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J U L Y Tragedy can’t stop Flushing woman’s cabaret dreams
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
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
12 LEHAVRE COURIER | JULY 2017 | WWW.QNS.COM
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
Photos by Maryann LoPinto
Renee Katz takes the stage at Don’t Tell Mama earlier
this month.
Mapping Malba: Artist launches a collaborative arts
project within her Whitestone childhood home
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
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.
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
Artists Zachary Becker, Eleni Theodora
Zaharopoulos and Evyenia Papadakou
stand in front of the Malba home.
