this week in literature

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS AND NEW ORLEANS LITERARY FESTIVAL: THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

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Who: Bryan Batt, Samantha Beaulieu, Troi Bechet, Curtis Billings, Betty Buckley, Leslie Castay, Michael Cerveris, Patricia Clarkson, Patrick Cragin, Brenda Currin, Lisa D’Amour, Arsène DeLay, Gwendolyne Foxworth, Alison Fraser, Lawrence Henry Gobble, John Goodman, Rodney Hicks, Kenneth Holditch, Corey Johnson, Idella Johnson, Peggy Scott Laborde, Donald Lewis, Ti Martin, Elizabeth McCoy, Jessica Mixon, Whitney Mixon, Wendell Pierce, Francine Segal, Janet Shea, Harry Shearer, Carol Sutton, Beverly Trask, Kathleen Turner, Cassie Worley, Jake Wynne-Wilson
What: Virtual literary celebration of Tennessee Williams and New Orleans
Where: Festival home page
When: Friday, July 31, free (donations accepted), 8:00
Why: The thirty-fourth annual Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival was scheduled to take place March 25-29, with nearly 150 guests honoring the playwright and his adopted hometown, featuring a circus, a writing marathon, craft sessions, live performances, panel discussions, readings, and more. But with the pandemic lockdown, the event has gone virtual; it has been transformed into a one-night online party, “The Kindness of Strangers,” with a prestigious lineup sharing stories about Williams and the festival and performing excerpts from his writings. Though born in Columbus, Missouri, on March 26, 1911, as Thomas Lanier Williams III, and passing away in New York City on February 25, 1983, Williams became closely associated with his adopted hometown of New Orleans during his half-century career, setting many of his plays there, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Suddenly Last Summer, and Vieux Carré. In a statement, TWFest executive director Paul J. Willis called the tribute a “love letter to the festival, to Tennessee Williams, and to all that he loved about New Orleans. It is a testament to the artistic and enduring spirit of this city and our namesake playwright.” Among the participants are Betty Buckley, Michael Cerveris, Patricia Clarkson, Brenda Currin, Alison Fraser, John Goodman, Corey Johnson, Wendell Pierce, Francine Segal, Harry Shearer, and Kathleen Turner. The show goes live July 31 at 8:00 and will be available for viewing through August 14.

ELIZABETH GILBERT BOOK CLUB FEATURING EMILY BERNARD

elizabeth gilbert book club

Who: Elizabeth Gilbert, Emily Bernard
What: Live literary discussion
Where: Elizabeth Gilbert Instagram Live
When: Wednesday, July 29, free, 3:00
Why: “Black Is the Body is one of the most beautiful, elegant memoirs I’ve ever read,” bestselling author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert writes in a blurb for Emily Bernard’s new book, Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine (Penguin Random House, $16, December 2019). “It’s about race; it’s about womanhood; it’s about friendship; it’s about a life of the mind and also a life of the body. But more than anything, it’s about love. . . . I can’t praise Emily Bernard enough for what she has created in these pages.” You’re likely to hear plenty more praise when the Nashville-born-and-raised Bernard joins the Connecticut-born Gilbert, the bestselling author of such books as Eat Pray Love, The Signature of All Things, and City of Girls, for the next edition of “The Elizabeth Gilbert Book Club: Conversations on Instagram” on July 29 at 3:00. Bernard, who previously edited Some of My Best Friends: Writings on Interracial Friendships and Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten and wrote Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance: A Portrait in Black and White, won the Los Angeles Times’ Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose for Black Is the Body, which contains such chapters as “Scar Tissue,” “Teaching the N-Word,” “Skin,” and “White Friend.” The live talk will be archived on Gilbert’s Instagram page in case you miss it on Wednesday; you can watch her previous talks with Dr. Michelle Harper (The Beauty in Breaking) and Mikki Kendall (Hood Feminism: Note from the Women that a Movement Forgot) there, and you can catch Bernard’s LA Times prize acceptance speech here. “I’m so looking forward to this encounter,” Gilbert exclaims in her announcement of the event. So are we.

SO⅃ OS 10 — DIAMANDA GALÁS: BROKEN GARGOYLES

Diamanda Galás will present work-iin-progress piece from empty Bowery gallery on July 23 (photo by Austin Young, graphic design by Robert Knoke)

