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Maribel tempering chocolate. Photo by William Hereford
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It’s a humid day in North Brooklyn and Maribel Lieberman has on a pretty vintage dress adorned with an elaborate diamond pin at the waist. Even on a day when she’s working on candy molds in her Greenpoint factory, she’s dressed like she’s ready to attend a cocktail party at the drop of a hat.
From a recent production at The Brick, “The Tremendous Tremendous” written and performed by The Mad Ones. Performers are portraying The Tremendous Travelling Abbotts (a fictional troupe of actors from 1939). (Clockwise from the top) actors Michael Dalto, Marc Bovino, Stepvnie Wright Thompson and Joe Curnutte. Photo by William Hereford
When writers/directors Michael Gardner and Robert Honeywell leased space at 575 Metropolitan Ave in Williamsburg in 2002, they just wanted a place where they could stage their own works and maybe invite a few a friends to do the same; never did they imagine that just a few short years later, the Brick would play host to a multitude of festivals, award-winning plays, improv theater, and even late night burlesque shows. “People have really latched on to this space and they’re taking us to all kinds of places,” says Gardner. From a young age, theater was in Gardner’s blood. “I grew up watching Woody Allen movies. I remember thinking I wanted to go to New York and be one of those crazy, neurotic people,” he laughs.
When he came of age, he followed his dream and enrolled in NYU to study theater, writing and music theory. “Robert and I cut our teeth in the Lower East Side experimental theater circuit. I worked with the Lower East Side Y and we staged plays in a storm cellar run by the theater group The Emerging Collector. At some point in the late 90’s, we were thinking about renting a garage in Manhattan and turning it into a small theater, but we found out people wanted a lot of money for their garages. That’s when we decided to look for a permanent performance space.” Their search lead them to Williamsburg, to a sizable garage inside a century-old building that has a previous life as an auto-body shop, and later a yoga studio. “It was a raw space when we first moved in, but we transformed it into a theater.” The theater’s name was inspired by the dramatic old brick walls that give the space its indelible character.
It’s not every day that someone declares that he wants to build a theater, so when one actually gets built, it’s truly a romantic thing.
“It’s a dream come true,” says Marco Ursino, filmmaker and founder of the Brooklyn International Film Festival. Ursino owns indieScreen, located at 285 Kent Ave. (S. 2nd St.) along with contractor Krzystof Pogorzelski and restaurateur Anna Popermhem.
“After the Commodore theater closed in 2002, I’ve been waiting and waiting for someone to build a new theater in Williamsburg, but no one did, so I decided to build one myself,” says Ursino.
Photos by Eric Ryan Anderson.
Asked if she has any bridezilla stories she can share, Nicolette Owen, owner of Nicolette Camille Floral Design, knocked on wood and said, “No!” Surrounded by beautiful flowers in her Williamsburg studio—white peonies, blue and purple hydrangea, velvety lambs ears, young blueberries, columbine, sweet peas and antique roses—one must deduct that floral design is among the most coveted jobs in the world, especially when you have your own company and can bring your creative visions to fruition.
“A lot people say they would love to have my job,” says the young designer, “but I remind them of all the hard work that goes into it, like getting up at five in the morning to get to the flower market. Doing deliveries. There are times when I’m so tired after working on a big wedding, that immediately after the flowers are delivered all I want to do is to go to sleep,” she says.
Just two years ago, restaurant owners were telling me they were revamping their menus to include more vegan dishes, because they were sure Williamsburg was going vegan. But that was so five minutes ago…
This spring, Williamsburg is smokin’. First came Pies & Thighs, frying up southern fried chicken and smoking up beef briskets; now there’s Fatty ‘Cue, smoking whole pig, duck, clams, lambs, and Lord knows what else…meanwhile Fette Sau on Metropolitan Avenue is still going strong, selling smoked pork cheeks by the barrel.
I guess it make sense that Williamsburg should be a carnivore’s paradise; after all, who else but twenty-somethings can chow down on fatty pig and grease-laden duck with such abandonment? Certainly not the Lipitor generation. Maybe that’s why Chef Zak Pelaccio (West Village’s Fatty Crabs) and pit master Robbie Richter (Chelsea’s Hill Country) have invested in not just one, but two, big Ole Hickory smokers for their 60-seat restaurant (100 if you count the backyard). They’re expecting company. They want to take barbequing to new heights by combining Southeast Asian flavors and techniques with traditional American BBQ know-how. Richter has been competing in various barbeque fairs around the country for several years and has brought his considerable experience and expertise to this venture.