twi-ny recommended events

SWOON: THE HOUSE OUR FAMILIES BUILT

Swoon’s team rehearses live performance as part of PBS mobile sculpture (photo courtesy Swoon Studio)

THE HOUSE OUR FAMILIES BUILT
Four parks in New York City
Saturday & Sunday, January 30 – February 21, free
www.pbs.org
swoonstudio.org

Swoon first started making a name for herself with her wheatpaste portraits on the sides of buildings in New York City about twenty years ago, spreading to other cities in America as well as across the globe, depicting the heart and soul of unique indigenous characters expressing or in need of love. She soon turned to sculptural installations and interventions that addressed trauma, tragedy, and addiction, often incorporating her trademark cutaway figures and highlighting the sacred feminine. Among her projects were “Submerged Motherlands” at the Brooklyn Museum, an intimate, compelling, and welcoming exploration of life, death, and rebirth; “Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea,” involving a fleet of seven handmade boats that sailed from Troy to Long Island City; “Portrait of Silvia Elena,” a mournful, important exhibit that exposed the femicide that is occurring in Juarez, Guatemala, and elsewhere around the world; and “The Miss Rockaway Armada,” an immersive experience in communal living.

Swoon’s “The House Our Families Built” will stop by four parks in New York City over the next four weekends (photo courtesy Swoon Studio)

The latest work by the Brooklyn-based artist, born Caledonia Curry in Connecticut and raised in Florida, is “The House Our Families Built,” a fourteen-foot truck that will travel to four locations in New York City over the next four weekends, stopping to give fifteen-minute performances developed by Jeff Stark and Irene Lazaridis with Swoon, consisting of collected stories of personal and ancestral legacy. The mobile sculpture, part of PBS’s American Portrait initiative, which also features Carlos Ramirez and Rick Lowe, will pull into Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 on January 30-31, Prospect Park on February 6-7, Flushing Meadows Corona Park on February 13-14, and the North Plaza of Union Square on February 21. The live performances begin Sunday and will take place every thirty minutes from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, with recorded audio of the program playing in between. Swoon has an extraordinary talent at sharing powerful narratives amid eye-catching imagery, so do whatever you can to catch “The House Our Families Built,” which should be a memorable happening.

FRAN & KATE’S DRAMA CLUB

Who: Frances McDormand, Kate Valk, special guests
What: Live series about the Wooster Group
Where: The Performing Garage Zoom
When: Thursday, January 28, $50, 8:00
Why: Two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand and Wooster Group founding member Kate Valk are teaming up for the new virtual series Fran & Kate’s Drama Club, in which they will interview special guests and show clips exploring the history of the Wooster Group, one of New York City’s underground gems. The company, based at the Performing Garage on Wooster St., was founded in 1975 by Valk, Elizabeth LeCompte, Spalding Gray, Jim Clayburgh, Ron Vawter, Willem Dafoe, and Peyton Smith and has been presenting innovative and experimental works ever since. The club kicks off January 28 at 8:00 with a look at Juliet Lashinsky’s “The Archivist,” part of the online DAILIES series featuring archivist Clay Hapaz. Among the short pieces are McDormand quoting Bertolt Brecht from The Mother, McDormand reading from the article “Fair Treatment for Theatre Labor: A Right to Perform Plays” by Catherine Fisk and Alisa Hartz, Valk and Vito Acconci in Raul Ruiz’s The Golden Boat, Valk in five episodes of Sugar High, and video and photos from the current rehearsals for The Mother, in which Valk plays the title character. Fran & Kate’s Drama Club is a fundraiser to ensure the company completes The Mother and two other Covid-sensitive productions, a collaboration with Eric Berryman and an audio recording of Daniel Paul Schreber’s 1903 book Memoirs of My Nervous Illness with McDormand, Maura Tierney, and Ari Fliakos; tickets are $50.

