Who:Armistead Maupin,Ian McKellen What: Livestream conversation Where:Fane Online When: Wednesday, August 12, $25, 1:30 (available for forty-eight hours) Why: On August 12 at 1:30, author Armistead Maupin (Significant Others, Mary Ann in Autumn) will sit down with his good friend Sir Ian McKellen (The X-Men, Lord of the Rings) at the Crazy Coqs nightclub in London to discuss Maupin’s life and career, focusing on his 2017 nonfiction book, Logical Family: A Memoir. McKellen appeared as Archibald Anson Gidde in three episodes of Tales of the City, the original 1993 miniseries based on Maupin’s bestselling novels. In October 2015, Maupin presented the Mill Valley Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award to McKellen; the actor has referred to the author as his ”godfather.” Tickets are $25 in the US and £25 in the UK (accompanied by a signed copy of the book).
Who:Robert Wilson What: “Innovation”: Volume 14 of National Sawdust’s Digital Discovery Festival Where:Live@NationalSawdust,Facebook Live When: Wednesday, August 12, free, 6:00 Why: Bold and daring theater and opera impresario Robert Wilson has been creating cutting-edge works since the late 1960s, from The Black Rider, Faust,Woyceck, and The Life and Death of Marina Abramović to Alice,Einstein on the Beach,Hamletmachine, and Letter to a Man. He’s a master of combining stunning visuals with ingenious audio in mind-blowing productions that push the boundaries of what theater can be. So he’s a natural choice to take part in National Sawdust’s fourteenth volume of its Digital Discovery Festival, the theme of which is “Innovation.”
On August 12 at 6:00, the Williamsburg-based club will present Texas native Wilson’s Lecture on Nothing, his adaptation of John Cage’s 1950 text, in honor of the twenty-eighth anniversary of Cage’s passing on August 12, 1992, at the age of seventy-nine. The hourlong piece debuted in August 2012 at the Ruhrtriennale Festival in Germany, with Wilson dressed in all-white clothing and makeup, surrounded by textual excerpts from the work and a cluttered floor. “I am here and there is nothing to say,” Cage’s speech begins. “If among you are those who wish to get somewhere, let them leave at any moment. What we re-quire is silence; but what silence requires is that I go on talking.”
The Digital Discovery Festival has previously featured such themes as “Spirituality,” “Social Change,” “Rebellion,” “Activism,” and “Virtuosity,” with new and archival concerts and master classes with Vijay Gupta, Vijay Iyer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sxip Shirey, Tania León, and others. “Innovation” runs August 10-14 and also includes concerts and/or conversations with Jenny Hval, Trimpin, and Matthew Whitaker. All shows are free and are archived if you miss the livestream.
Who: Rufus Wainwright, Stephen Salters, Krishna Das, Amy Burton, John Musto, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Sharon Salzberg, Dan Harris, Shirley Hunt, Krysty Swann, Joseph Goldstein, R. Carlos Nakai What: Live virtual benefit concert Where:Community Meditation Center online When: Sunday, August 9, $25 – $1,000, 7:00 Why: Since 2007, the Community Meditation Center has been “supporting each individual’s efforts to alleviate suffering, stress, and discord in themselves and in the world. CMC objectives oppose the destructive forces of greed, hatred, and delusion by cultivating generosity, compassion, and wisdom.” On August 9 at 7:00, the Upper West Side institution will be holding its annual gala online, benefiting CMC in addition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network and First Nations Development Institute. The all-star lineup features singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, kirtan chanter Krishna Das, Met Opera stars Anthony Roth Costanzo and Krysty Swann, soprano Amy Burton and pianist John Musto, cellist Shirley Hunt, baritone Stephen Salters, and Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai, with Insight Meditation Society cofounders Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, hosted by Dan Harris. Donations begin at $25 to attend the benefit and go up to $1,000 with copies of several of the participants ’ books and CDs.
Investigative journalist Maria Ressa faces off against Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte in A Thousand Cuts
Who: Ramona S. Diaz, Maria Ressa, Christiane Amanpour What: Livestream Q&A about A Thousand Cuts Where:Film Forum online When: Sunday, August 9, free with RSVP, 11:00 am (film available to stream now) Why: Around the world, freedom of the press is under attack like never before, as authoritarian leaders and dictators attempt to silence their critics and control the narrative by casting the media as the enemy of the people. In A Thousand Cuts, which opens virtually at Film Forum on August 7, filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz focuses on the Philippines, where President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent war on drugs has widened to include threatening journalists who do not support him: particularly Maria Ressa, the dedicated and relentless founder of the online news site Rappler, which has refused to submit to Duterte’s brutal authority.
