this week in literature

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.

ZÜRICH MEETS NEW YORK: A FESTIVAL OF SWISS INGENUITY

Zürich Meets New York festival honors upcoming centennial of the Dada movement

Multiple locations
May 16-23, free – $20
www.zurichmeetsnewyork.org

In The Third Man, one of the greatest movies ever made, Harry Lime (Orson Welles) tells his childhood friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), “You know what the fellow said — in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace — and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Of course, Switzerland has contributed a whole lot more to international culture and history than the cuckoo clock — and by the way, who doesn’t love the cuckoo clock? — as evidenced by this month’s Zürich Meets New York: A Festival of Swiss Ingenuity. From May 16 to 23, more than two dozen events will be taking place around the city, from concerts and dance to panel discussions and film screenings, from art exhibits and seminars to theater and scientific conversations, with a particular focus on the one hundredth anniversary of the Dada movement, which was born at the Cabaret Voltaire. Aside from “How Black Holes Shape Our Universe,” a multimedia presentation at the Explorers Club that requires a $20 ticket, everything else is absolutely free, although most events require advance RSVP. Below are only some of the highlights; other participants and programs include Dieter Meier of Yello, game developer Tim Schafer, Jungian analyst Christopher Hauke, complexity scientist Dirk Helbing, financial economist Didier Sornette, IBM director of research John E. Kelly, novelists Renata Adler and Ben Marcus discussing the work of Max Frisch, and a pair of documentaries about artist Urs Fischer.

Friday, May 16
“Collegium Novum Zurich: Live Music & Silent Films,” David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts., featuring screenings of shorts by Hans Richter, James Sibley Watson Jr. and Melville Webber, René Clair, and Joris Ivens with live musical accompaniment, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Saturday, May 17
“Giants Are Small: Dada Bomb,” Dada performance art journey, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Sunday, May 18
through
Thursday, May 22
“Dada on Tour,” art exhibition in a “nomadic” tent, Whitebox Art Center, 329 Broome St. between Chrystie St. & Bowery, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Monday, May 19
“What Can Robots and Economics Teach Us About Humanity?,” with Rolf Pfeifer and Ernst Fehr, moderated by Maria Konnikova, New York Academy of Sciences, 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St., 40th Floor, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Monday, May 19
through
Thursday, May 22
“Dada Pop-Up: The Absurdities of Our Times,” opening will include spontaneous performances and exchanges, Whitebox Art Center, 329 Broome St. between Chrystie St. & Bowery, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Tuesday, May 20
and
Wednesday, May 21
“Simone Aughterlony/Antonija Livingstone/Hahn Rowe: In Disguise,” dance performance with choreographer Simone Aughterlony, performer Antonija Livingstone, and composer Hahn Rowe, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th St. between Tenth and Eleventh Aves., free with advance RSVP, 8:30

THE ROUTES NOT TAKEN: AN EVENING WITH JOE RASKIN

New York Transit Museum
Boerum Pl. & Schermerhorn St.
Tuesday, May 13, free with advance RSVP, 6:30
718-694-1600
www.mta.info
www.fordhampress.com

Inspired by a copy of the 1929 subway extension map, Joseph B. Raskin set out in search of parts of the New York City underground train and tunnel system that were never built or remain unfinished. Raskin, the assistant director of government and community relations for MTA New York City Transit, has compiled his findings in The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City’s Unbuilt Subway System (Fordham University Press, November 2013, $34.95). “There were demands to expand the subway system even before the first lines opened,” he writes in the preface. “Some plans never got beyond the planning, preliminary design, or engineering phases before being halted. Others proceeded further. There are tunnel and station segments throughout the New York City subway system built for lines that were never completed. A platform under the IRT’s Nevins Street station has remained unused for over a century. Other proposals underwent radical changes before they were actually built.” The book, which contains one hundred black-and-white illustrations, also delves into the politics and finances behind many of these projects, including stories about Fiorella La Guardia, Tammany Hall, and Robert Moses. As part of the 110th anniversary of the subway system, Raskin, who also runs the Wandering New York photo blog, will be at the Transit Museum in Brooklyn on May 13 to discuss the book with WNYC transportation reporter Jim O’Grady, followed by a book signing. Free advance RSVP is recommended.

PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL: ON THE EDGE

PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE
Multiple locations
April 28 – May 4, free – $20
www.worldvoices.pen.org

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center,” Kurt Vonnegut wrote in his debut novel, 1952’s Player Piano. That sentiment is the theme for the tenth annual Pen World Voices Festival of International Literature, a week of lectures, workshops, readings, debates, conversations, performances, and more celebrating writers who are not afraid to go out on the edge and take risks, both personal and political. Sponsored by the PEN America Center, which supports freedom of expression throughout the world, the festival will feature more than 150 writers from 30 nations participating in nearly five dozen events. “Many of the finest writers in the world, the ones whose voices speak most eloquently to us, are also, all too often, the most exposed and vulnerable, because they are so prominently visible,” festival chairman and founder Salman Rushdie said in a statement. “Yet these are the voices we must listen to, the voices that show us how the world joins up.” Among those taking part in the festival are Colm Tóibín, Noam Chomsky, Elinor Lipman, Saul Williams, A. M. Homes, Bob Holman, Judith Thurman, Shirin Neshat, Paul Muldoon, Eileen Myles, Siri Hustvedt, Martin Amis, Parker Posey, Jay McInerney, Rosario Dawson, Joseph O’Neill, Francine Prose, and Rushdie. There’s always a lot to do and see at this annual celebration of the power of the written word; below are just some of the highlights.

