featured

I’M REVOLTING

Patients and family members await serious news in Gracie Gardner’s I’m Revolting (photo by Ahron R. Foster)

I’M REVOLTING
Atlantic Theater Company
Linda Gross Theater
336 West 20th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through October 16, $77-$97
866-811-4111
atlantictheater.org

Theater is all about making magic, and that’s exactly what happened at last Sunday’s matinee of Gracie Gardner’s I’m Revolting at the Atlantic. The play takes place in the waiting room of a New York City skin cancer clinic, where four characters are arriving for further tests or surgeries. There’s no curtain, so Marsha Ginsberg’s attractive set is visible as the audience enters: six chairs lined in a row at the center, a watercooler stage right, some plants stage left, a vending machine behind the patients, low overhead fluorescent lighting (by Kate McGee) and a striking wall of mirrors across the back that allows the audience to see itself in the reflection, as if we are all in the waiting room together. The effect is all the more effective since masks are required at the Atlantic and we are about to see a show in which several characters must deal with possible facial disfigurements that would leave them trying to avoid mirrors.

But before the play started, director Knud Adams, taking off his mask, announced that one of the actors, the wonderful Peter Gerety, had come down with Covid-19 and was being replaced by the wonderful Peter Maloney, an Atlantic regular who had been asked the day before to step in for Gerety. Adams explained that Maloney would be playing the part with script in hand, since he had had less than twenty-four-hour notice. Understudies have performed their own kind of magic during the coronavirus crisis, keeping Broadway and off Broadway going amid variant outbreaks, but none are listed in the Playbill for I’m Revolting, so without Maloney, the last week of the show’s run might have had to be canceled.

Doctors Denise (Patrice Johnson Chevannes) and Jonathan (Bartley Booz) are in for a long day at skin cancer clinic (photo by Ahron R. Foster)

Maloney does a remarkable job as Clyde, an older man who has been to the clinic many times for multiple procedures; he is either a wise sage or a nosey neighbor to the others: nineteen-year-old Reggie (Alicia Pilgrim), who is terrified of being left with ugly facial scars; Reggie’s older sister, Anna (Gabby Beans), a demanding financier who seems to have better things to do than wait with her nervous sibling; Toby (Patrick Vaill) a former lifeguard who blames his nipple melanoma on himself for not using proper protection and hides under his coat instead of interacting with anyone; Paula (Laura Esterman), Toby’s New Age mother, who believes healing comes from within (with the help of holistic rituals); Liane (Emily Cass McDonnell), the saddest of them all, who has the most extreme case; and Jordan (Glenn Fitzgerald), her husband, who is in complete denial as to her wife’s situation.

The clinic is run by Denise (Patrice Johnson Chevannes), a calm, welcoming doctor, and Jonathan (Bartley Booz), a younger physician learning the ropes from her. Every time Denise or Jonathan call in a patient to go through the door in the back, the other people in the waiting room engage in a range of conversations, openly sharing their personal information with one another.

The cast is uniformly superb, keeping it real even when their characters go a little overboard. Pilgrim (Cullud Wattah) portrays Reggie in a way that she could be any of us, while Chevannes (Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, runboyrun) makes Denise the doctor you’d want to have for whatever ails you.

Jordan (Glenn Fitzgerald) and Jonathan (Bartley Booz) face off in I’m Revolting at the Atlantic (photo by Ahron R. Foster)

Clyde is the central guiding force, and Maloney (Outside Mullingar, Glengarry Glen Ross) nailed him; while he occasionally looked at the script (usually surreptitiously), he was mostly off book, getting his line readings just right with all the necessary ebbs and flows. It was inspiring to watch him pull this off, to both the audience and his fellow actors, a reminder for how real illness can be and as a model for how humans deal with it (although the general public cannot call in a replacement at the last minute).

Adams (English, Paris) directs the play with surgical precision, although things get bumpy when Gardner (Panopticon, Pussy Sludge) tries to conclude each patient’s story arc. The finale, though, is a sharp jab to the head and stomach. It’s not an easy ninety minutes, but Adams and Gardner do a terrific job of keeping you involved in a work that unfolds in one of the last places you’d ever want to be.