“What we’re seeing is death by a thousand cuts of our democracy, and it is done . . . think about the bleeding, little cuts to the body politic, to the body of Philippine democracy,” she says in a short speech. “And when you have enough of these cuts, you are so weakened that you will die.” Despite the efforts of Duterte and his justice department to silence Ressa, she is determined to not stop the fight, displaying a remarkable calmness even through a series of arrests as the government tries to lock her up.
Diaz also follows Rappler reporter Pia Ranada, who won’t back down when Duterte sues her; Duterte strongman Bato dela Rosa, who is running for the Senate on a platform based on killing every drug dealer and addict, leaving their bodies piling up in the streets; Mocha Uson, a singer and model spreading fake news to help Duterte and running for office herself; Sara Duterte, the president’s daughter, who is campaigning to become mayor of Davao City; and activist and progressive Samira Gutoc, a member of the opposition party who is one of several candidates taking on Bato.
Ramona S. Diaz tracks President Duterte’s war on drugs and freedom of the press in A Thousand Cuts
One of the most frightening parts of the film is a clip from an intimate one-on-one interview Ressa conducted with Duterte as she fearlessly addresses his war on drugs; it evokes Jonathan Swan’s recent Axios/HBO sit-down with Donald Trump, in which the reporter would not let the president get away with standard rhetoric and unsubstantiated fabrications. But for Ressa, the strongman’s payback promises to be much worse.
However, one of the most entertaining and revealing parts of the film occurs when Ressa is in New York for a conference, accompanied by her friend Mary Jane Ballinger. Ballinger got Ressa an elegant dress and heels so the journalist will be appropriately dressed for the event, but Ressa is having none of that, content with her usual, plainer look. When Ressa is speaking with Amal Clooney shortly after a presentation by the Clooney Foundation for Justice, Diaz can’t help but quickly scan down to show Clooney’s fancy footwear and Ressa’s ordinary shoes.
Even when she is the center of attention, Ressa is always humble and easygoing, whether giving a speech or being arrested yet again. “For Mary Jane, home is here, in New York; I chose my home, in Manila, in the Philippines, for better or worse . . . I hope not,” she explains. “It’s ironic that even though our choices are different, our two nations now have the same type of leaders: macho, populist, sexist at best, misogynistic at worst. They both use anger and fear to divide and conquer. They’ve created a politics of hate.” Ressa regularly makes a pitch for love, not afraid to get sentimental.
In A Thousand Cuts — which concludes with a powerful new track by Ruby Ibarra featuring Ann One — Diaz (Imelda, Motherland) celebrates an extraordinary woman with an intrinsic sense of what’s right, a fierce yet cool-as-a-cucumber investigative journalist who is not about to be intimidated by a murderous dictator. It’s an inspiring story as well as a cautionary tale that relates directly to what is happening in America right now. And it’s far from over, as you will learn when Diaz and Ressa join Christiane Amanpour for a live, free Q&A on August 9 at 11:00 am.
Lynn Hershman Leeson, CyberRoberta, custom-made doll, clothing, glasses, webcam, surveillance camera, mirror, original programming, and telerobotic head-rotating system, 1996 (photo courtesy the artist; Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco; and Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York)
Who:Lynn Hershman Leeson,Margot Norton What: Artist conversation Where:New Museum Zoom When: Thursday, August 6, free with RSVP, 7:00 Why: On February 9, 2021, the New Museum is planning on opening “Twisted,” the first solo museum exhibition by Cleveland-born artist Lynn Hershman Leeson. The multimedia show will feature drawåing, sculpture, video, photography, and interactive online works. Leeson, who is based in San Francisco, has also directed five films: Strange Culture, Teknolust, Conceiving Ada, Women Art Revolution: A Secret History, and Tania Libre. On August 6 at 7:00, Leeson will discuss the upcoming exhibition, which explores such issues as transmutation, identity, and cyborgs (including her new series “Twisted Gravity”), as well as art in the time of Covid-19, with New Museum curator Margot Norton, who organized the show and interviewed Leeson for the catalog. The Zoom discussion is free with advance RSVP here.
