this week in food & drink

DEATH BY LIFE: A DIGITAL OPERA IN ONE ACT

Virtual opera Death by Life takes a hard look at the prison industrial complex

White Snake Projects
May 20-25, free with RSVP (suggested donation $25-$150)
www.whitesnakeprojects.org

In the second edition of twi-ny’s Pandemic Awards, I named White Snake Projects’ Alice in the Pandemic “Best Use of Technology in a Virtual Opera.” The Boston-based company might win the same award in the third iteration of the Pandemic Awards for its follow-up, the emotionally powerful and dramatic Death by Life: A Digital Opera in One Act. The work, which explores systemic racism and injustice in the prison industrial complex, is divided into five scenes based on the stories of real men and women who are currently or were previously incarcerated, with music by five Black composers, along with transitional interludes.

Directed by Kimille Howard with a libretto by show creator and White Snake founding head Cerise Lim Jacobs, Death by Life is highlighted by live performances by tenor Aaron Blake, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, baritone Nicholas Davis, soprano Tiana Sorenson, and soloist Naomi Wilson (incarcerated for thirty-seven years), who, despite being in different locations around the country, at times appear to be in the same room or cell. The live singing, accompanied by the Victory Players — pianist Nathan Ben-Yehuda, cellist Clare Monfredo, clarinetist Eric Schultz, and Elly Toyoda on violin and viola, with music direction by Tianhui Ng — is absolutely thrilling. The 3D sets, which do have some green-screening issues but otherwise are highly impressive, were created in Unreal Engine by Curvin Huber, with animation by R Cory Collins, lighting by Becky Marsh, sound by Jon Robertson, dramaturgy by Keith McGill, and projections by Paul Deziel.

The seventy-minute show begins with Returning Home,5 based on text by poet and activist Monica Cosby — who spent twenty years in prison — with music by Leila Adu-Gilmore, who taught at Sing Sing. The story follows a woman (Sorenson), released after twenty years behind bars, trying to reconnect with her mother (Bradford) while missing her prison family. In Orange Crush, by Phil Hartsfield — who is serving what is essentially a life sentence and recently earned a bachelor’s degree — with music by David Sandford, a pair of cellmates (Blake and Davis) prepare for a shakedown sweep that is likely to be brutal.

In Yard Time with the Animals, by writer, activist, and BA recipient Joe Dole — who is serving life without parole for a crime he claims he didn’t commit — and composer Jacinth Greywoode, Joe (Davis) tries to save three baby birds as the mother (Sorenson) seeks his help. In When the Time Hits You, based on text by Andrew Phillips — who is in a Kentucky prison for thirty years — and featuring music by Jonathan Bailey Holland, a new guard (Sorenson) reminds an inmate (Blake) that he might die while still incarcerated. And in I’m a Lifer, based on a story by Mary L. Johnson — who is seeking justice for her incarcerated son in Chicago — and with music by the legendary Mary D. Watkins, a man (Davis) is being harassed by cops over and over, and his mother (Bradford) is only making it worse by filing a complaint.

There are two shows left, on May 22 and 25 at 7:30. Be sure to tune in early to see the “Freedom Cost” artwork by educator, minister, community organizer, and death row inmate Renaldo Hudson (and check out the online “To Breathe” exhibit) and listen to songs by the Oakdale Community Choir, consisting of men inside Oakdale Prison as well as on the outside. And stick around for a postshow talkback with members of the cast and crew of Death by Life that goes behind the scenes of how the production was created — with Jacobs teasing that they have something more in the works for the fall.

ODD MAN OUT

Odd Man Out offers a theatrical journey in a box to be experienced at home (photo by twi-ny/ees)

Pitchblack Immersive Experiences
Box: $50
pitchblackexperience.com

Last month I saw Simon Stephens’s Blindness at the Daryl Roth Theatre, a sound and light theatrical installation without actors in which the story about a sudden and inexplicable epidemic of sight loss is presented through binaural headphones in a space often cast in total darkness. A few weeks after that, I got on an airplane for the first time since the coronavirus crisis began, going to California to visit family. Those two elements come together in compelling ways in Odd Man Out, an immersive, interactive treat for the senses that arrives at your home in a box.

