Performance Space New York
in New York, United StatesCategory: Attraction
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150 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10009, USA Print route »
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Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a not-for-profit arts organization and one of the longest standing venues dedicated to contemporary performance art in New York City. Founded in 1980 in the abandoned Public School 122 building at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, Performance Space New York has hosted thousands of world-premiere and ongoing works by such artists as Eric Bogosian, Spalding Gray, Karen Finley, Penny Arcade, chameckilerner, Eddie Izzard, John Leguizamo, DANCENOISE, John Jesurun, Ethyl Eichelberger, Ron Athey, niv Acosta, Big Dance Theater, Annie Dorsen, Elevator Repair Service, Tim Etchells, Lawrence Goldhuber, Maria Hassabi, Emily Johnson, Taylor Mac, Sarah Michelson, Rabih Mroué, Okwui Okpokwasili, Julie Atlas Muz, Reggie Watts, and Adrienne Truscott, companies such as Big Art Group, Proto-type Theater, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company and New York City Players, as well as countless other emerging artists.
The former elementary school was abandoned and in disrepair when a group of visual artists began to use the old classrooms for studios. In 1979, choreographer Charles Moulton began holding rehearsals and workshops in the second floor cafeteria, and invited fellow performers Charles Dennis, John Bernd and Peter Rose to collaborate in the administration and use of the space. Tim Miller, John Bernd's lover, later joined the four in launching P.S. 122.One of the earliest programmatic offerings created by the founders and choreographer Stephanie Skura, was Open Movement, a non-performative, weekly improvisational dance event. Early participants in Open Movement included artists Ishmael Houston-Jones, Yvonne Meier, Jennifer Monson, Yoshiko Chuma, Jennifer Miller, and Christopher Knowles, among other acclaimed dance and performance artists still actively working today. P.S. 122 began its presentation history in 1980 with the first "Avant-Garde-Arama", a multidisciplinary showcase, and published its first complete calendar of performances, classes and workshops. The first full-length public play or performance presented in P.S. 122, in October 1980, was a play by Robin Epstein and Dorothy Cantwell's experimental women's theater company, More Fire! Productions.
Mark Russell was hired as artistic director in 1983 to curate and focus the overall programming, expanding it from a rental house into a year-round presenting facility. P.S. 122 doubled its programming in 1986 when it converted the old gym on the first floor into a performance space to be used for extended runs of small theatre groups and as a site for community meetings. Russell departed in 2004; Vallejo Gantner, succeeded him in the position with the 2005-2006 season through 2017, and notably created Performance Space 122's annual winter series, the COIL Festival.In 2005, Performance Space 122 was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.In 2011, Performance Space 122 embarked on an extensive $37 million renovation of its building, with major funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. During the six-year process, Performance Space 122 held programming at partner venues across New York City, including Danspace Project, The Chocolate Factory, Abrons Arts Center, The Invisible Dog Art Center, La MaMa ETC, and others, operating from administrative office spaces based in Brooklyn. Performance Space New York's revamped spaces reopened in January 2018 with the premiere of “visions of beauty” by choreographer Heather Kravas, held as part of the 2018 COIL Festival.In 2017, former MoMA PS1 curator Jenny Schlenzka was named as Gantner’s successor as executive artistic director, the first female director in the organization’s history. Coinciding with the reopening of its building, the organization announced its updated name of Performance Space New York. Its updated name “is signaling an ambition to be relevant and accessible to all of New York,” in Schlenzka’s words, and actively collaborate with the local community in its programs. Schlenzka’s first full season of programming begins in February-June 2018, with a series of performances, discussions, film screenings, and other presentations specifically themed around the East Village. The series will pay homage to Performance Space New York’s history as well as involve emerging artists and collectives reflective of the neighborhood today.Performance Space New York now boasts two theaters, and presents dance, performance art, exhibitions, music and film and video. It has a professional technical and administrative staff, and an active commission program. Both theater spaces feature state of the art technical inventory and are completely flexible. The large theater features a 22’-3” grid height and a playing space of 65’ wide by 65’ deep. The Neilma Sidney Theatre has a 12’ grid height and a playing space that is 18’ wide by 63’ deep.
Performance Space New York's new logo and identity was created by acclaimed artist Sarah Ortmeyer.
