live performance

THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC IN BRYANT PARK

The New York Philharmonic will perform in front of a limited audience in Bryan Park June 9-12 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: The New York Philharmonic
What: Four live and livestreamed concerts
Where: Bryant Park Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
When: June 9-12, free, 7:00
Why: The New York Philharmonic is not yet ready to play live to an audience at its David Geffen Hall home at Lincoln Center, but the classical music company is continuing its outdoor pandemic appearances with four concerts in Bryant Park, June 9-12 at 7:00. The free tickets have all been scarfed up, but the shows will be streamed live over Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube so you can enjoy them from your own home. These picnic performances, with twenty-five members of the orchestra, will be conducted by Lina González-Granados in her NYPhil debut and will feature works by Mozart and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, in addition to a new piece by NYPhil Very Young Composer Ilana Rahim-Braden. Upcoming shows in Bryant Park include New York City Opera on June 18 and July 2, New York Chinese Cultural Center on June 25, Joe’s Pub: Mykal Kilgore on June 26, Carnegie Hall Citywide: Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely on July 9, Spanish Harlem Orchestra on July 16, the Knights on July 23, Adrienne Warren & Friends on July 31, and Greenwich House Music School: Riley Mulherkar and Ella Bric on July 31. Free tickets become available for each show about ten days in advance.

PERFORMANCE MIX FESTIVAL 2021

Lisa Parra and Daniel Pinheiro’s LAND Project kicks off Performance Mix Festival

PERFORMANCE MIX FESTIVAL
122 Community Center courtyard and Movement Research
150 First Ave. at Ninth St.
June 10-13, suggested donation $15 per event
newdancealliance.org

The thirty-fifth annual Performance Mix Festival, hosted by New Dance Alliance at Movement Research at 122 Community Center and the Courtyard at 122CC, will be a hybrid of live and filmed experimental dances with immersive installations and a ritualistic happening in Prospect Park. Running June 10-13, the festival features such creators as Lisa Parra and Daniel Pinheiro, Dana Michel and Tracy Maurice, Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC, Degenerate Art Ensemble, and Anh Vo; tickets are a suggested donation of $15. Sari Nordman’s Tower will be on view all four days, a multimedia installation that explores climate change and the tower of Babel. All COVID-19 safety protocols will be observed; below is the complete schedule.

Thursday, June 10
Lisa Parra and Daniel Pinheiro, LAND Project, live and virtual, with Parra in New York and Pinheiro in Portugal using video-conferencing, 7:00

Anh Vo, non-binary pussy, live, 8:30

Friday, June 11
Andrew Tay, livestreamed performance of queer moments of reflection, transformation, dream, and perversion, 3:00

Dana Michel and Tracy Maurice, Lay them all down (video installation), 7:00

Shared program: Videos and films by Camilo Godoy (lecture-demonstration from What did they actually see?), Jil Guyon (Widow’s End and Coda), Rosy Simas (yödoishëndahgwa’geh [a place for rest]), and Andrew Tay, 8:00

Saturday, June 12
Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC, Baptism (Part I), part of Process memoir 6: thenowlater (HEART), ritualistic happening, Prospect Park, noon

Looking Back: Highlights from the Performance Mix Festival 1986-2020, 7:00

Shared program: Degenerate Art Ensemble (new work performed by director/dancer Haruko Crow Nishimura, composer/musician Joshua Kohl, and video artist Leo Mayberry, with costumes by Wyly Astley) and Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC, Baptism (Part II), 7:30

Sunday, June 13
Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez,” A Garden in the Shape of Dreams, noon

Shared program: Co-creation Hadley Smith/Johanna S. Meyer, Rachel Thorne Germond Performance Collage (Enigma of an Afternoon), we are: anna, Kimiko, s., Symara, Tara, Taylor, Ogemdi and marion (to love the rise/pt 2), and Yvonne Meier (Phantasiewelt, with music by Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori), 2:00

Shared program: Alethea Pace (excerpts from Here goes the neighborhood), Leslie Cuyjet, MOLLY&NOLA, and Nami Yamamoto (powerless creature keeps going . . . [working title]), 4:00

