LAUREN PUGLISI

Performers in Theater for the New City’s “Emergency or the World Takes a Selfie” pose in character

“I loved giving birth,” fourteen-year-old Lily Fremaux says. Lily is a performer in “Emergency or the World Takes a Selfie,” a performance by Theater for the New City (TNC). Her main role is playing a pregnant woman.

Each summer, TNC performs a different play, each with a focus on current events. Although TNC is based in the East Village, the performances are conducted in thirteen locations across all five boroughs of New York City. The locations include parks, playgrounds, and closed-off streets.

The performances are written and directed for the stage by Crystal Field, who also performs in them, with music by Joseph-Vernon Banks. It features a cast of fifty performers of all ages. All performances are free.

The cast of performers are largely dedicated to their art. Many have been with the company for over four years and are very close and supportive of each other. “All the people are very funny and spontaneous and really add something to the show,” performer Holly Phillips says.

The cast is also very welcoming. After the final act, performers run to the audience and pull them out of their seats and onto the stage to dance. A cast member shouts, “We’re hosting a block party afterwards so whoever stays gets food!”

This year’s performance centers around an EMT who is suspended after he ignores protocol. While off the job, he meets an investigative reporter and they both land in the hospital after being shot at by members of the National Rifle Association. In recovery, they dream they have encountered many “emergencies” all over the world, including the power crisis in Ukraine and the unequal distribution of wealth in Brazil.

TNC’s performances address a wide range of issues with humor. For example, to draw attention to congress’s ineffectiveness, congressmen and women are portrayed as zombies which gained enthusiastic applause from the crowd. One audience member says, “I loved that part. It was really clever and it cracked me up.”

Even though the performance addresses many issues, it also provides solutions and advocates people to take action. The EMT worker shouts, “When the protocol is corrupt, break it!” And at the end of the performance all the actors gather together to sing a song with the lyrics, “You are the source. Spread the information. Post it. Tweet it. Even take a selfie.”

So it is no surprise that the theater’s Facebook page contains many posts about current issues with a left-wing bent. Their most recent posts include an excerpt from Hillary Clinton’s book, Hard Choices, about global women’s rights, and a quote, “I wish more people cared about Earth as much as they cared about who they believe created it.”

John Buckley, a TNC performer and manager of the theater’s Facebook page, writes, “TNC aims to raise social awareness in the communities it performs in, creating civic dialogue that inspires a better understanding of the world beyond the communities’ geographic boundaries.” TNC has gained national recognition as it has won the Pulitzer Prize for theater and 42 Off-Broadway Theater Awards, also known as Obie Awards.

“Street theater is very much about what is going on in the world and how we can change it,” Lily says. “I feel like not a lot of other plays accomplish that.”

Yes, Crumbs really closed all 19 locations in New York City. But while some cupcake lovers mourn the fall of the empire, others search for cupcake stores to fill the vacuum.

Some attribute the massive size of Crumbs’ cupcakes to their failure. Hilary Stout of the New York Times writes, “There was little dainty about Crumbs. Its signature product was a softball-size cupcake with a calorie count that sometimes topped 1,000.” For many, the cupcakes were too big to eat in one sitting, contradicting what many believe a cupcake should be: a small indulgence.

This would explain the success of Baked by Melissa, a store dedicated to selling bite-sized cupcakes which has many locations throughout Manhattan. Although its bestselling cupcake is the classic red velvet, it sells a variety of interesting flavors including chocolate chip pancake and peanut butter and jelly. And the benefit of the cupcakes’ small size is people can try many different flavors.

However, the cupcakes can be considered expensive for their size. Each cupcake is $1 and it is about the width of a quarter. In my opinion, the cupcakes are overrated. Their size seems to be their only claim to fame, as their flavor is just mediocre. I consider them too small to really taste the complexity of the flavor; they just taste sweet.

Less well known is Sugar Sweet Sunshine, a small cupcake shop located on the Lower East Side. According to the store’s owners, Peg Williams and Deb Weiner, the store was created to “make people happy every time they walk through the doors.” And they do. Sugar Sweet Sunshine scored four out of five stars from over 1,000 reviews on Yelp. One reviewer wrote “ooooo, it tastes like MAGIC! This was, by far, one of the best cupcakes I’d had in NYC…made me wonder even more why anyone likes Crumbs.”

I agree. The cake is moist and the texture is just right. The icing and cake are not overly sweet and very flavorful.

Its Ooey Gooey cupcake, chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream, has just the right amount of almond flavor and its Holla Back Girl, banana cake with cream cheese icing, has visible banana chunks with a real fresh banana taste. I would highly recommend all of its cupcakes as it has many simple but delicious flavors. It also has amazing puddings and pies!

Sugar Sweet Sunshine is not overdone or overrated like Crumbs and Baked by Melissa. Instead, it is humble, intimate, and warm. Although the space is small, it is cleverly designed with thrift store finds, hand-me-down furniture, polaroid pictures, and holiday cards. It looks like a grandmother’s living room! And, as soon as you walk in, you can smell the aroma of fresh baked goods.

Butter Lane is another cupcake store which is often overlooked. Butter Lane is small like Sugar Sweet Sunshine so you could almost walk by without noticing it if it wasn’t for the smell. Much of Butter Lane’s space is used by its cooking class, which is often in session, so you can smell the delightful store from a block away.

Butter Lane is unique because you can mix and match your cake and frosting. Although cake flavors are limited to chocolate, vanilla, and banana, there are about ten different frosting flavors, not including seasonal flavors. My favorites are the chocolate salted caramel frosting on any cake, which is the perfect mixture of salty and sweet, and the cream cheese frosting on the banana cake. You can taste the time and care it puts into its cupcakes.

I would highly recommend both Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Butter Lane. I believe they are superior to Crumbs, although I doubt Butter Lane and Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s owners have the desire to create empires. But that is fine with me. When cupcake stores become chains they seem to lose their charm.