this week in literature

OPEN PLAN: CECIL TAYLOR

Jazz great Cecil Taylor rehearses at the Whitney in November 2015

Whitney Museum of American Art
Neil Bluhm Family Galleries, fifth floor
99 Gansevoort St.
April 14-24, free with museum admission unless otherwise noted
212-570-3600
whitney.org

The fourth stage of the Whitney’s “Open Plan” series, which previously saw Andrea Fraser, Lucy Dodd, and Michael Heizer take over the large fifth-floor space in the new downtown building, hands the reins over to free jazz legend, poet, and New York City native Cecil Taylor. The eighty-seven-year-old pianist will be celebrated in a series of programs beginning April 14 at 8:00 ($50), when Taylor will make a rare public appearance, collaborating with British drummer Tony Oxley and Japanese dancer and choreographer Min Tanaka. On April 15 at 7:00, cellist Tristan Honsinger will perform a solo set, while writer Thulani Davis, dancer and professor Cheryl Banks-Smith, and bassist Henry Grimes join forces for a unique presentation. On April 16 at 2:00, Banks-Smith will moderate “Cecil Taylor and Dance,” a panel discussion with Dianne McIntyre, Heather Watts, and Tanaka. That evening at 7:00, trumpter Enrico Rava, double bassist William Parker, and drummer Andrew Cyrille will perform as a trio, in addition to a solo set by Cyrille. On April 20 at 3:00, a Poetry and Music gathering brings together poets A. B. Spellman and Anne Waldman and saxophonist Devin Brahja Waldman, Anne’s nephew. On April 21 at 3:00, Poetry and Music features Steve Dalachinsky, Clark Coolidge with Michael Bisio, and Nathaniel Mackey with Grimes. That night at 9:00 ($10), Hilton Als directs a restaging of Adrienne Kennedy’s one-act play A Rat’s Mass, starring Helga Davis; Taylor wrote and directed the music for the show. And on April 22 at 6:00, Chris Funkhouser, Tracie Morris and Susie Ibarra, Fred Moten and William Parker, and Jemeel Moondoc/Ensemble Muntu (featuring Parker, Mark Hennen, and Charles Downs) will present an evening of poetry and music. Throughout this part of “Open Plan,” there will also be listening sessions hosted by Davis, Archie Rand, André Martinez, Gary Giddins, Moten and Funkhouser, Ben Young, and Nahum Chandler in addition to screenings in the Kaufman Gallery of such films as Sheldon Rochlin’s Cecil Taylor: Burning Poles, Chris Felver’s Cecil Taylor: All the Notes, Billy Woodberry’s And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead, and the world premiere of Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s The Silent Eye about Taylor and Tanaka (and followed by Q&As with the director, who sat on Taylor’s stoop until the pianist would finally talk to him). There will also be documents, videos, audio, scores, photographs, poetry, and ephemera from throughout Taylor’s life and career on view.

DAVID DUCHOVNY IN CONVERSATION WITH BILL GOLDSTEIN

David Duchovny holds up his brand-new novel on Twitter for all to see

Who: David Duchovny and Bill Goldstein
What: Reading, discussion, and signing of Bucky F*cking Dent (FSG, April 5, $26)
Where: Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 East 17th St., 212-253-0810
When: Tuesday, April 12, free, 7:00
Why: “Mr. Peanut needed help. He had the dimpled gray-beige peanut torso, insect stick legs, and bad eyesight. In one eye, at least. No balls to speak of, sexless, a eunuch, and he couldn’t see or walk without the use of a cane. Help that dude. And why the top hat? He’s asking for it.” So actor, author, director, and musician David Duchovny, the X-Files star who played a novelist in the Showtime series Californication for seven seasons, writes on the first page of his second book, Bucky F*cking Dent, the follow-up to his debut, Holy Cow (now available in trade paperback), both of which reference baseball in their titles, for those not familiar with Yankees lore. On April 12, Duchovny will be at the B&N at Union Square, speaking with Bill Goldstein, book reviewer for NBC and other outlets. The event begins at 7:00; priority seating will be given to attendees who purchase the new novel. Shortly after his book tour, Duchovny will be heading to Europe for eleven May gigs in support of his 2015 album, Hell or Highwater.

TICKET ALERT: THE REDEMPTIVE POWER OF ANCIENT STORIES

Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, and Bryan Doerries team up for special event at the 92nd St. Y

Who: Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Bryan Doerries, Thane Rosenbaum
What: “The Redemptive Power of Ancient Stories”
Where: 92nd St. Y, Buttenwieser Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St., 212-415-5500
When: Saturday, April 16, $32 ($15 for ages thirty-five & under), 7:30
Why: “What do Greek tragedies have to say to us now? What timeless things do they show us about what it means to be human? What were these ancient plays originally designed to do? And can they still work for audiences and readers today?” writer, director, and translator Bryan Doerries asks in the prologue to his book The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today (Knopf, September 2015, $26.95). Doerries is the artistic director of Outside the Wire, a self-described “social impact company” that presents such projects as End of Life, Prometheus in Prison, and Theater of War, which consists of dramatic readings of Sophocles’s Ajax and Philoctetes performed for military and civilian communities in America and Europe, with a particular focus on the psychological and physical impact of war. On April 16, Doerries will be joined by Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated actors Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man, John Adams) and David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.; Temple Grandin) at the 92nd St. Y, where they will perform dramatic readings and participate in a discussion moderated by writer and law professor Thane Rosenbaum. The evening will conclude with Doerries signing copies of The Theater of War as well as his brand-new graphic novel, The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan (Pantheon, April 5, 2016, $19.95), which links Homer’s Odyssey to American soldiers returning home from Afghanistan.

