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

FIRST TIME FEST: SALESMAN

Albert and David Maysles follow door-to-door Bible salesman in seminal documentary screening at First Time Fest

FIRST EXPOSURE: SALESMAN (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)
Neuehouse
110 East 25th St. between Lexington & Madison Aves.
Friday, April 4, $15, 9:00
Festival runs April 3-7
www.firsttimefest.com
www.mayslesfilms.com

Forty-five years ago, brothers Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin made the highly influential black-and-white documentary Salesman, an intimate portrait of four traveling door-to-door Bible salesmen: Jamie Baker, Raymond Martos, Charles McDevitt, and particularly Boston’s Paul Brennan. “Go out there and get ’em,” their boss, who doesn’t exactly follow the teachings of Jesus, declares as they prepare to spread the word of the Lord, although more to earn a living than as a religious calling. The shots of Brennan singing “If I Were a Rich Man” in the snow are priceless, but the end will haunt you. Without Salesman, there probably never would have been a Glengarry Glen Ross and so many other films. All these years later, this fascinating piece of Americana, which was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1992, still feels fresh and relevant in these hard times. The Maysles brothers went on to make a series of documentaries that redefined the genre, including Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens, and Albert’s Maysles Cinema in Harlem is devoted to nonfiction filmmaking. Salesman is screening April 4 at 4:00 at Neuehouse in the First Exposure section of the second annual First Time Fest, which celebrates the debut work of writers, directors, and producers; the eighty-seven-year-old Maysles will be on hand to discuss the seminal film. Among the other First Exposure presentations are Julie Taymor’s Titus, Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets, James Toback’s Fingers, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass, Michael Moore’s Roger & Me, and Jennie Livingston’s opening-night Paris Is Burning, with all of those directors present at the screenings; cinematographer Fred Elmes will discuss David Lynch’s Eraserhead. Ten films by first-time directors from around the world are in competition at this year’s festival, which runs April 3-7 at Neuehouse and Loews Village VII.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: PIĘTNASTKA

The fourth annual Unsound Festival, which highlights cutting-edge experimental electronic music from around the world, features more than two dozen artists who will be playing such venues as Issue Project Room, Cameo Gallery, the First Unitarian Church, Experimental Intermedia, BAMcinématek, and the Wick from April 2 to 6. Among the performers are Evol, Phil Niblock, Kapital, Håkon Stene, Stara Rzeka, and, opening night at Issue, Oren Ambarchi with Sinfonietta Cracovia Quintet & Friends. In addition to ticketed performances, there are several free events: the multimedia olfactory “Ephemera” art exhibition at AVA on the Lower East Side; “Lixiviation,” a collaboration between Suzanne Ciani and Neotrantrik on April 3 at 7:30 at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium, with Piętnastka opening; and a Listening Session with Porter Ricks’s Thomas Köner on April 5 at 1:30 at the Goethe-Institut, followed by a conversation between Ciani and Andy Votel at 3:00 and the panel discussion “Network Theory — an Intro into ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound)” at 4:30 with Mat Schulz, Oliver Baurhenn, Malcolm Levy, and Martin Craciun, moderated by Andy Battaglia.

BREAK BREAD WITH THE BARD: WHY SHAKESPEARE? WHY NOW?

Michael Pennington, who is starring as King Lear in Theatre for a New Audience production, will participate in Drama Desk panel on Shakespeare

DRAMA DESK SPRING LUNCHEON AND PANEL DISCUSSION
Sardi’s Eugenia Room
234 West 44th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Friday, April 4, $50-$60, 11:45 am
212-352-3101
www.dramadesk.org

