this week in (live)streaming

OUR LAUNDRY, OUR TOWN: MY CHINESE AMERICAN LIFE FROM FLUSHING TO THE DOWNTOWN STAGE AND BEYOND

Who: Alvin Eng
What: Book launch of Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond
Where: City Lore, 56 East First St., Yu & Me Books, 44 Mulberry St., Hudson Park Library, 66 Leroy St.
When: Friday, May 20, free, 5:30 webinar, 7:00 in person; Wednesday, June 8, 5:00; Saturday, June 25, 2:00
Why: “While I have been blessed to have always had a roof over my head and the honor of living with loved ones, when I was growing up, homelessness was a constant spiritual state. A child’s longing to belong is one of the most powerful forces and relentless muses on Earth. In every culture, belonging has many different nuances of meaning and resonance. What and who exactly constitutes that destination of longing changes with every age and, in childhood, with every grade. What never seems to change is the feeling that we never quite arrive, and when or if we do, it only lasts for a fleeting time and was never quite what we expected. These memoir portraits are an attempt to decode and process the urban oracle bones from growing up as the youngest of five children in an immigrant Chinese family that ran a hand laundry. Our family was born of an arranged marriage, and our laundry was in the Flushing, Queens, neighborhood of that singular universe that was New York City in the 1970s. Like many children of immigrant or ‘other’ family origins in late-twentieth-century America, I was constantly seeking American frames of reference with which to contextualize my own ‘outsider’ experiences and sensibilities.”

So begins Alvin Eng’s Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond (Fordham University Press | Empire State Editions, May 17, $27.95), in which the New York City–based playwright, performer, acoustic punk rock raconteur, and educator explores the history of his family, immigration and assimilation, and the Chinese American experience and makes pilgrimages to his ancestral homeland. The book features such chapters as “The Urban Oracle Bones of Our Laundry: Channeling China’s Last Emperor and Rock ’n’ Roll’s First Opera,” “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting . . . or Faking It,” “A Sort of Homecoming: But Where Are You Really From,” and “Life Dances On: Our Town in China.” Eng, whose previous work includes such solo shows as Here Comes Johnny Yen Again (or How I Kicked Punk) and The Last Emperor of Flushing and such plays and musicals as Portrait Plays and The Goong Hay Kid, will be launching Our Laundry, Our Town with a series of free events around the city.

On May 20 at 5:30, Eng will lead a webinar hosted by CUNY’s Asian American / Asian Research Institute, followed at 7:00 by an in-person appearance at City Lore on First St., where he will read from the new book and speak with City Lore codirectors Molly Garfinkel and Steve Zeitlin, then sign copies. On June 8 at 5:00, Eng will give a talk and sign books at Yu & Me on Mulberry St., and on June 25 at 2:00 he will at the Hudson Park Library on Leroy St. for an author talk.

VISIONS OF OKINAWA: CINEMATIC REFLECTIONS

Go Takamine’s Paradise View kicks off Japan Society series about the Okinawan transition

VISIONS OF OKINAWA: CINEMATIC REFLECTIONS
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
May 13 – June 3, $15 in-person screenings, $10 online rentals (three-film pass $24)
www.japansociety.org

“Did you have your fortune told?” a character asks in Go Takamine’s Paradise View. “Yes, things are looking good” is the answer.

On June 17, 1971, the last of the Ryukyu Islands was returned to Japanese control. Japan Society began its celebration of that pivotal event in March with “Waves Across Time: Traditional Dance and Music of Okinawa.” The tribute continues May 13 to June 3 with “Visions of Okinawa: Cinematic Reflections,” consisting of five in-person screenings and three streaming films, all set around the transition of power. Part of the “Okinawa in Focus: Globus Film Series,” the festival begins May 13 at 7:00 with the North American premiere of the 2021 edit of Go Takamine’s Paradise View, followed by a reception; the 1985 work, which deals with a funeral, a wedding, dangerous snakes, and painful dentistry, will be available for streaming starting May 14.

Chris Marker’s 1996 Level Five, a French film involving a computer game restaging the Battle of Okinawa as part of an investigation into the Japanese tendency to bury the past, will be shown May 14 at 4:30, followed at 7:00 by a rare archival 35mm print of Nagisa Oshima’s 1972 Dear Summer Sister, in which Oshima, who appears in Level Five, takes viewers on an unusual tourist trip across Okinawa. Sadao Nakajima’s 1976 Terror of Yakuza, inspired by actual gang warfare on Okinawa and starring the great Sonny Chiba, screens May 20 at 7:00; an imported 35mm print of Go Takamine’s 1989 Untamagiru, an adaptation of the uchina shibai play and featuring John Sayles as a US military commander who really loves his dog, will be shown May 21 at 7:00.

Motoshinkakarannu explores the complicated transition of power on Okinawa

The virtual screenings also include the special “Focus on the Nihon Documentarist Union (NDU),” a pair of black-and-white guerrilla-style nonfiction works by the NDU, which was founded in 1968 at Waseda University. The 1971 Motoshinkakarannu and 1973 Asia Is One are screening for the first time outside of Japan, with new English subtitles, taking on immigration, socioeconomic issues, labor protests, and other complex issues.

