control cameras, and waiting on a southern California hillside to catch a shot of a cougar under the famous "Hollywood" sign. Throughout it all, Winter's mission is to share the beauty of big cats while reinvigorating efforts to save them.
That's Winter's photo of a snow leopard above.
The show's at 7:30 pm on the Proctors main stage. Tickets are $30.
By the way: If you've never seen the Planet Earth episode with the snow leopard, it's worth checking out.
Steve Martin + Martin Short at Proctors
Humorous people Steve Martin and Martin Short will be at Proctors February 17 for a show together. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 19 -- they're $75.50 and up.
Show blurbage:
In Now You See Them, Soon You Won't, comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short present new material in a variety of musical sketches and conversations about their iconic careers, most memorable encounters, and, of course, their legendary lives in show business. Grammy Award®-winning bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers will join the duo on stage. The tour also features renowned pianist and Jimmy Kimmel Live band member Jeff Babko.
Martin and Short also teamed up for a Netflix special earlier this year, and also performed at Tanglewood in September.
Presumably Steve Martin's banjo will also be making an appearance.
photo: Anna Webber
Double Dare Live at Proctors
Slime is eternal.
The game show Double Dare -- yep, that Double Dare -- returned to Nickelodeon this past summer, and now a touring stage version of the revived show will be at Proctors November 17. Blurbage:
On your mark, get set, GO! The messiest game show on TV is now the messiest game show on the road. Double Dare Live is coming to your town and will bring all the action and excitement of Nickelodeon's hugely popular TV show to the stage. All the Slime soaking, pie plastering, and booger busting will be hosted by the Double Dare legend himself Marc Summers! Bring your whole family to the show you loved as a child. You might even get chosen to compete to win by answering brain-bending trivia questions, complete messy physical stunts and even run the legendary obstacle course!
Yes, the pick-the-giant-nose challenge is back. Nostalgia is a booger.
The show is on the main stage at Proctors. Tickets are $30 and up. (And here's info on potentially becoming a contestant.)
Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show: Chris Lamberth
The Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show series is bringing Chris Lamberth back to Proctors August 25. Tickets are $15 ahead / $20 at the door and available now.
Lamberth was a previously a headliner for the series back in 2016. Bio blurbage:
[Lamberth] has toured nationally with Chris Hardwick and shared the stage with notable comedians Maria Bamford, Bill Burr, D.L. Hughley, Marc Maron, Trevor Noah and Craig Robinson. He has been featured on AXS TV's Gotham Comedy Live, the webseries Co-Operation, MTV's prank show Bugging Out and the critically acclaimed podcast 2 Dope Queens. ...
His other television and film credits include High Maintenance (HBO), Jessica Jones (Netflix), The Last O.G. (TBS), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) and the upcoming film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight) starring Melissa McCarthy. He also serves as host of The Mundane Festival--a weekly podcast...
The show's at 8 pm. And with all Pretty Much shows, there will be a host and opener.
Four years of Pretty Much The Best Comedy Show
The show this August will mark the fourth-year anniversary of the Pretty Much The Best Comedy Show series, which has consistently brought interesting, rising comics through town, among them Aparna Nancherla and Josh Gondelman.
Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show: Abbi Crutchfield + Luke Thayer
The Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show series will be back at Proctors this Saturday, July 28 with two headliners on the bill: Abbi Crutchfield and Luke Thayer.
Show blurbage:
Abbi Crutchfield - As seen on Comedy Central's "Broad City," NBC's "The Mysteries of Laura," and current co-host of TruTV's "You Can Do Better", Abbi Crutchfield is a comedian named one of the 18 Funny Women You Should Be Following on Twitter by Huffington Post Comedy. She is a UCB alum and is a longtime producer of the acclaimed live comedy show The Living Room Show.
Luke Thayer - luke was just names Sirius XM's "Comedian Of The Month"! Luke has appeared at comedy festivals, clubs, and colleges across the country and internationally. His TV appearances include Fox's "Laughs," "Brain Games" on Nat Geo, Tyra, Food Network, and "All Night with Joey Reynolds" on NBC. Luke's also been a guest in Funny Or Die Originals and College Humor videos and listed in the NY Post's Comics' Favorite Jokes.
And, as it happens, they're married. (To each other.)
Show's at 8 pm. Tickets are $15 ahead / $20 at the door.
photos: Abbi Crutchfield via her Twitter account | Luke Thayer via his Facebook
Screening of The Place Beyond the Pines at Proctors with director Derek Cianfrance
Proctors is hosting a screening of The Place Beyond The Pines May 5 -- and the movie's director, Derek Cianfrance, will be there to talk about the experience of making the film.