Has Shakespeare ever been hotter in New York theater? Mark Rylance just dazzled Broadway in Twelfth Night and Richard III; Kenneth Branagh will be starring in and directing Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory in June, following Ethan Hawke’s portrayal at Lincoln Center; Julie Taymor inaugurated Theatre for a New Audience’s new Brooklyn space with A Midsummer Night’s Dream; the National Theatre of China just made its U.S. debut with Richard III at the Skirball Center; Romeo & Juliet could recently be seen on Broadway and at Classic Stage; the Public Theater moved Antony and Cleopatra to Haiti; and we’ve had a surfeit of King Lears, with Frank Langella at BAM, Michael Pennington currently at Theatre for a New Audience, and John Lithgow set to take on the role this summer at the Delacorte. On April 4, the Drama Desk will delve into this Shakespearean deluge with the panel discussion “Why Shakespeare? Why Now?” at its annual spring luncheon, taking place in Sardi’s Eugenia Room. The event will be moderated by theater teacher, critic, translator, and playwright Dr. Carol Rocamora and feature Taymor, who in addition to Midsummer Night’s Dream has directed productions of The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, and Titus Andronicus for stage and/or screen; John Glover, who played multiple roles in Macbeth at the Vivian Beaumont; Scott Shepherd, who starred in the Wooster Group’s Cry, Trojans! based on Troilus and Cressida; Daniel Sullivan, who has helmed seven Shakespeare in the Park plays; and Pennington, the cofounder of the English Shakespeare Company who has appeared in more than a dozen Shakespeare productions in addition to writing several books on individual works by the Bard.

TWI-NY TALK: RAYYA ELIAS

Rayya Elias and Elizabeth Gilbert will be at powerHouse on April 2 for launch of HARLEY LOCO paperback (photo by Bill Miller)

RAYYA ELIAS IN CONVERSATION WITH ELIZABETH GILBERT
powerHouse Arena
37 Main St. at Water St., Brooklyn
Wednesday, April 2, free (advance RSVP appreciated), 7:00
718-666-3049
www.powerhousearena.com
www.rayyaelias.com

“This book is the story of my life,” Rayya Elias writes in the first chapter of the painfully poignant yet ultimately inspiring Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side (Penguin, March 2014, $16). “This is my truth, and it may not be pretty, but I own it.” Pretty it isn’t, as the Syrian-born Elias details her battles with drug addiction, her time in prison, her struggles with sexual identity, and her eventual recovery from a shocking rock bottom. Clean since August 1997, Elias is a gregarious woman with an infectious personality that lights up a room. She “always wanted to be the center of attention,” she notes in the book, and she’s spent much of the last year doing just that, promoting Harley Loco — the title refers to her Rikers Island nickname — around the world. A musician, filmmaker, hair stylist, and major football fan, Elias will be at Brooklyn’s powerHouse Arena on April 2 for the launch of the paperback edition of her memoir. She will once again be joined by her close friend Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of such books as The Signature of All Things and Eat, Pray, Love who wrote the introduction to Harley Loco. Last fall, we appeared on Elias’s sports-and-fantasy podcast, “Football Riffs and Chicks,” and now she is returning the favor, answering intimate questions for a very personal twi-ny talk.

twi-ny: You just lost your pitbull, Ricky. How are you doing?

Rayya Elias: Well, the grief comes and goes. It’s only been a few days since he passed, so I’m still in shock, I think. Ricky was my kid and companion for thirteen years, so there is a huge gaping hole in my heart. We were meant for each other; he was beaten up quite dramatically (used as a bait dog), and he had the scars to prove it, yet he was so good inside. We did quite a bit of healing together.

twi-ny: For the last year, you’ve spent a lot of time on the road promoting your memoir. What’s that experience been like, especially as you have to keep going back over some very difficult times in your life?

Rayya Elias: Writing the book was the ultimate cathartic experience for exercising those demons. Sometimes, when I was in the midst of working on the book, I doubted my own memory because it was almost too much to grasp. It got pretty deep.

twi-ny: What’s been the best part of the tour?