Originally performed with an in-person cast and audience at Teatro Ciego in Argentina, a company that specializes in productions in complete darkness, with nearly half of the troupe either blind or with low vision — the riveting sixty-five-minute presentation, which was workshopped in English in New York City in February 2020 in collaboration with theatreC, has been reimagined by writer-director Martín Bondone and codirectors Carlos Armesto and Facundo Bogarín for a unique private journey. Odd Man Out follows successful blind Argentine musician Alberto Rinaldi (Gonzalo Trigueros) as he flies on Pitchblack Airlines from New York City back to Buenos Aires, where he was born and raised. During the trip, his mind is flooded with memories of seminal moments from his life, involving his mother (Alejandra Buljevich) and father (Ignacio Borderes), his teacher (Buljevich), his music partner Jamal Jordan (Modesto Lacen), and his true love, Clara (Carmen Boria, who in addition voices Alberto as a child). The tale also features a taxi driver (Andrés Montejo), two policemen (Aksel Tang and Lacen), an attentive flight attendant (Boria), Alberto’s seatmate (Montejo), another passenger (Victoria Raigorodsky), and a parrot (Lacen).

The black box contains everything you need for this multisensory excursion: a map, a blindfold, a boarding pass with a QR code that takes you to the online audio, wine or yerba maté, and six mysterious objects that incorporate taste (chocolate, vegan, gluten-free, or coconut), touch, and smell. The narrative was recorded using binaural technology that makes it feel that the characters are moving around your head as if in a 360-degree area, a technique that was also used for Blindness and Simon McBurney’s remarkable Broadway show The Encounter. The sound design is by Nicolás Alvarez, with original music, arrangements, and music direction by Mirko Mescia — performed by pianist Lubert Andrés Pulval Jiménez, guitarist Roberto Ariel Caceres, and bassist Bogarín — and dramaturgy by Armesto and Tang.

Alberto talks about love, fear, discrimination, and music as the plane continues on to Argentina, where he hasn’t been in decades. These feelings and beliefs have come into much clearer focus during the pandemic, as the world sheltered in place, travel was limited if not nonexistent, isolation and loneliness ran rampant, and rallies and marches were held across the globe against racial injustice. Theater is best experienced with live actors in front of an in-person audience in the same space, yet Odd Man Out is just the right kind of show when that is not available, offering a compelling individual adventure for the body and the mind.

(A portion of the proceeds from Odd Man Out — boxes cost $50 — goes to Visions,which provides services for the blind and visually impaired.)

NEW CAMERATA OPERA: THE BROOKLYN JOB

New Camerata Opera attempts to pull off an interactive, immersive virtual art heist in The Brooklyn Job

Who: New Camerata Opera
What: Virtual world premiere
Where: New Camerata Opera Zoom
When: Thursday, May 6, and Saturday, May 8, $40-$160, 8:00
Why: On March 18, 1990, thieves broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and got away with thirteen masterpieces worth half a billion dollars; you can learn more about the still-unsolved crime in the new Netflix documentary This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist. Immersive specialists New Camerata Opera will be pulling off its own interactive, virtual museum heist this week with the premiere of The Brooklyn Job. Written and directed by Sarah Morgan Ashey, the piece, debuting May 6 and 8 at 8:00 over Zoom as part of the sixth annual New York Opera Fest, mixes prerecorded elements filmed and edited by Erik Bagger with live performance, featuring sopranos Samina Aslam and Barbara Porto, mezzo-sopranos Eva Parr, Julia Tang, and Anna Tonna, tenors Victor Khodadad and Bagger, baritones Stan Lacy and Scott Lindroth, and bass Kofi Hayford. Dan Franklin Smith is the music director. New Camerata Opera has presented such online works as Julie, the nine-episode Ives Project, and The Prince von Pappenschmear, a Prequel during the pandemic lockdown; The Brooklyn Job is a participatory opera that invites viewers to take polls and, for an additional fee, order a cocktail box (by May 3) that comes with a Woman in Gray, Sunlight Effect, or Rhubarb Spritz, spiced caramel popcorn, and an art-focused interactive program guide.

THE JACKSON C. FRANK LISTENING PARTY W/ SPECIAL GUESTS

59E59 Theaters: Plays in Place
New Light Theater Project
March 29 – April 11, pay-what-you-can (suggested donation $15)
www.59e59.org
www.newlighttheaterproject.com

In addition to watch parties, where people from around the world gather online to experience streaming content together, from old TV shows to theater productions and Zoom cast reunions, listening parties have taken off as well. One of my favorites is Tim Burgess’s Twitter edition, in which he spins classic records, sometimes joined by members of the band who talk about the making of the album. Melding that idea with Kanye West’s 2018 Wyoming media listening party for Ye, New Light Theater Project and 59E59 Theaters have teamed up for The Jackson C. Frank Listening Party w/ Special Guests, a virtual show running March 29 to April 11, an interactive listening party for Jackson C. Frank’s eponymously titled 1965 record, which was produced by Paul Simon. Written by Michael Aguirre and directed by Sarah Norris, the eighty-minute show is hosted by Allen, who is still upset that he could not make it to Kanye’s party, so now he is putting on an event to outshine all others, while also sharing the story of his missing brother. The cast includes Aguirre as Allen, Bethany Geraghty as Mom, Dana Martin as Grandma Woodstock, and Sean Phillips as Simon, with film and sound editing by Hallie Griffin.

