A NIGHT OF NEO-BENSHI

Flow Chart Cabaret Cinema

Saturday, July 30 at 7pm

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

PURCHASE TICKETS

Tickets: $20

Run time: Approx. 70 minutes without intermission

“A sold-out event filled with neo-Hudson’s glitterati. For a rainy Saturday night, this was the place in town to see and be seen.” – Trixie’s List

Curated by The Flow Chart Foundation

Featuring Madhur Anand, Bruce Andrews, Dara Barrois/Dixon (formerly Dara Wier), Jeffrey Lependorf, Sheila Maldonado, Tracie Morris, Sally Silvers, and Wayne Koestenbaum

The Flow Chart Foundation returns to Hudson Hall with a new evening of one-of-a-kind neo-benshi fun. Taking inspiration from early Japanese silent film interpreters (called “benshi” in Japanese), neo-benshi artists replace the dialogue of scenes from popular films with their own unique re-inventions, performed live in front of the screen. From re-imagined classics to new takes on blockbuster movies, A Night of Neo-Benshi is a singular evening of performance, poetry, and dance, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. 

Featured films include scenes from Anna Karenina; It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People; A Streetcar Named Desire; The Women; and The Thousand Faces of Dunjia; plus the U.S. premiere of Tracie Morris’ Black Spring.

The evening precedes Flow Chart’s first “Gathering,” a free daylong event of presentations, performances, and readings celebrating what would have been John Ashbery’s 95 birthday, as well as the 60th anniversary of his groundbreaking The Tennis Court Oath. The event takes place at the nearby Flow Chart Space at 348 Warren Street (registration required, see flowchartfoundation.org/gathering for more information).

  • Hudson Hall’s programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Governor and the New York Legislature.