Who: Diamanda Galás
What: Livestreamed broadcast from empty gallery
Where: Fridman Gallery
When: Thursday, July 23, $5, 8:00
Why: Fridman Gallery and CT::SWaM (Contemporary Temporary:: Sound Works and Music) continue their SO⅃OS livestreamed performance series on July 23 with experimental musician, lecturer, activist, and visual artist Diamanda Galás. The San Diego-born Galás, who has released such albums as Plague Mass, Defixiones: Orders from the Dead, Vena Cava, Schrei X, and The Refugee, will present Broken Gargoyles, an audiovisual installation recorded in the empty Fridman Gallery on Bowery and offsite and mixed remotely, featuring music, script, video, and photography by Galás and two expressionist poems by Georg Heym, “Das Fieberspital” and “Die Dämonen der Städte”; Galás willl read an excerpt from the latter. (You can see a clip from her 2013 performance of the poem here.) A work in progress made with artist and sound engineer Daniel Neumann, video artist Carlton Bright, and artist Robert Knoke, Broken Gargoyles takes its name from the phrase used in WWI to describe facially disfigured soldiers and includes a war-era photo by Ernst Freidrich. Tickets are five dollars to watch the livestream or any time thereafter; you can also still catch earlier SO⅃OS installments by such artists as Neumann, Luke Stewart, Mendi and Keith Obadike, and Marina Rosenfeld / Ben Vida (solos). The series concludes July 30 with the multidisciplinary Augmentation and Amplification with Janet Biggs, Mary Esther Carter, Richard Savery, and A.I. Anne.

VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH EVENT: RAPHAEL MONTAÑEZ ORTIZ

El Museo del Barrio will celebrate the publication of Raphael Montañez Ortiz’s first monograph on July 22

Who: Javier Rivero Ramos, Chon Noriega, Kevin Hatch, Ana Perry, Marcos Dimas, Pedro Reyes, Juan Sanchez
What: Virtual book launch of Raphael Montañez Ortiz monograph with conversation and live Q&A
Where: El Museo en Tu Casa Zoom
When: Wednesday, July 22, free with RSVP, 7:00
Why: In 1969, Brooklyn-born artist and educator Raphael Montañez Ortiz founded and became the first director of El Museo del Barrio. “The cultural disenfranchisement I experience as a Puerto Rican has prompted me to seek a practical alternative to the orthodox museum, which fails to meet my needs for an authentic ethnic experience. To afford me and others the opportunity to establish living connections with my own culture, I founded El Museo del Barrio,” he said. In 2014, El Museo honored Ortiz with the exhibition “Museum Starter Kit: Open with Care”; on July 22, they’ll pay tribute to the eighty-six-year-old Nuyorican multidisciplinary deconstructionist with a virtual launch party for his first monograph, featuring a live conversation on Zoom, followed by a Q&A; among the participants are monograph editor Javier Rivero Ramos, contributors Chon Noriega, Kevin Hatch, and Ana Perry, and artists Marcos Dimas, Pedro Reyes, and Juan Sanchez.

“One of the most radical creators and pioneers of his generation, Raphael Montañez Ortiz offers El Museo del Barrio an opportunity to push the boundaries of identities, showcase moments of harmony and tension in our lived history as a museum, and challenge and expand limited visual art narratives. Entropy speaks about the need for transformation, about the irreversible changes that are generated within complex systems. This spirit is evidenced in El Museo del Barrio today and for years to come,” El Museo executive director Patrick Charpenel said in a statement. Ramos added, “For far too long, canonical art history devoted to American art of the second half of the twentieth century neglected one of its most innovative artists. Premised on the Eurocentric myth of the homo faber, it failed to comprehend the trailblazing character of Raphael Montañez Ortiz and his lifelong endeavor to harness the human condition’s primal energies. At once a painter, performance artist, sculptor, filmmaker, teacher, community organizer, and writer, the work of Raphael Montañez Ortiz defies disciplinary categorization. This publication offers for the first time a panoramic view of a prolific career spanning more than six decades.”

PLAYBAC: PERFORMANCES FROM THE ARCHIVE SERIES 2

Who: Baryshnikov Arts Center
What: Free virtual series
Where: Baryshnikov Arts Center online
When: Thursdays at 5:00, free (available through the following Tuesday at 5:00)
Why: Baryshnikov Arts Center is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary virtually, streaming a wide range of archival performances that display its diversity, from dance and music to theater and poetry. Its second series of “PlayBAC: Performances from the Archive” begins July 16-21 with Trisha Brown Dance Company’s Opal Loop / Cloud Installation #72503, filmed ten years ago in the Howard Gilman Performance Space, where Leah Morrison, Nicholas Strafaccia, Laurel J. Tentindo, and Samuel von Wentz move quietly around a smokey stage, with costumes by Judith Shea, lighting by Beverly Emmons, and visual presentation by Fujiko Nakaya creating a mystical atmosphere. The look back continues with Aszure Barton’s Over/Come July 23-28 (with members of Hell’s Kitchen Dance), the Quodlibet Ensemble July 30 – August 4, Company SBB / Stefanie Batten Bland’s A Place of Sun August 6-11, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and Patti Smith reading Catalan poetry August 13-18, and doug elkins choreography, etc.’s Scott, Queen of Marys August 20-25, featuring Javier Ninja. The videos will be introduced by founding artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov and several of the artists. The first series consisted of works by Rocío Molina, the Latvian National Choir, Rashaun Mitchell, Merasi: Master Musicians of Rajasthan, Vertigo Dance Company, and singer/songwriter Somi, but you cannot see them anymore because they are available for only a limited time, so don’t miss this opportunity to see this second collection of cutting-edge presentations, for free.

