twi-ny recommended events

CAROLEE SCHNEEMANN: FURTHER EVIDENCE — EXHIBIT C

Carolee Schneemann will be at P•P•O•W on December 2 to discuss her current dual exhibition (photo courtesy P•P•O•W Gallery)

Who: Carolee Schneemann
What: Artist talk in conjunction with two-gallery show
Where: P•P•O•W Gallery, 535 West 22nd St., third floor,
When: Friday, December 2, free, 7:00
Why: Multidisciplinary artist and activist Carolee Schneemann will add an exclamation point to her two-part show, “Further Evidence — Exhibit A” at P•P•O•W and “Further Evidence — Exhibit B” at Galerie Lelong, with “Further Evidence — Exhibit C,” a discussion at P•P•O•W on December 2 at 7:00 with art history and visual studies professor Soyoung Yoon. For more than fifty years, the provocative, groundbreaking Schneemann has been exploring gender identity and the female body through film, photography, and performance, often involving nudity. At P•P•O•W, “Further Evidence — Exhibit A” is highlighted by the 1995-96 multimedia installation “Known/Unknown: Plague Column,” which references a seventeenth-century Viennese column that blamed the bubonic plague on a witch; in her exhibition catalog essay, Yoon writes, “Is there a continuity between this representation of the plague and our more recent imagination about cancer, a link between witch hunts and the current warfare model of cancer treatment?” Also on view at P•P•O•W is “Fresh Blood — A Dream Morphology” from 1981-87, inspired by the form of the letter “V.” Meanwhile, at Galerie Lelong, “Further Evidence — Exhibit B” consists of 1983’s “Precarious,” about the torture of animals, the 2005 collage suite “Caged Cats,” and 2003-4’s “Devour,” which compares domesticity to disaster. Both exhibitions will remain on view through December 3.

THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS

Clarice (Adina Verson) and Silvio’s (Eugene Ma) true love is threatened in THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS (photo by Henry Grossman)

Theatre for a New Audience, Polonsky Shakespeare Center
262 Ashland Pl. between Lafayette Ave. & Fulton St.
Tuesday – Sunday through December 4, $85
866-811-4111
www.tfana.org

“For nitwits are we all,” the cast declares early on in Theatre for a New Audience’s wacky version of Carlo Goldoni’s eighteenth-century commedia dell’arte classic, The Servant of Two Masters, only the second time the show has ever been presented in English in New York City. The strange and crazy antics, involving lots of nitwits and numbskulls, take place over one very long day in Venezia, as the masked Truffaldino Batocchio from Bergamo (Steven Epp) serves up chaos while secretly serving two masters. The very hungry Truffaldino’s predicament derives from a typically byzantine plot: the supposed death of Federigo Rasponi from Torino is followed by the appearance of Federigo’s sister, Beatrice (Liz Wisan) — disguised as her brother in order to marry his betrothed, Clarice (Adina Verson), the daughter of his business partner, Pantalone (Allen Gilmore), and collect a promised dowry. Truffaldino immediately signs on to serve Federigo/Beatrice. Meanwhile, Clarice wants to marry her true love, Silvio (Eugene Ma), the pampered and overly twee progeny of Dr. Lombardi (Andy Grotelueschen). Later, when the valiant Florindo Aretusi (Orlando Pabotoy) shows up, Truffaldino accepts a position with him as well after Florindo’s aging porter (Liam Craig) proves inadequate. But even though Florindo and Beatrice are madly in love, neither knows the other is in town, and Truffaldino, who has become smitten with Smeraldina (Emily Young), Clarice’s maidservant, struggles to keep it that way so they won’t discover that he’s serving both of them. Over the course of two and a half hours (with intermission), there is masked mayhem, mistaken identity, slapstick comedy, devious deception, satirical songs (with onstage music by Christopher Curtis and Aaron Halva), and improvisation galore, some that works, and some that doesn’t.

