Well that was fast! 2019  
 is almost over, but it feels  
 like  just  yesterday  that  Gov.  
 Andrew  Cuomo  pulled  off  
 the  ultimate  fl ex and threw  
 out  more  than  three  years  
 of planning to keep the Ltrain  
 from shutting down. Of  
 course, Cuomo’s 11th-hour  
 ploy to avert the L-pocalypse  
 was just three days into the  
 year, which would sadly come  
 to  be  marked  by  some  grim  
 records,  including  the  longest  
 ever  shutdown  of  the  
 federal government, a massive  
 measles outbreak , and  
 the most cyclist fatalities of  
 all time. But it wasn’t all bad!  
 Mayor  de  Blasio  announced  
 his “Green Wave” expansion  
 of the city’s cycling network,  
 a senior friendly racket game  
 called  pickleball  became  the  
 sensation  of  southern  Brooklyn, 
  and state Sen. Andrew  
 Gounardes made good on his  
 predecessor’s promise to fi nd  
 funding for much-needed repairs  
 to Marine Park. And topping  
 it all off, Congress closed  
 out the year with a vote to nix  
 the  Verrazzano  Bridge’s  oneway  
 toll, which is expected to  
 ease traffi c for long suffering  
 Bayridgites heading to Manhattan, 
  and generate more  
 than $10 million in additional  
 annual revenue for the state.  
 January 
 Shore things and sunken  
 dreams:  City  offi cials  announced  
 INSIDE 
 WWW.BROOKLYNPDAPILEYR.C.COOMM   1 METROTECH CENTER NORTH • 10TH FLOOR • BROOKLYN, NY 11201  
 Got Straight no strings: The digital puppet production “Fear in the Western World,” explores how gun violence and fear shooter 
 affect two parents searching for their abducted child.  Photo by Maria Baranova 
 Puppet show explores gun violence and fear in America 
 By Rose Adams  Welcome to the gun show! 
 A  new  high-tech  puppet  
 show  blends  horror  movie  
 tropes and Greek mythology to discuss  
 gun violence in the United States. “Fear in  
 the Western World,” opening as part of the  
 Exponential  Festival at the Target Margin  
 Theater  in Sunset Park on Jan. 5,  follows  
 two parents who trek through catacombs  
 hidden beneath under their suburban home  
 in search for their abducted daughter — and  
 who come across mythical, gun-wielding  
 creatures along the way, according to the  
 show’s co-creator.  
 “There’s  a  Greek  slant  on  their  
 adventure  as  they  go  on,”  said  David  
 Commander,  who  wrote  and  directed  
 the  production  with  artist  Rob  Ramirez.  
 “The  whole  performance  is  presided  
 over by Janus, the god of transitions and  
 passageways.” 
 The play’s spooky tunnels make the  
 show feel like a horror movie, Commander  
 said, but its creatures are as frightened as  
 they frightening. The protagonists, and the  
 catacomb dwellers they come upon, cling  
 to their guns for a sense of protection —  
 often injuring each other in shootouts —  
 even if there is no real danger, Commander  
 noted.  
 “They’re  using  guns  because  they’re  
 scared,”  he  said.  “They’re  scared  
 when  they’re  safe;  they’re  scared  when  
 they’re  being  threatened.  They’re  just  
 frightened.”  
 Commander  created  “Fear  in  the  
 Western World” in response to the many  
 mass shootings in the US since the Sandy  
 Hook elementary school shooting in 2012.  
 Each tragedy involved a cycle of violence,  
 media coverage, and political posturing  
 that,  to  Commander,  felt  like  an  endless  
 carnival ride.  
 “There’s  something  kind  of  like  a  
 haunted house ride or a rollercoaster where  
 you can’t get away,” Commander noted.  
 “You can’t escape it. You’re in for the ride.”  
 The show mimics the sense of anxiety  
 that  Commander  believes  plagues  the  
 country, and that contributes to the cycle of  
 fear and gun violence. But despite its dark  
 subject matter, the show is not completely  
 bleak, he said.  
 “It has a very optimistic ending,” he  
 promised.  