Rayya Elias: When I was on the road promoting it, it became like a testimonial. My favorite part was that people came out of the woodwork to tell me their stories, whether it was an eighteen-year-old child who had gone missing due to drugs or a gray-haired lady who related to being fat as a kid or being bullied as a teenager. So many people wanted to be heard because they related to many parts of my story. That’s what really kept me in the zone.

twi-ny: How about the worst?

Rayya Elias: There is no worst. Honestly, I love all of it. It’s something I’ve longed for, so I’m taking it all in, the hotels, the road food, even the airports, and especially when friends I haven’t seen in years show up at a reading/performance, I love it.

twi-ny: Is there a question that you’ve been surprised you haven’t been asked yet?

Rayya Elias: Not really; people have pretty much dissected it. I was really happy that a college radio station in Brisbane, Australia, asked about methadone detox. No one in the States really bothered giving that one any thought. I was pretty grateful, as I have a strong opinion about it!

twi-ny: You’re very good friends with Elizabeth Gilbert. How did the two of you meet?

Rayya Elias: Liz and I have been friends since the year 2000. She came into my studio and needed an intervention. Not a drug intervention like I was used to, but a hair intervention. I cut her hair and we told each other stories. She was writing for GQ at the time and asked me to style a story that Mary Ellen Mark was shooting. We clicked on a level that neither of us really understood. It was deep, and very real, and she became a part of my life. Then, many years later, she bullied me into writing my memoir. Ha!

twi-ny: Do you want to offer a sneak peek at the powerHouse event? For example, will you have your guitar with you?

Rayya Elias: I will absolutely have my guitar, and I will play a few songs. A new one is called “Touch the Ground,” inspired by Liz’s book The Signature of All Things. I recorded it, and with Barb Morrison producing, it sounds amazing.

twi-ny: Last November, we appeared on “Football Riffs and Chicks.” That was a lot of fun. Will there be another season?

Rayya Elias: I loved having you and Ellen on “FR&C”; it was so much fun. Yes, I will definitely do it again; this year I will concentrate a little more on fantasy, I think.

twi-ny: Your fantasy football team, which is named the Pittbulls, after Ricky, finished in a three-way tie for the best record in our fantasy football league. Were you happy with your team’s performance?

Rayya Elias: I’m never happy with my team’s performance unless I win. My guys were getting hurt every week, so I really had to study and pick up the next best available athlete for the position. It was hard going. I can’t imagine what the real live sport is like for the coaches. That’s why I’m in awe of the game.

twi-ny: You were born in Syria and still have family there; how has the political situation there affected them and you?

Rayya Elias: It’s been extremely difficult. The country is torn, my family is torn, my heart is broken for the Syria I visited just four years ago. I spent Christmas and New Year’s with family in Aleppo and Damascus. Now they are struggling and I haven’t heard from some of them in quite some time. No one saw it coming because the country seemed to be on the verge of a tourism breakout and everything seemed to be going well.

twi-ny: Okay, so you’re a writer, musician, hair stylist, podcast host, filmmaker, and big-time football fan; what’s next for you?

Rayya Elias: I’m wrapping my head around a new book, a novel of sorts. I’ve never tried to write fiction, but I’m gonna give it a whirl. Music is something that is constant in my life, so that’s a given. The rest is up to what inspires me. I’m the type of person who loves to be involved in creative endeavors and make stuff. Once an idea enters my head and my heart, it starts to take over my being, and once it’s too much to hold in, then I gotta let it out. If I can’t keep it in, I gotta let it out!