The cast of THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS has a blast in commedia dell’arte classic (photo by Gerry Goodstein)

In 2011, playwright Richard Bean and director Nicholas Hytner transformed The Servant of Two Masters into the hit Broadway comedy One Man, Two Guvnors, which earned James Corden a Tony for Best Actor. At TFANA’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center, director Christopher Bayes (This Ridiculous Dreaming, The 39 Steps) and star Epp (Tartuffe, Figaro), veterans of Theatre de la Jeune Lune, have gone back to Goldoni’s more improvisational original, further adapting Constance Congdon’s version of Christina Sibul’s translation, eschewing a more structured narrative for large amounts of ad libbing. Thus, the play is different every night; right now it is rife with references to the presidential election that can range from wickedly funny to random and repetitive, along with nods to current commercial jingles that get chuckles but feel out of place. Valérie Thérèse Bart’s period costumes are a hoot, colorful and dankly elegant, while Katherine Akiko Day’s set is centered by a curtain through which the characters enter and exit, with a trompe l’oeil sky in the background in front of which are miniature houses. The cast, many of whom have worked together before either at Yale Rep or Juilliard, displays an infectious camaraderie and a willingness to try just about anything; Epp is a terrific physical comedian, harkening back to the days of vaudeville, while Pabotoy, Gilmore, and Fiasco Theater’s Grotelueschen and Young are stand-out commedia dell’arte practitioners. The play is probably about a half hour too long, and the anti-Trump jokes were often too easy and obvious, detracting from the overall atmosphere of chaotic fun. In the beginning, Truffaldino asks several times, “When’s the play going to start?” Near the conclusion, he declares, “This play’s never gonna end!” Of course, it does end, and you’ll leave the theater in a gleeful mood, if not completely satiated.

NORTHERN POLE TERRITORY: A SANTASTICAL BIT OF HOLIDAY NONSENSE

Santa Hanukklaus is among the special guests at second annual Santastical at Northern Territory in Brooklyn

Northern Territory
12 Franklin St. at Meserole St., Brooklyn
Thursday – Sunday, December 1-23, free admission ($15 Santa photos, $5 rooftop access), 6:00 – 10:00 pm
santastical.com
www.northernterritorybk.com

“There is no price tag on being able to say, ‘Hey I did something really strange today,’” immersive-theater impresario Timothy Haskell says, and he knows something about strange. Haskell is the mastermind behind such seasonal productions as Nightmare Haunted House and Full Bunny Contact, and now his Northern Pole Territory: A Santastical Bit of Holiday Nonsense is back for its second year. The demented adventure is presented by Psycho Clan, which consists of Haskell, production designer Paul Smithyman, props designer Faye Armon, Charles Dunham, and Nathaniel Nowak. From Thursday to Sunday evening December 1-23, Australian-American restaurant and rooftop bar Northern Territory, which is located in an old Greenpoint factory building, will host three floors of holiday mischief. On the ground floor, for fifteen dollars you can get your photo taken with the kind of Santas not usually found in department stores — Hunky Santa, Sexy Mrs. Claus, the Jewish Santa Hanukklaus, and Elvis Santa. Five bucks gains you entry to the rooftop bar, where you can engage in snowball fights, share a kiss in the mistletoe grotto, pretend ice-skate, hang out amid tacky lawn decorations and colored lights, and try to avoid the evil Krampus in the Christmas tree forest. A fifteen-dollar advance ticket gets you a photo with Santa and rooftop access. The nights are for adults only, but there will be a family brunch on Sundays from 12 noon to 3:00, when Santa photos are only ten bucks but the roof will be closed. Sunday, December 11, is Gay Afternoon/Night from 4:00 to 8:00, with a SCRUFF DJ spinning tunes. Of course, you can also have dinner at the restaurant, which serves such dishes as fish in foil, Aussie beef burger, grilled halloumi, lamb lollies, Aussie meat pie, mushy peas, and fish and chips in addition to half a dozen craft beers on tap and unique cocktails.

THIS DAY FORWARD

Martin (Michael Crane) doesn’t quite understand Emil’s (Joe Tippett) relationship with Irene (Holley Fain) in THIS DAY FORWARD (photo by Carol Rosegg)

Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th St. at Irving Pl.
Tuesday – Sunday through December 18, $79-$100
212-353-0303
www.vineyardtheatre.org

Philadelphia-born New York City-based playwright Nicky Silver again explores the craziness of a dysfunctional family, and especially its matriarch, in his latest work, This Day Forward, continuing at the Vineyard through December 18. The first act takes place in 1958 in a room at the St. Regis, where the erudite Martin (Michael Crane) is excited about consummating his marriage to the seemingly beautiful, proper, and ditzy Irene (Holley Fain). However, Irene has a secret that she is frightened to reveal to Martin. “Irene, listen to me. I’m your husband and I love you. You can tell me anything. I’m your safe place. Your harbor,” the kind and caring Martin says. “Whatever it is you want to tell me, whatever you’ve done, or haven’t done, whatever it is, you can tell me. You can trust me. Always. You can tell me. Tell me.” She finally tells him, and it’s not a secret that makes him very happy, as it involves a gas station worker named Emil (Joe Tippett). Soon the maid, Melka (June Gable), and the bellboy, Donald (Andrew Burnap), get implicated in the madness and mayhem as Irene, Martin, and Emil try to figure out what happens next. The second act jumps ahead to 2004 to an oh-so-contemporary tasteful apartment in New York City, where Noah (Crane) is living with the younger Leo (Burnap). A film director considering working in television, Noah is awaiting the arrival of his sister, Sheila (Francesca Faridany), a loud, fast-talking woman who lets him know that their mother (Gable) has been growing more and more confused and disappearing. When at last everyone is together, some hard truths emerge as the results of decades of dysfunction strike deep.

