Table Tennis Turns Into Dance at a Lower East Side Theater

Daily Diversions is a new performance by Cherrie Yu, made during her Performance AIRspace Residency at Abrons Arts Center, about building a community through table tennis. The Abrons ticketing page describes the players as Manhattan Chinatown–based, the program page says they come from around the world, and a multigenerational group of contemporary dancers shares the stage with them. On stage, the moves of a table tennis game and postmodern dance work as one shared vocabulary, so a rally can read as choreography.

This free afternoon is a separate visit from the show. On Saturday, October 24, Abrons hosts ping pong in its Playhouse Theater from noon to 3 PM, and every guest needs a free RSVP on the Abrons site, with online RSVPs closing at noon that day. Open play runs from noon to 1 PM, first come, first served. From 1 to 3 PM, eight all-age teams from the local ping pong community play a tournament for cash prizes. Abrons has not posted the prize amounts or a way to enter a team. Guests can come and go, and refreshments are sold. The RSVP does not include a ticket to the November performances.

The performance is a second trip, on Thursday, November 12, through Saturday, November 14, at 7:30 PM each night in the Playhouse at 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street. Tickets are $28.50 each, including a $3.50 fee, and wheelchair seats cost the same. The ticketing system schedules each show to end at 8:45 PM, about 75 minutes. Masks are required at the Friday, November 13 show. Tickets sell online through Abrons, the box office opens one hour before showtime, and there are no phone sales. From Delancey St–Essex St on the F, J, M and Z, or East Broadway on the F, leave about 8 to 10 minutes to walk to Grand and Pitt.