WHITNEY BIENNIAL PERFORMANCES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Lisa Anne Auerbach will activate her “American Megazine” on Friday nights at the Whitney Biennial (photograph © Lisa Anne Auerbach)

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Through May 25, $18 (pay-what-you-wish Fridays 6:00 – 9:00)
Many programs require advance registration and/or tickets
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org

The 2014 Whitney Biennial, the last to be held in Marcel Breuer and Hamilton P. Smith’s 1960s building on the corner of Madison and Seventy-Fifth, is another mixed bag, further complicated by the curious decision to have three floors organized by three different curators, creating a more disjointed survey of the state of American art than usual. Perhaps the best time to take in this year’s model is when you get the added bonus of a special performance or program, many of which require advance RSVP or tickets. On May 7 at 7:30 ($8), the curators, Stuart Comer, Anthony Elms, and Michelle Grabner, will participate in a roundtable discussion with Jay Sanders that should shed plenty of light on their choices, but there are lots of other events as well. From April 2 to 6 in the second-floor Kaufman Astoria Studios Film and Video Gallery, Academy Records and Matt Hanner present the concurrent film loop The Bower with the three-hour audio No Jets, combining visuals of a cherry tree with audio of flight delays immediately following the events of September 11, while Gary Indiana’s Stanley Park merges images of a Cuban prison with shots of jellyfish. Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst’s twenty-three-minute short, She Gone Rogue, plays April 2-6 and 9-13 in the lobby gallery. On April 4, New York City teens in grades nine through twelve are invited to a free artist workshop led by the collective My Barbarian; the program continues April 11 with Joshua Mosley. On Friday nights through May 23, Lisa Anne Auerbach will activate her large-scale American Megazine on the third floor.

Miguel Gutierrez and Mickey Mahar team up for dance performance that examines midcareer anxiety (photo by Eric McNatt)

On April 6 at 4:00, James Benning’s re-creation of the 1969 classic Easy Rider will be shown in the Kaufman gallery in conjunction with Julie Ault’s “Afterlife: a constellation.” Composer Robert Ashley and director Alex Waterman will present the world premiere of their opera, Crash, April 10-13 ($20); their Spanish-language TV opera, Vidas Perfectas, runs April 17-20 ($20), while their reimagined speaking opera, The Trial of Anne Opie Wehrer and Unknown Accomplices for Crimes Against Humanity, with Amy Sillman, Wayne Koestenbaum, Mary Farley, and Barbara Bloom, plays April 23-27 ($20). Fred Lonidier will lead a teach-in on April 11 at 7:00 that looks at art and labor. On April 12 and 26 ($10 per family), Whitney Wees offers kid-friendly tours and workshops for families with children ages four to five, in addition to the sketching tour “Sculpture and Drawing” for families with kids ages six to ten ($10); also on April 12, Mosely will be leading an Artist’s Choice Workshop for families with children ages eight to twelve ($10), and the Open Studio program, for kids of all ages, will examine Sheila Hicks’s “Pillar of Inquiry / Supple Column.” (Other family workshops are scheduled for April 26 in the Whitney Studio, May 2 with Dan Walsh, May 10 for kids with autism and with My Barbarian, and May 17 with Sara Greenberger Rafferty.) From April 16 to 20, Taisha Paggett will debut a new performance piece in the lobby gallery. On April 17 at 7:00 ($8), Miguel Gutierrez and My Barbarian’s Alexandro Segade have put together “Take Ecstasy with Me,” an evening of performances and reflections by Kalup Linzy, Jacolby Satterwhite, Nao Bustamante, Jorge Cortiñas, A. L. Steiner, Kate Bush Dance Troupe, Juliana Huxtable, and others, inspired by the work of the late Cuban theorist José Esteban Muñoz; Gutierrez will perform the duet Age & Beauty Part 1: Mid-Career Artist/Suicide Note or &:-/ with dancer Mickey Mahar April 23 – May 4 ($20).

