Time for Anton van Dalen's 'Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre'

The art of longtime Avenue A resident Anton van Dalen is currently on display at the P.P.O.W. Gallery in Chelsea.

As part of this, van Dalen will show "Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre" tomorrow evening at 7 in the gallery.

Here's a quick overview:

van Dalen uses a portable model of his house as a staging ground for telling the story of the East Village. Employing a rotating selection of miniature cut-outs, stencils and props, Van Dalen narrates the history of the neighborhood from the 1970s (when he moved to Avenue A) until the present. The performance centers on Van Dalen’s Avenue A rooftop pigeon coop he has nourished for more than 25 years; a source of pride for Van Dalen who began raising pigeons as a child in the Netherlands. There he flies a flock of white pigeons that circle around the storied tenements that housed generations of immigrants, like himself, witnessing the neighborhood’s gradual gentrification.

Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre was first performed in 1995 at the University Settlement House on the Lower East Side and toured throughout the United States and Europe. The performance has been shown at numerous institutions including The Drawing Center, the Museum of Modern Art, and The New York Historical Society.

P.P.O.W. Gallery is 535 W. 22nd St. between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue. His work will be up through March 14.

Previously.