VIRTUAL MUSEUM MILE FESTIVAL 2021

Who: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Neue Galerie New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Jewish Museum, Museum of the City of New York, El Museo del Barrio, the Africa Center, and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
What: Virtual arts festival
Where: Online (a few in-person events)
When: Tuesday, June 8, free, 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Why: For more than forty years, on the second Tuesday of June, art lovers packed the cultural institutions on Fifth Ave., from the Met to El Museo del Barrio, filling the streets and lining up to experience special programs inside and outside for a few hours. With Covid-19 regulations still in place for theaters and museums, the 2021 Museum Mile Festival will be hybrid, with a few events happening in person but most accessible by streaming from home, over Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Everything is free, although some events require advance RSVP, but another bonus is that the festival lasts twelve hours, from nine in the morning to nine at night. Below are some of the highlights from each participating museum.

The Africa Center
“‘Home Is . . .” Series #2: Home Is Where Music Is,’” with Sampa the Great, Wunmi, Jupiter & Okwess, Daniel Dzidzonu, Georges Collinet, Eme Awa, noon
Discussion with Jessica B. Harris, curator of “African/American: Making the Nation’s Table,” and Pierre Thiam, executive chef and co-owner of Teranga, 5:00
Virtual contribution to the Legacy Quilt; child-friendly animation workshop led by artist Ezra Wube

Museum of the City of New York
“Photographing City Life: Live Session with Photographer Janette Beckman,” 4:40
“Curators from the Couch: Stettheimer Dollhouse Up Close,” with Sarah Henry and Simon Doonan, 5:30
“Your Hometown: A Virtual Conversation with Playwright Lynn Nottage,” 6:00
“When the Garden Was Eden: Remembering the 1970s New York Knicks,” with Bill Bradley, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Bill Murray, and Harvey Araton, 7:00

The Jewish Museum
Lawrence Weiner talks about his career and All the Stars in the Sky Have the Same Face, on the facade of the museum; Rachel Weisz recites Louise Bourgeois’s own words on audio guide for “Louise Bourgeois, Freud’s Daughter”; Edmund de Waal and Adam Gopnik discuss de Waal’s latest book, Letters to Camondo; videos of poet Douglas Ridloff responding to the Jewish Museum collection in ASL; panel discussion about public art and equity in museums; family-friendly performances by Aaron Nigel Smith and Joanie Leeds; an interview with Rachel Feinstein about the exhibition “Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone”; discussion with artists Rachel Feinstein and Lisa Yuskavage, filmmaker Tamara Jenkins, and curator Kelly Taxter about storytelling, gender, and identity-based art making; family-friendly performance by the Paper Bag Players at Home

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
“Design at Home: Design a Repeating Pattern”; “Rebellion in Design: Developing a Blueprint for the Future,” with Virgil Abloh, James Wines, and Oana Stănescu; virtual tour of “Contemporary Muslim Fashions”; “Studio Series: Quilting,” with William Daniels, 4:00 (RSVP required)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
“Summer Solstice” live virtual tour of works featuring the sun and light; an audio guide for “Off the Record” exhibition; “Spotlight” video series with Guggenheim Abu Dhabi collection artists; prerecorded conversation with curator Vivien Greene and scholar Maile Arvin as part of the Artwork Anthology series, about Gauguin’s In the Vanilla Grove, Man and Horse

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Drop-in Drawing — “How to Draw The Met Using Perspective Drawing”; Storytime with the Met — You Can’t Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum; Silent Gallery Tour — the Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing; Silent Gallery Tour — the Roof Garden Commission: Alex Da Corte, As Long as the Sun Lasts; MetTeens — “Little-Known Met”; #MetKids — “How Do You Dance in Armor?”; #MetKids — “How Did They Get All This Art into the Museum?”; Artist Interview — The Facade Commission: Carol Bove, The séances aren’t helping; “Conserving Degas,” with conservator Glenn Peterson

