this week in literature

PUBLIC FORUM: SHAKESPEARE IN AMERICA

James Earl Jones, who played the title role in the 1964 Shakespeare in the Park production of OTHELLO, will be back at the Delacorte as special evening honoring the Bard’s influence on America

FREE PUBLIC FORUM
Delacorte Theatre
Monday, June 30, free, 8:00
Tickets available June 30 at 12 noon at the Delacorte and online lottery
www.publictheater.org

The latest free public forum hosted by the Public Theater takes a look at the lasting and still-evolving impact of the works of William Shakespeare on American culture. The special evening is inspired by the new book Shakespeare in America: An Anthology from the Revolution to Now (Library of America, April 2014, $29.95), in which President Bill Clinton writes in the foreword, “Shakespeare only had a fleeting acquaintance with America, judging from his work, which brushed up against the New World on only a couple of occasions. . . . Nevertheless, our engagement with him as been long and sustained: generation after generation of Americans has fallen under his spell.” Taking place Monday, June 30, at the Delacorte, where Shakespeare in the Park is currently presenting a rousing version of Much Ado About Nothing, the forum will include James Earl Jones reading a scene from Othello, fifty years after he starred in a production at the Delacorte; Alec Baldwin reading from Macbeth and other works; Kelli O’Hara and Renée Elise Goldsberry singing a number from Shakespeare in the Park’s Twelfth Night; Steven Pasquale handling the male part of the “Tonight” duet from West Side Story; along with presentations from Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Brian Dennehy, Colin Donnell, Michael Friedman, André Holland, Harold Holzer, Stephen Merritt, Bryce Pinkham, Caesar Samoyoa, Vijay Seshadri, Sarah Amengual, Colman Domingo, Cynthia Nixon, Annie-B Parson, and Michael Stuhlbarg. “In a nation wrestling with great issues,” Shakespeare in America editor and Public Theater Shakespeare scholar in residence James Shapiro writes in the book’s introduction, “Shakespeare’s works allowed Americans to express views that may otherwise have been hard to articulate – or admit to.”

GLOBALLY SPEAKING: DR. MAYA ANGELOU

Raw Space Culture Gallery
2031 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (Seventh Ave. between 121st & 122nd Sts.)
Tuesday, June 3, $10, 6:30
212-694-2887
www.facebook.com/RawSpaceNYC
www.mayaangelou.com

“The caged bird sings / with a fearful trill / of things unknown / but longed for still / and his tune is heard / on the distant hill / for the caged bird / sings of freedom.” So wrote Mississippi-born poet, teacher, activist, and artist Dr. Maya Angelou, who passed away on May 28 at the age of eighty-six. “She was a warrior for equality, tolerance, and peace,” her family said in a statement. Dr. Angelou, who wrote such books and poems as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I Shall Not Be Moved, and Still I Rise, had a mellifluous voice that was like music rising to the heavens, something the whole world got to hear when she recited “On the Pulse of Morning” at the January 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton. On June 3, Angelou’s life and career will be celebrated at “Globally Speaking,” a new open-mic poetry and conversation series at Raw Space on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. The evening will include rare video clips of Angelou and an open discussion about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Dr. Angelou is also being honored with the exhibition “Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou, 1928-2014,” which continues through June 30 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on Malcolm X Blvd. and consists of handwritten and typed drafts of her works, letters, portraits, and more from the Maya Angelou Papers.

WORD FOR WORD: AUTHOR APPEARANCES

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK creator Piper Kerman will be at Bryant Park to discuss second season on (photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Piper Kerman will be at Bryant Park on July 23 to discuss second season of hit Netflix show about her life in prison (photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)

Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesdays through August 20 at 12:30 & 7:00, free
(Other literary events held Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays)
www.bryantpark.org

Bryant Park’s popular Word for Word series continues through the summer in the outdoor Reading Room, a re-creation of the New York Public Library’s Open Air Library, which was started in August 1935 to give jobless New Yorkers somewhere to go and to experience lively culture during otherwise depressing days. There are book clubs, poetry readings, and storytelling for kids on Tuesday Thursdays, and Saturdays, but Wednesdays at 12:30 are reserved for author appearances, with readings, discussions, interviews, anecdotes, and Q&As, followed by signings. (In addition, beginning June 29, Wednesday evenings will feature authors promoting books on American historical political figures.) Below are only some of the highlights of this season’s schedule.

