twi-ny recommended events

MADE IN HARLEM — REMEMBERING THE RENAISSANCE: LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (with live Q&A)

Free livestream screening of Looking for Langston will be followed by panel discussion

Who: Zohra Saed, LaTasha Diggs, Paolo Javier
What: Live online film screening and panel discussion
Where: Poets House Twitter feed
When: Friday, April 24, free with RSVP, 4:00
Why: As part of its series “Made in Harlem: Remembering the Renaissance,” Maysles Documentary Center is teaming up with Poets House to present a live online screening of Looking for Langston, Isaac Julien’s forty-five-minute 1989 docudrama about Hughes, the twentieth-century poet, playwright, and novelist who chronicled black and gay life and culture in America in such books as The Weary Blues and Not without Laughter. The London-born Julien is a multimedia installation artist who has made such other films as Western Union: Small Boats and Ten Thousand Waves. The 4:00 screening, free with RSVP, will be followed by a panel discussion on Hughes’s literary legacy, Julien’s cinematic style, and the hundredth anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance with Brooklyn-based Afghan American poet Zohra Saed and Harlem-based writer, vocalist, and sound artist LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, moderated by Poets House program director and former Queens poet laureate Paolo Javier.

DUET: LONNEKE GORDIJN IN CONVERSATION WITH LEE RANALDO

Lonneke Gordijn (photo by J. W. Kaldenbach) and Lee Ranaldo (photo by Cara Stricker © Lee Ranaldo) will discuss art and collaboration in the age of coronavirus on April 23 over Instagram

Who: Lonneke Gordijn, Lee Ranaldo
What: Online conversation hosted by Pace Gallery
Where: Pace Gallery Instagram Live
When: Thursday, April 23, free, 5:00
Why: If you haven’t been to Pace’s huge new home in Chelsea yet, it will be a little while longer before you get to check it out. But during the lockdown, Pace is hosting a series of livestreamed performances and conversations. On March 12, musician, composer, visual artist, writer, producer, and Sonic Youth cofounder Lee Ranaldo was scheduled to play a duet with EGO, a shapeshifting sculptural installation by DRIFT, a Dutch studio that was established in 2006 by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn to bring people together with nature and technology. That event was cancelled because of the coronavirus, but on April 23 at 5:00, Ranaldo and Gordijn will take part in “Duet: Lonneke Gordijn in Conversation with Lee Ranaldo.” The free talk, focusing on creative collaboration in today’s complex world, will be streamed live on Instagram.

WATCH WITH ME — FAYE DRISCOLL’S THANK YOUR FOR COMING: ATTENDANCE

Who: Kiki Abba, Erin Bednarz, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Nick Spencer, Ayo Tushinde, Faye Driscoll
What: Live watch party with preshow chat and postshow wrap-up
Where: Instagram
When: Wednesday, April 22, free, 7:00
Why: When Seattle arts organization On the Boards kicked off its 2019-20 fortieth anniversary season last year with the theme “In the Future’s Wake: Rituals, Ceremonies, and Happenings,” it could never have conceived what the future did in fact hold for them and the rest of the country (and world). On April 22, the company will be hosting a highly relevant watch party on Instagram, streaming the first part of Faye Driscoll’s Thank You for Coming: Attendance, recorded with four cameras at Danspace Project in 2014. Driscoll followed Attendance with Play and Space, an endlessly creative trilogy that ingeniously shatters the boundaries between audience and performer. The work takes on a new meaning in the age of Covid-19, with the relationship between audience and performer changing again — and among the performers themselves, since they can’t be together in the same place, instead relegated to individual boxes on a screen — as we are all hunkered down at home, seeing one another only through our phones and computers and communicating via live chats. This online presentation of Attendance begins with an introduction and preshow chat at 7:00 with the Bounce House, a cohabitating collective that consists of Kiki Abba, Erin Bednarz, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Nick Spencer, and Ayo Tushinde, followed by the performance and a wrap-up at the end. The show will be streamed on DelPan-Monley’s Instagram.

LA CONVIVIALITÉ: LA FAUTE DE L’ORTHOGRAPHE (with live Q&A)

Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piro will take a unique look at French spelling at FIAF online performance

Who: Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piro
What: Live performance and Q&A from Belgium (in French)
Where: French Institute Alliance Française
When: Wednesday, April 22, free with advance RSVP, 5:00
Why: In 1771, Voltaire wrote, “The spelling in French books is ridiculous for the most part. Convention alone allows this incongruity to persist.” Two former Belgian teachers, Arnaud Hoedt — a self-described “linguist dilettante, philographer, pedagogue, true-false comedian, and academician eater” — and Jérôme Piro have taken that quote as inspiration for their two-person presentation La Convivialité: La Faute de l’Orthographe (roughly, Friendliness: The Spelling Error), an abridged version of which they will perform on April 22 at 5:00 via FIAF’s Facebook page and Zoom, followed by a Q&A. You need to register in advance here to receive the Zoom password and be able to ask questions. You can get a preview of their dissection of the French language by watching their May 2019 TEDx Talk and this preview, both of which are in French without English translation, as will be the FIAF program. And you thought American English spelling had problems.

