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

THE FUTURE OF FILM IS FEMALE, PART 2: BLAME / HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARSHA!

Quinn Shepard is a sextuple threat in sexy, hard-hitting teen drama Blame

BLAME (Quinn Shephard, 2017)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Thursday, February 14, 4:00
Series runs February 14-21
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/blame

Last summer, MoMA presented “The Future Is Female,” a week of independent features and shorts written, directed, and starring women, dealing with important issues of inclusivity and gender. The series is back for its second iteration, running February 14-21 and beginning with a recent head spinner. Twenty-two-year-old Quinn Shephard proves herself to be a sextuple threat in the daring, sexy teen thriller Blame. The New Jersey native wrote, directed, edited, produced, and stars in the film, in addition to writing the lyrics for several songs performed by Peter Henry Phillips. Her mother, Laurie Shephard, also produced and cast the movie, which takes place in a New Jersey high school where Abigail Grey (Shephard) has returned after a mysterious psychotic incident. She is immediately targeted by mean-girl leader Melissa Bowman (Nadia Alexander) and her trusted bestie, Sophie Grant (Sarah Mezzanotte), while the third member of the clique, Ellie Redgrave (Tessa Albertson), might be on the outs for showing sympathy for Abigail. Melissa sics her boyfriend, T.J. (Owen Campbell), and Sophie’s beau, Eric (Luke Slattery), on Abigail, taunting and teasing her, calling her Sybil, after the book and movie about a woman with multiple personalities. When Jeremy Woods (Chris Messina) takes over their drama class, he switches the play they’re presenting from Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, casting Abigail as protagonist Abigail Williams, who might be involved with witchcraft, and Eric as John Proctor, a married man she might be having an affair with. Melissa, who wanted the lead role, is furious when she is named Abigail’s understudy. When Eric doesn’t take things seriously, Jeremy steps in to play John, angering Melissa further as Abigail gets to spend more time with the rather attractive teacher, especially as she watches Abigail and Jeremy grow very close. And Melissa doesn’t like to lose.

Quinn Shepard, wrote, directed, produced, edited, stars in, and composed lyrics for for her feature-film debut, Blame

Blame is a carefully crafted, intimate tale of lust, jealousy, and obsession, capturing the complicated zeitgeist of high school life, the fear and trepidation along with the experimentation and confusion. In shifting from The Glass Menagerie to The Crucible, Shephard equates mental illness with witchcraft as seen through a feminist lens as her story parallels Miller’s, much as Amy Heckerling’s Clueless follows Jane Austen’s Emma (only without the laughs) and Roger Kumble’s Cruel Intentions is based on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons dangereuses. The scenes between Shephard (Hostages, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) and Messina (The Mindy Project, Damages) are sizzling hot as teacher and student teeter on the edge of a major taboo. Shephard, who appeared in a high school production of The Crucible, also gets to show off her fab eyebrows, which are a character unto themselves. She is one talented filmmaker deserving of attention in an industry that must do a much better job cultivating, acknowledging, celebrating, and rewarding films by and about women. Blame is screening February 14 at 4:00 with Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel’s fourteen-minute Happy Birthday, Marsha!, about trans artist and activist Marsha P. Johnson, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. “The Future Is Female, Part 2” continues with such other pairings as Nia DaCosta’s Little Woods and Crystal Kayiza’s Edgecombe, Kate Novack’s The Gospel According to André and Catherine Lee’s 9at38, and Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline and Eleanor Wilson’s Low Road, all followed by discussions.

BILL CHATS

Oskar Eustis and Bill T. Jones will talk about their roles as artistic directors on February 11 at NYLA

Who: Bill T. Jones and Oskar Eustis
What: Bill Chats
Where: New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves., 212-924-0077
When: Monday, February 11, $8-$10, 7:00
Why: New York Live Arts artistic director Bill T. Jones sits down with Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis for the next edition of his “Bill Chats” series, taking place February 11 at 7:00. Jones, an award-winning choreographer — among his many prizes are the Tony, the Obie, the 2013 National Medal of Arts, the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 1994 MacArthur Genius Award — and Eustis, who directed the controversial 2017 Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar that turned the Roman leader into Donald Trump, will discuss the current sociopolitical climate and how it impacts their decisions as artistic directors.

PLS. REPLY BOOK LAUNCH

Rochelle Feinstein will celebrate the publication of her new book with a celebration at the Block Gallery (courtesy Ugly Duckling Presse)

Who: Rochelle Feinstein and Didier William
What: Book launch and discussion
Where: AIM: Artist in the Marketplace, the Block Gallery, 80 White St., second floor
When: Monday, February 11, free with advance RSVP, 6:00
Why: Bronx native Rochelle Feinstein will celebrate the launch of her new book, Pls. Reply (Ugly Duckling Presse / Bronx Museum of the Arts / Stellar Projects, March 1, $22), with a special event at AIM’s new space in the Block Gallery on February 11. The trade paperback is a collection of her writings along with sixteen full-color book plates, edited by Antonio Sergio Bessa, and comes out in conjunction with her current exhibition at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, “Rochelle Feinstein: Image of an Image,” which continues through March 3 and was curated by Bessa. At the Block Gallery, the seventy-one-year-old Feinstein, a tenured Yale professor, will talk with Haitian visual artist and AIM alumnus Didier William; beer and wine will be served, and Pls. Reply will be available at a discount.