After purchasing your ticket, you’ll receive a link to download the record and instructions on how to make the official event cocktail, Hippie Juice. The folk album, originally released in 1965, features ten songs remastered in 2001, from “Blues Run the Game,” “Don’t Look Back,” and “Kimbie” to “I Want to Be Alone,” “Just Like Anything,” and “You Never Wanted Me.” It was the Buffalo-born Frank’s only record during a tragic life; when he was eleven, he suffered severe burns across half his body in a fatal fire at his elementary school, was given a guitar while being treated at the hospital, and later recorded Jackson C. Frank in England in six hours. He lost a child, was shot in the eye by a pellet gun, was homeless, and battled debilitating mental health issues; he died in Massachusetts in 1999 at the age of fifty-six, having never released another album (although a box set of his complete recordings came out in 2014). Despite his influence on many musicians, he has faded away into history, now to be resurrected at a virtual, interactive listening party, using his intimate songs to explore contemporary society.

ROMEO Y JULIETA

The Public Theater’s bilingual radio play Romeo y Julieta was rehearsed over Zoom (screenshot courtesy the Public Theater)

Who: Saheem Ali, Lupita Nyong’o, Juan Castano, Alfredo Michel Modenessi, Rebeca Ibarra, more
What: Online premiere listening party for bilingual audio production of Romeo y Julieta
Where: The Greene Space and the Public Theater
When: Thursday, March 18, free with RSVP, 6:45 (stream available for one year)
Why: Unsurprisingly, audio plays have made a comeback during the pandemic, with theaters in lockdown. Keen Company’s Season of Audio Theater has included finkle’s 1993 and Pearl Cleage’s Digging in the Dark, with James Anthony Tyler’s All We Need Is Us up next. Playing on Air, which predated the Covid-19 crisis, has posted such nonvisual works as Cary Gitter’s How My Grandparents Fell in Love, Daniel Reitz’s Napoleon in Exile, Naveen Bahar Choudhury’s Skin, and Dominique Morisseau’s Jezelle the Gazelle, featuring such actors as Julie White, Jesse Eisenberg, Marsha Mason, Ed Asner, Jane Kaczmarek, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and others.

Meanwhile, the Public Theater has presented Anne Washburn’s Shipwreck: A History Play About 2017 as well as the four-part Free Shakespeare on the Radio: Richard II, adapted and directed by Saheem Ali. Ali has now teamed up with playwright Ricardo Pérez González on Romeo y Julieta, a bilingual audio adaptation based Alfredo Michel Modenessi’s Spanish translation of Shakespeare’s heart-wrenching tragedy.

Colorful illustrations by Erick Dávila add visuals to bilingual radio play (courtesy the Public Theater)

The play alternates between English and Spanish; thankfully, you don’t hear every line in both languages, or else the show would be four hours long. However, the Public provides the script on its website so you can follow along and see the full translation. (The website also offers a visual guide to the cast and characters, a bilingual synopsis, colorful illustrations by Erick Dávila, and a trailer.) Presented in conjunction with WNYC Studios and the Greene Space, the radio play premieres on March 18 at 6:45 with much virtual fanfare, kicking off with a preshow greeting and cocktail demonstration (Mezcal Negroni or nonalcoholic Mojito), hosted by WNYC’s Rebeca Ibarra. Then the group listening party starts at 7:00, followed by a live talkback and Q&A with Ali, actors Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Juliet, and Juan Castano, who stars as Romeo, and translator Modenessi, moderated by Ibarra. Everything is free with advance RSVP, but you have to supply your own drinks.

The rest of the cast consists of Carlo Albán as Benvolio, Karina Arroyave as the apothecary, Erick Betancourt as Abram, Michael Braugher as Balthasar, Carlos Carrasco as Lord Montague, Ivonne Coll as the nurse, John J. Concado as Peter, Hiram Delgado as Tybalt, Guillermo Diaz as Gregory, Sarah Nina Hayon as Lady Montague, Kevin Herrera in the ensemble, Modesto Lacen as Prince Escalus and Capulet’s cousin, Florencia Lozano as Capulet, Irene Sofia Lucio as Mercutio, Keren Lugo as Sister Joan, Benjamin Luis McCracken as Paris’s page, Julio Monge as Friar Lawrence, Javier Muñoz as Paris, and David Zayas as Sampson. The original score by Michael Thurber is performed by Jon Lampley on trumpet, Eddie Barbash on alto saxophone, and Mark Dover on bass clarinet; bassist Thurber will also entertain the audience during intermission. The stream of the radio play will be available for one year.