Monday, April 28

Opening Night: On the Edge, with Adonis, Gado, Sofi Oksanen, Colm Tóibín, Noam Chomsky, Salman Rushdie, Judith Butler, and Paul Berman delivering seven-minute orations, the Great Hall of the Cooper Union, $15-$20, 7:00

Tuesday, April 29

A Literary Safari, with Kevin Barry, Eliane Brum, Christopher Farley, Justin Go, Frédéric Gros, Joanne Hillhouse, Barbara Jenkins, Sharon Leach, Geert Mak, Vanessa Manko, Andrés Neuman, Jaap Scholten, Gabrielle Selz, Francesc Serés, Sue Shapiro, Kenan Trebincevic, Igor Stiks, Bae Suah, Elinor Lipman, and Deji Olukotun, taking place in rooms throughout the Westbeth Center for the Arts, $15-$20, 6:30

Obsession: Eileen Myles on Spoilage and Ruination of Other Kinds, with Eileen Myles, hosted by Mike Albo, Chez André at the Standard, $15-$20, 9:00

Wednesday, April 30

The FBI Was Never the Same: 1971 Screening and Discussion, with Johanna Hamilton, Bonnie Raines, John Raines, Larry Siems, and Betty Medsger, NYU Cantor Film Center, $15-$20, 7:00

Literary Death Match, with Kevin Barry, Alona Kimhi, Bae Suah, Parker Posey, Michael Ian Black, and Jay McInerney, Ace Hotel, $15-$20, 7:00

Thursday, May 1

The Nuyorican Poets Café, with Saul Williams, Rome Neal, Jive Poetic, Rosario Dawson, Gado, Natasha Trethewey, participants from Mark Nowak’s workshops with Domestic Workers United and Alliance for Taxi Drivers, Nuyorican Poets Café, $10-$20, 6:00

Obsession: Jennifer Boylan on Lost Loves, with Jennifer Boylan, hosted by Mike Albo, Chez André at the Standard, $15-$20, 9:00

Friday, May 2

The Literary Mews, with Clayton Eshleman, Deji Olukotun, Ed Pavlić, Yacouba Sissoko, Dan Neely, Tine Kindermann, Albert Behar, Paula Deitz, Mark Jarman, RS. Gwynn, Johanna Keller, Jeff Kline, Alexa de Puivert, Eddie Mandhry, Chinelo Okparanta, Godfrey Mwampembwa, Tope Folarin, Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Tarfia Faizullah, Luis Francia, April Naoko Heck, Hieu Minh Nguyen, George Prochnik, Eric Jarosinski, Stacey Knecht, Richard Sieburth, Chuck Wachtel, Jill Schoolman, Sebastian Barry, Maxim Leo, Yascha Mounk, Atina Grossmann, Benjamin Moser, Eric Banks, and Kevin Barry, Washington Mews, NYU, free, 10:00 am – 8:00 pm

Dylan Live: A Tribute to Dylan Thomas, with Paul Muldoon, Aneirin Karadog, Martin Daws, and Daniel Williams, the Auditorium at the New School, $15-$20, 8:00

Obsession: Dan Savage on Plaques and Trophies, with Dan Savage, hosted by Mike Albo, Chez André at the Standard, $15-$20, 9:00

Saturday, May 3

Broken Dreams in Two Acts: 25 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, with Timothy Garton Ash, György Konrád, Geert Mak, Adam Michnik, and Elzbieta Matynia, Frederick P. Rose Auditorium at the Cooper Union, $15-$20, 3:00

Interview Magazine: The Re-Interview with Martin Amis and Michael Stipe, the Auditorium at the New School, $15-$20, 7:30

Sunday, May 4

Sex and Violence in Children’s Books: Where the Wild Things (Really) Are, with Sarwat Chadda, Robie Harris, Susan Kuklin, Niki Walker, and Sharyn November, Frederick P. Rose Auditorium at the Cooper Union, $10-$15, 12:30

In Conversation: Timothy Garton Ash and Salman Rushdie, Anspacher Theater at the Public Theater, $12-$15, 4:00

Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture: Colm Tóibín, the Great Hall at the Cooper Union, $15-$20, 6:00

POETRY IN MOTION SPRINGFEST

Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall
89 East 42 St.
April 26-27, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.grandcentralterminal.com

For more than twenty years, MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design has been presenting “Poetry in Motion,” posting placards of poetry in subway cars. Since March 2012, the poems, selected in conjunction with the Poetry Society of America, have been pairing poetry with images from the permanent art installations from the Arts for Transit program. This weekend, the MTA and PSA are hosting Poetry in Motion Springfest, a two-day celebration of the written word. The free family-friendly party runs April 26 & 27 in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall, where attendees can stop by “The Poet Is In” booth and receive a personally created poem from New York State Poet Laureate Marie Howe, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, or Bowery Poetry Club founder Bob Holman; visit “Poetry Projected,” consisting of interactive installations by Yu-Ting Feng (“Dear Deer,” in which you can help a deer get over writer’s block) and Sarah Rothberg (“Vital Signs: Pulse Poems,” where your pulse affects verses) as well as poetry projections by New Media artist and 2014 TED senior fellow Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, who teaches the Poetry Everywhere class with Howe in NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program; take part in “The Poet Is You” workshop (advance RSVP required) or “The Human Mic,” where you can step right up and read works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Lucille Clifton; and check out live performances courtesy of the MTA’s Music Under New York program.