GALLIM HAPPY HOUR WITH SARA MEARNS AND ANDREA MILLER

Who: Sara Mearns, Andrea Miller
What: Happy hour discussion with cocktail
Where: Gallim Dance Zoom and Facebook Live
When: Thursday, January 28, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns had already been a revelation, performing the role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, starring in numerous Balanchine ballets, and appearing in works by Justin Peck, Kyle Abraham, Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, and many others. But she has reached a whole new level during the pandemic, participating in a wide range of virtual projects that has displayed the breadth of her skill and dedication. In May, she was one of thirty-two dancers to perform Le Cygne (The Swan) variation for Swans for Relief, in June she collaborated with choreographer and husband Joshua Bergasse, songwriter Zoe Sarnak, and actress Margo Seibert on the Works & Process commission Storm, in July she and Nina Ananiashvili explored the dual role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake for New York City Center’s Studio 5: Live @ Home series, in September she was mesmerizing in Lee Mingwei and Bill T. Jones’s durational Our Labyrinth at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in October she danced in Peck’s Thank You, New York with Christopher Grant, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Taylor Stanley for the New York City Ballet New Works Festival, in November she paired with David Hallberg in Wheeldon’s The Two of Us for Fall for Dance, and in December she was one of seven dancers re-creating Molissa Fenley’s State of Darkness solo onstage at the Joyce, in addition to multiple interviews and talkbacks (for example, the new Works & Process docuseries Isolation to Creation) and posting about taking dance classes online.

If you’re out of breath reading all of that, imagine how Mearns feels. You can find out just how she feels when she meets virtually with GALLIM founder and artistic director Andrea Miller, a Guggenheim Fellow and the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for a live happy hour discussion on January 28 at 6:00 on Zoom and Facebook Live; Mearns has chosen a sunset splash as her cocktail of choice, consisting of three parts San Pellegrino blood orange and one part Ketel One vodka over ice.

WORKS & PROCESS: ISOLATION TO CREATION DOCUSERIES

Works & Process at the Guggenheim
WNET’s All Arts
Wednesdays, January 27, February 3, 10, 17, free, 8:00
allarts.org/schedule
www.worksandprocess.org

“When we really didn’t know what this pandemic was going to be, times got really, really, really rough. And then, around late March, the entire ecosystem just completely collapsed,” Works & Process general manager Duke Dang says in The Way Forward, the film that kicks off the docuseries Isolation to Creation, which premieres on WNET’s All Arts channel on January 27 at 8:00. The half-hour film follows the creative process of a group of artists who found their previously commissioned works postponed so they had to adapt to the shutdown of indoor venues, in this case the 273-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater under the Guggenheim rotunda, where Works & Process has been hosting sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes looks at dance, theater, opera, and music productions since 1984. The organization quickly transitioned to the new digital world, presenting a wide range of daring and beautiful virtual pieces, more than six dozen so far, all under ten minutes and premiering Sunday and Monday nights, filmed outdoors or from wherever the artists are sheltering in place.

In The Way Forward, Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, Archie Burnett, Omari Wiles and Kya Azeen of Les Ballet Afrik, Joshua Bergasse, Sara Mearns, Chris Celiz, José Cruzata, Jamar Roberts, Dr. Wendy Ziecheck, and others discuss the metamorphosis to virtual productions, including Covid-19 testing, forming quarantine bubbles in the Hudson Valley (at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Mount Tremper Arts, and Petronio Residency Center), and collaborating while socially distancing. “It’s a complete launch into the unknown for us, and Duke especially just grabbed it and ran,” W&P producer Caroline Cronson explains. The series, directed by Nic Petry of Dancing Camera, continues February 3, 10, and 17 as the artists get ready for showtime, preparing their works in such styles as Afrik, ballet, ballroom, break, flex, Krump, modern, tap, and vogue. W&P has been more than a breath of fresh air during the coronavirus crisis, streaming exhilarating short pieces that remind us of the power of and intrinsic need for art and all that it brings us, particularly when we’re stuck in our homes, and Isolation to Creation enhances that experience in a big way, holding us over until we can once again return to the Peter B. Lewis Theater and be together in the same space.

