Warren Lehrer with Adeena Karasick, Judith Sloan and Monna Sabouri Jericho’s Daughter and Riveted in the Word October 9, Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY 4pm to 6 pm Admission is Free. Open to the Public.
Reservations needed for anyone coming outside of the Pratt community. RSVP Books will be available for sale at the event or by going to the earsay shop page.
Warren Lehrer 2 Book Presentation and Performance BLUE HILL MAINE w Judith Sloan and Najla Said
Unitarian Universalist Church 37 Miller Street, BelfastBelfast, Maine
Suggested donation $10 and up. You can make a reservation by emailing [email protected] or just show up at the door!
Acclaimed Palestinian-American and Jewish-American playwrights and performers Najla Said and Judith Sloan present a new work in-progress Imperfect Allies: Children of Opposite Sides. The performance explores Najla and Judith’s relationship as colleagues and friends, using tools of art, diplomacy, and listening in order to work for justice and peace and an end to the carnage in Gaza.
Najla and Judith join award-winning author/designer Warren Lehrer in his multimedia presentation of two new book projects. Jericho’s Daughter is Lehrer’s anti-war, feminist reimagining of the biblical tale of Rahab, the Canaanite “harlot” who lived in a mud hut inside the outer brick wall of Jericho. Riveted in the Word is an electronic book based on the true story of a historian’s hard-fought battle to regain language after a massive stroke.
Interview on WERU radio coming soon.
Imperfect Allies: Children of Opposite Sides
Imperfect Allies: Children of Opposite Sides
Acclaimed playwrights and performers, Judith Sloan and Najla Said present a new work-in-progress, Imperfect Allies: Children of Opposite Sides, dealing with Israel/Palestine that uses the tools of art and diplomacy to work for justice and peace and an end to the escalation of violence in Palestine, Israel and the region. Through performance, Sloan and Said explore how their Jewish-American and Palestinian-American histories shape them. Imperfect Allies was conceived of several years ago, but came to find a new resonance given the current situation, which has tested many relationships including their own. Sloan and Said, both actors and writers who live in New York City and lost their fathers at young ages are “children of opposite sides.” Sloan and Said come together in this soul-breaking moment to find tangible ways to work together.
Imperfect Allies began in 2019 as a project of EarSay, Inc. began with person dialogues between African-American, Jewish, Indian-American, Queer, and Immigrant artists, produced by Judith Sloan. In October 2023, Sloan and Said came together for this iteration of the project, Imperfect Allies: Children of Opposite Sides.
To find out about upcoming performances and the future of the Imperfect Allies Project Sign up for the newsletter HERE
Imperfect Allies is a project with Judith Sloan, Jewish-American actor, writer, educator, and radio producer and Najla Said,Palestinian-American actor, writer, and activist. This project was conceived several years prior to the current heart- and soul-breaking violence in Palestine/Israel. Our goal is to bring people together by using tools of art, diplomacy, and listening in order to understand each other better, build strategies, and work together. As artists, communicators and healers, Sloan and Said will present a 25-minute performance, followed by a dialogue among all in attendance who wish to stay and participate. To find out about the future of the project please sign up for our mailing list here.
Past Events:
If you missed the radio interview listen here:
Previous events took place in Spring 2024: April 11, and 17 at City Lore, NYC April 14, at Art NY Brooklyn, NY (NYC past event- Friday June 21 at Center for Book Arts, New York New York. July 30, Brunswick, ME All events were full- there is a waiting list of over 100 people and we will be posting when the next steps take place. Please get on our email newsletter list to find out about next steps.
Warren Lehrer Print (Magazine) Book Club.
Thursday May 16, 4pm 2024, Print (Magazine) Book Club. Warren talks with designer/author icons Debbie Millman and Steven Heller about his two forthcoming books, Jericho’s Daughter and Riveted in the Word, which are launching simultaneously. This is also a remote event. Read more about the two new books, the Book Club event, and Register at this link. It’s Free: https://www.printmag.com/book-club/warren-lehrer-jerichos-daughter-riveted-in-the-word/
Warren Lehrer Book Launch for 2 new books. Center for Book Arts in Manhattan May 31 at 6:30pm and Topaz Arts in Queens June 1 at 4pm.
