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November 10, 2010
In Brooklyn, Dramatizing Real Discord
The New York Times
by Melena Ryzik
Why, The Times previews the Atlantic Yards musical, but seems to have missed yesterday's court decision. Click through to read the whole story, though — it's worth it.
“So there’s ULURP,” begins the second song in a new musical about Brooklyn. “ULURP is the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure/Which required community involvement and public review/Of all kinds of New York City land-use projects.”
If this seems like something you might read in the notes of a community board meeting, that’s because it is. The song goes on to define the Empire State Development Corporation and the New York State Urban Development Corporation (E.S.D.C. and U.D.C., for musicality) and describe how they function together. “And that’s how eminent domain works!” it concludes. Jaunty, no?
For Steve Cosson, a founder of the inquisitive musical theater troupe the Civilians, dramatizing this wonky subject led to a fertile multiyear examination of politics, race, democracy, money and community, centered on the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. Titled “In the Footprint,” the show mines the New Yorkiest of obsessions — real estate — to present a layered portrait of a city and a neighborhood changing, sometimes under duress. “Atlantic Yards: The Musical!” it’s not.
Related coverage...
YourNabe.com, The Atlantic Yards saga is now a play
The battle over Atlantic Yards may be over, but it’s still brewing on stage.
Over? It ain't over 'til the judge lady sings.
“It’s a very important story for Brooklyn, important story for New York City, and it’s important in and of itself,” said director Steve Cosson, whose play opens at the Irondale Center in Fort Greene this Friday. “Theater is first and foremost about conflict, and the whole Atlantic Yards saga has no shortage of dramatic conflict.”
...“The characters are sophisticated about gentrification, and the play seems to humanize the people involved,” said Tom Angotti, an urban affairs professor at Hunter College. “The human drama was much more complex than this gross idea in the press, that it was all about opposition by selfish, middle class homeowner who were gentrifiers and here was this benevolent developer who was going to build affordable housing and bring jobs, which all turned out to be rhetoric and public relations.”
Posted by eric at November 10, 2010 8:59 AM