this week in food & drink

TICKET ALERT: THE NEW YORKER FESTIVAL 2021

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac will talk about their new HBO series at New Yorker Festival

Who: Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, Dave Grohl, Aimee Mann, Stanley Tucci, Jelani Cobb, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Jonathan Franzen, Tara Westover, Liza Donnelly, Roz Chast, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jane Goodall, Andy Borowitz, Beanie Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, Richard Jenkins, more
What: Hybrid New Yorker Festival
Where: Skyline Drive-In, 1 Oak St. in Brooklyn, and online
When: October 4-10, free – $180, virtual all-access pass $59
Why: Tickets for the in-person outdoor events at this year’s New Yorker Festival go on sale September 14 at noon, along with the specially curated culinary meals, which will be delivered to your door (as long as you live in New York City). Among those appearing live at the Skyline Drive-In on the Brooklyn waterfront are Aimee Mann and Dave Grohl (separately), who will talk and sing, as well as Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, who will discuss their new HBO series, Scenes from a Marriage, and Beanie Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, and Richard Jenkins, who will screen and discuss their new film, Stephen Karam’s The Humans, an adaptation of his hit play. The virtual programs, featuring Jane Goodall, Stanley Tucci, Emily Ratajkowski, Amy Schumer, Jonathan Franzen, Tara Westover, Roz Chast, and others, will be available September 20, including an all-access pass for $59. As always, you can expect tickets to go fast, especially for the free events and the food deliveries. Below is the full schedule.

Monday, October 4
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Yellow Rose, three-course vegan menu delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chefs, Dave and Krystiana Rizo, $50

Tuesday, October 5
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Dacha 46, three-course vegetarian meal delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chefs, Jessica and Trina Quinn, $50

Wednesday, October 6
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Reverence, three-course vegetarian meal delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chef, Russell Jackson, $50

Thursday, October 7
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Kimika, three-course meal delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chef, Christine Lau, $50

Friday, October 8
Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, and Hagai Levi talk with Esther Perel about Scenes from a Marriage, free, 6:30

Dave Grohl talks with Kelefa Sanneh about his upcoming memoir and performs, $90-$180, 9:00

Saturday, October 9
Aimee Mann talks with Atul Gawande and performs, $60-$120, 6:30

Drive-In: The Humans, preview screening of Stephen Karam’s debut film, followed by a conversation with Karam, Beanie Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, and Richard Jenkins, moderated by Michael Schulman, $25-$50, 9:00

Liza Donnelly, Roz Chast, Liana Finck, and Amy Hwang will celebrate the history of women cartoonists at the New Yorker at virtual event (illustration by Liana Finck)

Virtual Events, available September 20

Jane Goodall talks with Andy Borowitz

The Matter of Black Lives, with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Jamaica Kincaid, moderated by Jelani Cobb

Stanley Tucci talks with Helen Rosner about his TV series and his new book, Taste: My Life Through Food

Politics and the Novel, with Yiyun Li, Valeria Luiselli, and Viet Thanh Nguyen, moderated by Parul Sehgal

Emily Ratajkowski and Amy Schumer talk with Michael Schulman

Globalism’s Legacy, with Esther Duflo, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, moderated by Evan Osnos

Jonathan Franzen and Tara Westover talk with Henry Finder

Some Very Funny Ladies, with Liza Donnelly, Roz Chast, Liana Finck, and Amy Hwang, celebrating the history of women cartoonists at the New Yorker, moderated by Emma Allen, free

Rachel Cusk and Patricia Lockwood talk with Deborah Treisman

How to Accelerate Climate Action, with Katharine Hayhoe, Bill Ulfelder, and Allegra Kirkland, free

ART ALIVE IN THE FISHER DOLLHOUSE

The Chocolate Genius will lead an interactive demonstration at MAD in conjunction with new chocolate bar inspired by Fisher Dollhouse (photo courtesy Museum of Arts & Design)

Who: Paul Joachim, the Chocolate Genius
What: Chocolate-making demonstration and hands-on activity
Where: Museum of Arts & Design, 2 Columbus Circle
When: Saturday, September 4, free with museum admission of $12-$18, noon–2:00
Why: Paul Joachim, the Florida-based artist known as the Chocolate Genius, has a simple but critical mission: “to transform one billion people or more through chocolate.” Joachim believes that “chocolate creates a visceral, personal response in everyone. It’s a bridge between classes, gender, religion, races — all labels of culture. In other words, chocolate creates a deep human connection — often missing in our divisive world.” Joachim will increase that deep human connection on September 4 when he he will lead an in-person, interactive chocolate-making demonstration at the Museum of Arts & Design, launching a new chocolate bar in conjunction with the exhibition “The Fisher Dollhouse: A Venetian Palazzo in Miniature.”

