APAC New Venue
rkhuzami OANA has received the following Press release from the Astoria Performing Arts Center regarding a new space for performances. Ever since they lost their home at the Good Shepard Church on Crescent St. they have been searching for a stable home.
During these days when so many live performance venues are disappearing, it is great to hear some positive news!
ASTORIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER ANNOUNCES
NEW HOME AND RESIDENCY OPPORTUNITIES
Astoria, NY—November 16, 2020—Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) has announced that it will celebrate its 20th season by establishing a new home in the space formerly known as the Secret Theatre in Long Island City, Queens. APAC will present much of its future programming at the venue and, for the first time in its history, this award-winning Off-Off Broadway theater company will have a dedicated performance space to call its own. APAC presents a full season of plays and musicals annually and also offers a variety of arts education and performance programs for youth, students, and seniors.
“APAC is thrilled to finally put down permanent roots in our own theater space,” says Board President, Shelly Felder. “It affords us an opportunity to bring even more innovative theater to Queens. We are grateful to The Indie Theater Fund and IndieSpace for their assistance in the transition to our new venue.”
Beginning in 2021, APAC will launch a fundraising campaign to provide residencies to local artists and organizations with a specific focus on new and underrepresented voices. The fund will support the development of new works of theater, dance, film, and music. “With the establishment of these residencies, we look forward to providing opportunities to artists to develop meaningful work and also to giving our audience members access to art from an even broader spectrum of creators” said Dev Bondarin, APAC’s Artistic Director. For more information and to donate to the fund or APAC, please visit www.apacny.org.
APAC’s 2021 season began with streaming performances of American Arcana by Cyndi Williams and will continue with the radio play Stuff by Astoria-based playwright Mrinalini Kamath, as well as the postponed revival of Man of La Mancha in addition to new and expanded community programs and more.
ABOUT APAC
Astoria Performing Arts Center is an award-winning non-profit theater company dedicated to engaging the residents of Astoria, Long Island City, and greater Queens in contemporary social and cultural issues through live performance and arts education. Established in 2001, APAC has produced a diverse mix of new plays and reimagined musicals and developed dozens of new works. APAC also provides a robust array of community and arts education programs that offer writing and performing opportunities to students, seniors, and residents of all ages with and without disabilities. Recent productions include the New York premieres of Marguerite by Michael Cooper and Anton Dudley featuring Tony Award-winner Cady Huffman and Jump by Charly Evon Simpson directed by Arpita Mukherjee, the AUDELCO Award-winning revival of Caroline, or Change by Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori directed by Dev Bondarin, and the New York premiere of Queen by Madhuri Shekar.
Richard Khuzami
Mr. Khuzami has been a member of Community Board 1 in Astoria, NY for the last 20 years. He sits on the Zoning and parks Committees and is on the Executive Board. Previously, he served as Parks and Culture chair of Community Board 1 for eleven years and also chaired Capital and Expense priority Committee. He is a member of the Queens General Assembly and had been a panelist for grant submissions for the Queens Council on the Arts (QCA). Richard also is an officer of The Eastern Mediterranean Business Culture Alliance (EMBCA) and President of OANA.