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Seven weeks of free, live performances are set for NYC’s Little Island

Seven weeks of free, live performances are set for NYC’s Little Island

There’s nothing quite like taking in live music or theater in the great outdoors, especially in NYC’s gorgeous parks. More often than not, these al fresco shows are free and that’s the case with Little Island’s Glade Series, which kicks off on July 10.

The fairly new 2-acre venue, which opened in 2021 as NYC’s first “floating” park, announced earlier this summer that it’d have a summer lineup of star-studded performances, including nine commissioned world premieres of live performances across music, dance, theater, opera, comedy, jazz, pop and funk.

From July 10 to 14, the Glade Series will feature a concert each night that will be paired with a conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and an expert of some kind. “Greens & Blues” will feature blues legend Ruthie Foster and a talk between Parks and Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, designer Daisy Wang, freestyle emcee Corey James Gray, Columbia astronomy professor Jane Huang, harpist Brandee Younger and historian Eric Foner. Parks will also put on a Psychedelic Soap Box—a post-bop jazz collective with spoken word. Then on June 13, she’ll do one of her “Watch Me Work” sessions, where she holds a creative writing workshop and discussion, with a special guest, then she’ll perform with her band Sula & the Joyful Noise.

"Little Island", a new, free public park pier opened May 21,2021 at Green Space Located Within Hudson River Park, NYC,USA. May 21,2021.
Photograph: By MNAphotography / Shutterstock

Other performances will include dancer Melissa Toogood between July 17 and 21; cabaret from Mx Justin Vivian Bond from July 24 to 28; comedy from acts such as Morgan Jay, Jay Jurden, Neel Gosh, and Sarah Tollemache between August 7 and 11; and a show about the world’s most linguistically diverse city with the Endangered Language Alliance and speakers from endangered, Indigenous, and minority languages alongside poetry, music, and movement. There will be a multilingual soundscape using sounds from more than one hundred languages and visuals from ELA’s digital landscape map and creative translanguaging translation strategies.

Interestingly, Little Island will also host an Oyster Market with local vendors, July 31-August 4, curated and overseen by New Amsterdam Market’s founder. There will be live oyster shucking and an The Oyster Radio Hour in The Amph. 

Later on, August 21-25, Grammy Award-winning artist Cécile McLorin Salvant will curate performances that include jazz vocalist Vanisha Gould, folk artist June McDoom, multi-instrumentalist Lua Noah, pianist Sullivan Fortner, and more.

Finally, from August 28 to September 1, Gio Escobar will host a series of concerts, including a bomba and a salsa night, before taking the stage with his own avant-garde collective, “Standing on the Corner.”

Here’s the full lineup at Little Island:

THE GLADE SERIES

JULY 10-14 / SUZAN-LORI PARKS: “Tell Me More”                               

A series of performances and conversation curated and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks. Each evening, conceived around a pair of ideas, will feature a musical act and a conversation between Parks and a cultural luminary.      

Wednesday, July 10, 7pm

Blues & Greens: Conversation with Suzan-Lori Parks and Majora Carter / Performance by Ruthie Foster

Thursday, July 11, 10pm

The Runway & The Street: Conversation with fashion designer Daisy Wang / Performance by MC Corey James Gray & Freestyle Monday   

Friday, July 12, 10pm          

Outer Space & Inner Space: Conversation with Columbia Astronomy Professor Jane Huang / Performance by Psychedelic Soap Box

Saturday, July 13, 7pm

Work & Play: Watch Me Work w/ Suzan-Lori Parks & Special Guest / Performance by Suzan-Lori Parks’s Sula & the Joyful Noise  

Sunday, July 14, 2024, 7pm

Past & Future: Conversation with Suzan-Lori Parks and Eric Foner / Performance by Brandee Younger 

JULY 17-21, 9:30pm / MELISSA TOOGOOD: “Epilogue: Pam Tanowitz’s ‘Day For Night’”    

Melissa Toogood dances an epilogue to choreographer Pam Tanowitz’s Day for Night, playing at 8:30pm each night in The Amph.

JULY 24-28 / JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND: A Week of Cabaret                                                   

Wednesday, July 24 & 25, 28, 6:30pm

Friday, July 26 & 27, 10pm 

July 31-August 4 / NEW AMSTERDAM OYSTER MARKET

A week of food. Curated by Roberta LaValva & the New Amsterdam Market

AUGUST 7-11 / MORGAN JAY & FRIENDS: A Week of Comedy                                    

Wednesday, August 7, 7pm         

Morgan Jay, Usama Siddique, Isa Medina, Daniel Bridgegadd  

Thursday, August 8, 7pm        

Morgan Jay, Sean Donnelly, Tatiana Frank, Myq Kaplan

Friday, August 9, 10pm     

Morgan Jay, Sahib Singh, Shane Torres, Jordan Jensen    

Saturday, August 10, 7pm

Morgan Jay, Jay Jurden, Carmen Lynch, Neel Gosh           

Sunday, August 11, 7pm   

Morgan Jay, Sarah Tollemache, Leclerc Andrew, Erin Jackson 

AUGUST 14-18 / ENDANGERED LANGUAGE ALLIANCE: “Language City”                       

Wednesday, August 14 & 15, 17 & 18, 6:30pm 

Friday, August 16, 2024, 10pm

Sunday, August 18, 2024, 6:30pm

AUGUST 21-25 / CURATED BY CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT

A Week of Celebrated Jazz and Folk Artists

Wednesday, August 21, 8:30pm

Vanisha Gould (ASL Interpreted)

Thursday, August 22, 8:30-9:30pm

June McDoom

Friday, August 23, 10pm

Lua Noah

Saturday, August 24, 8:30pm

Sullivan Fortner   

Sunday, August 25, 8:30pm    

TBA 

AUGUST 28-SEPTEMBER 1 / CURATED BY GIO ESCOBAR        

A Week of Music and Performance Art                                  

Wednesday, August 28 & 29, 31, September 1, 7pm

Friday, August 30, 2024, 10pm 

* This article was originally published here