Alison Stewart: You're listening to All of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Next Thursday, May 29th, marks the kickoff of the 2025 season of performances at Little Island. The unique amphitheater right on the water is hosting all kinds of exciting programming, from an opera to a ballroom extravaganza, a special show from Suzan-Lori Parks, and even a takeover from our friends at Radiolab. Ticket prices are $25 or less. All of this is overseen and curated by Zak Winokur, the producing artistic director of Little Island. Zak joins me now to discuss this summer. Hi, Zak.
Zak Winokur: Hi. Thanks for having me.
Alison Stewart: Last year was your first full season of programming at Little Island. What did you learn from that experience that's been really helpful for planning this season?
Zak Winokur: Oh, that's such a great question. We did an extremely ambitious program of nine world premieres last summer in this glorious outdoor amphitheater. I think some of the takeaways for me were about the breadth of programming and the wonderful, crazy audience that you get because this park is so beautiful and such an unusual green spot in New York, and you get this glorious sunset. It really feels like a New Yorky evening that could only happen in this. We're trying to make moments out of all of these shows that really register like big events that only happen once. I think that that, to me, is the real thrill of it. We've also upped the game in terms of what else we're offering in terms of cocktails. We have a liquor license on the island, which I always think is amazing, as well as really delicious new snacks.
Alison Stewart: For people who've not been to Little Island, they've just seen, they call it the stilettos in the water. Tell us what's unique about the performance space?
Zak Winokur: The performance space is unusual for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it is really a Greek-style amphitheater. It's a thrust stage. The audience is on three sides, and while it fits 750 people, it's only 9 rows. The first row is literally sitting on the stage. Not only do you get this extraordinarily high-level performance in this incredible, intimate venue, but you're also surrounded by nature. There are no walls. I think the only theater in New York that can say that, no barrier to access whatsoever, and the most glorious sunset you could ever see floating in the Hudson River. Every night at the end of the show, you're just with this group of New Yorkers underneath the stars.
Alison Stewart: All right. Let's think about the 2025 season. How did you conceive of the season as a whole?
Zak Winokur: We do a lot of new work, and I really think it's important to put artists in charge. We started by thinking about the team that actually gave us the last show of the season, which was this berserk version of the Marriage of Figaro, where the Herculean countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performed every single role. When we started rehearsals on that, I said, "Let's bring this team back to do something else remarkable, which is kicking off our season." From there, it's a matter of really just having conversations with artists that we respect immensely and saying, "What do you most want to do right now?" Then following their lead to bring it to beautiful fruition.
Alison Stewart: My guest is Zak Winokur, producing artistic director of Little Island. We're talking about the summer slate of artistic programming at the venue. It kicks off next Thursday, May 29th. Let's talk about that counterfeit opera, A Beggar's Opera for a Grifter's City. Tell us more about this.
Zak Winokur: This is a crazy idea that goes back to the Beggar's Opera, which was a satirical ballad, like a hugely popular show in 1728 in London. It became later on the basis of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, which landed, obviously, with a big smash in Germany. Now our idea is basically to reconfigure and rethink the Beggar's Opera, the original anti-hero entertainment for 1855 New York Meatpacking District. The neighborhood that Little Island is in. The team that gave us last year's Figaro, the amazing director Dustin Wills, new music by Dan Schlosberg, and a new libretto by the wonderful playwright Kate Tarker, really tells that story that's really hit the nerve for over 300 years and lands it for the first time in New York City with new music, a glorious, crazy set, and an incredible cast, including Damon Daunno, Lauren Patten, and Ann Harada.
Alison Stewart: All right. We have the gospel of-- How do you pronounce this-- Colonus?
Zak Winokur: Colonus. Yes. That's also an extraordinary piece that was a major smash in the '80s by Bob Telson and Lee Breuer. We've always wanted to do something that takes a Greek story on because we are an amphitheater, after all. We thought the best way to do it was to make the first new production in New York of this ecstatic gospel piece that basically transposes the story of Oedipus in a gospel sermon. This is another opportunity where we've brought someone back from last season to star in it. The glorious bass baritone Davóne Tines. He will be Oedipus in this gospel version of the Oedipus story.
Alison Stewart: In late July and early August, you're featuring special performances from friend of our show, Suzan-Lori Parks. What does she have planned for something called the Tune Up?
Zak Winokur: Suzan-Lori Parks is obviously one of the great, great artists of our time. She's put together something that I think is really extraordinary. It's a bunch of new plays as well as music that she has written with her band, SLP & the Joyful Noise. It's basically like a series of new plays and monologues stitched together by funk music. It's a fun night. It's really deep, as Suzan-Lori always is. It really speaks to the moment we're living in.
Alison Stewart: In late August, brand new works of dance from two famed choreographers. Tell us what people can expect from the show Seven Scenes.
Zak Winokur: Yes. Seven Scenes I'm very excited about the choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, two superstars with the Batsheva Dance Company from Tel Aviv, are making a new piece. They last year were making an evening length at the Paris Opera. It's an unusual opportunity for us to see an evening-length piece from these two exciting choreographers with new music by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan, who will be performing live. The thing that I'm most excited about for this show is that she's really brought together the Avengers of dance. This cast is just the most extraordinarily virtuosic group of dancers. It's like a once-in-a-generation moment for all of these people to be together. If you're a fan of dance, you cannot miss it.
Alison Stewart: One of the things that I noticed is that the price is right. Tell us a little bit more about keeping prices in check.
Zak Winokur: I think it's absolutely essential to our culture that we have access to really high-quality art. This is a theater inside a public park, which is a civic space, a glorious gift to New York City. It is a theater that has no walls. We want to make it as accessible as possible. We are keeping this $25 ticket for the season, and it means that everyone is able to come and experience this inside of a majestic setting. I don't think there's anything more important.
Alison Stewart: Any other event you want to shout out?
Zak Winokur: I think I just want to shout out the closing show of our season, Galas, which is a wild play written by downtown theater icon Charles Ludlam that brings the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo back to the island, this time playing Maria Magdalena Galas, which rhymes with Callas. He's playing a version of Maria Callas in this play. It is also something that I don't think has been seen in a while and probably won't be seen in a while.
Alison Stewart: We were talking about the summer slate of artistic programming at the venue Little Island. It kicks off next Thursday, May 29th. Thanks to Zak Winokur, producing artistic director of Little Island. Have a great summer.
Zak Winokur: Thanks so much.