A DEATH-DEFYING ESCAPE!

Kevin Scott Allen, Judy Carter, and Lyndsi LaRose play multiple characters in A Death-Defying Escape! (photo by Jenny Graham)

Who: Judy Carter, Kevin Scott Allen, Lyndsi LaRose
What: Autobiographical streaming play A Death-Defying Escape!
Where: Hudson Guild Theatre online
When: Saturday, May 14, 11:00 pm, and Sunday, May 15, 6:00 pm, $25
Why: “When I was a little girl, I just worshiped Harry Houdini — I mean, the greatest escape artist in the world,” actress, comedian, author, Jewish lesbian, and magician Judy Carter says at the beginning of her autobiographical show, A Death-Defying Escape! “But you know, well, lately I’ve been thinking, he escaped from a chair. I mean, try escaping from a Verizon contract, right? How about getting out of a new pair of Spanx — on a hot day. Or, how about escaping from the closet, in the ’80s. Ta-da!” A large Queen of Hearts card behind her, Carter lifts her hands in triumph to applause from the live audience at the Hudson Guild Theatre in Santa Monica.

Over the course of ninety minutes, Carter relates her life story, from not being able to speak well when she was young, putting on magic shows, getting confused about her sexuality, and not understanding why her baby sister, Marsha, was treated differently by her parents than she was. Marsha had cerebral palsy and was confined to a chair; it’s no wonder Carter found Houdini so intriguing. Carter portrays herself and Marsha, while Kevin Scott Allen and Lyndsi LaRose play all the other characters, including Carter’s mother and abusive father, her beloved grandmother, fellow magician Doug Henning, a sexist club owner, and Carter’s much younger girlfriend, Sammy.

Judy Carter takes a candid look at her life in autobiographical show (photo by Jenny Graham)

“Just like Houdini, my grandparents were both escape artists — they escaped from the anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe to come to America, to be free! America, where there is no anti-Semitism,” Carter explains. She mixes in fun magic with honest episodes from her past, told in an intimate, conversational style, warts and all. The DIY set is by Craig Dickens, who also created the illusions, with lighting by Matt Richter and sound and projections by Nick Foran, complete with home movies and photos from Carter’s childhood and appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and The Mike Douglas Show.

Carter gestures with nearly every sentence, as if her life were a dance of words. She’s best known for her magic and her inspirational talks; she’s written such books as The New Comedy Bible, The Message of You: Turn Your Life Story into a Money-Making Speaking Career, and The Homo Handbook, displaying her range. Directed by Lee Costello, A Death-Defying Escape! allows Carter to break free of the psychological and emotional chains that have bound her, winning everyone over with her infectious charm. There are only two more performances left, May 14 and 15; they’re available for livestreaming so you can check it out no matter where you are.

RemarkaBULL PODVERSATION: EXPLORING LADY MACBETH WITH ISMENIA MENDES

Lady Macbeth (Ismenia Mendes) reaches out to her royal husband (Isabelle Fuhrman) in inventive reimagining of Shakespeare tragedy (photo by Richard Termine)

Who: Ismenia Mendes, Nathan Winkelstein
What: Livestreamed conversation about Lady Macbeth
Where: Red Bull Theater online
When: Monday, May 9, free with advance RSVP (donations accepted), 7:30
Why: Macbeth is all the rage now, with a much-derided version starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga currently playing at the Longacre on Broadway and Joel Coen’s film version with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand having garnered three Oscar nominations. One of the best and most innovative adaptations in decades was staged by Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel in 2019, directed by Erica Schmidt and set at a girls school. The fierce and furious, sexy and sinister ninety minutes starred Isabelle Fuhrman as Macbeth and Ismenia Mendes as Lady Macbeth.

In conjunction with the streaming release of the 2019 production, available on demand May 16-29, Red Bull is hosting its latest RemarkaBULL Podversation, “Exploring Lady Macbeth,” with Mendes (Troilus and Cressida, Henry V) and associate artistic director and host Nathan Winkelstein performing the “How now! what news?” scene, followed by a discussion and an audience Q&A. In the dastardly dialogue, Lady Macbeth tells her husband, “What beast was’t, then, / That made you break this enterprise to me? / When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And, to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place / Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: / They have made themselves, and that their fitness now / Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know / How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me: / I would, while it was smiling in my face, / Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, / And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you / Have done to this.” Previous RemarkaBULL Podversations, which are always a treat, have featured Kate Burton, André De Shields, Elizabeth Marvel, Chukwudi Iwuji, Patrick Page, Lily Rabe, Jay O. Sanders, Michael Urie, and others and can be viewed for free here.