Anthony Elms, Stuart Comer, and Michelle Grabner will discuss their curatorial choices at May 7 panel discussion (photo by Filip Wolak)

On April 18 at 7:30, Kevin Beasley, with Leon Finley and Christhian Diaz, will present the interactive audio piece “Public Programs in Sonic Masses.” (Beasley will also host a teen workshop on May 2 and activate his sound sculptures on May 14 at noon, May 16 at 1:00, and May 17 at 3:00 in the lobby gallery.) On April 26 at 6:30 ($8), Triple Canopy will investigate “Media Replication Services.” Doug Ischar’s Come Lontano, Tristes Tarzan, and Alone with You will screen April 30 – May 4 in the Kaufman gallery. On May 1 at 6:30 ($8), Joseph Grigely will deliver a “Seminars with Artists” lecture about communication and miscommunication, followed by Susan Howe’s talk on the “telepathy of archives” on May 14 at 6:30 ($8) and Amy Sillman examining the materiality of color on May 22 at 6:30 ($8). On May 6 at 7:00 ($8), Ault, Benning, and William Least Heat-Moon will discuss “Histories of Place.” On May 11, Travis Jeppesen will read his novel The Suiciders in a durational performance on the third floor. And on May 19 at 7:00 ($8), Dawoud Bey will lead a roundtable Conversations of Art discussion about the portrayal of southern blacks during the civil rights movement. Tickets are available in advance for all of the above events that require an additional fee, as indicated in parentheses; some free programs require preregistration, so don’t hesitate if you want to attend any of these Whitney Biennial bonuses.

FINDING VIVIAN MAIER

Documentary turns the camera on mysterious street photographer Vivian Maier (photo by Vivian Maier / courtesy of the Maloof Collection)

FINDING VIVIAN MAIER (John Maloof & Charlie Siskel, 2013)
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at Third St., 212-924-7771
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts., 212-757-2280
Opens Friday, March 28
www.vivianmaier.com
www.findingvivianmaier.com

By their very nature, street photographers take pictures of anonymous individuals, capturing a moment in time in which viewers can fill in their own details. In the wonderful documentary Finding Vivian Maier, codirectors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel turn the lens around on a street photographer herself, attempting to fill in the details of the curious life and times of Vivian Maier, about whom very little was known. “I find the mystery of it more interesting than her work itself,” says one woman for whom Vivian Maier served as a nanny decades earlier. “I’d love to know more about this person, and I don’t think you can do that through her work.” In 2007, while looking for historical photos for a book on the Portage Park section of Chicago, Maloof purchased a box of negatives at an auction. Upon discovering that they were high-quality, museum-worthy photographs, he set off on a mission to learn more about the photographer. Playing detective — while also developing hundreds of rolls of film, with thousands more to go — Maloof meets with men and women who knew Maier as an oddball, hoarding nanny who went everywhere with her camera and shared little, if anything, about her personal life. “I’m the mystery woman,” Maier says in a color home movie. Her former employers and charges, including talk-show host Phil Donahue, debate her background, the spelling and pronunciation of her name, her accent, and how she might have felt about a documentary delving into her secretive life.

Street photographer Vivian Maier captured a unique view of the world in more than 100,000 pictures (Vivian Maier / courtesy of the Maloof Collection)

Street photographer Vivian Maier captured a unique view of the world in more than 100,000 pictures (photo by Vivian Maier / courtesy of the Maloof Collection)

Maloof also discusses Maier’s work with such major photographers as Joel Meyerowitz and Mary Ellen Mark. “Had she made herself known, she would have become a famous photographer. Something was wrong. . . . A piece of the puzzle is missing,” Mark says while comparing Maier’s work to such legends as Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Helen Levitt, and Diane Arbus. Maloof tries to complete what becomes an ever-more-fascinating puzzle in this extremely enjoyable documentary that gets very serious as he finds out more about the mystery woman who is now considered an important twentieth-century artist. Finding Vivian Maier also has an intriguing pedigree; codirector and producer Siskel (Religulous) is executive producer of Comedy Central’s Tosh.0, executive producer Jeff Garlin (I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With) is a comedian who played Larry David’s best friend and agent on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Kickstarter contributor and interviewee Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Lie to Me) is an Oscar-nominated actor who collects Maier’s work. Finding Vivian Maier opens March 28 at Lincoln Plaza and the IFC Center, with Maloof, who has also published two books on Maier, 2011’s Vivian Maier: Street Photographer and last fall’s Vivian Maier: Self-Portraits, appearing at IFC for Q&As following the 5:50 and 7:55 screenings on Friday and Saturday night of opening weekend.