YOM HA-SHOAH: THE SOAP MYTH PLAY AND LIVE WEBINAR

Tovah Feldshuh and Ed Asner will talk about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust as part of Yom HaShoah commemoration

Who: Ed Asner, Tovah Feldshuh, Jeff Cohen, Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, Arnold Mittelman, Michael Berenbaum, Ira Forman, Richard Salomon
What: Panel discussion about The Soap Myth in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)
Where: Temple Emanuel Streicker Center website
When: Monday, April 20, free with advance registration, 6:30
Why: In commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, the National Jewish Theater Foundation, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center have teamed up to present a live online panel discussion exploring anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and the historical record as brought up in Jeff Cohen’s poignant play The Soap Myth, which looks at the claim that the Nazis made soap from the bodies of dead Jews. I saw a full staging of the work in 2012, calling it “an emotionally moving production [that] offers an intriguing look into the speculative nature of history and one man’s furious dedication to setting the record straight.” Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh have been touring with the play for several years, performing staged readings directed by Pamela Berlin, one of which was taped for PBS, where it can be seen for free as part of WNET’s All Arts.

You’ll want to watch it before tuning in to the live event on April 20 at 6:30, when Asner, Feldshuh, and Cohen will be joined by Holocaust scholar Dr. Michael Berenbaum, former special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism Ira N. Forman, and moderator Rick Salomon of the Illinois Holocaust Museum. The program will be introduced by Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson of Temple Emanu-El and Arnold Mittelman of the National Jewish Theater, who directed the production I saw. Advance registration is required here.

JOHN FORD’S ‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE

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Who: Red Bull Theater company
What: Unrehearsed reading of John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore
Where: Red Bull Theater website
When: Monday, April 20, donation suggested, 7:30
Why: In the spring of 2015, the New York-based Red Bull Theater company staged a revival of John Ford’s rarely performed 1630s classic, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, at the Duke on 42nd Street. In my review, I called the production of the Jacobean drama “glorious,” “a bold, brash, violent, and very funny riff on Romeo and Juliet,” raving about the acting, Jesse Berger’s direction, Sara Jean Tosetti’s costumes, and David M. Barber’s set. (You can read my review here.) On April 20 at 7:30, Red Bull will be presenting an unrehearsed reading of the play with the full, original cast, but this time they will be performing in their own clothing from wherever they’re sheltering in place, with Amelia Pedlow as Annabella, Matthew Amendt as Giovanni, Kelley Curran as Hippolita, Christopher Innvar as Friar Bonaventura, Franchelle Stewart Dorn as Putana, Clifton Duncan as Lord Soranzo, Tramell Tillmann as Grimaldi, Rocco Sisto as the Cardinal, Derek Smith as Vasques, Philip Goodwin as Florio, Ryan Garbayo as Bergetto, Everett Quinton as Donado, Auden Thornton as Philotis, and Marc Vietor as Richardetto. It’s free to watch, but if you’d like to donate to the company, you can do so here.

RICHARD THOMPSON LIVESTREAM

Who: Richard Thompson
What: Livestreamed couch concert
Where: Somewhere in Montclair, New Jersey
When: Sunday, April 19, 4:00
Why: London-born Richard Thompson is one of the greatest guitarists and singer-songwriters of the last fifty years. On March 29, the master raconteur played a twelve-tune live show from his couch in Montclair, where he is sheltering in place with his partner, singer-songwriter, author, and adoption advocate Zara Phillips. (You can watch it here.) The setlist included songs from throughout Thompson’s long career, from his days in Fairport Convention to teaming with his wife at the time, Linda Thompson, to deep cuts from his solo records. Among the songs he performed on his acoustic guitar were “I Misunderstood,” “Now Be Thankful,” “Down Where the Drunkards Roll,” “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight,” and the pandemic-related “Keep Your Distance,” accompanied by Phillips on several numbers. They also did some Covid-19 shtick. Thompson was as acerbic and funny as always, his infectious smile so necessary at this time. He is returning to his couch on April 19 at 4:00 for another livestreamed concert, benefiting the Community FoodBank of New Jersey; you can donate to the fund here. If you’ve never seen Thompson live, you’re missing one of the best performers around; don’t miss this next chance to see him in about as intimate a setting as you can imagine. And maybe by then he and Phillips will have figured out where to place the camera and how to turn the stream off at the end.