PLEASE NOTE_ Friday Evening performance is close to sold out- Please join us Saturday or get on a waitlist by emailing info@earsay.org
Join us Friday May 31, 6:30pm 2024 for Warren Lehrer’s DOUBLE BOOK LAUNCH at The Center for Book Arts,28 West 27th St. NYC, 3rd Floor, NYC. The books: Jericho’s Daughter is Lehrer’s anti-war, feminist retelling of the biblical tale of Rahab, with original images by painter Sharon Horvath, bound in a wraparound dos-à-dos binding. Riveted in the Word is an electronic book inspired by the true story of an American history professor/writer regaining language after a devasting stroke; soundtrack by Andrew Griffin, programmed by Artemio Morales. The Double Book Launch features performance/readings by Warren and Palestinian-American actor/author Najla Said (Jericho’s Daughter) and actor/author/EarSay Co-Director Judith Sloan. Followed by Q&A and signing with Lehrer and collaborators. Moderated by CBA Director Corina Reynolds. This is an in-person event with drink and refreshments. Admission is free but seating is limited. Reservations here. Note it defaults to one dollar, you can zero it out or make a donation.
Saturday June 1, 4pm 2024, Topaz Arts, 55-03 39th Avenue, Woodside (Queens), NY. Warren Launches his Two New Books as part of Topaz’ Arts 2024 Spring Salon. Features performance/readings by Warren, Najla Said (Jericho’s Daughter) and Judith Sloan. Signing with Lehrer and collaborators. The Salon also includes performances by pianist/performer Mary Prescott, and visual artists/performance duo Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan + Jevijoe Vitug). This is an in-person event. Admission is free. For more info and to register, visit this link: http://www.topazarts.org/
Listen to Judith Sloan and Najla Said on WNYC
IMPERFECT ALLIES
Judith Sloan and Najla Said on WNYC Judith Sloan, actor, writer, educator, and radio producer, and Najla Said, actor, writer, and activist, talk about their project called “Imperfect Allies,” where they will host live events with a performance, and dialogue among audience members with different perspectives on the violence in Israel and Gaza.
Imperfect Allies with Judith Sloan and Najla Said
To find out about the future of this project please get on the mailing list.
Please join us on October 6 at 7pm at Center for Book Arts for an in-person event celebrating the (official) launch of Adeena Karasick and Warren Lehrer’s stunning and provocative new book Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings. The night will begin with a multimedia performance/reading, followed by a conversation with Lehrer and Karasick moderated by CBA Director Corina Reynolds, followed by a signing, and food, drink and festivities.
Peoples’ Voice Cafe at Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall 239 Thompson Street, between West 3rd & West 4th Streets • New York, NY 10012 Theater, monologues, poetry, music, film TICKETS HERE
Judith Sloan is an actor, audio artist, writer, radio producer, human rights activist, educator and poet whose work combines humor, pathos and a love of the absurd. Her stories take the audience on journeys about the trials and tribulations of teaching in prisons and youth detention centers, migration, refuge, the climate crisis, and navigating bureaucracies. She will be performing excerpts of songs and monologues from various theater projects including IT CAN HAPPEN HERE; Yo Miss!; Crossing the BLVD and a new work in progress, This is Not a Drill, written in collaboration with Andrew Griffin. Her work has been supported by the New York Foundation on the Arts, commissions from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Queens Council on the Arts, the Puffin Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and support from NYU professional development fund. She will be joined by guest performers including poet, performer, playwright Darrel Alejandro Holnes, filmmaker and visual sociologist for PEP’s research lab Mychal Pagan, and playwright Mêlisa Annis. Special guest author/performer Najla Said.
Book Project: 2023 Openings
Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings Poems written by Adeena Karasick. Book visualized by Warren Lehrer. Published by Lavender Ink Press. October, 2023. 6.25” x 8” x 96 pages. Hardcover, cloth and 3-color foil stamped paper over boards. Smythe-sewn, archival paper, black and white interior.
This work is the first collaboration between poet, performer, cultural theorist and media artist Adeena Karasick, and designer/author and vis lit practitioner Warren Lehrer. The book features two poems—written by Karasick, visualized by Lehrer—about re-entering the world after a pandemic that never seems to end.
The title poem, Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings, is an ecstatically wrought, post-Covid celebration/trepidation of openings. It tracks the challenges of opening(s) read through socio-economic, geographic and bodily space. Employing fragmentation, layered language, and sonic wordplay, Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings explores a range of intralingual etymologies of the word “opening,” laced with post-consumerist ironic and erotic language, theoretical discourse, philosophical and Kabbalistic aphorisms. The poem foregrounds language as a material, physical organism of hope—highlighting the concept of opening as an ever-swirling palimpsest of spectral voices, textures, whispers and codes transporting us through passion, politics and pleasure as we negotiate loss and light.
