'Whoa Christmas' for the holidays

Independent music and theater venues have been among the hardest hit businesses during the pandemic.

To support one local spot, EV musician Matt Hanley recently rented the Kraine Theater on Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery to film ballet scenes for a music video.

"The money is important, but there's also a need to keep its staff doing something ... that's why instead of a cash donation, I rented the Kraine Theater for a couple of hours," he said. "All in all, the effort employed a dancer, a local videographer, an editor and sent a chunk of change to the Kraine / Frigid NYC."

And the end result of this is the music video for "Whoa Christmas," written by Hanley and performed by the Bedroom Guys... described by them as "a waltz in the spirit of 'The Nutcracker' and the Replacements."

Horse Trade Theater Group becoming Frigid New York

[EVG file photo]

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After 16 years as a for-profit producing organization Horse Trade Theater Group will merge into FRIGID New York. Horse Trade will still operate as a venue manager for The Kraine Theater at 85 East 4th Street and UNDER St. Marks at 94 St. Marks Place, but all in-house productions, festivals, and the Resident Artist Program will now be presented by the nonprofit organization FRIGID New York, producers of the annual FRIGID Festival.

"After many years producing indie theatre we've found that we can offer our artists more opportunities as a nonprofit organization” said Managing Director Erez Ziv. “This will also allow us to consolidate our programming, and invest more in each production. We're very excited for what the future holds."

FRIGID New York’s 2014/2015 season will include RadioTheatre’s HP Lovecraft Festival, Clay McLeod Chapman’s The Pumpkin Pie Show, new resident artists The Battalion, The Drafts play reading series, Gotham Storytelling Festival, the Winter Burlesque Blitz, The Fire This Time Festival, the FRIGID Festival, the first annual LGBT Festival, Downunder Improv Festival, and monthly residents Stand Up and Take Your Clothes Off, Sketch Block, Thank You Robot, Adam Wade, The Wasabassco Hellfire Club, Naked Girls Reading, Open Mic Downstairs, Ten-Foot Rat Cabaret, Cabaret Showdown, Radical Vaudeville, and The History of Beer.