ANGIE THOMAS: ON THE COME UP

Angie Thomas will be at Symphony Space on February 6 for the launch of her second novel, On the Come Up (photo by Anissa Hidouk)

Who: Angie Thomas, radio host Angela Yee, actress Dominique Fishback
What: Book talk, Q&A, signing, live performance
Where: Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 2537 Broadway at 95th St., 212-864-5400
When: Wednesday, February 6, $10-$45, 6:30
Why: In a different side of my life, I have the privilege of working on many wonderful book projects for kids of all ages. Two years ago, it was absolutely thrilling to be part of the publisher’s team on The Hate U Give, the debut novel by Angie Thomas that has spent one hundred weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and was turned into a movie by 20th Century Fox. More recently it’s been thoroughly exciting to work on Thomas’s second book, On the Come Up (HarperCollins Children’s Books, $18.99), which goes on sale on Tuesday, February 5. The Jackson, Mississippi, native will celebrate the publication with a special event at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre the next night, February 6, featuring Thomas in conversation with radio host Angela Yee, an audience Q&A, and a book signing; in addition, actress Dominique Fishback (The Deuce), who portrayed Kenya in The Hate U Give, will perform an excerpt from the novel, which is about an aspiring teenage rapper. Tickets are $30 to $40 and include a copy of On the Come Up; a limited number of companion tickets are available for $10 (without the novel).

TIBET HOUSE US BENEFIT CONCERT 2019

tibet house benefit

Who: Artistic director Philip Glass, Stephen Colbert, Jason Isbell, Nathaniel Rateliff, Jon Batiste, New Order’s Bernard Sumner, Phil Cunningham, Tom Chapman & Joe Duddell, Debbie Harry, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Angélique Kidjo, Laurie Anderson with cellist Rubin Kodheli, Tenzin Choegyal, the Patti Smith Band and the Scorchio Quartet, and an invocation by monks, with honorary chairs Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Uma Thurman, and Arden Wohl
What: Thirty-second annual concert raising funds for the nonprofit Tibet House US, celebrating the Year of the Pig and Tibetan New Year (Losar)
Where: Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, 881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St., 212-247-7800
When: Thursday, February 7, $35-$200 (special packages with the concert, party, and more start at $500), 7:30
Why: Tibet House US was founded in 1987 at the request of the Dalai Lama, “dedicated to preserving Tibet’s unique culture at a time when it is confronted with extinction on its own soil”; the annual benefit concert is always one of the cultural highlights of the year in New York City, with an eclectic roster of performers paying tribute to the historic nation.

OPEN PRACTICE

Photo: Michael Kerstgens/Collection Philippe Petit

Philippe Petit will share many of his tightrope secrets at STREB on February 8 (photo by Michael Kerstgens/Collection Philippe Petit)

SLAM (STREB Lab for Action Mechanics)
51 North 1st Street
Thursday, February 8, $40-$45, 7:00
streb.org/masterclass

Tightrope master Philippe Petit has walked between the two towers of the World Trade Center and across the Niagara River, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Grand Central Terminal, and other locations around the world. On February 8, the sixty-nine-year-old French-born, New York City-based magician, juggler, fencer, bullfighter, and circus performer will be at SLAM in Brooklyn, the STREB Lab for Action Mechanics, holding an open practice. The public is invited into one of his “secret” sessions at 7:00, consisting of an introduction, warm-up exercises, and walking on a twenty-five-foot-long, seven-foot-high tightrope, where the audience can get up close and watch his every movement and facial gesture. The walks will be accompanied by stories of the choreographic elements, followed by a Q&A. Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 at the door for this rare opportunity to go behind the scenes with one of the greatest high-wire artists of all time.

FIRST SATURDAYS: SOUL OF A NATION

Roy DeCarava, Couple Walking, gelatin silver print on paper, 1979 (© 2017 estate of Roy DeCarava)

FIRST SATURDAYS
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, February 2, free (some events require advance tickets), 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum honors Black History Month in the February edition of its free First Saturday program. There will be live performances by Winard Harper, YahZarah (“I’m Taking You Back”), and Toshi Reagon with violinist Juliette Jones and bassist, guitarist, and vocalist Ganessa James; curator tours of “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” and “Eric N. Mack: Lemme walk across the room” with Ashley James; a Learning Lesson discussion with artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed inspired by Octavia Butler’s idea of “primitive hypertext”; pop-up gallery talks of “Soul of a Nation” with teen apprentices; a screening of Mr. Soul (Melissa Haizlip & Samuel D. Pollard, 2018), introduced by the directors; a hands-on workshop in which participants can create wearable activist patches inspired by the messages of the Guerrilla Girls and AfriCOBRA; an artist talk featuring Shani Jamila’s new podcast, Lineage, with photographers Ming Smith and Russell Fredrick of the Kamoinge collective; “Soul of a Nation”–inspired poetry with Karisma Price, Naomi Extra, and Stephanie Jean of Cave Canem; an “Archives as Raw History” tour with archivist Molly Seegers; and Black Gotham Experience’s immersive Magnetic Resonance, consisting of a photo studio by Kamau Ware with styling by Charles Johnson, video collage by Kearaha Bryant, and music by GoodWill, P.U.D.G.E., and Rimarkable. In addition, the galleries will be open late so you can check out “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” “Eric N. Mack: Lemme walk across the room,” “One: Do Ho Suh,” “Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection,” “Something to Say: Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine, Deborah Kass, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Hank Willis Thomas,” “Rob Wynne: FLOAT,” “Infinite Blue,” “A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt,” “Kwang Young Chun: Aggregations,” and more.