Wednesday, June 18
Jenny Mollen, I Like You Just the Way I Am: Stories About Me and Some Other People, with special guest Jason Biggs (American Pie, Orange Is the New Black), 12:30

Wednesday, July 16
Debut Novelists, with Mira Jacob (The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing), Courtney Maum (I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You), Ted Thompson (The Land of Steady Habits), and Tiphanie Yanique (Land of Love and Drowning), hosted by Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop founder Julia Fierro, 12:30

Wednesday, July 23
Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, 12:30

Wednesday, July 30
Kevin Smith & Jason Mewes, Jay & Silent Bob’s Blueprints for Destroying Everything, 12:30

Wednesday, August 20
“Taste Talks” with April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig, A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories, moderated by Daniel Stedman, 12:30

MEET THE WRITERS OF BAY RIDGE

Champagne Diet founder Cara Alwill Leyba will be among the culinary writers celebrating Bay Ridge at special library program on May 31

TWELVE LOCAL CHEFS, BAKERS, WRITERS, EDITORS, AND LITERARY AGENTS SHARE THEIR STORIES
Bay Ridge Library, second floor
7223 Ridge Blvd.
Saturday, May 31, free, 1:00
718-748-5709
www.bklynlibrary.org

Does literary Brooklyn have to mean hipsters in coffee shops in Williamsburg? Not at all. Brooklyn’s literary history is long and deep, from Walt Whitman’s lyrical Leaves of Grass to Hubert Selby Jr.’s brutal Last Exit to Brooklyn, but few may realize the rich culture of writers, editors, agents, and booksellers in Bay Ridge, home to numerous literary agents, bloggers, and editors as well as culinary innovators and cookbook creators. On Saturday afternoon, May 31, the Bay Ridge Library is hosting an event celebrating the neighborhood’s wealth of talent, with a pair of panel discussions moderated by literary agent Melissa Sarver White that look at multiple facets of literary and culinary Bay Ridge. “A Writing Life in Bay Ridge: Editors, Writers, Digital Authors & Bloggers Share Their Stories” brings together Cara Alwill Leyba (Sparkle: The Girl’s Guide to Living a Deliciously Dazzling, Wildly Effervescent, Kick-Ass Life; The Champagne Diet: Eat, Drink, and Celebrate Your Way to a Healthy Mind and Body!), Ken Wheaton (Bacon and Egg Man, The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival), HarperCollins Children’s Books executive editor Kristen Pettit, culture editor Henry Stewart, and Sarah Zorn (Brooklyn Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from Coney Island to Brooklyn Heights). “Cooks and Books: Creativity and Entrepreneurship” features authors Allison Robicelli (Robicelli’s: A Love Story, with Cupcakes), Rawia Bishara (Olives, Lemons & Za’atar: The Best Middle Eastern Home Cooking), Allison Kave (First Prize Pies: Shoo-Fly, Candy Apple, and Other Deliciously Inventive Pies for Every Week of the Year [and More]), and Zorn, who will be joined by entrepreneurs Katarzyna Ploszaj of Petit Oven, Louis Coluccio Jr. of A.L.C. Italian Grocery, and a surprise guest from Leske’s Bakery. The talks will be followed by a book sale and signing sponsored by Bay Ridge’s BookMark Shoppe.

TRIBECA FAMILY PRESENTS: ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

Musical adaptation of classic children’s book comes to TPAC on June 1 (photo by Patrick Dwyer)

Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers St.
Sunday, June 1, $25, 1:30
www.tribecapac.org
www.theatreworksusa.org

“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” So begins Judith Viorst’s classic 1972 children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. We were hesitant to bring this up — one of the real-life Alexander’s real-life brothers is an FOT (friend of twi-ny) — but on June 1, Theatreworks USA’s musical adaptation is being staged at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. The sixty-minute show, appropriate for ages four and up, features music by Shelly Markham, choreography by Cynthia Thole, and direction by Rob Barron; Viorst wrote the book and lyrics. Theatreworks USA’s repertoire also includes musical adaptations of Charlotte’s Web, A Christmas Carol, Junie B. Jones, Peter Pan, The Lightning Thief, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, among others, and special study guides accompany each production.

WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2014

Alan Alda pays tribute to Albert Einstein with star-studded cast at 2014 World Science Festival

Multiple locations
May 28 – June 1
Free – $30
www.worldsciencefestival.com

Science is under ever-more fire from those who believe it is just a collection of opinions and unproven theories, not fact-based analysis and understanding; the World Science Festival seeks to do something about that, “cultivating a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.” The seventh annual multidisciplinary festival takes place May 28 through June 1, with readings, lectures, performances, panel discussions, interactive displays, and much more, featuring such WSF stalwarts as cofounder Brian Greene and regular presenter Alan Alda. Among the topics being examined are family trees, ales and chocolate, quantum physics, time, poison, the human brain, the Higgs boson, DNA, and the Big Bang. Although some of the programs are already sold out, there might be tickets available at the door; in addition, there are plenty of free events that require no advance registration. Below are only some of the highlights.