THE HOMEBOUND PROJECT SPECIAL EDITION: 2021

Who: Dylan Baker, Becky Ann Baker, Christopher Abbott, Deirdre O’Connell, Emily Kuroda, Michael Chernus, Jojo Brown, Dalia Davi, Nicholas Gorham, Carolyn Ratteray, Stacey Karen Robinson, Babak Tafti, Daigi-Ann Thompson, Paul Sparks, Eden Malyn, Amanda Seyfried, Sting
What: New online theatrical works to benefit No Kid Hungry
Where: Link supplied by the Homebound Project after donation
When: January 27-31, $10 or more, 7:00
Why: One of the best theatrical series during the pandemic has been the Homebound Project, short one-act plays, generally between five and ten minutes each, featuring award-winning actors, writers, and directors, filmed wherever the performer is sheltering in place. Among the many highlights from the first five iterations were Alison Pill in C. A. Johnson’s diversions, Marin Ireland in Eliza Clark’s The Jessicas, Kimberly Hébert Gregory in Loy A. Webb’s These Hands, Utkarsh Ambudkar in Marco Ramirez’s Is This a Play Yet, Ashley Park in Bess Wohl’s The Morning Message to the Second Graders in Room 206, Daveed Diggs in Johnson’s Here and Now, Diane Lane in Michael R. Jackson’s Let’s Save the World, Sue Jean Kim in Leslye Headland’s The Rat, ​Marquise Vilsón in Migdalia Cruz’s Meat & Other Broken Promises, and Brian Cox and his wife and children in Melis Aker’s Fractio Panis. If you didn’t catch them the first time around, when they ran online for four days each, then you’re out of luck. But you can soon catch the surprise sixth presentation, which premieres January 27 at 7:00 and can be viewed, with a minimum donation of ten dollars, through January 31 at 7:00. All proceeds benefit No Kid Hungry; more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars has been collected so far. Much of the reason why they decided to add this extra edition is because of the continued lockdown of many schools and the resulting food insecurity many children are experiencing.

The theme of the first five installments were “Home,” “Sustenance,” “Champions,” “Promise,” and “Homemade”; taking on the prompt of “2021” are the following exciting actor/writer/director collaborations: Christopher Abbott and Deirdre O’Connell / Lucy Thurber / Caitriona McLaughlin (Port Isabel); Dylan Baker and Becky Ann Baker / David Lindsay-Abaire / Paul Mullins (The Narrows); Jojo Brown / Cece Suazo / Jenna Worsham (Things That Were Said to Me​); Michael Chernus / Adam Rapp / Adam Rapp (Sand and Snow); Dalia Davi / Ren Dara Santiago / Jenna Worsham (Someone’s Family); Nicholas Gorham / Brian Otaño / Tatiana Pandiani (close your eyes and count to ten); Emily Kuroda / Kate Cortesi / Jenna Worsham (I love parties); Eden Malyn and Catya McMullen / Catya McMullen (She’s a leaper); Carolyn Ratteray / Bekah Brunstetter (My Mouth); Stacey Karen Robinson / Sharon Bridgforth (bull-jean & dem/dey back); Paul Sparks / Brian Watkins / Danya Taymor (Thing on the Dash); Babak Tafti / Colette Robert / Taylor Reynolds (notes from a survivalist); and Daigi-Ann Thompson / Julissa Contreras (Essential), with special appearances by Amanda Seyfried and Sting.

ARTISTS & COMMUNITY: VIRTUAL EXPLORATION OF THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Arin Arbus and John Douglas Thompson offer a sneak peek at production of The Merchant of Venice this week

Who: Arin Arbus, John Douglas Thompson, Isabel Arraiza, Danaya Esperanza, Ian Lassiter, Ajay Naidu, Alfredo Narciso, Graham Winton
What: Pair of readings and talkbacks about The Merchant of Venice
Where: Theatre for a New Audience
When: Wednesday, July 27, 7:00, and Saturday, July 30, 3:00, free with RSVP
Why: Theatre for a New Audience is planning on staging an in-person adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice once theaters are allowed to reopen in New York City. On January 27 and 30, TFANA will give a sneak peek at its take on the problematic play for the new series “Artists & Community.” Director Arin Arbus and award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson, who have previously worked together on Othello, Macbeth, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, and Strindberg’s The Father, are teaming up again for the Bard’s seriocomic work about romance and moneylending. Thompson, who will be playing Shylock, will be joined on Zoom by Isabel Arraiza, Danaya Esperanza, Ian Lassiter, Ajay Naidu, Alfredo Narciso, and Graham Winton, performing Act I, Scene III; Act II, Scenes III and V; and Act III, Scene I on January 27 at 7:00 and Act IV, Scene I: The Trial on July 30 at 3:00. Both free readings will be followed by a talkback with Arbus and members of the cast, moderated by TFANA founding artistic director Jeffrey Horowitz, who said in a statement, “On January 9, the Royal Shakespeare Company, with TFANA and the Young Vic, copresented a livestreamed concert that began an investigation into the 1939 Broadway musical Swingin’ the Dream. I’m thrilled that TFANA will now offer another first look: a behind-the-scenes exploration of Shakespeare’s provocative, polarizing play.” Among the lines they are likely to examine is Portia’s courtroom question “Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?”