July 16-21
Trisha Brown Dance Company, Opal Loop / Cloud Installation #72503 (1980), Howard Gilman Performance Space, filmed April 10, 2010

July 23-28
Aszure Barton, Over/Come (2005), Studio Showing, Rudolf Nureyev Studio, filmed June 16, 2005

July 30 – August 4
Quodlibet Ensemble: Music by Biber, Martynov + Sharlat, Jerome Robbins Theater, filmed December 5, 2018

August 6-11
Company SBB / Stefanie Batten Bland, A Place of Sun (2012), world premiere, Jerome Robbins Theater, filmed May 17, 2012

August 13-18
Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and Patti Smith: A Reading of Catalan poetry, Howard Gilman Performance Space, filmed March 23, 2007

August 20-25
doug elkins choreography, etc., Scott, Queen of Marys (1994), Howard Gilman Performance Space, filmed December 7, 2012

AMERICAN UTOPIA MEETS UTOPIA AVENUE: DAVID BYRNE AND DAVID MITCHELL IN CONVERSATION

David Mitchell and David Byrne will discuss the concept of utopia and the state of the world i 92Y conversation

David Mitchell and David Byrne will discuss the concept of utopia and the state of the world in 92Y conversation

Who: David Byrne, David Mitchell
What: Online discussion and Q&A
Where: 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center
When: Tuesday, July 14, $35, 6:00
Why: In his Broadway show American Utopia, Scotland-born former Talking Heads American lead singer David Byrne adapted songs from throughout his career into a stunningly conceived stage musical with a mobile, untethered band, choreography by Annie-B Parson, and a narrative delving into the nature of the human brain and our experience on this planet, featuring such songs as “Here,” “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody),” “Bullet,” and “Road to Nowhere.” In his brand-new novel, Utopia Avenue, English author David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green) follows the life and times of a fictional British psychedelic band; the first chapter is titled “Abandon Hope.” On July 14 at 6:00, Byrne and Mitchell will discuss their latest work and the state of the world in a livestreamed discussion from wherever they are sheltering in place; the event is hosted by the 92nd St. Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center and the Community Bookstore in Park Slope. Tickets are $35 but come with a signed copy of Utopia Avenue; the first one hundred purchasers will get the opportunity to briefly chat virtually one-on-one with Mitchell.

COMMUNITY DAY: SAY IT LOUD — A REFLECTION ON THE ’67 NEWARK UPRISING, THEN AND NOW

Robert Curvin speaks out during the Newark Riots of 1967 (Bettmann, 1967/ image © Getty Images)

Rutgers graduate and Congress of Racial Equality leader Robert Curvin speaks out during the Newark Riots of 1967 (Bettmann, 1967 / image © Getty Images)

Who: Sharon Owens, Moya Mathison, Arruna D’Souza, Alexis Green, Gimmidat, Ras Baraka, Linda C. Harrison
What: Newark Museum of Art virtual community day
Where: Newark Museum of Art Facebook Live and Zoom
When: Sunday, July 12, free (advance registration required for Zoom programs), noon – 5:00
Why: On July 12, 1967, after an incident of police brutality committed by white officers on Black taxi driver John Smith in Newark, New Jersey, a civil rebellion broke out, with four days of anger, riot, looting, and racial tension exploding during a tumultuous time across America — it was clearly not the Summer of Love for everyone. With parallels that are happening in the country today, the Newark Museum of Art looks back at that turbulent period with “Community Day: Say It Loud — A Reflection on the ’67 Newark Uprising, Then and Now.” The free, virtual afternoon consists of a series of special programs exploring social justice, including storytelling, performance, and talks, taking place between noon and 5:00 on Sunday afternoon, the fifty-third anniversary of the uprising. “Our country is fractured, and its most vulnerable communities are in mourning and looking for reprieve,” museum director and CEO Linda C. Harrison said in a statement. “The Newark Museum of Art stands by its commitment to not only aid in the healing process through art but to also be a catalyst for discussions on systemic racism, equity, and inclusion to help shape a more hopeful future.” Below is the full schedule; some events require advance registration on Zoom. (On July 18, the museum will host “Community Day: Celebrating Pride,” with drag queen Harmonica Sunbeam, Amanda Simpson of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, LGBTQIA musical artists Wafia and Calvin Arsenia, the LGBTQ+ Rights Panel: “Where Are We Going?,” fashion designer Marco Hall, DJ Kenneth Kyrell, and more.)

Sunday, July 12
“Storytime Live: Undoing Racism,” with Sharon Owens of the Newark Public Library reading Old Turtle and the Broken Truth, written by Douglas Wood and illustrated by Jon J. Muth, followed by a conversation with child therapist Moya Mathison, noon

“Inequality in Art,” with Aruna D’Souza, author of Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts, 2:00

Poet Alexis Green and Music by Gimmidat, Zoom only, 3:00

Ras Baraka and Linda Harrison in Conversation: “Newark, the Progressive City,” with Newark mayor Ras Baraka and Newark Museum of Art director and CEO Linda C. Harrison, 4:00