Wednesday, May 28
“Dear Albert,” staged reading by Alan Alda with Paul Rudd, Cynthia Nixon, and Francesca Faridany, directed by Mark Brokaw, followed by a discussion with Alda and Brian Greene, NYU Skirball Center, 8:00

Wednesday, May 28
through
Saturday, May 31
“Eye of the Storm” The Science of Weather,” with Hilary Peddicord, Xichen Li, David Holland, and Denise Holland, Gould Plaza, NYU, free, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Wednesday, May 28
through
Sunday, June 1
“A Comet ‘Lands’ in Brooklyn,” with Artur B. Chmielewski and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientists, educators, and designers discussing the Rosetta Mission, Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, free, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (12 noon – 4:00 on June 1)

Thursday, May 29
“Science and Story: The Write Angle,” with Sean Carroll, E. L. Doctorow, Jo Marchant, Joyce Carol Oates, and Steven Pinker, moderated by John Hockenberry, Great Hall of the Cooper Union, $15-$30, 5:30

“Gravity: Watch It with Astronauts under the Space Shuttle,” first-ever screening in the Space Shuttle Pavilion of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, followed by a discussion with Bobak Ferdowsi, Sandra Magnus, and John M. Grunsfeld, moderated by Lynn Sherr, $15-$30, 8:00

Friday, May 30
“Downloading the Brain,” with John Donoghue, Michel M. Maharbiz, George Church, and Bijan Pesaran, moderated by Gary Marcus, Grand Hall, NYU Global Center, $15-$25, 1:30

“Scientific Kitchen: Biophysics? More Like Pie-o-Physics!,” with Amy Rowat, Christina Tosi, and Bill Yosses, Momofuku Milk Bar Williamsburg, 6:30

Saturday, May 31
“The Search for Life: The 20 Year Horizon,” with Dimitar Sasselov, Sara Seager, and Jack W. Szostak, moderated by Mario Livio, Grand Hall, NYU Global Center, $15-$25, 4:00

“The Bionic Body: Going Wireless,” with Joseph J. Fins, John Donoghue, P. Hunter Peckham, and Jennifer French, moderated by Bill Blakemore, Grand Hall, NYU Global Center, $15-$25, 6:00

Saturday, May 31
and
Sunday, June 1
“Science Hack Day: Science in the City,” with Luke DuBois, Dana Karwas, Nancy Hechinger, Michael Flowers, Jin Montclare, and Julie Hecht, hosted by François Grey, MAGNET, NYU School of Engineering, free, 10:00 am

Sunday, June 1
The Ultimate Science Street Fair, with focuses on space, weather, and robots, Washington Square Park, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

“Cool Jobs,” with Chad Jenkins, Michael J. Massimino, Becca Peixotto, Hannah Morris, and Mark Siddall, moderated by “Science Bob” Pflugfelder, NYU Skirball Center, $15-$30, 1:00

Kids’ Science Storytime: Meet the Authors, with Steve Metzger, “Science Bob” Pflugfelder, and Deborah Heiligman, NYU Kimmel Center, second floor, free, 2:00 – 4:00

TONY OURSLER: VOX VERNACULAR

PERFORMANCE ARTS SERIES
New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwartzman Building
South Court Auditorium
Fifth Ave. at 42nd St.
Wednesday, May 21, free, 6:00
www.nypl.org
www.yalepress.yale.edu

For more than thirty years, multimedia installation artist Tony Oursler has been creating eye-catching works that examine unique aspects of the human experience, often involving videos projected onto miniature environments and larger-scale sculptures. The new book Tony Oursler / Vox Vernacular (Yale, February 25, $65) takes a look at a different side of the native New Yorker, focusing on the language and text that accompanies his pieces — for example, “L7-L5,” “Spillchamber,” “Lock 2,4,6” and “The Influence Machine” — which often play out like tiny dramas. On May 21, a group of his friends will gather at the South Court Auditorium at the New York Public Library for a performance and book launch, with Tony Conrad, Constance DeJong, Jim Fletcher, Joe Gibbons, Kim Gordon, Josie Keefe, Tracy Leipold, Brandon Olson, Jason Scott, and Holly Stanton presenting transcripts from Tony Oursler / Vox Vernacular, bringing these works, dating from 1977 to 2013, to life in a new, poetic way, accompanied by video clips. After the event, Oursler will sign copies of the book, which also includes two hundred illustrations (190 in color) and contributions by Laurent Busine and Denis Gielen of the Musée des Arts Contemporains au Grand-Hornu and Billy Rubin. This one-night-only free event should offer a fascinating perspective on one of the art world’s most consistently inventive and entertaining creators.