Siblings Sheila (Francesca Faridany) and (Michael Crane) fight over what to do with their aging mother in new Nicky Silver play at the Vineyard (photo by Carol Rosegg)

Silver (Pterodactyls, The Food Chain), whose terrific The Lyons started at the Vineyard before transferring to Broadway in 2012, is unlikely to make the same trip with This Day Forward, which, like The Lyons, is directed by Mark Brokaw (How I Learned to Drive, Heisenberg). There are funny and poignant moments, particularly in the much better second act, but the play as a whole feels unfinished, as if it is still being workshopped. Allen Moyer’s sets are lovely — the posters on Noah’s walls of robot movies give quick insight into his character — and Kaye Voyce’s costumes, especially Irene’s wedding dress and Emil’s grease monkey outfit, are right on target, but the story languishes in too many places. The cast is strong up and down the line, although Melka as written is too cartoonish (but well played by Gable, who is outstanding as the mother in 2004). It’s still an enjoyable play, one that cleverly deals with the choices we all make and how that impacts future generations, but a few nips and tucks could help tighten what could have been a much more insightful and entertaining drama.

JOHN ZORN: MUSIC FOR AGNES MARTIN

John Zorn returns to the Guggenheim for special program inspired by Agnes Martin

Who: John Zorn
What: Music for Agnes Martin
Where: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St., 212-423-3587
When: Thursday, December 1, and Friday, December 2, 7:00
Why: In 1995, avant-garde legend John Zorn released Redbird, a pair of compositions inspired by Canadian-American abstract painter Agnes Martin. The album consisted of the nine-minute “Dark River” and the forty-one-minute title opus, featuring harp, cello, and percussion. On December 1 and 2, Zorn, who last month played and discussed his “Commedia dell’arte” suite as part of the Guggenheim’s “Works & Process” series, will perform in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum rotunda in conjunction with the current exhibition, “Agnes Martin,” which continues through January 11. The evening comprises four Zorn compositions: “Dark River,” with William Winant and Ches Smith on bass drums; 1977’s “Curling” (yes, based on the Olympic sport), performed by Dither (guitarists James Moore, Gyan Riley, Taylor Levine, and Josh Lopez); and the premiere of two new Martin-inspired works, “Praise,” with Carol Emanuel on harp, Ikue Mori on electronics, and Winant and Zorn on vibraphone and percussion, and “Blue Stratagem, performed by the American Brass Quintet (Kevin Cobb and Louis Hanzlik on trumpet, Eric Reed on horn, Michael Powell on trombone, and John Rojak on bass trombone). Advance tickets are sold out, but standby tickets will be available starting at 6:50 each night; after the performance, attendees are invited to view the exhibition.

EVOLUTION

Young Nicolas (Max Brebant) finds much more than he expected under the water in Lucile Hadzihalilović’s EVOLUTION

IFC MIDNIGHT: EVOLUTION (Lucile Hadzihalilović, 2015)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, November 25
212-924-777
www.ifcfilms.com

Lucile Hadzihalilović’s Evolution is a gentle and seductive, expertly made French horror film, a creepy twist on the feminist revenge thriller. Max Brebant stars as Nicolas, a clever ten-year-old boy who lives in a remote seaside village with his mother (Julie-Marie Parmentier). One day while swimming deep in the ocean, he sees a dead boy at the bottom of a coral reef, a red starfish on his chest. His mother insists he is just imagining things, but Nicolas suspects something strange is going on. “Why am I sick?” he asks as his mother gives him his usual medicine. “Because your body is changing,” she replies. We soon find out how much when he and his friends, Frank (Nissim Renard), Victor (Mathieu Goldfeld), and Lucas (Pablo-Noé Étienne), are suddenly taken to an eerie hospital run by nearly silent nurses. What goes on there evokes elements of The X-Files, Stand by Me, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Stepford Wives but is wholly original. Only nurse Stella (Roxane Duran) offers him the slightest bit of humanity, and the slightest bit of hope.