As you know, The Place Beyond The Pines -- starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, and many other notable actors -- was largely shot in and around Schenectady. The production used a bunch of local homes and businesses for scenes. And the film was written by Schenectady native Ben Coccio.
The screening at Proctors is at 3 pm on Saturday, May 5. Tickets are $20. There's a VIP mixer at 1:30 pm (extra $50). There will be raffles of autographed The Place Beyond the Pines DVDs and movie posters to benefit the Northeast Filmmakers Lab.
William Shatner at Proctors
William Shatner. Will be at Proctors. For a screening of The Wrath of Khan. April 4. Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 23 -- they're $35.50 and up.
The event is another classic film* and post-screening Q&A events. Blurbage:
William Shatner will be sharing fascinating and humorous stories from portraying the original Captain Kirk in the Star Trek television series and movies, and from his career spanning over 50 years as an award-winning actor, producer, director and writer. Fans will also have a chance to ask Mr. Shatner their question during the audience-led Q&A.
* Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek film, right? Either that or IV.
2018-2019 lineups for Proctors Broadway shows and plays at The Rep
Local theater to host production of stage musical about Founding Father.
Yep, next year will be the year when Hamilton arrives at Proctors for a run during August 2019.
That was one of the details in the Proctors announcement Monday night of its upcoming Broadway lineup and the next season at Capital Repertory Theatre.
The Proctors lineup includes many shows that are currently playing on Broadway, so this will be an opportunity to see them while they're still hot. And The Rep season includes a world premiere and new spins on some old favorites.
Tickets for both series are now on sale as part of subscription packages. Individual show tickets will be available closer to the season starting. Some shows end up being very popular, so you might want to plan ahead a little bit for tickets if you're interested in going.
On with the lineups...
Andy Borowitz at Proctors
Writer/comedian Andy Borowitz will be at Proctors July 13. Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 9.
Borowitz is most famous of late for his satirical pieces at The New Yorker. But back in the day he was chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool as one of the creators of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
The show is part of Borowitz's "Make America Less Embarrassing Again" tour. He'll be talking with WAMC's Joe Donahue on stage.
photo via Andy Borowitz Facebook
Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends at Proctors
Bill Murray -- yep, that Bill Murray -- is set to appear at Proctors April 9 as part of a music and literature performance with cellist Jan Vogler. Tickets go on sale to the public this Thursday, February 8 -- they're $50 and up.
Show blurbage for New Worlds:
A program that showcases the core of the American values in literature and music. A show that communicates the bridges artists have built between America and Europe. Twain, Hemingway, Whitman, Cooper, Bernstein, Gershwin and Foster are some of the strongest voices that influenced generations of humans in America and gave the world a picture of the charm, energy and creative force of the New World.
The Hollywood star's love for classical music is young and his art of language boundless. All the more reason to look forward to a fascinating encounter between great music and great literature featuring two masters of their art.
Here's a trailer for the show that might give you a better sense of what it's like, along with a CBS Sunday Morning segment.
As the story goes, Murray and Vogler met in an airport (there was apparently a "cello in the overhead compartment" joke.) They're joined by violinist Mira Wang and pianist Vanessa Perez.
Death of A King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year at Proctors
A multimedia stage show called Death of A King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year will be at Proctors January 18. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 3 -- they're $25.75 and up.
Death of King is based on the book of the same title by Tavis Smiley. Show blurbage:
Smiley narrates this joyful tribute that tells the little-known story of Dr. King's final year. Against all the odds and with his popularity in deep decline, King summoned the courage, conviction, commitment and character to bring a message of peace, equality and justice to a bitterly divided nation. Joining Smiley will be renowned jazz artist, Marcus Roberts, the genius of modern piano, who will perform stirring original compositions. Roberts' new album, Trio Crescent: Celebrating Coltrane, debuts later this month. Tony Award-winning Broadway and film director Kenny Leon (A Raisin in The Sun, The Mountaintop, August Wilson's Fences) serves as Creative Consultant.
That first link above includes a sample of the show.
Here's a USA Today article about the touring production, and a NYT review of the book from which it's adapted.
Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show: Erik Bergstrom
The Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show series at Proctors brings Erik Bergstrom back for a stand-up show Saturday, October 28. Tickets are $15 ahead / $20 day of.