THE 14th ANNUAL CHARLES BUKOWSKI MEMORIAL READING

Who: Mike Watt, Mike Daisey, Jennifer Blowdryer, Kim Addonizio, S. A. Griffin, Puma Perl, George Wallace, Richard Vetere, Michael Puzzo, Peter Carlaftes, Kat Georges
What: Annual Charles Bukowski Memorial Reading
Where: Three Rooms Press YouTube and Facebook
When: Tuesday, March 9, free, 7:00
Why: “What sort of cultural hangover keeps Charles Bukowski in print and popular more than twenty years after his death?” S. A. Griffin asks in his Three Rooms Press essay “Charles Bukowski: Dean of Another Academy.” “In light of the fact that a good portion of what has been published since his passing in 1994 may not be the man’s best work, along with some heavy editing at times, why does Charles Bukowski remain relevant well into the 21st century?” The fourteenth annual Charles Bukowski Memorial Reading, which this year takes place virtually on March 9 at 7:00, will explore what Bukowski would think about today’s social-media-obsessed society in the midst of a pandemic lockdown, with tribute readings by monologist Mike Daisey, performance artists Jennifer Blowdryer, poets Kim Addonizio, S. A. Griffin, Puma Perl, and George Wallace, and playwrights Richard Vetere and Michael Puzzo, hosted by Kat Georges and Peter Carlaftes of Three Rooms Press and featuring a special video appearance by bassist extraordinaire Mike Watt (Minutemen, Dos, Firehose, Big Walnuts Yonder). Admission is free.

UNTITLED PIZZA MOVIE with live Q&As

Childhood friends David Shapiro and Leeds Atkinson search for the perfect slice — of pizza and life — in Untitled Pizza Movie (photo courtesy of Sundance Institute)

Who: David Shapiro, Jonathan Lethem, Matt Wolf, Scott Macaulay
What: Q&As at live screenings in conjunction with online members-only release of seven-part Untitled Pizza Movie
Where: Metrograph Digital
When: Untitled Pizza Movie Part 1: Ice Cube Trays, Friday, February 26, 8:00; Untitled Pizza Movie Part 4: Zig Zag, Thursday, March 4, 8:00; Untitled Pizza Movie Part 5: The Natufian Culture of 9,000 BC, Saturday, March 6, 8:00
Why: “We had New York dreams, like the next Bohemian, but there was no hometown discount,” David Shapiro says in the first episode of the seven-part series Untitled Pizza Movie. This was the mid-1990s, and he and his childhood friend from Stuyvesant, Leeds Atkinson, went on a search for the best pizza in New York City, pretending to be with the Food Channel and showing up at restaurants with a caliper and cameraman Jonathan Kovel, stuffing themselves as they measured slices as if they knew what they were doing, speaking with the owners to get them to reveal some of their secrets. But what started as a quest for free food turned into a socially conscious adventure about their own lives as well as that of a New York City seeing so much of its past go by the wayside in the modern era, as Shapiro cuts back and forth in time. “I’m clouding this narrative with nostalgia, clinging to the rock by documenting fiction,” Shapiro explains. “We remember the stories we want to tell and misremember the ones that we don’t. Leeds and I were in denial; friends and cities are forever. We were making a movie, a movie to stop time. But then we met Bellucci.” New York City pizza aficionados will recognize that as being Andrew Bellucci, formerly of Lombardi’s before he was sent to prison; he is now out and just opened a slice joint in Astoria. Bellucci and Leeds become the centerpieces of the film.

Shapiro (Keep the River on Your Right, Missing People), who wrote, directed, edited, and produced the film, also meets with food and wine critic Eric Asimov, Drew Nieporent of Nobu, Anthony “Mummy” Barile of the much-lamented Three of Cups, lawyers, and members of Bellucci’s and Atkinson’s families, visiting some of the most famous pizza parlors in the city, driving through the streets and over bridges, playing in a band, and interspersing shots of various and sundry items spinning on a turntable. Along the way, it’s made clear that pizza is life. The series is being streamed February 27 through March 14 via Metrograph Digital, for members only. (Membership is only five bucks a month.) Each film — Part 1: Ice Cube Trays, Part 2: Eat to Win in the Elevator, Part 3: Pizza Purgatory, Part 4: Zig Zag, Part 5: The Natufian Culture of 9,000 BC, Part 6: Clams, and Part 7: Mars Bar — will have a live premiere, and three of them will include a Q&A with Shapiro, moderated by Jonathan Lethem (Part 1), Matt Wolf (Part 4), and Scott Macaulay (Part 5).