Chocolate demo takes place in Fisher Dollhouse exhibit at MAD (photo by Jenna Bascom)

On view through September 26, the dollhouse was created by New York–based arts patron and collector Joanna Fisher during the pandemic as a place of refuge; it was designed and built by dozens of craftspersons, with miniature works of art by Dustin Yellin, Ryan McGinness, Hunt Slonem, and others. On September 4 at noon, Joachim will show visitors how to make silicone molds, cast edible works, and temper chocolate at home, along with discussing the history of chocolate and cacao. The milk chocolate bars feature the facade of the dollhouse on their front. “When most people think of chocolate, it’s simply a chocolate bar,” Joachim’s mission statement continues. “I have the gift of transforming chocolate into a mystifying, inspirational experience, live and in front of audience’s eyes. Inspiring them with joy, awe, and love, disrupting the status quo, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible within each viewer’s point of view and own life.” Entry to this “Art Alive” presentation is free with museum admission. Also on view at MAD are “Craft Front & Center,” “Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe: Tabernacles for Trying Times,” “Beth Lipman: Collective Elegy,” and “45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now.”

THE DARK MASTER

Kuro Tanino’s The Dark Master is a VR treat for the senses (photo © Japan Society)

THE DARK MASTER
Japan Society
333 East 47th St.
June 23-28, $45
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

Kuro Tanino’s The Dark Master was originally scheduled to be a fully staged production at Japan Society in January 2021 as part of a four-city US tour. However, because of the pandemic lockdown, Japan Society artistic director Yoko Shioya suggested that Tanino reimagine the piece for virtual reality. The result is a thoroughly satisfying and uniquely tasty experience, a delectable treat for the senses.

Continuing through June 28, The Dark Master is presented to ten audience members at a time, sitting in individual mirrored cubicles on Japan Society’s stage. Wearing headphones and VR headsets (and facemasks), you are taken into a tiny, claustrophobic restaurant where you are served food by a grouchy owner-chef (Kiyobumi Kaneko). He decides that you are to become the next cook, and your training begins as hungry customers come in and sit at the counter, excited for the carefully prepared fare.

Inspired by first-person video games and an indie manga written by Marei Karibu and illustrated by Haruki Izumi, The Dark Master immerses you in a mysterious world that can be as funny as it is creepy. Kaneko is a hoot as a surly smoker who seems relatively disinterested in what he’s doing yet creates miraculous dishes that not only look good but smell great — be prepared for a multisensory adventure. The virtual reality extends about 180 degrees, so be sure to turn to your right and left and up and down to take it all in; you are also given hands that hold a menu, pour a drink, and bring the victuals to your mouth, which could produce a sort of personal AMSR encounter A brief video at the end takes you behind the scenes of how some of it was done.

The Dark Master takes place for only ten people at a time at Japan Society (photo © Keizo Maeda)

A sculptor, painter, and former psychiatrist, Tanino (Frustrating Picture Book for Adults, Fortification of Smiles) literally and figuratively gets into your head for forty-five minutes as performers from his experimental theater company, Niwa Gekidan Penino (NGP), including Kaneko, F. O. Pereira Koichiro, and Bobmi Hidaka, traipse through the restaurant, with narration by Saika Ouchi. The dialogue has been dubbed into English by the original Japanese cast; the fab set is by Takuya Kamiike, with moody lighting by Masayuki Abe, crackling sound by Koji Sato and Shintaro Mastunomiya, and videography and editing by Nobuhiro Matsuzawa. In 2014, NGP made its American debut at Japan Society with The Room Nobody Knows, which featured a spectacular two-level set that represented the unconscious and subconscious minds. With this VR iteration of The Dark Master, Tanino serves up a wonderful physical and psychological meal, one that can be enjoyed together by strangers, just like watching theater or eating in a restaurant, two of life’s necessities (and genuine pleasures) that were unavailable for so much of the last sixteen months.

RASHID JOHNSON: RED STAGE

Creative Time’s Red Stage continues through July 4 at Astor Plaza (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

CREATIVE TIME: THE PEOPLE’S PLATFORM
Astor Plaza
Through July 4, free (some events require advance RSVP and in-person sign-in)
creativetime.org

Since June 5, the nonprofit arts organization Creative Time as been hosting live events in Astor Plaza in celebration of the reopening of New York City and the return of live performance in front of audiences. “Amidst an ongoing global pandemic and multiple human rights crises that have kept the world in isolation and grief, Rashid Johnson’s Red Stage is an emergency call to artists and creatives to experiment, collaborate, and gather in an act of resurgence,” Creative Time associate curator Diya Vij said in a statement. “The minimalist sculpture — akin to a bandshell stage — is rendered in steel and powder-coated in a color Johnson describes as ‘alarm red.’ Its simplicity is imbued with life: The entirety of the surface is marked by Johnson’s hand and the structure holds a vibrancy of thriving living plants. Stewarding this work requires a commitment to engender and nurture life-affirming futures.”

