"LIVE FROM THE EDGE" BRINGS ITS MESSAGE THROUGH THEATER

Until Sunday, May 21, the Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell Street, in Hamden is entertaining a unique theatrical collage LIVE FROM THE EDGE created and performed by Universes, under the auspices of Long Wharf Theatre. These evenings will be a potpourri of sounds, songs, stories and sights combined with politics, poetry and petite plays. With jazz, hip hop, and gospel merging with dance, movement, clapping and burlesque, this is a “happening,” a high energy community of entertainment that probes your conscience as it plays with your mind. One moment the troupe of five, led by Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp who founded the group in the Bronx, New York twenty-eight years ago, joined by Asia Mark, Nate John Mark, Nsangou Njikam and soon by Sophia Ramos, capture the stage with emotional riffs, childhood stories, songs from what could be a revival meeting, explorations of the alphabet, tales of a hurricane, a little snappy rap, a bit of historical cacophony, lyrics from a Spanish song, and all that jazz. There is vibrancy and sensitivity and a hint of violence, traveling from Noah’s ark to the subway, with talk about growing up, prisons, neighborhoods, dreams, invisibility, all a non-stop monologue or dialogue, with rhythm and jive as the oral tradition continues. Universes has traveled all over the United States as well as internationally. For the past three years, it has been ensconced as playwrights -in-residence at Long Wharf Theatre under the auspices of Artistic Director Jacob Padron who terms their show “a thrilling theatrical experience…by boundary-breaking artists.” Each performance is unique and different, involving the audience to be part of the show. The evening i attend we sang “Happy Birthday” to Hip-Hop on its 50th birthday and to Steven Sapp’s cousin Kenny. For tickets ($35 member, $55 regular, $75 Pay It Forward), call the Long Wharf Theatre at 203-693-1486 or online at boxoffice@longwharf.org. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 2 p.m. Stay after each show for a talk back. Come help Long Wharf celebrate a new era of theatrical performance as it works to create a diverse community for New Haven.