2022 OHNY WEEKEND LOTTERY

2022 OHNY WEEKEND LOTTERY
Multiple venues in all five boroughs
Lottery begins Thursday, October 13, noon
Sites open October 21-23, free
ohny.org/weekend

For its twentieth anniversary, Open House New York (OHNY) is changing its ticketing system, given the rising demand each year. Beginning at noon on October 13, there will be a twenty-four-hour lottery in which you can sign up for ticketed events. On October 14 and 16, winners will be notified, after which they will have to respond with a confirmation within a given amount of time. Gone are the $5 reservation fees; everything is now free. However, in a major bummer, you can only get one ticket per entry, so in order to go with other people, they will have to win the exact same lottery, which is patently absurd. For example, four of us have been attending OHNY together for years, but in 2022, if we want to go to a specific ticketed location, all four of us will have to be random winners. In addition, there will be no waitlist at the sites if people don’t show for ticketed events.

So why all the fuss? Because for two decades, OHNY has been offering architecture lovers the opportunity to visit unique, lesser-known, famous, and rarely accessible locations over one October weekend. Not all events are ticketed, but the hottest ones are, and often include a guided tour. Over the years, I’ve been to the Highbridge Water Tower, Masonic Hall, the Actors’ Temple, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Central Synagogue, the African Burial Ground National Monument, the Federal Hall National Memorial, Roosevelt Island, the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, Church of the Transfiguration, the south side of Ellis Island, the Jefferson Market Library, Westbeth, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch, the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, the Old Stone House, the New York Marble Cemetery, the New York City Marble Cemetery, Estonian House, Judson Memorial Church, the Chrysler Building, Hindu Temple Society, and many architectural and design firms and green spaces usually not open to the general public. Even the more familiar places, such as museums, theaters, parks, piers, ships, libraries, universities, private clubs, breweries, and historic sites, offer free tours and lectures not usually available.

The Highbridge Water Tower is always a highlight of OHNY (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Not all the places mentioned above are on this year’s list, which is why you have to grab them while you can. The 2022 roster features a wide range of spots across the five boroughs, and not all require ticketing; there are dozens and dozens of self-guided tours and exhibitions that are first-come, first-served. You might have to wait in a line, but it’s always worth it. It’s also best to select a number of locations in the same area so you can see the most you can in whatever time you have.

HULU’s RAMY: RAMY YOUSSEF IN CONVERSATION WITH HASAN MINAJ

Who: Ramy Youssef, Hasan Minhaj
What: Recanati-Kaplan Talks, Ramy screening and discussion
Where: Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92nd St. Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. between Ninety-First & Ninety-Second Sts., and online
When: Friday, October 14, $20-$45 in person at 8:00, $25 online at 9:05
Why: In April 2019, the first season of Hulu’s Ramy began streaming, an unusual semiautobiographical comedy about an Egyptian-American ne’er-do-well and his family, trying to make a life for themselves in New Jersey, balancing tradition with contemporary mores. The very funny, often cringy show was created by Ramy Youssef, who also serves as star, writer, and executive producer. The series, which launched its third season on September 30, features Youssef as Ramy Hassan, who is searching for love and faith, with Hiam Abbass as his mother, Amr Waked as his father, May Calamawy as his sister, Laith Nakli as his uncle, and Mohammed Amer and Dave Merheje as his best friends. On October 14, Youssef will be at the 92nd St. Y to discuss his life and career with Peabody-winning American comedian and political commentator Hasan Minaj (The Daily Show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minaj). In-person tickets are $20-$45 and include a screening beginning at 8:00; online tickets are $25 and start at 9:05.

NYFF60 MAIN SLATE: ALL THAT BREATHES

All That Breathes explores the fate of black kites in India as representative of so much more

ALL THAT BREATHES (Shaunak Sen, 2022)
New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center
Tuesday, October 11, Walter Reade Theater, 6:30
Wednesday, October 12, Howard Gilman Theater, 9:00
www.filmlinc.org
www.allthatbreathes.com

Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes opens with a long shot of rats scurrying about a filthy New Delhi area, then follows a man carrying four boxes with holes in them into a dingy, crowded basement garage. One starts to rock and falls awkwardly to the floor. The man walks over and takes out an injured bird. As Mohammad Saud, Nadeem Shehzad, and Salik Rehman examine the injured creature, they speak of a possible nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

“What’ll happen to the birds if there’s a nuclear war?” Rehman asks. “We’ll all die. Where will they go?”

A moment later, a young boy searches for a bullet, an announcement from the street advises, “We don’t want any harm to any public property,” and a black kite, a bird of prey that migrates to New Delhi every year, grips a small branch and then accusingly stares directly into the camera. Later street announcements declare, “This is a fight for empathy and unity! The Constitution has to be saved!” regarding the treatment of Islamic citizens.

