It's not the Oscars, it's not the Emmys, but with the glittering array of talent at The Wooster Group's spring benefit April 29, it almost might be. Steve Buscemi, Frances McDormand, Lorne Michaels, Mike Nichols, Maura Tierney, and Buck Henry will all be there when the downtown experimental theater and dance group, one of New York's true institutions, celebrates 39 years of innovative theater and dance. And asks you for money.
Upcoming for The Wooster Group this spring are two works reflecting its sense of cultural history – including its own history. From May 1-7, Anthology Film Archives is showing a painstakingly stitched-together video reconstruction of the company's 1977 production of Spalding Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte's Rumstick Road. The piece was the second installment of the company's Three Places in Rhode Island trilogy. And from May 17-June 15, Early Shaker Spirituals, a series of dances inspired by a Sisters of the United Society of Shakers record from 1976, will be at the Performing Garage.
The Wooster's founding members include Gray, the storyteller and monologist extraordinaire who died in 2004 after making a splash with his film Swimming to Cambodia, and company director LeCompte, along with Willem Dafoe and several others. McDormand is a current Associate. Indeed it would be hard to be a 21st-century movie fan without being intimately familiar with the work of a number of key Wooster Group alums.
Unlike the upcoming performances and screenings, the fundraiser will be limited to 100 guests. But then, the price will be more exclusive too on April 29 at 632 on Hudson, 632 Hudson St., New York City. $250 gets you cocktails and entertainment. $1500 gets you all of the above plus dinner by Chef Odette Fada.
For more information or to buy tickets, visit The Wooster Group's website.
