Looking for something free to do this week? Tired of phoning it in with bar food and sapling grabs? Take heart: sometimes art is free too, and we’re not just talking about weekly museum hours. On Thursday, March 27, the LaGuardia Performing Arts College (LPAC) is collaborating with the Center for Holographic Arts (HOLOCENTER) to host a completely free theatre festival called the Rough Draft Festival, in celebration of one of the most obscure beloved world holidays, World Theatre Day.
Along with featuring works-in-progress by a number of emerging artists in the nabe, the festival offers free classes and workshops with the artists themselves. Readings, performances, and site-specific immersions abound! Oh, don’t whine about it all being in Queens: the borough is home to PS1 and, until recently, the late 5 Pointz too. So basically, there’s no shortage of other free-ish reasons to make a day trip of it.
#RoughDraftFest runs from today (March 26) through Wednesday, April, 2. In addition to all of the classes and workshops and such, of particular interest is BK-based theatre company Built4Collapse performing their play RED WEDNESDAY, which is about the events leading up to the Iranian Revolution. In contrast to all the hours you spent on BuzzFeed quizzes yesterday, that oughta make you feel pretty worldly.
The festival’s kickoff party is at the Clocktower building tomorrow night (29-27 41st Ave, right off the Queensboro Plaza 7/E/G/M). They’ll be sharing where each event is happening there—plus, haven’t you always wanted to twerk it in a clocktower? The night also promises “yoga theatrics” and “social media installations”. In other words, this ain’t your momma’s theatre festival.
*Incidentally, tomorrow is also Spanish Paella Day, and Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day. Lord help us all.