Bushwick was called home by locals long before any magazine called it hip. Bamboo in Bushwick explores gentrification in this suddenly trendy neighborhood from divergent angles.

As a group of old friends gather for a round of dominoes, outside forces converge on their street corner. In an alternate reality, inspired by the psychedelic murals that have taken over many walls in the neighborhood, a turf war breaks out on the icy tundra. Is there room in Brooklyn for both penguins and polar bears?

When your community is threatened, every block is worth fighting for.

Bamboo in Bushwick is part of Working Theater’s Five Boroughs/One City Initiative. The play was developed in partnership with Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council (RBSCC), and through conversations with their members and members of Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center, El Puente Bushwick, Make the Road New York and the general Bushwick community.

On the side of a building on Wyckoff Avenue in the rapidly commodifying neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, an artist erected a mural. The building ownerʼs nephew, 27-year-old Will Giron, claimed that the problem was not the art itself, but the lack of accountability those who greenlit the project took when modifying the private property of Bushwick natives. This practice, now called art-washing, has become a colorful symbol of the violent gentrification plaguing many working-class, metropolitan neighborhoods. In addition to losing their homes, residents lose their history. Bamboo in Bushwick, a new play by Ed Cardona Jr., gives audiences a look at gentrification that is entertaining, educational, and honest. Gentrification is a fight over territory, and in a small corner of Bushwick–a wall. At the beginning of the play, a mysterious tagger has branded the wall with the word “remember.” Crispin (played by José Antonio Melián), an older Puerto Rican man whoʼs lived on the block for decades, prepares for a game of dominoes. Edson (played by Arisael Rivera), a handyman, is disgruntled, as heʼs been instructed to prime the vandalized wall. Artists will be arriving shortly to work on …Read more