 The show will feature several hightech  
 puppets  with  tablets  for  heads,  
 with distorted images of human faces  
 on  their  screens.  The  puppeteers  will  
 move the puppets with rods, and change  
 their expressions by using a video game  
 controller. The puppeteers will remain  
 visible to the audience, allowing viewers  
 to see how the show is made, Commander  
 said.  
 “There’s  no  attempt  to  trick  the  
 audience,” he said. “The audience has a  
 choice in what to focus on.”  
 “Fear in the Western World” at the  
 Target  Margin  Theater  232  52nd  St.  
 between Second and Third avenues in  
 Sunset  Park,  (718)  398–3095,  www. 
 targetmargin.org. Jan 5–19; Wed–Sat at  
 8 pm; Sun at 3 pm. $25 ($18 students and  
 seniors). 
 Your entertainment 
 guide Page 35 
 Standing O ............................20 
 Letters ....................................29 
 Education ............................... 31 
 HOW TO REACH US 
 COURIER LIFE,4      DEC. 27, 2019-JAN. 2, 2020 
 that Coney Island  
 would receive a long soughtafter  
 stop on the city’s ferry  
 service as part of a new express  
 route to lower Manhattan! 
  Locals hailed the decision  
 as  “another  great  victory”  
 for the People’s Playground,  
 since the ferry would cut the  
 Manhattan commute down to  
 around 40 minutes. Offi cials  
 were still debating where to  
 place the ferry terminal, but  
 had set their sights on W. 33rd  
 Street and Bayview Ave. by  
 Coney Island Creek. Around  
 the same time, Canarsie  
 straphangers  learned  their  
 seaside community would not  
 be getting its own ferry stop,  
 with offi cials claiming exisiting  
 public transit networks  
 get residents to Manhattan  
 faster than a ferry would and  
 the pier’s restrictive parking  
 rules would make it diffi cult  
 to bring a ferry stop there. 
 Cance-L’d:  Governor  Andrew  
 Cuomo  abruptly  called  
 off the year-in-the-making  
 L-train  shutdown  on  Jan.  3,  
 three months ahead of the Lpocalypse, 
  which would have  
 shut down service between  
 Brooklyn and Manhattan for  
 15 months to allow for repairs  
 to the tunnel beneath the  
 East  River,  which  suffered  
 severe  fl ood  damage  during  
 Superstorm  Sandy.  While  
 the announcement came as  
 a  relief  to  many  northern  
 Brooklynites,  some  residents  
 who had already relocated in  
 anticipation  of  the  shutdown  
 were  none-too-pleased  with  
 Cuomo’s 11th-hour power  
 move.  
 Feeding the Furloughed:  
 Food Bank of New York doled  
 out hundreds of care packages  
 at the Barclays Center to federal  
 workers  on  furlough  in  
 the  longest  government  shutdown  
 in  US  history  on  Jan.  
 22. The do-gooders handed  
 out dried food, milk, meat,  
 vegetables,  and  toiletries  to  
 more than 200 people — many  
 of  whom  were  Transportation  
 Security  Administration  
 employees.  Meanwhile,  
 the  government  shutdown  
 forced a Gowanus-based nonprofi  
 t—  Rebuilding  Together  
 — to cancel a technical education  
 program geared towards  
 job-seekers from low-income  
 communities, and a cleanse  
 of  the  fi lthy Gowanus canal  
 was delayed yet again after  
 Federal  Environmental  Protection  
 Agency leaders were  
 furloughed.  
 Prosecutor perishes: Former  
 District Attorney Charles  
 Hynes passed away at a hospice 
 care center in Florida on  
 Jan. 29 at 83 years old. Hynes  
 served as the borough’s top  
 prosecutor  for  24  years,  taking  
 offi ce  in  1990  and  retaining  
 the seat until 2014, where  
 he cracked down on domesticabuse  
 crimes and formed his  
 reputation as a champion for  
 abused women. But Hynes’  
 legacy was tarnished by his  
 politically  motivated  prosecution  
 of  Brooklyn  lawyer  
 John  O’Hara  for  voter  fraud,  
 and allegations that he used  
 $219,000 in seized funds to pay  
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 N.Y. 11201 
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 BKLYN’S BIGGEST 
 Gov. Cuomo talks with engineering experts during his walk through of the L train tunnel ahead of his announcement  
 in January that he would call off the shutdown.  Governor’s Offi ce 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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