El Museo del Barrio
Virtual tour of “Estamos Bien — La Trienial 20/21” led by the curators; recorded interviews with participating artist Candida Alvarez; in-person outdoor performance by NYC-based Afro-Caribbean group San Simón at Central Park’s Harlem Meer at 6:00

Neue Galerie New York
Prerecorded lectures, virtual tours, and concerts

NYC PLAYERS: THE VESSEL

The Statue of Liberty and the Freedom Tower stand tall in background of New York City Players’ The Vessel (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

THE VESSEL
Skyport Marina
2430 FDR Dr. at Twenty-Third St.
June 1-3, $40 (sold out)
Return engagement Wednesday, September 22, $40, 6:00
www.nycplayers.org

“What a symphony for the senses!” one of thirteen performers declares in New York City Players’ The Vessel. The new work, part of the troupe’s Incoming Theater Division (ITD) and LMCC’s residency program, is itself a symphony for the senses. It takes place aboard the Harbor Lights boat, which departs from the Skyport Marina on East Twenty-Third St. and anchors in front of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with Lower Manhattan and the Freedom Tower visible in the background. The audience is seated in white folding chairs on the upper outdoor deck, where the actors march in, one by one, to stand on two small portable platforms, delivering short eulogies written by current and former members of ITD and then leaving, replaced by the next actor. The monologues are true stories of people the writers have lost, delivered in director and company founder Richard Maxwell’s trademark plainly spoken, carefully modulated yet moving style.

The forty-five-minute play was conceived by Jasmine Pisapia and Katiana Rangel in collaboration with writers and actors Rossana Appleton, Brandon Davis, Jim Fletcher, Linda Mancini, Brian Mendes, Enoch Ntunga, Michael Odom, Yasmin Sanchez, Bréhima Sangaré, Gillian Walsh, Lakpa Bhutia, Nicholas Elliott, Charles Reina, and Bjorn Lee Varella. Ntunga remembers his little brother, Siméon. Walsh says farewell to her cousin Billy. Odom promises his late mother that they will meet again. Pisapia recalls her grandmother Jeannette. Mendes, who played Uncle Jerry in Maxwell’s Isolde, shares stories about his deceased Uncle Jerry, who turns out to be a famous musician.

Occasionally, the previous performer remains on one of the platforms as the next character tells their tale, becoming a silent witness onstage and another audience member. The actors are a diverse cast of ethnicities and genders, sizes and abilities; the parade of different looks and accents takes on a potent meaning with the Statue of Liberty behind them, a symbol of hope for immigrants for nearly 150 years (while also evoking the current border crises), as well as the Freedom Tower, a skyscraper built on the site where more than three thousand people from around the world were murdered on 9/11. It’s also impossible not to think about all those lost to Covid-19 over the past fifteen months.

The Vessel takes place on board Harbor Lights party boat (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

However, Maxwell (The Evening, Samara) never lets the show get overly sentimental or treacly; you might get teary, but there are plenty of laughs and smiles, as this exploration of death is a celebration of life. Birds fly around the ship. The setting sun casts a glow. Noisy party boats pass by. Horns blow and bells ring. Construction can be seen in the distance. The wind whips gently against your face. (Although you are supposed to wear masks, about half of the audience didn’t, whether sipping a drink from the bar or not.) Perhaps most importantly, you are sitting right next to other people, enjoying live performance again; there is no social distancing in this communal outdoor space.

The loveliest moment of the performance occurred during Rangel’s tale about her friend Bob Feldman. As the actor talked about memories and listed things they had shared together — Little Pie coffee, the saxophone, Cuban food, sadness, hugs — the boat began rocking precariously. Pausing to maintain his balance — it frequently looked like he’d fall over as the actor next to him watched closely, amused, perhaps considering reaching out to help him stay up — he somehow managed to sway and waver without losing any of the words, the brief hesitations palpable as the audience rooted for him to finish without surrendering to gravity. “Bob said a few times that during those nights he felt completely alive again,” the eulogy concludes. For three hours on board a boat in New York Harbor, the feeling was mutual.