Who: Nicole Macdonald, Hannah Jayanti, G. Anthony Svatek, Christina Battle, Adam Khalil What: Panel discussion with documentarians Where:Maysles Documentary Center Zoom When: Tuesday, August 4, free with RSVP, 7:00 Why: Maysles Virtual Cinema is currently streaming for free the series “After Civilization,” a dozen documentaries that look at the present state of our world, amid a global pandemic, police brutality, riots, neocolonialism, climate change, and a lack of leadership from those in power. On August 4 at 7:00, Maysles Documentary Center is hosting a free panel discussion, exploring such questions as “But when the modern idyll of ‘civilization’ is threatened — whether through active resistance, environmental disaster, or structural collapse — what follows?” and “How do we care for the planet while centering human life, and from where, exactly, will the seeds of collective liberation grow?” The Zoom panel features five of the filmmakers: Nicole Macdonald (A Park for Detroit), Hannah Jayanti (Truth or Consequences), G. Anthony Svatek (.TV), Christina Battle (Bad Stars: Chemical Valley,Water Once Ruled), and Adam Khalil (INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place/it flies. falls./]). The other films you can watch for free through August 15 are John Akomfrah‘s Last Angel of History, Pat O’Neill‘s Water and Power, Fern Silva‘s Wayward Fronds, Susana de Sousa Dias’s Fordlandia Malaise, Ben Rivers’s Slow Action, and Basim Magdy‘s The Many Colors of the Sky Radiate Forgetfulness.
Who: Brian Cox, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Orson Cox, Torin Cox, Joslyn DeFreece, Lena Dunham, Ryan J. Haddad, Daniel K. Isaac, Andy Lucien, Laurie Metcalf, Kelli O’Hara, Cesar J. Rosado, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Sibilly, Janelle Monáe, Billy Shore What: New online theatrical works to benefit No Kid Hungry Where: Link supplied by the Homebound Project after donation When: August 5-9, $10 or more, 7:00 Why: One of the best theatrical series during the pandemic has been the Homebound Project, short one-act plays, generally between five and ten minutes each, featuring award-winning actors, writers, and directors, filmed wherever the performer is sheltering in place. Among the many highlights from the first four iterations were Alison Pill in C. A. Johnson’s diversions, Marin Ireland in Eliza Clark’s The Jessicas, Kimberly Hébert Gregory in Loy A. Webb’s These Hands, Utkarsh Ambudkar in Marco Ramirez’s Is This a Play Yet, Ashley Park in Bess Wohl’s The Morning Message to the Second Graders in Room 206, directed by Leigh Silverman, Daveed Diggs in Johnson’s Here and Now, Diane Lane in Michael R. Jackson’s Let’s Save the World, also directed by Silverman, Sue Jean Kim in Leslye Headland’s The Rat, directed by Annie Tippe, and Marquise Vilsón in Migdalia Cruz’s Meat & Other Broken Promises, directed by Cándido Tirado. However, if you didn’t catch them the first time around, when they ran online for four days each, then you’re out of luck. But you can catch the fifth and final presentation, which premieres August 5 at 7:00 and can be viewed, with a minimum donation of ten dollars, through August 9 at 7:00. All proceeds benefit No Kid Hungry; more than one hundred thousand dollars has been collected so far.
The theme of the first four installments were “Home,” “Sustenance,” “Champions,” and “Promise”; taking on the prompt of “Homemade” are the following exciting actor/writer/director collaborations: Brian Cox, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Orson Cox, and Torin Cox / Melis Aker / Tatiana Pandiani; Joslyn DeFreece / Lloyd Suh / Colette Robert; Lena Dunham / Lena Dunham / Maggie Burrows; Ryan J. Haddad / Christopher Oscar Peña / Jaki Bradley; Daniel K. Isaac / Sylvia Khoury; Andy Lucien / Donnetta Lavinia Grays; Laurie Metcalf / Stephen Karam; Kelli O’Hara / Lindsey Ferrentino / Scott Ellis; Austin Pendleton / Craig Lucas / Pam MacKinnon; Cesar J. Rosado / Basil Kreimendahl / Samantha Soule; Amanda Seyfried / Catya McMullen / Jenna Worsham; and Johnny Sibilly / Korde Arrington Tuttle / Worsham; along with special appearances by Janelle Monáe and Share Our Strength executive director Billy Shore. These compilations have done a superb job of putting the pandemic in perspective, particularly how it relates to theater; in addition, there’s the major bonus of seeing where these actors are hunkered down during the coronavirus crisis.