FIRST SATURDAY: A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

Maya Azucena will perform for free at Brooklyn Museum First Saturday program on April 1

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, April 1, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum celebrates spring with the April edition of its free First Saturday multidisciplinary program. There will be live music by Falu, the Brown Rice Family, and Maya Azucena; a dance performance and workshop by Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance; poetry readings by Desiree Bailey and Laura Lamb Brown; screenings of Guy Reid’s Planetary, followed by a talkback, and Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon’s BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, followed by a talkback with Gordon and Imani Uzuri; an art workshop led by Steven and William Ladd for a community mural project in City Point; a dance break hosted by WNYC’s Death, Sex & Money podcast; and pop-up gallery talks. In addition, the galleries are open late so you can check out such exhibitions as “Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (to a Seagull),’” “This Place,” and “Agitprop!”

KINETIC PAINTING: AN ART BOOK SERIES EVENT

carolee schneeman kinetic painting

Who: Carolee Schneemann with Kathy Battista, Jenny Jaskey, and David Levi Strauss
What: Celebration of the release of Carolee Schneeman monograph Kinetic Painting (Prestel, February 2016, $60), edited by Sabine Breitwieser
Where: New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Auditorium, Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., 917-275-6975
When: Wednesday, March 9, free, 6:00
Why: In Kinetic Painting, editor Sabine Breitwieser writes, “Schneeman’s vital contributions to the establishment of a feminist art practice, her ‘painting constructions,’ her choreography and performances, and her experimental films, whose full significance has not yet been recognized: these are only some facets of her oeuvre, and a thorough review of her prodigious output, which now spans six decades and reflects the period’s social and technological changes in its extraordinary diversity, has been long overdue.” The fully illustrated monograph seeks to rectify that, and on March 9, Schneeman will be at the New York Public Library to talk about her career, joined by Kathy Battista, director of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art; Jenny Jaskey, director and curator of the Artist’s Institute; and writer, cultural critic, and professor David Levi Strauss. The monograph was published on conjunction with a major retrospective of Schneeman’s work at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, which was organized by Breitwieser and Branden Joseph. A book signing will follow the discussion.

BRODSKY/BARYSHNIKOV

Mikhail Baryshnikov will interpret the poetry of his longtime friend, Joseph Brodsky, in multimedia one-man show (photo by Janis Deinats)

Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jerome Robbins Theater
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
March 9-19, $35-$40
646-731-3200
bacnyc.org

Legendary ballet dancer, actor, photographer, and artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov is a fixture at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, which he opened on West Thirty-Seventh St. in 2005. He can often be seen in the audience, watching the institution’s wide range of productions. But Misha, as he is affectionately known, will be assuming a different role March 9-19, taking the stage for the hotly anticipated U.S. premiere of Brodsky / Baryshnikov. Originally presented at the New Riga Theatre in Baryshnikov’s hometown of Riga, Latvia, in October, the show is part of the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation arts program TÊTE-À-TÊTE, which seeks to expand the art and culture available in the capital city. In Brodsky / Baryshnikov, the famed dancer will interpret the poems of Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky through text and movement. Baryshnikov and Brodsky, who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, were friends for more than twenty years; the latter died in Brooklyn in 1996 at the age of fifty-five.

The ninety-minute one-man show is directed by Alvis Hermanis, with a fascinating set by Kristīne Jurjāne, lighting by Gleb Filshtinsky, and video by Ineta Sipunova, all of which delves into Brodsky’s mind; Baryshnikov will perform the works in their original Russian, with English surtitles by Jamey Gambrell. “This will be a departure from normal theatrical plays. Instead, it will be something more akin to a spiritual séance,” Hermanis said prior to the show’s debut. “We spend our everyday lives on a horizontal level or dimension. This form of theater offers you the chance to spend [ninety minutes] in an exclusively vertical dimension in which people are confronted with nothing other than the big issues.” Baryshnikov added, “This project is important to us. Alvis is venturing into unknown territory, which he invariably does; otherwise, why bother? We are both greatly looking forward to our encounter with the audience.” Although the run is sold out, there will be a wait list at the box office beginning one hour before each performance.

FIRST SATURDAY: SHE KNOWS NO BOUNDS

Honeybird will be part of woman-centric lineup at Brooklyn Museums First Saturday program on March 6 (photo by Monique Mizrahi)

Honeybird will be part of woman-centric lineup at Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturday program on March 5 (photo by Monique Mizrahi)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, March 5, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

Women are the headliners at the Brooklyn Museum’s free March First Saturday program. There will be live music by Honeybird, Denitia and Sene, Yahzarah, and drummers from Tom Tom magazine (with a talkback moderated by Mindy Abovitz); dance by the Erica Essner Performance Co-Op (“Reflex 2015,” followed by a Q&A); storytelling by Ashley “SAYWUT?!” Moyer and Queer Memoir; a screening of Faythe Levine and Sam Macon’s Sign Painters, followed by a talkback with Levine and sign painter Marcine Franckowiak; an art workshop; and pop-up gallery talks. In addition, the galleries are open late so you can check out such exhibitions as “Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008,” “Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (to a Seagull),’” “Forever Coney: Photographs from the Brooklyn Museum Collection,” “This Place,” and “Agitprop!”