A THOUSAND WAYS (PART TWO): AN ENCOUNTER

The second part of 600 Highwaymen’s A Thousand Ways takes place in person at the Public, for two people at a time (photo by Everything Time Studio)

Public Theater
425 Lafayette St.
Part Two: June 8 – August 15, $15
Part One available through July 18, $15
publictheater.org
www.600highwaymen.org

In January, as part of the Public Theater’s annual multidisciplinary Under the Radar festival, the Obie-winning 600 Highwaymen company presented A Thousand Ways (Part One): A Phone Call, a free hourlong telephone conversation between you and another person, randomly put together and facilitated by an electronic voice that asks both general and intimate questions, from where you are sitting to what smells you are missing, structured around a dangerous and lonely fictional situation that is a metaphor for sheltering in place, even though the work began several years ago. It’s a great way to get connected to a stranger while looking inwardly at yourself. In my case, I spoke with a theater-loving woman from the Midwest, and we got along extremely well, making for an engaging and moving discussion.

From June 8 to August 15, the Public will be hosting the next section of the work, A Thousand Ways (Part Two): An Encounter, in which you and a stranger — not the same one — meet in person, sitting across a table, separated from one another by a clear glass panel. There will be no touching and no sharing of objects, following all Covid-19 guidelines. The Public has also brought back the phone call, with slots available through July 18. While you don’t have to experience part one in order to understand part two, it is highly encouraged. Conceived and written by Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone, who formed 600 Highwaymen in 2009, A Thousand Ways continues their ongoing mission of “aiming at a radical approach to making live art by creating intimacy amongst strangers and illuminating the inherent poignancy of people coming together.” The duo’s previous works include Employee of the Year, Empire City, The Fever, and Theater of the Mind with David Byrne. Tickets for each part of A Thousand Ways are $15; a grand finale is planned in which groups will be able to gather across the globe.

“In this introspective year, it’s been an absolute honor to know that in over twenty-five cities and twelve countries around the world — and now in four languages — strangers are coming together night after night, across phone lines and through glass planes, to imagine one another and, in the process, create a kind of community with and for one another,” Browde and Silverstone said in a statement. And it all starts with a phone call and two people who have never met, evoking how we are all emerging in our own ways from the pandemic lockdown.

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL 2021

Mariana Valencia’s Futurity is part of 2021 River to River Festival

Multiple locations
June 10-27, free (some events require advance RSVP)
RSVPs open June 1
lmcc.net

The twentieth annual River to River Festival, one of the most eagerly awaited events of each summer, runs June 10-27, with free live performances and screenings on Governors Island, in Battery Park City, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, and other locations. Curated by Lili Chopra and Nanette Nelms, the 2021 edition features works that explore female identity, the African diaspora, colonialism, and other sociopolitical issues. Everything is free, but some events require advance RSVP, beginning June 1; from the way New Yorkers have responded to other live, free performances as the city opens up following the pandemic lockdown, you better be at your computer, ready to go, if you want to snag some tickets.

Among the highlights are processions through Battery Park City led by Miguel Gutierrez, Okwui Okpokwasili, and the Illustrious Blacks; a concert honoring Wayne Shorter, with esperanza spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Leo Genovese; the premiere of Arthur Jafa’s WS, a longer super nova, a tribute to Shorter; Maria Hassabi’s TOGETHER, which was booked immediately when it was part of the 2019 Performa Biennial; and nora chipaumire’s Nehanda, an opera based on the 1898 court case The Queen vs. Nehanda, involving a medium who was also a heroic revolutionary leader in Southern Rhodesia. Several films will be available to livestream following its public premiere.