Described in the book as a Panddendum, the second poem, Touching in the Wake of The Virus, navigates how in the wake of the pandemic, we must renegotiate the sense of “touch.” After being in solitude for 2+ years, and riddled with fear of further contamination, it explores the nature of touch; how do we touch, and in what ways; (what’s appropriate, inappropriate, riotous, propriotous), when we are always on the surface of contact. With reference to Derrida’s notion of how touch is fundamental to being human; Touching in the Wake of The Virus asks, can one / ever really touch anything; touch nothing / touch / without being touched / how does one touch without touching, without touching too much, where touching is already too much.
Lehrer’s sensuous, textural, textual rendering explores the same questions as it plays with and diagrams approach/withdrawal, navigating between and through a landscape of barriers and openings, seeking intimacy, daring to touch and be touched. His typographic compositions give form to the interior, emotional, metaphorical, historical and performative underpinnings of both poems. Together, the writing and visuals create a new whole that engages the reader to become an active participant in the experience of the poems. The book is a work of poetry, art, design, performance score and commentary about the shared global and very human experience of being separated and trying our best to come back together.
The book is augmented by a soundtrack recording of both poems performed by Karasick with music by Grammy-award winning composer/musician Frank London.
Sunday May 22@ 5 pm. St. Marks Church in the Bowery Vissi Dance Theater Premiers Breathe guest performances by Judith Sloan, Andrew Griffin, Lee Lund Studio of Dance and Poet Gold
Sun, May 22, 2022. 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery 131 E 10th St New York, NY 10003
Legendary club dancer, author, founder and modern dance choreographer, Courtney Ffrench, will premiere his most recent collaborative work Breathe, featuring music by Dr. Darrell Smith of the Dal Segno Trio and the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Breathe speaks of the servant trapped in a caste system that condemns the person to servitude for their entire existence. So low is this servant, that they are required to walk backwards while wiping away their foot prints, so they don’t offend. This servant will die as they were born; The Untouchable.
Section two explores the demand for pure physical labor through exploitation, manufactured wars, economic systems i.e., slavery, indentured service, serfdom and capitalism. This servant works at the pleasure of the ruling class and fights perpetually for the right of self-determination; The Picker.
Thousands of Korean women, were used as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers in World War 2. In fact, this atrocity was not limited to Korean women, but throughout history, men have shown a bottomless appetite for sexual exploitation. This servant is displayed ubiquitously through out the modern world, from street corners to glass-wall bedrooms in the Redlight District; The Comfort Woman.
Language Maintenance
Virtual Performance Sunday March 6, 4pm eastern, 3pm central
LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE (Working Title) a solo show performed and written by San Antonio actor Georgette Lockwood
Script development and direction Judith Sloan
A story about a secret artist, immigration, bilingual education, and the ripple effects of trauma between mothers and daughters.
A note from Georgette: “This story began as an exhibition of haunting, striking art made by my mother, Rocio Alvarado Lockwood. Some of the images were familiar to me, and some I had never seen before. My family discovered memoirs scribbled in between her lecture notes on Bilingual Education. As I walked around the exhibition, I had a feeling that something was missing. Her diaries shed light on her strange images including dancing skeletons and dolls whose mouths are rubbed out. The pictures portray the pain and discrimination of an immigrant child, a pain that echoes in me when I remember my mom. A voice told me to keep searching for the light, as if Rocio was telling me, “If I went through all this, it is good we all know it so as not to repeat.” I consider this play the “other” exhibition, where we see the strength of love that transforms pain, so that we may transform it ourselves.”
A new project supported by the Network of Ensemble Theaters Virtual Exploration Grant
Thanks for Showing Up and Staying Safe
An Afternoon of Theatre in Brooklyn, Sunday Dec 5 @2pm Ticket link below!
TICKETS $15 includes light refreshments. Performance followed by a talkback.
Or you can make a reservation here and receive an invoice: [email protected]
Palestinian-American author, actress, playwright, and activist Najla Said performs her one-woman show for one afternoon only. Daughter of Edward W. Said, the Columbia University professor who until his death in 2003 was a cultural critic and public intellectual known for his book Orientalism, Najla guides the audience through her coming-of-age story. She shares her journey from growing up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to becoming an Arab-American on her own terms. Directed by Sturgis Warner
“There’s something heroic about her broader stance to a topic that generates fury and recrimination, she brings a lightness and a steadfast refusal to hate.” New York Times
Opening Act by actress/writer/audio artist Judith Sloan “A welcome voice crying in the contemporary wilderness of political correctness… seasoned with tolerance and joie de vivre.” Theater Week
A physically distanced, socially engaged event. Audience must show proof of vaccine and wear masks.
