Astor Place Festival Will Bring Puppetry Workshops, Live Free Performances to East Village This Weekend

Dozens of musicians, theater companies, and other performers will perform for free at Astor Place this Friday and Saturday for the first ever Astor Alive! Festival. The Village Alliance community group put together a schedule packed with free performances by local poets, dancers, musicians, and actors to celebrate new construction on Astor Place. The construction is part of a $16 million project by the city's department of transportation to revitalize the neighborhood.

On Friday evening from 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., the "Alamo Plaza" will offer a show presented by Joe's Pub and La MaMa Cafe featuring cabaret performers, including 30 actors and six musicians from Theater for the New City.

Then, on Saturday afternoon from 1 p.m.-6 p.m., four different stages will present different performances, including ones by Bowery Poetry Club, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, The New York Health & Racquet Club, and several more. You can see the festival's full schedule at the event page.

The festival will culminate on Saturday evening from 5 p.m.-6 p.m. in a "grand procession" that will look like a giant carnival party. There will be giant puppets, spinning Alamo cubes, and Brazilian drummers and performers, according to the Village Alliance website.

Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in workshops on puppetry and movement, as well as make their own spinning cubes. The spinning cube workshop is an allusion to the famous sculpture by Tony Rosenthal in Alamo square that was taken down in 2014 for construction around it. The sculpture's return to the square has been postponed two times this summer. A spokesperson for the city's Department of Design and Construction announced Wednesday that the cube won't make it back in time for the Astor Alive! Festival due to "logistical issues."

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