VISIONS AND VOICES — CHINA: RICHARD III

National Theatre of China makes its U.S. company debut with RICHARD III at Skirball Center (photo by Liu Weilen)

NATIONAL THEATRE OF CHINA: RICHARD III
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 La Guardia Pl. between Third & Fourth Sts.
March 26-30, $39-$65
212-992-8484
nyuskirball.org

In just the last two years, New York has seen numerous productions of Richard III, from Mark Rylance in the throwback Globe version on Broadway to Kevin Spacey’s star turn as part of the Bridge Project at BAM, from Ron Cephas Jones’s multiborough performance in the Public Theater’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit to Alessandro Colla in a suit and tie for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot’s outdoor production on the Lower East Side. Each of those shows had its own unique take on the Bard’s exploration of power, desire, and corruption, but perhaps the most unusual rendition is the National Theatre of China’s presentation, which comes to NYU’s Skirball Center March 26-30 as part of the second annual “Visions + Voices” festival. Streamlined to a mere hundred minutes, this Richard III will feature Chinese costumes, martial arts, acrobatics, music, and other elements of traditional Eastern staging by the National Theatre of China, in its U.S. company debut. The March 27 performance will be followed by a talk with director and National Theatre vice president Wang Xiaoying and script editor and dramaturge Luo Dajun, and the March 28 and 30 shows will be followed by conversations with Wang and actors Zhang Donglei and Zhang Xin; in addition, the panel discussion and audience Q&A “Beyond Puck: Performing Shakespeare in Asian America” will take place March 28 at 5:30 (free with advance registration) with Farah Bala, Ruy Iskander, Ching Valdes-Aran, Danielle Ma, Vandit Bhatt, Tisa Chang, and Ariel Estrada. “Visions + Voices: China” continues April 12 with a screening of Zhang Meng’s The Piano in a Factory and May 12 with Tan Dun’s “The Map” and “Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa,” performed by the NYU Symphony Orchestra, featuring conductor Andrew Cyr, pipa virtuoso Zhou Yi, and cellist Wendy Sutter.

Chinese production of RICHARD III leaves a lot to the imagination (photo by Liu Weilen)

Update: The National Theatre of China’s American debut ended up being a rather curious affair. What was advertised as a one-hundred-minute Chinese production of Shakespeare’s Richard III with English surtitles ended up being around two and a half hours, with extremely limited descriptive sentences (that often worked improperly) instead of a full translation. The action, which includes acrobatics and martial arts, takes place on Liu Kedong’s spare but elegant set, featuring two carved columns and an ornate throne behind which hangs a series of calligraphy banners displaying such words as “Truth,” “Blood,” and “Conspiracy.” Zhang Dongyu portrays the title character with a sexy bravado, hunching and limping only when he’s delivering his scheming monologues; otherwise, he stands tall and proud as he woos Lady Anne (Zhang Xin) and kills off all possible challengers; following each death, blood drips down the banners, almost as if keeping score. Shakespeare’s story of the power struggles within and between the Yorks and the Lancasters, rival dynasties fighting for the English crown, moves easily across cultures, settling smoothly into an imperial Chinese milieu. But even for those who are very familiar with the details of Shakespeare’s tale, the decision to not translate any of the dialogue left many in the dark; it was particularly disconcerting when those members of the audience who understood Mandarin would laugh at a line, making everyone else feel left out — and resulting in dozens of people not returning after intermission. It also made it difficult to figure out why three witches seemed to have come over from Macbeth. But the costumes are colorfully grand, and percussionist Wang Jianan virtually steals the show, as no translation is needed for his thrilling, evocative live score.