A.R.T./New York LuEsther T. Mertz South Oxford Space in The Great Room, 2nd floor 138 South Oxford Street (between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street) Brooklyn, NY 11217
Presented by EarSay, with support from the THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS (DCLA) and by the New York State Council on the Arts NYSCA Restart NY: Rapid Live Performance Grant with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
FREE PERFORMANCE OCT 23 @ 4pm Queens Theatre
Writer/actress Judith Sloan presents songs from two of her projects: It Can Happen Here and 1001 Voices: Symphony for a New America Featuring singers: Meah Pace, Melissa McMillan, Alba Ponce de Leon, Michelle Beth Herman, with Dominic Frigo on keyboard. “Sloan is a welcome voice crying in the contemporary wilderness of political correctness. On-the-money satire seasoned with tolerance and joie de vivre.” Theater Week Special Guest Artist Najla Said will perform an excerpt from her solo show, Palestine. “There’s something heroic about her broader stance to a topic that generates fury and recrimination, she brings a lightness and a steadfast refusal to hate.” NY Times
TICKETS ARE FREE – COME TO THE DOOR or GET ONLINE IN ADVANCE CLICK HERE: TIX
Live Outdoor Concert
We are pleased to announce Vocalist Alicia Waller and Writer/Performer Judith Sloan have been RECOGNIZED WITH $5,000 CITY ARTISTS CORPS GRANT FROM NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS (NYFA) AND THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS (DCLA). In addition EarSay received funding from the THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS (DCLA) and by the New York State Council on the Arts NYSCA Restart NY: Rapid Live Performance Grant with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Please join us SUNDAY OCTOBER 3 @3pm for a free concert on the OUTDOOR STAGE AT the Jamaica Performing Arts Center, 153-10 Jamaica AvenueJamaica NY 11432. RSVP LINK BELOW!
The anthem from 1001 Voices – A Symphony for a New America (music Frank London text Judith Sloan) closes out the concert for Queens College Choral Society. Thanks to everyone involved, especially conductor James John and co-creator Warren Lehrer.
To see the full symphony excerpt go here:
To see the choir from Dec. 9, 2020 go here:
Exhibition now on view at Center for Book Arts January 16 through March 28, 2020
Center for Book Arts Foyer Gallery: 28 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001
This exhibition explores Warren Lehrer’s approach to visualizing poetry and prose in multi-branched projects through books, typography, animation, performance, and collaboration.
Warren Lehrer: Books, Animation, Performance, Collaboration explores Lehrer’s approach to visualizing poetry and prose in multi-branched projects through books, typography, animation, performance, and collaboration. The centerpiece is Lehrer’s newest book/project, Five Oceans in a Teaspoon, a collaboration with poet/investigative journalist Dennis J Bernstein (Paper Crown Press, 2019). In addition to the Five Oceans in a Teaspoon book, the exhibit includes 27 prints of individual poems and a reel of a dozen animations. The exhibit also features some of Lehrer’s previous books and animations/films/performances that branch from them, including: Globalization: Preventing the Sameness of the World and clips from 1001 Voices: Symphony for a New America—offshoots of Crossing the BLVD (W.W. Norton) co-authored with Judith Sloan; and animations and films used in Lehrer’s performances of his illuminated novel A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley (Goff Books). Lehrer and Bernstein’s first book/play FRENCH FRIES (1984, VSW), and other solo and collaborative bookworks provide further context.
Read about it in Art & Object:
When Word and Image are One: Warren Lehrer’s Visual Literature
2018 Indigo Design Award for 1001 Voices
Warren Lehrer wins a 2018 Indigo Design Award in Mix Media/Moving Image for 1001 Voices: A Symphony for a New America. It was one of four recipients given by the prestigious international design competition in the Motion Graphics category. The motion graphics runs throughout the 38 minute work and is an integral component of the multimedia symphony.
