Performances by Ric Royer, Joseph Keckler, and Bethany Ides on the occasion of the release of Royer’s book, "Niagara Falls, NY." Royer is part of the team that creates the "I Have Seen Niagara" radio theatre segments Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. on WGXC. ABOUT THE BOOK: Niagara Falls, NY (Pig Roast Publishing).

A utopian society turned toxic waste dump, fecophiliac Trekkies, septuagenarian slasher movie addicts, a dungeon beneath a roadside motel, a casino slime party. These are the images that populate Niagara Falls, NY, Ric Royer’s absurdist excursion through the no-place where the ghosts of honeymoons past meet the ravages of American industry.

PERFORMANCES:
It’s an evening of performers who write, and writers who perform. There will be readings, theatrical performances, music and even a slideshow!

Bethany Ides is a writer, artist, teacher, theater-maker and organizer. With Mahshid Rafiei and Ora Ferdman, she co-directs Doors Unlimited, a generative structure for convocational technologies and speculative folklife. Her most recent poetry, fiction, essays/articles and interdisciplinary projects have appeared or are soon forthcoming in Radical Teacher, Community Literacy Journal, Shifter, Ear | Wave | Event, The Candidate Journal: Psychoanalytic Currents, C Magazine, Feminist Temporalities, fields magazine, and in the volume Tongue and Cheek (Montez Press). She is a Professor of Humanities & Media Studies at Pratt Institute, and is currently working on a collaborative radio and writing project dealing with the technicities of clarity.

Joseph Keckler is a writer, singer and artist whose work has recently been presented by NPR Tiny Desk, Lincoln Center, Centre Pompidou, among others. His story and essay collection, Dragon at the Edge of a Flat World was published in 2018 and his writing has appeared in Vice, McSweeney’s. In 2019 he premiered Train With No Midnight, a dreamlike travelogue, and Let Me Die, a compendium of opera deaths, and toured as the national opener for rock group Sleater-Kinney. He is currently working on new films and an EP.

All tickets $15. Your ticket price includes a complimentary copy of the book, available at the box office when you arrive. Note: Online ticket sales will shutoff about 30 min before the event.

Find out more about Niagara Falls, NY at the publisher’s website: pigroastpublishing.com.