THE FUTURE OF MONUMENTALITY SPEAKER SERIES

Simone Leigh’s High Line plinth commission, Brick House, is up through March (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Salamishah Tillet, Rebecca Belmore, Zena Howard, Bryan Lee Jr., Mayor Marvin Rees, Justin Garrett Moore, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Zsuzsa Szegedy-Maszák, Cecilia Alemani, Melanie Kress
What: Discussions on monumental public sculpture sponsored by the High Line and Next City
Where: Next City
When: Wednesday, January 27, pay-what-you-wish, 1:00; Friday, January 28, pay-what-you-wish, 1:00 (suggested admission $20 for both events)

Why: In June 2019, the High Line installed its inaugural plinth commission, Simone Leigh’s Brick House, a sixteen-foot-high bronze bust of a Black woman on the Spur at Thirtieth St. and Tenth Ave., overlooking traffic. The woman’s eyes are rubbed out and four cornrow braids with cowrie shells fall from her afro onto a skirt based on the Natchez, Mississippi, restaurant Mammy’s Cupboard as well as the Batammaliba (“those who are the real architects of the earth”) building style of Benin and Togo and the nearly extinct dome-shaped Mousgoum teleuk clay dwellings that can be found in Cameroon and Chad. The Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based Leigh will represent the United States at the 2022 Venice Biennale, and she recently unveiled the twenty-inch-tall limited-edition sculpture Sentinel IV, raising money for the nonprofit organization Color of Change. Brick House, which also evokes the Commodores hit (“Ow, she’s a brick house / She’s mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out / She’s a brick house / That lady’s stacked and that’s a fact / Ain’t holding nothing back”), will remain up through the spring, casting an imposing figure across the area, dominating the space around it with a powerful energy at a time when public statues and sculptures are being reevaluated and, sometimes, torn down because of their subjects’ historical connections to racism, misogyny, slavery, and other societal ills.

You can check out maquettes for the third and fourth plinth commissions online and on the High Line

The High Line and Next City, a nonprofit news organization whose mission is “to inspire greater economic, environmental, and social justice in cities,” have teamed up for the Future of Monumentality Speaker Series, which kicks off this week with two events moderated by Salamishah Tillet focusing on monumental public sculpture just as Brick House prepares to start giving way to the second plinth commission, chosen from shortlisted artists Jonathan Berger, Minerva Cuevas, Jeremy Deller, Sam Durant, Charles Gaines, Lena Henke, Matthew Day Jackson, Roman Ondak, Paola Pivi, Haim Steinbach, and Cosima von Bonin. On January 27 at 1:00, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Justin Garrett Moore, and Zena Howard will discuss “What Is Monumentality?,” exploring the connections between art and architecture, the narrative of the work in relation to the audience, and who can tell which story. On January 28 at 1:00, Rebecca Belmore, Bryan Lee Jr., Mayor Marvin Rees, and Zsuzsa Szegedy-Maszák will talk about “Alternatives to Monumentality,” examining form and function, displacing and recontextualizing, and storytelling traditions. “Monuments have hurt our communities, but they can also be used to heal,” Next City executive director Lucas Grindley said in a statement. “Now is the time to learn from the many practitioners already doing the work of reimagining monuments.”

The High Line has just announced the twelve finalists for the third and fourth plinth commissions, scheduled to be installed in 2022 and 2024; the list of eighty proposals has been whittled down to submissions by Iván Argote, Nina Beier, Margarita Cabrera, Nick Cave, Banu Cennetoğlu, Rafa Esparza, Teresita Fernández, Kapwani Kiwanga, Lu Pingyuan, Pamela Rosenkranz, Mary Sibande, and Andra Ursuţa. You can see their maquettes either on the High Line at the Coach Passage at Thirtieth St. through April or online here.