Reported on June 25, 2009

Elizabeth Soychak stood in a vintage ‘50s dress on Patty Heffley’s fire escape–above Heffley’s laundry that was draped over the railing–and sang the lyrics, “April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom.” A crowd of about 40 people watched from the newly opened High Line park on a recent Monday.

On a recent evening, Elizabeth Soychak performed above the High Line and some laundry. Photo: Neill Corlett.

Never mind that it was actually a rainy New York night in June. And never mind that Heffley is angry.

Since the High Line park opened on June 9, Heffley and Soychak–friends of four years–have been staging performances on Heffley’s fourth-floor fire escape. The metal stairway overlooks the northernmost point of the first completed section of the new park. Heffley and Soychak call themselves the Renegade Cabaret.

Once the park opened, Heffley, 55, found herself staring out the window of the apartment she’s occupied for 31 years. To her surprise, some park visitors were staring right back. She wanted to find some way to protest the park’s visitors’ ability to see directly into her home from the High Line.

“It’s just a response to this invasion of privacy in an artistic way,” Heffley said. “We’re not celebrating the park, we’re exploiting it.” Once Soychak started singing, a surprised crowd in rain ponchos gathered to watch the performance and to snap photos.

“There’s a natural stage out there,” Heffley said. “I called Elizabeth and said we should do something for the people who are in the park. Elizabeth said that she could sing. I had never heard her sing, and I definitely didn’t know she could sing like that.”

Heffley emceed the 40-minute show, and Soychak did the singing. She sang songs that had been performed by Judy Garland and others that were written by Ira Gershwin.

“What an opportune residence,” said Jill Raynor, who watched from under a large umbrella. “There’s a ready-made audience here.”

Soychak, who gives her age as “perpetually 39,” said she has been a street performer for years. “I love that element of surprise,” she said. “And hopefully it’s a good surprise. It’s very powerful to make that kind of contact with other people, and New York is one of the places where you can do that really easily.” The performance was the Renegade Cabaret’s fourth. They always perform after 9 p.m., when the sun has set.

“A show on a fire escape. How great is that?” Mark Bergamini said. “It’s so impromptu. I love it.”

Between Soychak’s songs, Heffley spoke out against the High Line with her slogan of “31 years of privacy removed.” Heffley, a former photographer of punk rock bands who moved to 20th Street when trains still ran along the High Line, laments how the neighborhood has changed.

“The Renegade Cabaret reminds me of the old days when there was something going on in Manhattan,” Heffley said. “Something that was kind of different, something that wasn’t commercialized, planned or organized.”

Soon, Soychak might be joined by other entertainers. “We know a lot of artists,” Soychak said. “So now we’re just telling people, here’s the forum, what do you want to perform?”