Show blurbage:
Bergstrom's hilariously dark comedy is a fitting match for Halloween weekend, as an illustrator and author, he published his first book, "Grimmer Tales" (Penguin Books) in 2009 and has had his illustrations repeatedly appear in the New Yorker and other publications. Last year, after finessing his set right here at Pretty Much The Best Comedy Show, Comedy Central picked Bergstrom to record and produce his first Half-Hour on their network, which aired in September of 2016.
Bergstrom also survived a bout with cancer during the last few years. As he told Splitsider: "Cancer is the best agent I've ever had. When I got this special I got emails from agents wanting to know if I wanted to sign with them, but I was like, 'If I want another TV spot I'll just have more cancer.'"
The show starts at 8 pm.
photo via Erik Bergstrom Facebook
Nathan Lane + The Bird Cage at Proctors
The latest movie screening + famous person Q&A event: Proctors will be hosting a Q&A with actor Nathan Lane and a screening of The Bird Cage November 10. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 6 -- they're $35 and up.
Event blurbage:
Hear behind-the-scenes stories from his life and the exemplary career which has earned him two Tony Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and numerous other accolades and nominations. The evening will begin with a showing of one of his most defining and hilarious films, The Birdcage, followed by a live moderated discussion with Nathan himself.
Also coming up at Proctors
+ An Evening with Alan Alda on November 9
+ Joe Biden on November 20
Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show: Casey James Salengo
The Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show series at Proctors has Casey James Salengo lined up for this Saturday. Tickets are $15 ahead / $20 day of.
Salengo was on Jimmy Kimmel earlier this month. And he has a half-hour Comedy Central special coming out this fall. And he's originally from Middleburgh. As he posted on Facebook this week: "My entire extended family and many childhood friends will be seeing me for the first time so come on out if you want to witness an actual nightmare I've had come to life."
The bill also includes Courtney Maginnis. Earlier this year she was on Studio 360 talking about balancing her stand-up comedy with her day job as a lingerie designer.
The show starts at 8 pm on Saturday, August 26 in the Proctors education center space.
Joe Biden at Proctors
Joe Biden will be at Proctors November 20 as part of tour for his new memoir. Tickets go on sale July 28 -- they're $75 (and up) and include a copy of the book. (It looks like there's also a presale.)
Event blurbage:
This fall, Vice President Joe Biden will travel the nation for his American Promise Tour, a series of conversations that will go beyond the 24-hour news cycle and 140-character arguments to connect friends and neighbors around the topics that matter most. Vice President Biden will reveal the big political moments of his career, the life-altering choices he made, and the key traits that have helped him persevere through challenges and live with purpose. "It's a lucky man who gets out of bed every morning, puts his feet on the ground, knows what he wants to do, and knows it still matters," says Vice President Biden. "I still count myself lucky."
Biden's memoir -- PROMISE ME, DAD: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose -- is about his life in 2015, serving as the vice president while his son was dying of brain cancer.
photo: David Lienemann
Proctors 2017-2018 season
Chef Jacques Pepin is on the schedule.
Proctors has released a big list of shows and events for its 2017-2018 season -- some new, some already announced. Aforementioned big list is below.
A few that of the new ones that caught our eye:
+ September 17: "A Seat at the Table" with Beekman 1802
+ November 9: An Evening with Alan Alda
+ January 17: David Brooks (the NYT columnist)
+ January 24: Just Call Me God: A Dictator's Final Speech (featuring John Malkovich)
+ April 6: Jacques Pepin
+ April 27: Patti LuPone
Tickets for (most of) the new shows go on sale this Friday, May 5.
On to the big list...
2017-2018 lineups for Proctors Broadway shows and Capital Rep
The national tour of The Color Purple will start at Proctors in October. / photo: Matthew Murphy
A touring production of Hamilton will be coming to Proctors during the 2018-2019 season.
Yep, that's a big deal because it's a hugely popular show. But it's also a year and a half (or more) away. And don't overlook a very solid lineup of Broadway shows for the 2017-2018 season, including the excellent The Color Purple.
Proctors announced that lineup -- along with the next Capital Rep lineup -- Monday night.
Tickets for both series go on sale today (February 7) as part of subscription packages. Individual show tickets will be available closer to the season starting. People who buy subscription packages this year will have first crack at Hamilton tickets next year.
Some shows end up being very popular, so you might want to plan ahead a little bit for tickets if you're interested in going.
Without further ado...
One-Man Star Wars Trilogy at Proctors
The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy show is returning to Proctors January 28 for two performances. Tickets are $30 and currently on sale.
