|
Performance Space 122, generally known as P.S. 122, is a not-for-profit arts organization and one of the longest standing venues dedicated to contemporary performance art in New York City. Founded in 1979 in the abandoned Public School 122 building at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, P.S. 122 has hosted thousands of world-premier and ongoing works by such artists as Eric Bogosian, Spalding Gray, Karen Finley, Eddie Izzard, John Leguizamo, and Ron Athey, companies such as Big Art Group, Julie Atlas Muz, Proto-type Theater, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company and New York City Players as well as countless other emerging artists.
The former elementary school was abandoned and in disrepair when a group of visual artists began to use the old classrooms for studios. In 1979, choreographer Charles Moulton began holding rehearsals and workshops in the second floor cafeteria, and invited fellow performers Charles Dennis, Tim Miller and Peter Rose to collaborate in the administration and use of the space.
P.S. 122 began its presentation history in 1980 with the first "Avant-Garde-Arama", a multidisciplinary showcase, and published its first complete calendar of performances, classes and workshops. The first full-length public play or performance presented in P.S. 122, in October 1980, was a play by Robin Epstein and Dorothy Cantwell's experimental women's theater company, More Fire! Productions.
|