Chicago-born artist Johnson filled the first two weeks of Red Stage with a wide array of events, including Ethan Philbrick’s 15 cellists, Emily Johnson’s The Rising Stomp, Papi Juice’s The Portal, Jason Moran and Total Freedom, poetry, a dance party, karaoke, and community discussion. Coming up are an audio installation, a painting demonstration and workshop, a farmer’s market, a participatory marathon reading, a commencement ceremony honoring the end of the school year, a special Black trans Pride empowerment, and other presentations.

“As the world unevenly experiences the impact of Covid-19, and New York City begins to economically and socially reawaken, Red Stage affords us the opportunity to come together in this complexity to question the idea for a new normal and to envision the potential of truly engaging in public space,” Vij continued. “Red Stage establishes a temporary public-led public space for artists, organizers, and agitators. It is a proposition to the public to occupy space through movement — activation of the body in dance, the breath in song, the fist in protest, and the collective in revolutionary potential.” Everything is free, although some programs require advance RSVP to attend and/or take part in. Below is the full schedule as of June 19.

Monday, June 21
Graphic reading: The People’s Platform, 10:00 am–2:00 pm

Brooklyn Music School, with vocalist and faculty member Emily Tepe performing original works, 3:00- 5:00

An Exploration in Still Life Movement with Black Painters Academy, led by artist and academy founder Azikiwe Mohammed, painting supplies available for first ten people, 5:30 – 6:30

Meditation Journey for Renewal & Emergence with Lana Homeri, 6:00 – 8:00

The first sky is inside you: A sound experience by sunlove, 7:00 -7:45

Tuesday, June 22
GrowNYC Farmer’s Market, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Wednesday, June 23
Graphic reading: The People’s Platform, 10:00 am

Thursday, June 24
Echo Location by Charlotte Brathwaite, intimate public marathon reading of Alexis Pauline Gumb’s Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, embraced by song, initiated by Brathwaite in collaboration with Sunder Ganglani and y.o.u., 10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Friday, June 25
Graphic reading: The People’s Platform, 10:00 am–2:00 pm

Commencement: A Procession & Ceremony of Gratitude, Reunion, Celebration and the Closing of School Year led by Tiffany Lenoi Jones, 3:00 – 4:30

Graphic reading: The People’s Platform, 5:00

Saturday, June 26
Arts on Site, with the Bang Group, ARKAI Music, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, BOiNK! Dance & Film, and Dual Rivet, 2:30 – 3:30

Live Arts Pride 2021: The House Party, with DJ THELIMITDOESNOTEXIST, Switch n’ Play (Divina GranSparkle, K.James, Nyx Nocturne, the Illustrious Pearl, and Zoe Ziegfeld, hosted by Miss Malice), Bubble_T (Sammy Kim, Keekai, Sina, Kiko Soiree, Snix), Oops! (Chiquitita & West Dakota), Ragga NYC (Shawn Neon, Viva Ruiz, Batalá New York), and Linda La & the Perfect Poison (Linda La, the Perfect Poison, Rozay LaBeija, and guests), introduced by Bill T. Jones, free with RSVP, 4:00 – 8:00

Sunday, June 27
Stonewall Protests Takeover: Black Trans Liberation, with special guests, 10:00 am –

LITTLE ISLAND

Little Island is an urban oasis that juts out on Pier 55 in Hudson River Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

LITTLE ISLAND
Pier 55, Hudson River Park at West Thirteenth St.
Open daily, 6:00 am – 1:00 am
Free timed tickets, noon – midnight
littleisland.org
little island slideshow

While billionaires Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk battle it out to see who can rocket to Mars first, New York socialite couple Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg have their feet firmly planted on the Earth. Ten years ago, the Diller-von Fürstenberg Family Foundation contributed $20 million to the construction of the High Line, a converted elevated railway that has become one of the most glorious parks in the world. And in 2015, they cemented their local legacy by donating $113 million to Little Island, a lovely new paradise built on the remnants of a ramshackle pier at West Thirteenth St., in the shadow of the Whitney and just down the street from David Hammons’s Day’s End, a 325-foot-long brushed-steel outline of an abandoned warehouse on Pier 52 where Gordon-Matta Clark carved holes in the walls in 1975, a ghostly homage to what — and who — is no longer there. (The Diller-von Fürstenberg Family Foundation was one of many donors who helped fund Hammons’s permanent installation.)