For several decades, Indian Muslim brothers Saud and Shehzad have been rescuing and healing kites that have fallen from the sky, victim to pollution and the cotton threads of kites that slice their wings. “When we got our first kite . . . I’d stay up at night staring at it,” Shehzad says in voiceover as a lone kite soars in the air, the moon at its left. “It looked like a furious reptile from another planet. It’s said that feeding kites earns ‘sawab’ [religious credit]. When they eat the meat you offer, they eat away your difficulties. And their hunger is insatiable.”

When the brothers were teenage bodybuilders, they encountered their first injured kite. A bird hospital refused to help because the species is not vegetarian, so they used their own knowledge of flesh, muscles, and tendons to repair it. They’ve been rescuing and repairing hurt birds in their highly unsanitary quarters ever since.

Amid the social unrest and their legitimate fears of being turned into refugees because of their religion, Saud and Shehzad continue to fix the birds, as if fixing themselves as they worry about losing their freedom. Over one dinner they discuss with their families what they might do if the government kicks them out of the country. Meanwhile, the brothers are desperate to get a grant to keep their Wildlife Rescue operating.

“I’ve devoted my entire life to this. But this doesn’t feel enough to me,” Shehzad explains. “Things are getting from bad to worse here. Birds are plummeting from the sky. Delhi is a gaping wound. And we’re a tiny Band-Aid on it.”

Cinematographer Ben Bernhard focuses in on nature, from an icy river to an owl to dozens and dozens of kites filling the sky, set to a gentle yet ominous score by Roger Goula. Director and producer Sen (Cities of Sleep) is not just making a film about kites in India; he is accusing the world as a whole of misusing resources in ways that threaten the existence of such living creatures as kites and damage the planet’s ecological system.

“Man is the loneliest animal,” Saud says.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary (World Cinema) at Sundance and the L’OEil d’or for Best Documentary at Cannes, All That Breathes is screening at the New York Film Festival on October 11 and 12, with Sen on hand for Q&As after both shows. The film opens theatrically October 21 at Film Forum, with Sen participating in Q&As following the 7:00 shows on October 21 and 22.

BAM NEXT WAVE / FIAF CROSSING THE LINE: CROWD

CROWD
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
October 13-15, $34-$85, 7:30
718-636-4100
www.bam.org/crowd
www.g-v.fr/en/shows/crowd

Franco-Austrian choreographer, filmmaker, photographer, and installation artist Gisèle Vienne’s propulsive, euphoric CROWD makes its US premiere at BAM from October 13 to 15, with three highly anticipated performances in the Howard Gilman Opera House. A joint presentation of BAM’s Next Wave and FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festivals, the ninety-minute 2017 work, which has traveled from Tokyo, Rome, and Dublin to Stockholm, Singapore, and Sao Paulo, features fifteen performers whose dialogue-free stories emerge amid a time-jumping 1990s-style Detroit rave. Lucas Bassereau, Philip Berlin, Marine Chesnais, Sylvain Decloitre, Sophie Demeyer, Vincent Dupuy, Massimo Fusco, Rehin Hollant, Georges Labbat, Oskar Landström, Theo Livesey, Louise Perming, Katia Petrowick, Linn Ragnarsson, Jonathan Schatz, Henrietta Wallberg, and Tyra Wigg move around a filthy floor littered with dirt and detritus to music by Underground Resistance, KTL, Vapour Space, DJ Rolando, Drexciya, the Martian, and others; the sound design, edits, and playlist are by Peter Rehberg, with Stephen O’Malley the sound diffusion supervisor and lighting by Patrick Riou.

Inspired by her time dancing in clubs in early 1990s Berlin, creator, choreographer, and scenic designer Vienne (I Apologize, Kindertotenlieder, Jerk) developed the characters and narrative with longtime collaborator Dennis Cooper, the American poet and novelist who has written such books as the George Miles Cycle and was the founder and editor of the 1970s–’80s punk zine Little Caesar. “If you see CROWD live, audiences have said they feel a little bit different afterwards than before they came into the theatre, a slightly altered way of being,” Vienne told the UK Guardian in September 2019. “I think there is this double feeling of being very sharp — because it has slowed down, you can see detail in a sharper way than usual — and then a little bit of this stoned feeling.”

