Core Program - Past Productions

East side stories - origins 2007

East Side Stories is an original play directed by Katharine Connor, with musical direction by John Bronston, and written by Dana Leslie Goldstein in collaboration with the students of the Origins Project. It combines original student writing with some of the great moments in the history of American theatre to explore the way the arts have been a reflection of different eras as well as a catalyst for social change.  Follow a multigenerational family of immigrants through the tumultuous events which shaped the city of New York as seen through the prism of the theatre of the times. From Yiddish theatre in the 1880’s to the controversial plays of the WPA, from countercultural theatre in the Age of Aquarius to the contemporary Broadway musical, The Origins Project explores the moments when history and art meet to change the lives of each generation. (August 2007) 

Spring Performance Festival 2007

Lights, Camera, Accident!
The Music Man Junior
You Got School'd
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Carousel

A Rodgers & Hammerstein classic come to life in City Lights 2007 Maintage Musical Production of Carousel. Billy Bigelow, tricked into robbery and driven to suicide, is allowed to return to earth for one day to amend his past misdeeds. He meets the daughter he never knew and instills a sense of hope and dignity in both the child and his wife, Julie. (February 2007) 

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project, chronicling the life in the town of Laramie after the murder of Matthew Shepard, is a breathtaking collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are all capable. (February 2007) 

Origins Project: "Seeds of Bondage"

Seeds of Bondage, an original play directed by Katharine Connor and written by Kent Jackman in collaboration with the students of the Origins Project, chronicles the roots of New York’s history of slavery, uncovered in the summer of 1991 during preparations for the construction of a new federal building in lower Manhattan.  In Seeds of Bondage, student historian-archaeologists explore the lives of colonial African Americans and uncover long-buried events in their struggle for freedom. (August 2006) 

Spring Performance Festival

Annie, Jr.; Not Another Musical?!?!?; The Spectacular and Really Quite Good Extravaganza and Show andNew York, New York: A Wonderful Town! Performed in Repertory (May 2006)

What If...?
by David Austin

A modern retelling of The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson’s tragic tale of forbidden love, that follows the characters on their personal journeys to find answers to their own questions of What If...? (March 2006) 

Now You See Me
by Jon Dorf
&
Bang Bang You’re Dead!
by William Mastrosimone

Two plays which explore, in vastly different ways, the potential causes and ramifications of teen violence in the school system. (February 2006) 

The City Lights 10th Anniversary Origins Project:
Lost & Found

An original production, created in collaboration with the City Lights Kids, professional playwright Kent Jackman and professional director Damaris Webb. (August 2005) 

Spring Performance Festival

Broadway Bound: Beneath the Bridge, Miss Nelson is Missing, Fear Nothing!, and Hollywood Revue: Take Two! Performed in Repertory. (May 2005)

Into The Woods

Into the Woods weaves various familiar fairy tales through a twisting journey on the road to "Happily Ever After". (March 2005) 

Anne Frank and Me

Writen by Cherie Bennett, this play is about the awakening of a modern teen who doubts the truth of, but ultimately comes face to face with, the reality of the Holocaust. (February 2005) 

THE CITY LIGHTS ORIGINS PROJECT:
DIRTY DOUGH

An original production, created in collaboration with the City Lights Kids and professional playwright Kent Jackman. (August 2004)

City Lights Spring Performance Festival

Pirates of Penzance, You Can’t Take The Train To Maine, Lights On Broadway, and Hollywood Revue Performed in Repertory. (May 2004) 

The Wiz
Book by William F. Brown
Music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls
(March 2004)

The Good Times are Killing Me
by Lynda Barry
(February 2004)

Letters of Approval
by Kent Jackman and the students of City Lights' Origins Project
(August 2003)

Of Thee I Sing
Music by George & Ira Gershwin
Book by George Kaufman & Morrie Ryskind
(May 2003)

Golden Myths

King Midas and the Golden Touch
Freya's Golden Necklace
(May 2003)