this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

THE ODYSSEY MARATHON READING

Who: Octavio Abúndez, Ali Ahn, heather atone, Raffi Barsoumian, Bryan Cogman, Bethany Joy Collins, Peter Coyote, David Holt, Leslie Feist, Ken Hada, Joseph Keckler, Muna Malik, Rebecca Nagle, Bebe Neuwirth, Nikki Nice, Nicole Poole, Lee Ranaldo, Patrick Riley, Robert Ruiz, Kate Soper, Gloria Torres, Tom Todoroff, Nick Waterhouse, Emily Wilson
What: Marathon reading of Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of The Odyssey by Homer
Where: Oklahoma Contemporary, Facebook, YouTube
When: August 20-22, 27-29, free, 8:00 – 9:30
Why: From May 15 to June 28, Emily Wilson posted Odyssey-a-Day readings, short clips she performed from her 2017 translation of the epic eighth century BCE poem by Homer. This week and next week, she will be part of a marathon reading of her translation, along with twenty-three people from diverse walks of life, including actors, artists, curators, politicians, professors, writers, and musicians, each sharing one of the two dozen books that comprise the classical work of literature. Hosted by the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in partnership with the Kirkpatrick Foundation, the six evenings, August 20-22 and 27-29, will stream live on Facebook, YouTube and the center’s website from 8:00 to 9:30. Among the readers are actor and director Peter Coyote, Emmy winner Bebe Neuwirth, Sonic Youth cofounder Lee Ranaldo, conceptual artist Octavio Abúndez, singer-songwriter Feist, Oklahoma City mayor David Holt, visual artist Bethany Joy Collins, and Wilson herself. Of course, everyone will be participating from wherever they’re sheltering in place, giving new meaning to the line “But even so, I want to go back home, / and every day I hope that day will come.”

CELEBRATING TERRENCE McNALLY: EVERY ACT OF LIFE

Who: Jeff Kaufman
What: Celebration of the life and career of Terrence McNally
Where: PBS American Masters on ITVS OVEE
When: Wednesday, August 19, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: Emmy and four-time Tony-winning legend Terrence McNally died of Covid-19 complications on March 24 at the age of eighty-one. On August 19 at 8:00, PBS’s American Masters series will be celebrating the life and career of the theater giant with a live presentation by Jeff Kaufman, who wrote, directed, and produced the 2018 documentary Every Act of Life, which I called “a lovely and loving look at playwright and activist Terrence McNally, a compelling film about chasing one’s hopes and dreams, refusing to back down, and fighting for what’s right personally and professionally, onstage and off. Kaufman speaks extensively with McNally, who is forthcoming about his career and his sexuality, which included relationships with Edward Albee and Wendy Wasserstein and several men who died during the height of the AIDS crisis.” The event will feature film clips, discussion, and a live, interactive Q&A. You can read my full review here and check out my interview with Kaufman here.

UNFINISHED WORK: FINISH THE FIGHT

Who: Harriett D. Foy, Zora Howard, Q’orianka Kilcher, Leah Lewis, Chelsea Rendon
What: Virtual play about women’s suffrage
Where: New York Times online
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 7:00
Why: The Nineteenth Amendment might have given women the right to vote, but there is still a lot of work to do, including ending voter suppression particularly of people of color. On August 18 at 7:00, the New York Times will premiere the new play Finish the Fight, adapted by Ming Peiffer (Usual Girls, i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it) from the 2020 picture book Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote by Veronica Chambers and the Times staff. The show stars Harriett D. Foy as Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Howard as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Q’orianka Kilcher as Zitkála-Šá, Leah Lewis as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Chelsea Rendon as Jovita Idár and is directed by Whitney White (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, What to Send When It Goes Down). Upon registering, you can submit questions for the creators that might be answered in a Q&A following the show.