Nicolas (Max Brebant) is tended to by Stella (Roxane Duran) as his mother (Julie-Marie Parmentier) looks on in EVOLUTION

Directed by Hadžihalilović and cowritten with Alante Kavaite, Evolution is a dark journey into the waters of the subconscious, constructed around the innate fears of childbirth and adolescence. Manuel Dacosse’s gorgeous cinematography — the lighting throughout is breathtaking — is bathed in various shades of green, from underwater shots to the hospital walls, with splashes of red; one particularly memorable visual occurs when Nicolas, in a red bathing suit, runs across the rocky green landscape back to his house to tell his mother what he has seen in the sea. The film, sensuously edited by Nassim Gordji-Tehrani, moves at a slow, tense pace, with sparse dialogue. In only her second feature film, the follow-up to 2004’s Innocence — she has also made three shorts since 1996 — Hadžihalilović displays a mastery of cinematic technique, the narrative unfolding little by little while the mysterious mood remains steady, anchored by Zacarías M. de la Riva’s haunting score. “The water can make you imagine all sorts of things,” his mother tells Nicolas, but he is determined to discover the truth about what is going on. The water has made Hadžihalilović imagine the unimaginable amid a completely realistic setting, drawing the characters and viewers ever further into the depths. Winner of numerous awards at multiple film festivals, Evolution is both shocking and tender, psychologically gripping and utterly mesmerizing.

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE — A DECADE OF DOCUMENTARY AT THE CINEMA EYE HONORS: DETROPIA

Performance artists find their muse in downtrodden Detroit in Oscar-nominated documentary

SCREENING + LIVE EVENT: DETROPIA (Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing, 2012)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, November 27, $12, 4:30
Series runs through December 23
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.detropiathefilm.com

In his 1994 autobiography, Hard Stuff, former Detroit mayor Coleman Young wrote, “In the evolutionary urban order, Detroit today has always been your town tomorrow.” That’s precisely the warning that permeates Detropia, the latest documentary by director-producers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, who have previously teamed up on such films as The Boys of Baraka, the Oscar-nominated Jesus Camp, and the Peabody-winning 12th & Delaware. Detroit native Ewing and former private investigator Grady examine the current sad state of the once-proud city, which has seen its population plummet, unemployment skyrocket, and its infrastructure being torn away piece by piece. At one point, Mayor Dave Bing, an NBA Hall of Famer who played for the Pistons, talks about downsizing the city as a whole — but not wanting to use that exact word when revealing the plan to the people. Grady and Ewing, along with cinematographers Tony Hardmon and Craig Atkinson (who also served as a producer), follow around such fascinating characters as UAW local 22 president George McGregor, who speaks with union members and retirees and describes in detail the loss of jobs and plants; Crystal Starr, a young video blogger giving her take on the city’s myriad problems; and Tommy Stevens, a former schoolteacher who now runs the popular Raven Lounge and wonders, at an auto show, how Detroit can possibly keep up with China, especially regarding the electric car known as the Volt. In one particularly poignant scene, a group of men tear down an old Cadillac repair shop, saving the metal to resell and burning the rest to keep warm.

The film regularly cuts back to performances at the Detroit Opera House, which is struggling to stay alive, desperate to bring culture to what is quickly becoming a ghost town visited by tourists interested in gawking at the immense decay. Even a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado slyly references the fall of the automobile industry. The soundtrack mixes hip-hop from the Detroit-based Blair French, better known as Dial.81, along with old-time R&B and songs from experimental band Victoire, providing unique sounds to the extraordinary visuals. It’s hard not to watch the film and see Detroit as a microcosm for America, which is trying to pull itself out of a deep, dark recession that won’t seem to go away. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Detropia is screening November 27 at 4:30 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image series “Pushing the Envelope: A Decade of Documentary at the Cinema Eye Honors,” followed by a Q&A with Grady and Ewing; the series, which celebrates the upcoming tenth annual Cinema Eye Honors awards, continues through December 23 with such other past Cinema Eye nominees and winners as Alma Har’el’s Bombay Beach, Jeff Malmberg’s Marwencol, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s Leviathan, and the director’s cut of Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing. The nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking for the 2017 Cinema Eye Honors are Cameraperson, Fire at Sea, I Am Not Your Negro, OJ: Made in America, and Weiner; the winners will be announced at the Museum of the Moving Image on January 11.