Concrete tulip pillars welcome visitors to Little Island (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Little Island is a warm and welcoming oasis rising more than 60 feet above the Hudson River, shaped like a large leaf, leading visitors from the land into water. It is bursting with more than 350 species of flowers, trees, and shrubs, a 687-seat amphitheater for live performances known as the Amph, the Play Ground plaza where you can get food and drink (sandwiches, salads, fried stuff, vegan options), and stage and lawn space called the Glade. More than 66,000 bulbs and 114 trees have been planted, taking into account the changing seasons and even the differences in light between morning, afternoon, and night. It all sits upon 132 concrete pillars of varying heights that resemble high heels or slightly warped tulip glasses.

Winding paths lead to fun surprises on Little Island (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

There are several sloping paths that take you through the greenery and up to lifted corners that offer spectacular views of Lower Manhattan and Jersey City across the river. Little Island was designed by Thomas Heatherwick of London-based Heatherwick Studio, with landscape design by Signe Nielsen of the New York City firm MNLA, offering unique surprises and sweet touches as you make your way across the stunning environment, including rusted cylindrical metal posts that evoke the pier’s eroding wooden piles, a small wooden stage, interactive dance chimes and an instrument sculpture (“Instrument for All”) by Alfons van Leggelo, and a pair of black-and-white optical spinners.

Little Island has unique architectural elements around every corner (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

In the middle of the Play Ground, an abstract-shaped floor plaque pronounces, “In this year of 2021 we dedicate Little Island to the people of New York and to visitors from around the world — for their everlasting enjoyment, for gamboling and cavorting, playing and ramping, repose and reflection — and with the hope that it fulfills that ambition with as much joy as it has brought to those that built it.”

The Amph will host free and ticketed live performances all summer long and into the fall (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

That joy continues with free year-round multidisciplinary programming that kicks off this month with such series as “Free Music in the Amph,” “Sunset Sounds,” “Little Library,” “Live! at Lunch,” “Late Night in the Play Ground,” “Weekend Wind Down,” “Savory Talks,” “New Victory LabWorks,” and “Creative Break: Music,” “Creative Break: Visual Art,” and “Creative Break: Dance.” Admission is first-come, first-served; however, entry to Little Island, which is open daily from 6:00 am to 1:00 am, requires advance reservations between noon and midnight. There will also be paid ticketed performances such as “Broadway Our Way” and “An Evening with American Ballet Theatre,” both of which sold out quickly, and free shows that must be reserved in advance, such as “Tina and Friends: BYOB (Bring Your Own Beautiful),” a Pride Month celebration on June 26 at 8:00 with award-winning playwright and director Tina Landau. Landau, tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel, actor, singer, and music director Michael McElroy, and PigPen Theatre Co. are Little Island’s inaugural artists-in-residence; they will be curating and participating in numerous events in the next several months. Below is a list of upcoming ticketed shows.

Saturday, June 26, 8:00
Tina and Friends: BYOB (Bring Your Own Beautiful), with Tina Landau, the Amph, free tickets available June 16 at 2:00

Saturday, July 10, 2:00
Little Orchestra Society’s Things That Go Bang, the Amph, $25-$65

Saturday, July 24, and Sunday, July 25
Little Island Storytelling Festival, with Mahogany L Browne, Sarah Kay, Jon Sands, Shaina Taub, Broken Box Mine, Daniel Nayeri, Phil Kaye and the Westerlies, Michael Thurber, and others, the Amph, some shows require advance tickets available June 22

Friday, September 17, Saturday, September 18, and Sunday, September 19, 8:00
Little Island Dance Festival, with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Barkha Patel, Michela Marino Lerman, Tomoe Carr, Danni Gee, Andre Imanishi, and others, the Amph, tickets on sale June 22

