August 11, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Aug. 16-15, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAG E 15
POLITICAL THEATER: In the new musical, “No Brainer, or the Solution to Parasites,” a social worker faces off against a Trumpian villain who tells people of color
to “go back where they came from!” Jonathan Slaff
FREEDOM OF LEECH
Musical parasite play spreads through Brooklyn
BY ROSE ADAMS
This show is gonna be huge!
An extravagant musical theater
piece starring a city worker
facing off against a deranged,
Trump-like villain will take
over Brooklyn’s streets this summer,
providing the public with
family-friendly — albeit dark —
songs and comedy. “No Brainer,
or the Solution to Parasites,”
which will parade through Coney
Island, Sunset Park, and
Bushwick this month, features
a blond businessman who sips a
stew made from the world’s maladies
in his quest for world domination.
After the crazed villain
becomes king, a New York City
social worker must defeat him to
restore goodness to the world.
The musical mixes dark
themes with fun, juvenile asides,
said its creator.
“This year’s production is
a combination of Disney and
a horror movie,” said Crystal
Field, who wrote the 75-minute
musical and co-founded Theater
for the New City, the Manhattan
theater company behind the production.
“No Brainer” marks the company’s
43rd annual traveling
production. Every summer, the
troupe sends its transportable
stage to more than a dozen of the
city’s parks and roads, complete
with dazzling sets, a crew of up
to 50 people, and life-sized puppets
— along with some not-sosubtle
political themes designed
to empower viewers, according
to Field.
“We tell them they’re not
alone,” she said. “You have civic
power, and you have the power to
organize.”
The troupe’s productions often
star middle-class city workers
who defeat capitalist supervillains.
Many shows have a
clear message: instructing viewers
to vote, or telling undocumented
audience members what
to do if ICE agents knock on their
door, Field said, and they have
happy endings.
“The neighborhood always
wins,” said Field.
However, “No Brainer” takes
a darker turn than most of the
Gunman shoots
four people in
Crown Heights
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A gunman opened fi re at a candlelight
vigil in Crown Heights
early Monday morning, sending
four people to local hospitals with
serious injuries, according to authorities.
Mourners gathered on Buffalo
Avenue near Sterling Place
to grieve the recent passing of a
Crown Heights woman — who
perished of natural causes last
week — at 2 a.m. on Aug. 5, when
the shooter fi red off eight rounds,
striking two men and two women,
according to police.
Paramedics rushed the men
— a 33-year-old in critical condition
with a gunshot wound to the
chest, and a 24-year-old in stable
condition who was shot in the leg
— to Kings County Hospital, according
to police.
First responders took the two
women — a 33-year-old with a
wound to her back, and a 49-yearold
who was shot in the right leg
— to Brookdale Hospital in stable
condition, cops said.
All victims are expected to
survive, according to authorities.
No arrests have been made,
and police are investigating the
incident as possibly gang related,
according to a police spokeswoman.
The shooting comes just over
a week after two shooters opened
fi re at a street fair in Brownsville
on July 27, killing one and leaving
11 others injured.
Anyone who provides police
with information leading to an arrest
can expect up to a $2,500 reward
through the NYPD’s Crime
Stoppers program. The public can
phone their tips to (800) 577-8477,
log into the Crime Stoppers website
at www.nypdcrimestoppers.
com, tweet @NYPDTips, or text
tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter
TIP577. Continued on page 14
Vol. 8 No. 32 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/www.nypdcrimestoppers
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