JULY 7
C RY D E R
P O I N T
Tragedy can’t stop Flushing woman’s cabaret dreams
Mapping Malba: Artist launches a collaborative arts
project within her Whitestone childhood home
WWW.QNS.COM | JULY 2017 | CRYDER POINT COURIER 7
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI A north Queens resident is looking to
establish her neighborhood as an arts
destination.
Artist Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos,
who grew up in Malba, launched the pioneering
“Malba Arts Project” on June 19. With funding
from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
awarded through the Queens Council on the Arts,
Zaharopoulos has turned her childhood home at
42 Boulevard into a space where artists can live,
work and create.
Zaharopoulos, who studied poetry, film and theater,
said creating the program has been a longtime
dream. In 1989, the home and its backyard
were transformed into a wedding reception space
for her cousin and nearly 200 guests — a memory
she said left “an indelible mark.”
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve just really
enjoyed bringing or doing things here,” the artist
said. “It’s such a big house … and it can easily be
sectioned off like this.”
Zaharopoulos’s mother, Evyenia Papadakou,
lives in the space and is a collaborator on the
undertaking, the artist said. In addition to hostessing,
Papadakou will also cook for each artist’s
weekend reception.
Participating artists Zachary Becker, Ashley
Yang-Thompson and Tiffany Smith will each
receive room and board, an artist stipend and a
personal studio space for about two weeks. Each
artist’s residency will culminate with a public
viewing and reception.
Becker, an interdisciplinary artist whose residency
ended on July 2, created “Meet Me in
Malba,” an installation which recreates his West
Village basement studio inside of Zaharopoulos’s
childhood bedroom to scale. The space was open
to the public on July 1 and 2.
“It’s totally a two-way street, in that, in my time
here, I have spent a fair amount of time walking
the neighborhood,” Becker said. “To me, and this
may be selfish, but it’s been a great opportunity
to come to a neighborhood that I probably would
never have spent any time in otherwise.”
“Everyone who is doing this residency, in one
way or another, is a good fit for the project,”
Zaharopoulos said. “It’s about activating the
space in a new way.”
Billed as a residency in “pastoral New York
City,” Zaharopoulos said the home and picturesque
neighborhood are conducive to creativity
and expression.
“Not a lot of New York City is like this,” the
artist said. “I love bringing people here because I
think it’s such a unique place.”
The program will run until Aug. 31. Check
Zaharopoulos’s blog at www.malbaartsproject.
tumblr.com for updates on the project and dates
of the other two upcoming public receptions.
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI At age 17 in the summer
of 1979, lifelong Queens
resident Renee Katz was
unwittingly thrust into
the national spotlight.
A talented flutist, pianist and
vocalist, Katz was preparing to graduate
from the High School of Music
and Art in Manhattan in mere days
when, on June 8, 1979, in a random
act of violence, she was pushed in
front of an oncoming E train at the
50th Street station in Midtown. She
had been on her way to school for
her final exams.
Katz managed to maneuver herself
to avoid being killed, but the
train severed her right hand. The
teenager was rushed to Bellevue
Hospital Center, where microsurgeons
worked for 16 hours to reattach
her hand. They were successful,
but Katz’s musical career was
disrupted.
A media frenzy ensued, Katz
remembered.
“I got pushed into that limelight,”
she said. “I didn’t ask for it. But I
had a really good role model in my
dad a Holocaust survivor and a
really supportive family. And I’m a
pretty positive person.”
Today, she’s an occupational therapist
by day, cabaret singer by night,
mother of a teenage son and lover of
the arts. Katz has stayed productive,
focused and humble. In just the last
few years, the artist has published a
book of poems, recorded a CD and
just finished her first set of major
cabaret shows — all titled “Never
Been Gone.”
“Music is my one constant,”
Katz said. “It’s my one love. And
it’s never too late to return to your
first love.”
A multi-modal art performance,
Katz’s cabaret journey show features
musical numbers, poetry readings
and a slideshow with supporting
photographs, quotes and
thoughts. The performer just finished
a set of shows at Manhattan’s
Don’t Tell Mama earlier this month
alongside pianist Tedd Firth, and is
looking to book more.
Katz said she loves the cabaret
style for its intimacy.
“It’s an intimate art form where
you can actually have a connection
with your audience,” Katz said.
“You’re very close to people. I’m
very musical, and I’m very emotional,
so it just works for me.
Katz said she hopes to take her
show to more venues throughout
the year, including hospitals and
colleges. She also plans to work on
a new album.
When she was still 17, Katz said
she was offered a contract by ICM
to produce a movie about her life.
She refused.
“I was 17. I hadn’t lived,” Katz
said. “I didn’t want the movie to just
be about horror.”
Through her poetry, music and performances,
Katz said, she has taken
creative control of her own life.
“I did it the way I wanted to do
it,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong
with telling your story.”
Keep up with Katz’s upcoming
performances and artistic career at
www.reneekatzmusic.com
Renee Katz takes the stage at Don’t Tell
Mama earlier this month.
Photos by Maryann LoPinto
Artists Zachary Becker, Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos and
Evyenia Papadakou stand in front of the Malba home.
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