BLOOMSDAY REVEL 2021

Who: Terry Donnelly, Fiona Walsh, Una Clancy, Ed Malone, Aidan Redmond, Fiona Walsh, Gina Costigan, Sarah Street, Alan Gogarty
What: In-person and livestreamed Bloomsday celebration
Where: Blooms Tavern, 208 East 58th St., and online
When: Sunday, June 13, $45, 3:00
Why: For nearly one hundred years, people have been celebrating Bloomsday, when James Joyce’s Ulysses takes place, June 16, 1904. Yes, the seven-hundred-plus-page novel about Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus is set during one day in Dublin. On Sunday, June 13, at 3:00, Origin Theatre Company is presenting its eighth annual “Bloomsday Revel,” happening both live at Blooms Tavern on East Fifty-Eighth St. as well as online. The socially distanced afternoon features dramatic readings by such New York-based Irish actors as Terry Donnelly, Fiona Walsh, Una Clancy, Ed Malone, Aidan Redmond, Fiona Walsh, Gina Costigan, and Sarah Street, musical interludes from Alan Gogarty, and a juried costume contest. Tickets for the in-person show, cocurated by Paula Nance and Michael Mellamphy, are $45 and include Bloomsday-inspired hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. “Luckily we didn’t miss a year in 2020,” new Origin artistic director Mellamphy said in a statement. “We were fully virtual last year, in a program packed with great performances and heartfelt messages. But this year we are creating an all-new hybrid that celebrates the many ways we share experiences like this unique and important literary holiday. James Joyce after all was all about setting new rules in art. . . . We’re immensely pleased to continue that tradition in 2021.”

DanceAfrica Festival 2021

BAM, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Mark Morris Dance Center, and online
May 29 – June 14, free – $44
www.bam.org

“Ago!”

For many people, Memorial Day Weekend means beach, barbecue, and a day off work. For me, and those in the know, it signals BAM’s DanceAfrica, an annual celebration of the arts across the African diaspora. The forty-fourth annual event takes us to Haiti with a series of virtual and in-person live programs honoring the spirit of the Caribbean island nation that has persevered through colonialism, revolution, occupation, violent dictatorships, coups, and a devastating earthquake. The festival is already under way with the public installation “A Return: Liberation as Power,” featuring works by Delphine Desane, M. Florine Démosthène, Mark Fleuridor, Adler Guerrier, Kathia St. Hilare, and Didier William projected on the BAM sign at the corner of Lafayette and Flatbush Aves. through May 31. Also available now is “DanceAfrica 2021: Choreographers’ Conversation,” a free online talk with DanceAfrica artistic director and DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers founder Abdel R. Salaam, Dieufel Lamisere of HaitiDansco, Portsha T. Jefferson of Rara Tou Limen, Fritzlyn “Fritz” Hector of the Fritzation Experience, and Adia Tamar Whitaker of Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective, moderated by Collegium for African Diaspora Dance founding director Thomas F. DeFrantz. The fantastic DanceAfrica Bazaar, always a highlight of the festival, has gone digital as well, with clothing, accessories, food and drink, and home goods available online.

On May 28 at 6:00, teens grades 9-12 can take part in the free multidisciplinary presentation “Haiti in Full Scope,” a virtual exploration of Haitian history and culture. From May 28 to June 3, FilmAfrica, in conjunction with the African Film Festival, will present screenings of such features, documentaries, and shorts as Raoul Peck’s Meurtre à Pacot, Eve Blouin and Raynald Leconte’s In the Eye of the Spiral and Leconte’s Real Maravilloso, Guetty Felin’s Ayiti Mon Amour, and Philippe Niang’s Toussaint Louverture. The centerpiece of the festival is BAM’s first evening-length dance film, Vwa Zanset Yo: Y’ap Pale, N’ap Danse! (“Ancestral Voices: They Speak . . . We Dance!”), debuting May 29 at 7:00, with commissioned pieces from HaitiDansco in Cap Haitien, Rara Tou Limen Haitian Dance Company in Oakland, Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective in Brooklyn, and the Fritzation Experience in Brooklyn in addition to a Libation ceremony and the Procession of the Council of Elders. “Out of the darkness of this pandemic we see a brilliant new digital platform that enables us to present our annual celebration through the magic of film! The future and spirit of DanceAfrica, in person or virtual, lives within audiences and communities of the world,” Baba Abdel R. Salaam said in a statement. That will be followed by a free live virtual dance party at 8:00 with DJ Hard Hittin Harry.

There will also be a free hands-on community workshop for caregivers and children of all ages on May 29 at 10:00 am at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 with Nadia Dieudonné; the inaugural Community Day Bantaba, consisting of virtual dance performances submitted by community members, along with a photo booth and introductions by DanceAfrica Senior Council of Elders Mamma Lynette White and Baba Bill Mathews; an adaptive workshop and a master class on May 31, held in person at the Mark Morris Dance Center and virtually, the former designed for persons with disabilities, led by Pat Hall, the latter for intermediate and advanced dancers, led by Dieudonné; and a DanceAfrica Timeline, taking us back through the archives of this unique and inclusive festival, founded in 1977 by the great Chuck Davis.

“Ame!”