‘Art of Coney Island’ takes center
stage at new Red Hook art show
BY REYNA IWAMOTO
The Brooklyn Waterfront
Artists Coalition is back with
a summer art show that chronicles
“the ups and downs of Coney
Island’s amusement park
and beach.”
From July 10 through Aug.
15 at the BWAC gallery in Red
Hook, visitors can witness
“The Art of Coney Island,”
which features approximately
100 artists and their work.
Alicia Degener, the juror
and curator for the show, said
she hopes visitors can get a
true view of the “vitality, vibrancy,
and fun” of Coney Island
through the artists’ various
takes on the theme.
For Marie Roberts, one of
the show’s featured artists,
the concept hit a particularly
personal note.
Roberts is a native Brooklynite
COURIER L 24 IFE, JULY 16-22, 2021
ART
“The Art of Coney Island”
will be on view from Saturday,
July 10 through Sunday, Aug.
15. The BWAC Gallery, 481
Van Brunt St. in Red Hook, is
open weekends from 1-6 pm.
whose grandmother was
born in Red Hook, and whose
family moved to Coney Island
in 1890. Born and raised in Coney
Island, Roberts grew up
around the circus sideshow atmosphere,
with her uncle and
father working at the Dreamland
Circus Sideshow.
“For me being part of this
exhibition is like combining
two halves of my life: the place
I am in now in Coney Island
and the place my ancestors
came from,” she said.
Roberts has nine pieces being
One of Marie Roberts’ pieces. BWAC
featured in the show, including
circus banners she
painted for Coney Island USA
to advertise the Coney Island
Circus Sideshow.
She is also a member of the
board of directors and an artist
in-residence at Coney Island
USA, a non-profi t arts organization
that strives to make Coney
Island “a center for live art
and entrepreneurial spirit.”
“Circus sideshows are
such a historical form of entertainment
in the US and it’s so
wonderful that now in 2021 it
is still bringing these live performances
to people,” Roberts
said. “My paintings are celebrating
that.”
From its establishment in
the 1800s as a resort area and
through years of boom and
decay, Coney Island and its
residents, especially its artists,
embody the spirit of the
“adaptability of survival.”
“Coney Island artists are
such a strong community,” Degener
said.
In honor of the show, Sing
for Hope — a non-profi t that
partners with other community
based organizations to
mobilize artists and produces
unique pianos — has donated
a Coney Island-themed piano
called Luna (named after the
amusement park) to BWAC.
“Coney Island is such a
unique place that has been
through so much hardship, but
has managed to come through
and survive,” Degener said. “It’s
still America’s playground.”
BY JESSICA PARKS
A series of outdoor musicals
at Park Slope’s Old Stone
House will showcase the
lesser-known history of the
neighborhood as a lesbian
sanctuary once affectionately
coined “Dyke Slope.”
“Prospect Hill,” a musical
written by Mark Galinovsky
and Lily Ali-Oshatz and produced
by Piper Theater Productions,
focuses on a character
named Dee in the present
day as she acquaints herself
with Park Slope after breaking
up with her longtime girlfriend
and moving to the neighborhood
from Manhattan.
Dee moves in with her
brother and reconnects with
her hometown friends, who
take her under their wing, but
her most impactful relationship
is with her landlord, Jonie — a
remnant of old New York whose
ownership of the building allowed
her to stay in the nabe as
real estate shot sky-high in the
early 2000s.
“Dee is deep into her
breakup and she meets her
landlord named Jonie,” Ali-
Oshatz told Brooklyn Paper.
“She has lived in the neighborhood
for 20-plus years, and she
has this role as being the landlord
in her apartment and that
is one of the reasons that she
was able to afford to stay in the
neighborhood as it was gentrifying
at a fast pace”
Jonie lived her heyday in
Park Slope and told Dee of all
the wondrous stories of the lesbian
haven, and the younger
friend gets very wrapped up in
that history.
“We have a relationship of
one character who vividly remembers
when Park Slope had
more of a community, more
of a feeling of place for queer
women,” said John McEneny,
the co-founder and artistic director
of Piper Theater Productions.
“And then having
her have a younger girlfriend
who is more about diversity in
different ways and not needing
special places to have people of
one kind.”
But along the way, Dee sees
that instead of reaching for the
past, the lesbian community
needs to celebrate what these
spaces would look like in the
modern-day, and how they are
so different.
“I think it’s a bigger conversation
about how often we
think we need to be reaching
back into something that’s lost,
when actually it’s not lost, it
actually created the evolution
that was needed,” Jessi Hill,
the musical’s director said.
And, the story is especially
relevant as city dwellers work
to support and preserve the
city’s few remaining lesbian
bars, like the beloved Cubbyhole
in Manhattan and the
Slope’s own Ginger’s Bar.
While the main storyline is
set in the present day, the musical
travels through time to the
days of “queer slope” as well
as to notable moments in the
neighborhood’s history. “There
is a lot of time-era jumping in
the show,” said Ali-Oshatz.
Jonie’s narrative is inspired
by the interviews of
more than a dozen lesbian
women who lived in the enclave
during its prime in the
80s and 90s — after which,
the writers say, gentrifi cation
pushed young single women
out of the neighborhood.
“One of the fi rst things I
did was start to interview actual
lesbians who had been in
the neighborhood in the 80s
and 90s when the neighborhood
was Dyke Slope,” Ali-Oshatz
said. “We wanted as much
clarity and as many different
perspectives as possible.”
The show’s crators hope
the audience goes home with
a renewed sense of investment
in their communities.
“My hope is that people
leave feeling activated and excited
about being invested in
their communities and that
they feel empowered to take
that on themselves,” Ali-Oshatz
said. “Because our community
is only going to be as strong and
healthy as we make it.”
“Prospect Hill” will be
shown at Park Slope’s Old
Stone House (336 Third St. between
Fourth and Fifth Avenues)
on July 15–17, 22–24 at
8:30 pm. Free with donations
encouraged. Performances on
July 16 and 24 will include ASL
interpretation.
Coney spirit
‘Prospect Hill’ opens at Park Slope’s Old
Stone House, showcasing queer history
BROOKLYN
Neighborhood look
Cast members rehearse for “Prospect Hill.” Madeline Wall