Off Broadway In The Boros Takes Accessible, Free Entertainment Across New York City
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Off-Broadway is coming to your neighborhood as part of an effort to make shows more accessible and free.
It all kicked off Wednesday with a loud, foot-stomping wake-up call that New York City theater stretches way beyond Broadway.
Off-Broadway entertainment is on the move with Off Broadway in the Boros, being showcased in each borough for free through Sunday.
Marcy Plaza in Brooklyn was the first stop.
"Coming here together to celebrate off-Broadway, it's amazing," producer Holly-Anne Devlin told CBS2's Dave Carlin.
"Just to be able to get back into creativity and express ourselves on stage, it's an amazing feeling," said Desmond Howard, of "STOMP."
Howard was thrilled to see kids in the audience.
"I knew I wanted to perform by the age of six," he said.
That's Tyshae Wilson 's age. She was watching Wednesday, inspired.
"I'm a singer," she said.
"Outreach is incredibly important, just to have the experience, the exposure ... That's what happened to me," Howard said.
Performers with the Off Broadway in the Boros festival visit Jackson Heights, Queens, on Thursday, Washington Heights on Friday, Fordham Plaza in the Bronx on Saturday and Snug Harbor, Staten Island, on Sunday.
"'STOMP' is going to be in a few of the locations. Fogo Azul is going to be in a few of the locations, as will 'Gazillion Bubble Show," said Anne del Castillo, commissioner of New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.
Off-Broadway recently celebrated the reopenings of "STOMP," "Little Shop of Horrors" and other popular shows, and now, new ones get added to the mix, including playwright Douglas Carter Beane's Fairycakes, which features a cast of familiar faces.
Helping mash up fairytales and Shakespeare are Mo Rocca, Julie Halston, Ann Harada and Jackie Hoffman.
"It's such a great feeling now, how psyched people are," Hoffman said.
"There's a community off-Broadway as strong as the Broadway community who are there for each other and rooting for each other," Carter Beane said.
Fairycakes opens Oct. 14 at the Greenwich House Theater as theatergoers get to celebrate how great performances can be found every nook and cranny of New York City.
For more details on Off Broadway in the Boros, click here.