JODY SPERLING/TIME LAPSE DANCE PERFORMANCE SERIES

Wind Rose is part of special performance series by Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance (photo by Annie Drew)

Who: Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance
What: Climate-change-themed performance series
Where: The Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 East Fourteenth St. between Second & Third Aves., and online
When: May 5-7, $10-$100
Why: New York–based choreographer, dancer, writer, and scholar Jody Sperling, the founding artistic director of Time Lapse Dance (TLD), continues her climate-change-themed collaboration with Alaskan-born composer, sound artist, and eco-acoustician Matthew Burtner with a series of live events May 5-7 at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. TLD will present four shows that investigate the relationship between the body and the environment, with dancers Frances Barker, Morgan Bontz, Carly Cerasuolo, Anika Hunter, Maki Kitahara, Sarah Tracy, Nicole Lemelin, and Sperling and live music by Burtner.

The bill, which marks the company’s return to live, indoor performance in front of an audience after having made numerous dance films during the pandemic, includes the stage premiere of Plastic Harvest, about plastic pollution, performed by dancers immersed in a world of plastic bags; 2019’s Wind Rose, a work about breath and atmosphere for five dancers in flowing white costumes and a soloist in black; 2015’s Ice Cycle, about the melting of the ice caps; and an excerpt from the processional American Elm. It all begins with a gala on May 5 at 7:00 featuring a full performance, an artist talk, and a benefit reception. On May 6 at 7:00, a full performance can be experienced in-person or livestreamed. There will be a family-friendly in-person program May 7 at 2:00, followed by an in-person-only finale at 7:00.

HARKNESS MAIN STAGE SERIES: AMOC’S WITH CARE

AMOC’s With Care comes to the 92nd St. Y this week (photo by Natalia Perez)

Who: Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber, Keir GoGwilt, Miranda Cuckson
What: New York City premiere of work by AMOC (American Modern Opera Company)
Where: Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Center, 1395 Lexington Ave. at Ninety-Second St., and online
When: In person Thursday, April 28, $30, 8:00; online April 29, noon, to May 1, midnight, $15
Why: In November 2018, married former Batsheva dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber debuted With Care at ODC Theater in San Francisco, a co-commission with AMOC (American Modern Opera Company). The piece, which explores caregiving, carelessness, and loss — as perceived prior to the pandemic, when those issues took center stage — was created by Smith in collaboration with violinist Keir GoGwilt; the latter performs with violinist Miranda Cuckson as current L.A. Dance Project artists-in-residence Smith and Schraiber, portraying a caregiver and a wounded spirit, move around them.

Directed by Smith and featuring music by AMOC cofounder Matthew Aucoin, the work includes chairs, small wooden slats, and sand with dance, music, and spoken word that should take on new meaning in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. “The original impetus for With Care came out of the last section of my previous work with Keir, A Study on Effort,” Smith said in a statement. “This piece consists of seven efforts, the last of which is the effort of taking care. We thought to expand this study of emotional and physical labor into a theatrical context, investigating the dynamics of caregiving and taking between four characters. Adding Or and Miranda opened a world in which the dynamics of care spiral from empathy to apathy. The more our characters attempt to break free from this cycle, the more they become lost in the maze of their commitments to each other. Yet ultimately the only solace they find is in each other. Never stop caring.”

With Care will be performed live at the 92nd St. Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall on April 28 at 8:00; a recording will be available online from April 29 at noon to May 1 at midnight. For more on Smith and Schraiber, check out Boaz Yakin’s 2019 film, Aviva, and Elvira Lind’s 2017 documentary, Bobbi Jene. The Harkness Main Stage Series continues in May with the Future Dance Festival and in June with Jonathan Fredrickson of Tanztheater Wuppertal.

I LOVE THIS POEM: AN ONLINE READING

An all-star cast celebrates the power of poetry in online benefit for Literacy Partners

Who: Common, Julianne Moore, Liev Scheiber, Danai Gurira, Ethan Hawke, John Leguizamo, Tayari Jones, Cleo Wade, Kiese Laymon, Tommy Orange, Dinaw Mengestu, Kevin Kline, John Lithgow, Megha Majumdar, Zibby Owens, Mira Jacob, more
What: Online poetry reading benefiting Literacy Partners
Where: Literacy Partners online
When: Thursday, April 28, free with RSVP (donations accepted), 8:00
Why: On April 28 at 8:00, Literacy Partners will stream an encore presentation of “I Love This Poem: An Online Reading,” consisting of short works read by such actors as Common, Julianne Moore, Liev Scheiber, Danai Gurira, Ethan Hawke, John Leguizamo, Kevin Kline, and John Lithgow, hosted by Zibby Owens and Mira Jacob. Part of the organization’s literary and social justice series, the event, which was held on May 20, 2021, also features favorite poems read by two students, Angie and Monica. “We present this public reading in celebration of the power of poetry to heal, connect, and inspire us to advocate for a more just and equitable world,” Literacy Partners explains.

The evening includes poems by Fion Lim, Langston Hughes, Natalie Diaz, Billy Collins, Rabindranath Tagore, Lucille Clifton, John Keats, Alice Walker, William Shakespeare, Kim Addonizio, Pablo Neruda, Adrienne Rich, Rodolfo Gonzalez, and Maya Angelou. Literacy Partners was founded in 1973 to “emphasize support for individuals excluded from education because of racial or ethnic segregation and discrimination, economic challenges, sexism, or immigration status.”