What is this show? Blurbage:
Created and brought to life on stage by Canadian actor Charles Ross, One-Man Star Wars Trilogy is just what it seems--a live solo performance of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi)! The multi-talented Ross stuns audiences by singlehandedly playing all the characters, singing the music, flying the ships, fighting the battles and condensing the Star Wars plots into just over 60 minutes of live entertainment.
The show is in the GE Theater at Proctors. The performances are at 3:30 pm and 7:30 pm.
Found Footage Festival 2016 at Proctors
The Found Footage Festival tour returns to Proctors this Friday, December 16. Tickets are $15 / $10 for students.
Blurbage:
The Found Footage Festival is a one-of-a-kind event showcasing videos found at garage sales and thrift stores and in warehouses and dumpsters throughout North America. Curators Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher take audiences on a guided tour of their latest and greatest VHS finds, providing live commentary and where-are-they-now updates on the people in these videotaped obscurities. From the curiously-produced industrial training video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill, the Found Footage Festival resurrects these forgotten treasures and serves them up in a lively celebration of all things found.
The clip embedded above is a trailer for the show. It's one cringe moment after another. (Also, the audio at the end is maybe a little NSFW.)
Bryan Ferry at Proctors
Bryan Ferry is set to play a concert at Proctors March 30. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 9 -- they're $30 and up.
Ferry was the frontman for the influential 70s art rock band Roxy Music. And he's had a winding solo career since the band's breakup in the early 80s. More recently a jazz take on one of his songs was included in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby and Ferry popped up at Coachella and Glastonberry. And in late 2014 he released a new album.
Also, the "personal life" section of his Wikipedia page is worth a read. All that's missing is an episode in which he records "Christmas Is All Around."
photo via Bryan Ferry website
Thomas Friedman at Proctors
Thomas Friedman will be at Proctors February 9 for a talk titled "The Big Trends Shaping the World Today: Economics, Technology and Geopolitics." Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 4 -- they're $35 and up.
Friedman is, of course, the New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer winner who's written a bunch of books about globalization and related issues, such as The World is Flat (which sold 2 million copies), That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, and the upcoming Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations.
He occupies this weird position both as a standard bearer of the thinkfluencer industrial complex and someone who is frequently mocked for repackaging random anecdotes as wisdom, or for just being wrong.
Also, he visited the GE Global Research Center a few years back and somehow didn't end up sharing a Niskayuna cab driver story in his column about it.
Brain Candy Live at Proctors
Adam Savage and Michael Stevens
The Brain Candy Live stage show -- starring Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) and Michael Stevens (of Vsauce Youtube fame) -- will be at Proctors February 24. Tickets go on sale this Friday (October 28) -- they're $25 and up.
Show blurbage:
By the way: Tickets for that Neil deGrasse Tyson event at Proctors April 24 announced earlier this fall are now sale.
Unelectable You at Proctors
A touring show from Second City an Slate (yep, the website) called Unelectable You will be at Proctors October 28. Tickets are $20 and up, and currently on sale.
Show blurbage:
Wouldn't you like to take this whole election process and rip it apart with your bare hands? Why not let Second City and Slate do it for you!
Yes, Second City and Slate present Unelectable You: The Second City's Completely Unbiased Political Revue, a fast-paced combination of sketch, improv, music and multi-media taking a hard-hitting look at our election process. We're stuck with two of the least popular candidates in election history, and many people will be using this election not to vote for someone, but against. From breaking down Hillary and Donald, to exploring the media circus, to looking at ourselves to see if we're the problem, this show will examine what it means to be electable - or not.
Given that the reality of this presidential election has already often played like a dark parody, spinning the thing for (good) laughs seems like it could be a challenge. But a few of the reviews were able to turn seemed to think the show pulls it off (though apparently the Slate segments have the mouthfeel of advertorial).
The show is Friday, October 28 at 8 pm on the Proctors main stage.
Neil deGrasse Tyson returning to Proctors
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is set to return to Proctors April 24, 2017. Tickets are not yet no sale -- the on-sale date is TBA -- but they'll $20 and up.
Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. But he's become a prominent pop culture figure as a communicator and advocate for science, hosting TV shows such as the rebooted Cosmos, appearing on The Daily Show, and accreting a huge following on Twitter.
This time around the event is being touted as "Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Cosmic Perspective."
Proctors says his last appearance there, this past April, sold out. So if you'd like to go, it's worth keeping an eye out for when tickets go on sale.
photo: Cutty McGill
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?