Thursday, June 10
Opening Concert honoring Wayne Shorter, with esperanza spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Leo Genovese, La Plaza, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 114 Norfolk St., followed by premiere of Arthur Jafa’s WS, a longer super nova, Flamboyán Theater, 107 Suffolk St., free with RSVP, 7:30

Saturday, June 12
A Day at The Arts Center at Governors Island, with site-specific exhibitions by Meg Webster and Onyedika Chuke, a participatory sculpture by Muna Malik, Open Studios with LMCC 2021 Arts Center artists-in-residence, Damon Davis’s film The Stranger, and more, free with RSVP, noon – 5:00

June 12-22
esperanza spalding, Songwrights Apothecary Lab, live installation, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 107 Suffolk St., more info to come

June 12, 17, 24, 8:00, June 19, 26, 3:00
Livestreaming of Arthur Jafa’s WS, a longer super nova, followed by discussion with Wayne Shorter, esperanza spalding, Greg Tate, and Craig Street, free with RSVP

June 13-27
Damon Davis, The Stranger, allegorical film shot in Ghana about a Black American returning to his place of origin, starring Sel Kofiga, Damon Davis, Lola Ogbara, and Dalychia Saah, narrated by Ria Boss, with a score by Owen Ragland, digital streaming, free

Sunday, June 13
Processions, with Miguel Gutierrez, Teardrop Park, Battery Park City, free with RSVP

Sunday, June 20
Processions, with Okwui Okpokwasili, Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City, free with RSVP

Friday, June 25
Processions, with the Illustrious Blacks, South Cove, Battery Park City, free with RSVP

June 15-27
Womxn in Windows, multipart video installation in storefront windows exploring female identity, co-curated with Zehra Ahmed, Seaport District, free

June 16, 19, 22, 24
Black Gotham Experience, As Above So Below, interactive walking tours about the African diaspora in Lower Manhattan, featuring Kamau Ware and Rodney Leon, begins at 192 Front St., free with RSVP, 5:30 – 7:30

June 25-27
Mariana Valencia, Futurity, queerstories featuring Star Baby, Studio A3, the Arts Center at Governors Island, free with RSVP, 1:00 & 4:30

June 26-27
Maria Hassabi, TOGETHER, location TBA, free with RSVP, 6:00

Saturday, June 26
nora chipaumire, Nehanda, immersive, participatory, and durational filmed performance, La Plaza, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 114 Norfolk St., free with RSVP

TRIBECA TALKS

Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Zola Mashariki will discuss 7 Years at Tribeca Festival

AT&T Terrace at Spring Studios
50 Varick St.
June 12-19, free – $40
tribecafilm.com

This year’s live discussions at the Tribeca Festival are taking place outdoors, on the AT&T Terrace at Spring Studios on Varick St. While some of the hottest events are already sold out — featuring such creators as Tina Fey, Sanaa Lathan, M. Night Shyamalan, Amy Schumer, Emily Ratajkowski, Blondie, John Legend, and Shira Haas — there are still many more available, with directors, CEOs, designers, and podcasters.

Thursday, June 10
Series Preview: Red Frontier, with Mimi O’Donnell, Sarah Nolen, Maria Dizzia, and Kara Young, $26, 7:00

Friday, June 11
Storytellers – Scott Z. Burns, $40, 5:00

Saturday, June 12
Jason Hirschhorn: The Business of Entertainment, free with RSVP, 1:00

Live Recording: Resistance, with Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. a musical performance by Ivy Sole, a poetry reading by Dominique Christina, and a stand-up set from Elsa Waithe, $26, 3:00

Sunday, June 13
Jason Hirschhorn: The Future of Podcasting, with Conal Byrne, Jason Hirschhorn, James Kim, and Rachel Ghiazza, free with RSVP, 1:00

Tribeca Talks: Jad Abumrad with Jason Reitman, $26, 5:00

Monday, June 14
Series Preview: Apple TV+ Siegfried & Roy Original Podcast, with Steven Leckart and Will Malnati, $26, 5:00

Scott Rechler Recalibrate Reality: The Future of NY, free with RSVP, 7:00

Tuesday, June 15
Directors Series — Doug Liman, with Jason Hirschhorn, 5:00

Wednesday, June 16
Live Recording: Ear Hustle, with Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, $26, 5:30

Scott Rechler Recalibrate Reality: The Future of NY with David Rockwell, free with RSVP, 7:30

Saturday, June 19
Black Filmmakers vs American History, with Jelani Cobb, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kasi Lemmons, and Melina Matsouka, moderated by Warrington Hudlin, $40, noon

7 Years: A Conversation with Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Zola Mashariki, $26, 5:00