Art Installation

"Comfort Women" Monument Dedication Ceremony

(Union City, NJ)  The City of Union City, Mayor Brian P. Stack and Board of Commissioners will be holding a Dedication Ceremony for the City's "Comfort Women" Monument on Monday, August 4, 2014 at 12:00 PM at Liberty Plaza, 30th Street and Palisade Avenue.

Attending the event will be Mayor & State Senator Brian P. Stack and the Board of Commissioners; City Historian, Gerard Karabin; City Art Curator, Amado Mora; Artistic Director of the Union City Philharmonic Orchestra, Jahye Kim; Artistic Director of West Hudson Opera, John Jay Hebert; Artistic Director of The Grace Theatre Workshop, Megan Fernandez; guest speaker from Women Rising; and several other dignitaries.  Very special guests will be Ok-Sun Lee and Il-Chul Kang, two ladies who survived this horrific time in history and who are flying from Korea for the ceremony.  

The event will feature a haunted poetry reading by Cat J. Lane from the cast of the play "Comfort" currently playing in NYC, as well as a performance by twelve-year old Subin Lee playing "Smetana-Moldau" on the harp.

Art Installation: "Our Cry"

Surrounding Liberty Plaza, there will be a memorable and thought-provoking art installation "Our Cry" by the Union City Artist Collective featuring artists Amado Mora (Ecuador), Alma Peralta (Puerto Rico), Ines Berges (Dominican Republic), Juan Ramiro Torres (Peru), Ruth Alvarado (Costa Rica), Abby Levine (USA), Craig Radhuber (USA), Obdulio Romero Sabino (Dominican Republic), Sigfrido Duarte (Dominican Republic) Jhon Vargas (Ecuador), and Lucio Fernandez.  The is the brainchild and being curated by artist and Union City Commissioner, Lucio Fernandez.

"Comfort Women" Monument Dedication Ceremony

Monday, August 4, 2014

12:00 PM

Liberty Plaza

30th Street & Palisade Avenue

Union City, NJ

FREE Admission

Everyone invited.

Comfort

"Comfort"

a New Play... exposing abuse against women

(New York, NY)  The Hudson Fine Arts Foundation & The Grace Theatre Workshop, Inc. will be presenting the provocative new play, "Comfort", opening on Friday, July 18, 2014 at The Jewel Box Theatre in New York City and running through Friday, August 8th with a Special Gala Performance at Lincoln Center.  

"Comfort" deals with the horrific acts of violence towards "Comfort Women" or "sex slaves" by the Japanese during World War II.  The Japanese government would kidnap young girls as young as 14 years old from various countries including China and Korea and send them to their soldiers in the battlefield to "comfort" them.  Details from some survivors attest to being raped fifty to two hundred times a day.  But, more so, the play dares to bring forth the difficult subject of sex trafficking and physical abuse of women world-wide.  The current political issues around this topic are expressed through movement and straight dialogue. In the play, the leading character "Peter" must produce a documentary film about Comfort Women, but his boss disagrees with Peter's chosen subject matter.   In the meantime, Peter meets "Roksun", a comfort woman, in his dream.  With a great mix between experimental movement & poetry about serious political matter the play presents an important subject in a palpable artistic way.

"Comfort" is Written & Directed by Jung Han Kim; Produced by Megan Fernandez; Lighting Design by James Vitale; Costume Design by Ashley Rogers; Ou Hyuk Im, Production Manager; and Luis Camacho Dilorenzi, Stage Manager.  It stars Lucio Fernandez, Shannon Kelly, Taylor Schramm, David Couter, Josh Tucker, Audrey Smith, Kelsey Knight, Cat J. Lane, Ian Jesse Curtis, and Pallavi Seth.

"Comfort"

presented by

Hudson Fine Arts Foundation, Jahye Kim, President 

& The Grace Theatre Workshop, Inc., Megan Fernandez, Artistic Director

Jewel Box Theatre

@WorkShop Theatre Company

312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor

NYC

Friday, July 18th @ 6:00 PM

Saturday, July 19th @ 7:00 PM

Saturday, July 26th @ 1:00 PM

Sunday, July 27th @ 6:30 PM

Friday, August 1st @ 7:30 PM

Admission:  $18.00

For tickets, please visit: www.midtownfestival.org

or call:  866-811-4111

***

Special Gala Performances of "Comfort" on Monday, August 4th and Friday, August 8th, 2014 at The Bruno Walter Auditorium @ Lincoln Center, NYC.  Special guests at the Gala Performances will be South Korean victims from World War II ("Comfort Women") as well as other dignitaries.

The Bruno Walter Auditorium 

@ Lincoln Center, NYC

40 Lincoln Center Plaza

Entrance at 111 Amsterdam Avenue, just below 65th Street

NYC

Gala Performances - "Comfort"

Monday, August 4th @ 7:00 PM

Friday, August 8th @ 7:00 PM

Admission: $18.00

For tickets, please visit: http://www.smarttix.com/Show.aspx?ShowCode=COM94

or call: 212-868-4444

For further information, please visit:  www.HudsonFoundation.org or www.GraceTheatre.com