BOOK LAUNCH: TRANSFORMING SPACE OVER TIME

Who: Beowulf Boritt, James Lapine, Susan Stroman, Elliott Forrest
What: Book launch
Where: The Drama Book Shop, 266 West Thirty-Ninth St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
When: Tuesday, October 11, $35 (includes copy of book), 7:00
Why: “My goal is to couple thematically evocative visuals with a considered transformation of the physical space as the story plays out. Set design is a kinetic sculpture that is constantly being manipulated to enhance the emotions and narrative of the story: transforming space over time. Thematic evocation and spatial transformation are my tools to create an intellectual concept to guide the scenery and support the story. Once that concept is clear in my mind, I can envision the style of the set: literally, what it will look like. When the process goes well, the frosting really does enhance the cake.”

So writes Tony- and Obie-winning set designer extraordinaire Beowulf Boritt in his new book, Transforming Space Over Time: Set Design and Visual Storytelling with Broadway’s Legendary Directors (Globe Pequot / Applause, August 2022, $34.95). The tome features conversations between Boritt (Act One, The Scottsboro Boys, The Last Five Years) and six theater greats he has worked with either on Broadway or off: James Lapine, Kenny Leon, Hal Prince, Susan Stroman, Jerry Zaks, and Stephen Sondheim. The book is a celebration of the art of creation and collaboration; it will have its launch October 11 at 7:00 at the Drama Book Shop, where Boritt will be joined by Lapine, Stroman, and Peabody-winning moderator Elliott Forrest. Tickets are limited and include a copy of the book.

NYFF60 MAIN SLATE: AFTERSUN

A father (Paul Mescal) and daughter (Francesca Corio) bond in Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun

AFTERSUN (Charlotte Wells, 2022)
New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center
Saturday, October 8, Alice Tully Hall, 12:00
Sunday, October 9, Alice Tully Hall, 9:00
Monday, October 10, BAM Cinemas, 7:00
212-355-6160
www.filmlinc.org

At one point in Charlotte Wells’s hauntingly beautifully debut feature, Aftersun, a divorced father, Calum (Paul Mescal), and his eleven-year-old daughter, Sophie (Francesca Corio), are standing in the mountains, arms stretched to the sky as if the world is limitless for them, but nearby is an old, rotting sign that announces, “We know the perfect place,” once upon a time offering visitors “paradise.” The two are on vacation on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, a bonding trip during which Calum assures Sophie, “You can live wherever you want to live. Be whoever you want to be.”

It is apparent that Calum and Sophie have not spent a lot of time together of late, as Calum has left their home country of Scotland following the divorce. In Turkey, they experience a warm and loving bond, as Calum learns how to be a father again and Sophie begins her transition into adolescence, neither one knowing exactly what comes next. Calum is watching his daughter grow up right in front of him, and he doesn’t always know quite how to react; as Sophie hangs out with a group of older teens as well as a boy her own age who has a crush on her, Calum allows her a freedom that threatens to be too much, sometimes acting more like a big brother or friend than a father. But as we discover, Sophie is an extraordinary capable young girl, coming of age in a world that is not a paradise for everyone.

Aftersun is a captivating adventure in which Scottish NYU grad Wells plays with genre tropes, gently turning them inside out as she makes the audience reevaluate their expectations from both real life and fictional drama. Many of the scenes are set up in a way that you anticipate a certain outcome — usually a dangerous one — but the bad result never happens, and we are disappointed in ourselves for having imagined a different conclusion.

The film is very much an extension of Wells’s early shorts, Blue Christmas, Laps, and Tuesday, in which she deals with such subjects as sexual abuse, the loss of a parent, and mental illness that threatens to tear a family apart. Wells favors a realistic pace, moving at the speed of life, with an expert sense of composition and a knack for avoiding unnecessary dialogue or explication while often using a handheld camera to keep things slightly off balance. We also get to see brief hints of Sophie as an adult (Celia Rowlson-Hall), thinking back on this critically formative vacation.

In Aftersun, Wells and cinematographer Gregory Oke incorporate pixelated digital shots and occasional grainy textures amid gorgeous images of the Turkish coast, lovingly edited by Blair McClendon and accompanied by a wistful score by Oliver Coates. The Irish Mescal (Normal People, The Lost Daughter) fully embodies the role of a father trying to redefine what’s important to him, while Corio, in her first film, having been chosen from a casting call of more than eight hundred actresses, is charming and delightful as Sophie; her eyes light up the screen with their sense of wonder at what awaits her, and us.

Aftersun is screening October 8-10 at the New York Film Festival with Wells participating in Q&As after the noon screening on October 8 (joined by Corio) and the October 9 show at 9:00; Wells will also take part in a free talk with Mia Hansen-Løve (One Fine Morning) on October 8 at 4:00 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center amphitheater. The film opens at Lincoln Center on October 21.