1001 Voices: A Symphony for a New America
Composed by Frank London Libretto by Judith Sloan Projections by Warren Lehrer
1001 Voices: a Symphony for a New America is a three-movement symphony/oratorio scored for orchestra, chorus and visual projections. The multimedia work is about migration, transformation, and the search for home. It is a 21st century, musical/poetic expression of the challenges and aspirations of so many of today’s American cities and their inhabitants who hail from many different parts of the globe. It is inspired by stories of immigrants and refugees in Queens, NY—the most ethnically diverse locality in the United States. 1001 Voices serves as an antidote to the poisonous and flattening rhetoric about immigrants and refugees currently dividing the United States and the globe. 1001 Voices is a collaboration between Grammy-Award-winning composer, trumpeter, and Klezmatics band member Frank London, EarSay’s Judith Sloan and the animated projections designed by EarSay’s Warren Lehrer.
Originally commissioned and premiered by the Queens Symphony Orchestra, this work can performed by full orchestras and choirs as well as by smaller orchestras and contemporary music ensembles and as few as four vocalists. Scores are available upon request. If you’re interested in the possibility of performing this work or want more information, contact: [email protected].
It Can Happen Here
Saturday March 7, 8 PM at the Queens Theater
Reading/Performance of the work-in-development of It Can Happen Here a play with music written by Judith Sloan Free Make a Reservation Here
Cast includes Sasha Boykin, Yael Reich, Bianca Vitale, Judith Sloan and Gabrielle Flores.Director Alexandra Aron. Music collaboration with Emily Wexler and Josh Valleau.
About the play: The title, It Can Happen Here, refers to the Sinclair Lewis novel, It Can’t Happen Here, which chronicled the fictitious election of a power-hungry politician who stirred up fear by promising a return to patriotism. For nine months, Sloan — award-winning playwright/actor and longtime chronicler of Queens (Crossing the BLVD, 1001 Voices: Symphony for a New America) — talked with residents of Southeastern Queens about our hopes, fears, and aspirations. “What struck me over and over were stories of love and support that often fly under the radar in times of extreme duress. I decided to zoom in on conversations between women. Like the novel, It Can’t Happen Here, my play is inspired by real events,” says Sloan. In the play, Riva and Serena, two hairdressers from different generations and races, embark on a dream and create a sound studio in the basement of their hair salon in a Queens neighborhood. We hear humorous stories about their families, customers, and neighbors, as well as discussions of gentrification and our current political climate. Then, when a family member of one of their clients faces deportation, the women are confronted with a moral dilemma. BUY THE SINGLE HERE 99 cents
Alicia Waller works with EarSay on several projects. She is a New York City-based soprano, vocalist, and songwriter seeking to integrate a range of diverse musical traditions through a performance practice that centers around the female voice. To hear her is to encounter an incredibly versatile musician with a seemingly insatiable appetite for artistic exploration. She is, for example, a classically trained opera singer as well as an avid interpreter of a number of Latin and vernacular forms from around the world. (more…)
Warren Lehrer on Design Matters: Listen Here
Debbie Millman interviews Warren Lehrer, writer, an artist and designer. His books are graphically and typographically eye-popping, and his multi-media works have influenced two generations of designers. He’s worked in audio, print, video, and theater, and his work has been collected by museums like MOMA and the Getty. He’s is a living, breathing example that what a creative person can do is limited only by the scope of their interests and passions. He’s here to talk about his career, and about his latest project—a book of visual poems written by Dennis J. Bernstein that Warren composed for the page. And a very special thank you to AC Hotels by Marriott, Member of Marriott Bonvoy, for their support of this episode. AC Hotels. The Perfectly Precise Hotel. #InPaidPartnershipwithACHotels
It Can Happen Here: Stories from “Imperfect Allies”
Hosted by writer/audio artist/actor Judith Sloan, with guest artists singer/actress Meah Pace, musician/performer Emily Wexler, choreographer/manager of Jamaica Performing Arts Center Courtney Ffrench, singer Priya Darshini, musician and artist Claire Marie Lim.
In a time of xenophobic national policies and a heightened discussion among progressives about issues of race, class, gender and ethnicity, this event aims to elicit and listen to stories that reveal ways that multi-ethnic, multi-racial collaborations address these issues with nuance and accountability. This live event reveals the behind-the scenes process of creating a play that deals with difficult dialogues. Audience members are encouraged to bring stories about dialogues that they have had that were able to bridge a conflict or address misunderstandings. How do we have open conversations in a climate of cancel culture?
Made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. (more…)
Five Oceans In a Teaspoon, Available now!
EarSay is delighted to announce the publication of Warren Lehrer and Dennis J Bernstein’s new book Five Oceans in a Teaspoon(Paper Crown Press, September 2019).
ADVANCE PRAISE
“Brilliant and beautiful! Thank you for bringing in the new.”Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, author of The Color Purple.