100 YEARS | 100 WOMEN

100 years

Who: Maya Wiley, Sayu Bhojwani, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Shola Lynch
What: Virtual watch party marking a century of women’s suffrage
Where: Park Avenue Armory
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 2:00
Why: Park Avenue Armory and National Black Theatre’s second part of its “100 Years | 100 Women” program occurs August 18 at 2:00 with a free virtual watch party. Hosted by New School professor Maya Wiley, the event celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, with woman artists, activists, scholars, students, and community leaders responding to the centennial while also putting it in context with what is happening in America today. Wiley will be joined by Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, the Kasibahagua Taíno Cultural Society, and Shola Lynch, who will premiere her short film A Portrait of 100 Years | 100 Women. The project features contributions from Zoë Buckman, Staceyann Chin, Karen Finley, Ebony Noelle Golden, Andrea Jenkins, Meshell Ndegeocello, Toshi Reagon, Martha Redbone, Mimi Lien, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches, Carrie Mae Weems, Christine Jones, Deborah Willis, and many more. Also participating in the program with Park Avenue Armory and National Black Theatre are the Apollo Theater, Juilliard, La MaMa, the Laundromat Project, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, National Sawdust, NYU, and Urban Bush Women.

ONE POEM: A PROTEST READING IN SUPPORT OF BLACK LIVES

Who: Prisca Afantchao, Sojourner Ahebee, Kazim Ali, Kimberly Blaeser, Jericho Brown, Meera Dasgupta, Kwame Dawes, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Safia Elhillo, Martín Espada, Sesshu Foster, Kimberly Jae, Raina J. León, Mwatabu Okantah, Alberto Ríos, Terisa Siagatonu, Matthew Thompson, Emma Trelles, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Monica Youn, avery r. Young
What: Live poetry reading in support of Black lives
Where: CrowdCast, YouTube
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: On Tuesday, August 18, at 8:00, more than two dozen poets will gather online for “One Poem: A Protest Reading in Support of Black Lives.” The event is hosted by the Poetry Coalition, which consists of poetry organizations across the country; each founding member organization selected one poet and poem. Part of the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Coalition is “dedicated to working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds.” To find out more about Black-led and Black-serving organizations fighting injustice, the coalition has further information here.

RESISTANCE CONVERSATION WITH JESSE EISENBERG

Who: Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Jakubowicz, Dana Arschin
What: Conversation and Q&A
Where: The International March of the Living Zoom
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 1:00
Why: Writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz’s 2020 Holocaust thriller, Resistance, features a surprising hero: French mime Marcel Marceau, who was a teenage member of the French resistance during WWII. Known at the time as Marcel Mangel, he is portrayed in the film by actor and playwright Jesse Eisenberg; the film also stars Ed Harris as General George S. Patton and Matthias Schweighöfer as Klaus Barbie. On August 18 at 1:00, Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland) and Jakubowicz (Hands of Stone, Secuestro Express) will discuss the film and more with moderator and Emmy-winning reporter Dana Arschin, hosted by the March of the Living, an organization dedicated to honoring and remembering the six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, supporting Israel, and fighting anti-Semitism, discrimination, hatred, and intolerance everywhere. You can watch the film in advance here.

COCKTAILS WITH THE CURATORS: BEHIND THE SCENES OF “FOR AMERICA”

Robert Frederick Blum, Two Idlers, oil on canvas, 1888-89, NA diploma presentation, March 26, 1894 (photo courtesy National Academy of Design)

Who: Jeremiah William McCarthy, Diana Thompson
What: Livestreamed art conversation
Where: National Academy of Design
When: Monday, August 17, $10-$15, 7:00
Why: The National Academy of Design on the Upper East Side had already been closed for exhibitions for several years when the pandemic lockdown hit; at the time, its traveling retrospective, “For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design,” was on the road, having visited Dayton, Connecticut, and Florida before scheduled stops in New Mexico, Iowa, and other locations across the country. It is currently on view at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens in Memphis, but you can catch up with it online August 17 at 7:00 when curator Jeremiah William McCarthy and director of collections Diana Thompson explore the show, which features one hundred paintings from the collection, either a portrait of and/or or by a member, along with a second piece (known as diploma works), which are required upon induction into the academy. The traveling exhibit is divided into five sections: “Founding an American School,” “A New Internationalism,” “Painting America,” “Postwar Realisms,” and “For America,” with canvases by Childe Hassam, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, George Wesley Bellows, Ivan Albright, Andrew Wyeth, Charles White, George Inness, Will Barnet, Maxfield Parrish, Thomas Eakins, Jane Freilicher, Philip Pearlstein, Reginald Marsh, Wayne Thiebaud, Louisa Matthíasdóttir, and others. The hourlong discussion is being held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, where the show will be on view February 20 – May 9, 2021.