“Bernstein and Lehrer—the Lennon and McCartney of viz-lit—have reunited at the height of their creative powers. Five Oceans in a Teaspoon speaks to the madness, vulnerability, aspiration and language of our time. The gutsiness and raw emotion of the writing, revelatory appeal of the visual compositions, and brevity of the form creates an intensely moving experiential journey.” Steven Heller, Design and Visual Culture Historian, author New York Times Book Review Visuals column
“In the long history of graphic word works, few, if any, have this range and repleteness…A completely virtuosic work.” Johanna Drucker Foremost Vis Lit scholar, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies, UCLA
“Five Oceans in a Teaspoon re-envisions a poetry memoir via a textual kaleidoscope… Bernstein and Lehrer are the Rodgers and Hart of Visual Poetry.” Bob Holman Poet, poetry activist chronicler, founder: Bowery Poetry Club
Warren Lehrer and Dennis J Bernstein Interviewed on WNYC
Five Oceans in a Teaspoon – Release Date September 19, 2019
EarSay is delighted to announce the publication of Warren Lehrer and Dennis J Bernstein’s new book Five Oceans in a Teaspoon(Paper Crown Press, September 2019). Place your preorder now and reserve a seat for the Sept 27th NY Book Launch event at the Chelsea (Market) Wine Vault, 410 West 16th Street at Ninth Avenue. 7 pm. Free with a reservation:
ADVANCE PRAISE
“Brilliant and beautiful! Thank you for bringing in the new.”Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, author of The Color Purple.
“Bernstein and Lehrer—the Lennon and McCartney of viz-lit—have reunited at the height of their creative powers. Five Oceans in a Teaspoon speaks to the madness, vulnerability, aspiration and language of our time. The gutsiness and raw emotion of the writing, revelatory appeal of the visual compositions, and brevity of the form creates an intensely moving experiential journey.” Steven Heller, Design and Visual Culture Historian, author New York Times Book Review Visuals column
“In the long history of graphic word works, few, if any, have this range and repleteness…A completely virtuosic work.” Johanna Drucker Foremost Vis Lit scholar, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies, UCLA
“Five Oceans in a Teaspoon re-envisions a poetry memoir via a textual kaleidoscope… Bernstein and Lehrer are the Rodgers and Hart of Visual Poetry.” Bob Holman Poet, poetry activist chronicler, founder: Bowery Poetry Club
Book Launch on September 27th. If you’re in the New York Area, please come celebrate the publication of Five Oceans in a Teaspoon at the NY Book Launch Performance/Reading Bash at Chelsea (Market) Wine Vault Event Space. Seating is Limited.
Hosted by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, with Warren Lehrer & Dennis J Bernstein and Special Guests Judith Sloan, J-Ha Hasegawa, Andrew Griffin, Alicia Waller & others.
Queens in Manhattan, Crossing the BLVD & It Can Happen Here – One Night Only
Monday July 8, 7 pm, New York Institute of Technology Auditorium on Broadway 1871 Broadway between 61st and 62nd Streets New York, NY 10023 BUY TICKETS NOW -$10 Advance TIX: $15 at door
New York Institute of Technology, School of Interdisciplinary Studies & Education
presents a multimedia theatrical performance of Crossing the BLVD followed by short excerpts from Sloan’s new work IT CAN HAPPEN HERE. Judith Sloan and guest actors in an evening of stories about migration, refuge and finding home.
Featured performers include:
Judith Sloan, Vick Krishna, Bianca Vitali, Sasha Boykin, Maria Sofia Hernandez, Meah Pace and Prince Jones
“…a whirlwind tour and love poem of what has often been called the most racially and ethnically diverse county in America. The New York Times
Winner 2004 Brendan Gill Prize Municipal Art Society of NY
“Immigrant life as told in the intimate, rich, comic, ironic and sad stories so often seen but not heard in America’s big cities.” The Washington Post
“Crossing boldly carries the tradition of oral history into the 21st Century. Electrifying!” Eve Ensler, author The Vagina Monologues
As immigration policy is hotly debated around the country, Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a new America presents the human stories of why immigrants and refugees have migrated to the US and what their experiences have been since they came here pre- and post-9/11.
Hosted by Judith Sloan featuring performances by Alicia Waller, Bianca Vitale, Emily Wexler, Raffi Marhaba, Salomé Egas, Kimberly Morales, and excerpts from writing by youth from the International High School at LaGuardia Community College.
An evening of stories, songs, monologues about migration, refuge and finding home. (more…)
Judith Sloan one of 6 Women Honored at Jamaica Performing Arts Center
Join us on Saturday March 23rd at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center.
Come at 4:30 for Cocktails and Conversation with some of the actors from It Can Happen Here to support the future of the work. Stay to see the concert at 7pm.
Vissi Dance Theater is honoring 6 recipients for outstanding service to our community in recognition of Women’s History Month: Petula Beckles, Kerri Edge, Tajuana Hamm, Maria James, Malikka Karteron and Judith Sloan.
Saturday February 16th Moderated by John Kuo Wei Tchen, Inaugural Clement A. Price Chair in Public History and the Humanities at Rutgers University.
In “It Can Happen Here,” two hairdressers-one black, one white-in an ever-changing neighborhood in Queens, embark on a new dream from their two-chair hair salon. They follow their passion for singing and nurturing a community in the midst of a national political climate of chaos, division and autocracy. These two women from different generations have lived next door to each other for 34 years and have worked together for over a decade. They confront the repressive political climate and gentrification with idiosyncrasies and humor, until one of their clients, facing a deportation crisis, presents them with a moral dilemma.
Thank you for coming to this event! Please sign up on the mailing list to find out about the future of the project. Join the mailing list
Queens Council on the Arts presented the first iteration of It Can Happen Here, a new play in development written by Artist Commissioning Program Awardee Judith Sloan.
Judith Sloan’s Artist Commissioning Program project, It Can Happen Here, is a reference to the Sinclair Lewis novel It Can’t Happen Here, which chronicled the fictitious election of a power-hungry politician who stirred up fear by promising a return to patriotism. For nine months Sloan — playwright/actor and longtime chronicler of Queens (Crossing the BLVD, 1001 Voices: Symphony for a New America) — talked with residents of Southeastern Queens about our hopes, fears, and aspirations.
“What struck me over and over were stories of love and support that often fly under the radar in times of extreme duress. I decided to zoom in on conversations between women. Like the novel It Can’t Happen Here, my play is inspired by real events,” says Sloan.
In It Can Happen Here, two hairdressers—one black, one white— in an ever-changing neighborhood in Queens, embark on a new dream. They follow their passion for singing and nurturing a community in the midst of a national political climate of chaos, division and autocracy. Through their journey they reveal stories of their customers, family members and neighbors, including a DACA recipient, an immigration lawyer, and an elder who lost everything in Hurricane Sandy.
Warren Lehrer help launch new Pratt Institute Book Arts Minor
On Wednesday April 18, 2018, Warren Lehrer presented a performance of A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley at Pratt Institute as the launch event for their new Book Arts Program.
In his funny, thought provoking performance/reading based on his illuminated novel A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley, Warren presents an overview of his protagonist’s life in books via many of Mobley’s book cover designs, book-like objects, and other biographical materials including animations and video performances of Mobley book excerpts.
A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel that contains 101 books within it, all written by Lehrer’s controversial author protagonist who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. In his funny, thought provoking performance/reading, Lehrer presents an overview of Mobley’s life in books via many of his book covers, book-like objects, and other biographical materials including animations and video performances of book excerpts.
Poetry in Windows Public Art Installation: 1001 Voices: An Anthem for a New America
This Window Exhibition was on view at CUNY School of Law from May 2017 through February 2018. We are currently seeking a new home for the installation.
ONE NIGHT performance of 1001 Voices: A Symphony for a New America
On Saturday December 16 at 8pm, Colden Auditorium Queens College
in collaboration with the Queens Choral Society and the Aaron Copland School of Music, 900 people came to see the full performance of 1001 Voices. Video excerpts coming soon.
Queens College Choral Society 77th Annual Winter Concert
Judith Sloan Awarded Commissioning Grant
Queens Council on the Arts announces four selected artists for the Inaugural Year of the Artist Commission Program. Judith Sloan hosts an event for her commission of a new work “IT CAN HAPPEN HERE” a new theatrical performance developed from gathering stories of anguish and defiance in the face of xenophobia and repression.
3 pm Saturday December 2nd Performance & Storytelling WorkshopYork College, Jamaica Queens. Free and Open to the Public. RSVP HERE
Sloan will present excerpts of the work in progress accompanied by Andrew Griffin on Viola.
Judith Sloan Performances
Saturday December 16 at 8pm
1001 Voices: A Symphony for a new America. A collaboration between EarSay and the Queens Choral Society and the Aaron Copland School of Music with 120 voice choir. Composed by Frank London, Libretto by Judith Sloan, Animations by Warren Lehrer. Saturday December 16, 2017 at Colden Auditorium.
Come celebrate fifteen years of EarSay’s Youth program in theatre and radio in an evening of performances featuring stories of immigrant youth from Queens New York! Performances about dreams, hopes, fears, risks and living in the most ethnically diverse county in the United States through poetry, music, monologues and song created and performed in collaboration with NYU students from Gallatin School of Inidividualized Study and students from the International High School at LaGuardia Community College.
Featuring singer Alicia Waller and musicians EarSay Youth Voices project includes Emily Wexler- assistant director. NYU students include Salome Egas, Cheryle Chong, Clayton Fejes, Eugenie Thompson and Chloe Troast. International High School students include: Luis Miguel Acero, Sarmistha Das, Gabriela Cruz, Milagros Duran Baez, Trneem Esmail, Juan Gutierrez Perez, Julio Hernandez, Mukarrambon Kasimova, Kenya Lopez, Bianlamar Marquez, Jermain Mercado, Tamara Morales, Masud Rana, David Reyeg, Iosifina Rutledge, Gabriela Snitko.
Recent shows:
Tuesday November 1, at CUNY Law School Thursday September 29, 7pm Yo Miss! at WNYC’s The Greene Space, accompanied by Andrew Griffin. This event kicks off Brian Lehrer’s live event Election 2016 series. For four consecutive weeks, he’ll lead the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives. watch the video of the talkback here!
Warren Lehrer was honored by the Center for Book Arts in NYC “for his contribution to book arts and its connection to the broader world of contemporary art.”
“Every year The Center for Book Arts honors three important people who have and continue to inform the book arts field, such as curators, librarians, collectors, organizations, and, of course, artists.” Lehrer was recognized as one of the 2016 honorees at this year’s Center for Book Arts Gala Benefit on April 4th at the National Arts Club in NYC. The other honorees this year were May Castleberry, librarian at MoMA, and Peter Kraus, proprietor of Ursus Books.
Lehrer’s Center for Book Arts award describes him as a “Pioneer in visual literature and design authorship” and honors him for his “commitment to furthering the mission of The Center for Book Arts and championing the Art of the Book.”
On March 24 Warren Lehrer premiered the A LIFE IN BOOKS: Bleu Mobley Retrospective Exhibition at the O’Kane Gallery at the University of Houston, Downtown. Based on Lehrer’s award-winning illuminated novel A LIFE IN BOOKS, the exhibition presents itself as a retrospective of Bleu Mobley’s life work. It encompasses over 250 pieces, including all 101+ Bleu Mobley book jackets, accompanied by “original” catalogue descriptions, select interior pages, book-like objects, animations and video performances of book excerpts, and facsimiles of letters, articles, notebooks, and other artifacts that help tell the Bleu Mobley story.
A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel that contains 101 books within it, all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—a controversial author who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. Mobley’s autobiography/apologia is paired with a review of all 101 of his books, each represented by its first-edition cover design and catalog copy, and more than a third of his books are excerpted. The resulting retrospective contrasts the published writings (which read like short stories) with the confessional memoir, forming a most unusual portrait of a well-intentioned, obsessively inventive (if ethically challenged) visionary. A LIFE IN BOOKS explores the creative process of a writer/artist, as it reflects upon a half century of American/global events, and grapples with the future of the book as a medium, and the lines that separate and blur truth, myth, and fiction.
A LIFE IN BOOKS is the winner of 9 Awards including: The 2015 International Book Award – Best New Fiction, The 2014 IPPY Outstanding Book of the Year Award for “Most Original Concept” (Independent Publisher), The 2014 Best New Fiction Award (USA Best Books), a Next Generation Indie Book Award, a National Indie Book Award, a CBAA Exhibition Prize, and a Print Magazine Regional Design Award
In his funny, thought provoking performance/readings, Warren Lehrer presents an overview of Bleu Mobley’s life in books via many of Mobley’s book cover designs, book-like objects, and other biographical materials including animations and video performances of Mobley book excerpts.
To inquire about booking the exhibition and/or Warren Lehrer’s performances and lectures contact [email protected]
– – – – – – –
Lehrer recently completed a book of visual poetry in collaboration with the investigative journalist and poet Dennis Bernstein titled The Bullet That Pierced His Son’s Skull. Bernstein’s poems, Lehrer’s visualization. The book contains 254 poems, eight chapters, and runs 340 pages. To be published sometime next year. Stay tuned!
Join mailing list for updates on performance, tour dates, exhibition, and enhanced e-book edition. Join the mailing list