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

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.

DOCUMENTARY IN BLOOM: BROTHERS HYPNOTIC

Documentary follows Hypnotic Brass Ensemble as brothers travel the world sharing their artistic vision

NEW FILMS PRESENTED BY LIVIA BLOOM: BROTHERS HYPNOTIC (Reuben Atlas, 2013)
Maysles Cinema
343 Malcolm X Blvd. between 127th & 128th Sts.
March 24-30, 7:30
212-582-6050
www.mayslesinstitute.org
www.hypnoticbrassfilm.com

A real family affair, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble includes eight sons of jazz musician Kelan Phil Cohran, a trumpeter who played with such legends as Jay McShann and Sun Ra, cofounded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and started the Affro-Arts Theatre in Chicago. HBE’s compelling story is told in Reuben Atlas’s spirited feature documentary debut, Brothers Hypnotic, which is having its exclusive U.S. theatrical premiere March 24-30 as part of Livia Bloom’s “Documentary in Bloom” series at Harlem’s Maysles Cinema. Atlas followed the band for four years, from its hometown of Chicago to Amsterdam, from Ireland to London, and to numerous spots in New York City, a kind of second home for the group, which consists of siblings Gabriel “Hudah” Hubert on trumpet, Saiph “Cid” Graves on tenor trombone, Amal “Baji” Hubert on trumpet, Tycho “L.T.” Cohran on bass/sousaphone, Jafar “Yosh” Graves on trumpet, Uttama “Rocco” Hubert on euphonium, Seba “Clef” Graves on bass trombone, and Tarik “Smoove” Graves on trumpet (in addition to Christopher Anderson on drums). Atlas shows the band playing its unique blend of funk, jazz, and hip-hop at major festivals, in clubs, on the street, in the subway, and in the studio. Their music comes together organically, as evidenced onstage and on such albums as Flipside, Bulletproof Brass, and The Brothas, highlighted by such original songs as “War,” “Balicky Bon,” “Touch the Sky,” “Black Boy,” and “Party Started.” The members of HBE talk about what it was like being raised by two mothers on Chicago’s South Side (the eight brothers come from three different women; their father has nearly two dozen children total) and a father who would get them up at six in the morning to start rehearsing in what became the Phil Cohran Youth Ensemble. They discuss their father’s legacy and their career strategies, in particular an offer from Atlantic Records; meet with managers Knox Robinson and Mark Murphy; and, later, hang with Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who runs the independent label Honest Jon’s. Along the way, they get to play with Yasin Bey (Mos Def) and Prince while striving to maintain their artistic integrity and high moral values. It’s a feel-good tale that turns poignant when they reconvene with their father near the end of the film. Atlas and members of the band will be on hand for Q&As following the March 28 and 29 screenings; HBE will also be performing live at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on March 29 and 30.

NEW DIRECTORS / NEW FILMS 2014: OF HORSES AND MEN

Human nature is explored through the eyes of horses in wildly entertaining Icelandic tale

OF HORSES AND MEN (HROSS Í OSS) (Benedikt Erlingsson, 2013)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
Monday, March 24, 6:30
Series runs through March 30
212-875-5050
www.newdirectors.org

Iceland’s entry for the 2013 Academy Awards, Benedikt Erlingsson’s black comedy, Of Horses and Men, takes an absurdist look at the relationship between humans and horses, incorporating love, sex, pain, responsibility, friendship, religion, and death in darkly comic and heart-rending ways. In a tight-knit community spread across a sweeping rural landscape in Iceland, horses are far more plentiful than people. One morning, Kolbeinn (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) goes for a ride aboard his gorgeous white mare as men, women, and children come outside to watch him pass by like it’s a parade. But a shocking, unexpected encounter with Solveig’s (Charlotte Bøving) black stallion sets into motion a series of interconnected vignettes, each successive one featuring a minor character from a previous scene. Lust, land disputes, gender distinction, and other agreements and disagreements lead to either tragedy or joy, but, of course, this being Iceland, the former is far more prevalent, especially as more and more Brennivin (Black Death) and other drink is consumed. Writer-director Erlingsson’s debut feature is gorgeously photographed by Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson, whose camera moves lovingly over the green fields and mountainous valleys, treating the horses like Hollywood sirens, zooming in on their eyes to show the reflection of the people who seek to control them, equating the basic animal instincts of both species. The horses in the film are no mere props; Erlingsson, who grew up in a theatrical family and has directed numerous stage productions (in addition to owning a horse, whom he called his “life companion,” for thirty years until recently having to put her down), treats the animals like characters in their own right, revealing their, dare we say, humanity. Produced by Icelandic cinema legend Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (Children of Nature, Mamma Gógó), Of Horses and Men is a dark, wildly entertaining treatise on human nature among a rather quirky and unusual equestrian set. The film is being shown March 24 at 6:30 at the Walter Reade Theater as part of Lincoln Center and MoMA’s annual “New Directors / New Films” series, with Erlingsson on hand to participate in a postscreening Q&A.

CHOICE EATS 2014

THE VILLAGE VOICE CHOICE EATS SEVENTH ANNUAL TASTING EVENT
Basketball City at Pier 36
299 South St. at Montgomery St.
Tuesday, March 25, $60 general admission, 7:00 – 10:00
21 and over only
www.villagevoice.com/choiceeats

The seventh annual Village Voice Choice Eats festival, taking place March 25 at Basketball City on Pier 36, has added yet more restaurants and special activities, bringing the total number of participating eateries to eighty-three. New to the list of restaurants that will offer tastings of signature dishes and other treats are Banana Leaf, Deccan Spice, Distilled, Jacob’s Pickles, La Slowteria, Mai Sushi, and Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue. There will also be food demos by Allison Kave, author of First Prize Pies, and Andrew Fernandez of Morgan’s, with more to be announced. Ticket holders can relax in the Stella Artois Beer Garden and the Choice Eats Social Media Lounge and pose for pictures in a photo booth. VIP tickets are sold out, but $60 general admission entrance is still available; in addition, you can pick up a money-saving dual Choice Eats / Choice Streets combination ticket for $89, which also gets you into the third annual food truck celebration, being held May 7 on Pier 86 of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Individual tickets for Choice Streets, which will feature dishes from more than twenty food trucks, go on sale April 2 and are $70 for VIPs, $60 for early entry, and $50 for general admission, so you save a bundle by getting both events at once.

RATED SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FESTIVAL NEW YORK: THE THROWAWAYS

Ira McKinley fights for justice and peace with a camera in THE THROWAWAYS

THE THROWAWAYS (Bhawin Suchak & Ira McKinley, 2013)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St.
Tuesday, March 18, 3:00
Festival runs March 14-20
212-255-2243
www.distribfilms.com
www.throwawaysmovie.com

Ira McKinley has had plenty of opportunities to give up on life and turn his back on society. His father was shot and killed by the police when Ira was fourteen. He suffered through a crack addiction, has PTSD after serving in the Air Force, spent three years in prison for attempted robbery, and has been homeless and jobless for virtually all of his adult life. But he was determined to not end up just another throwaway, someone with no present and no future. “They look at you like you’re nothing, like you’re, like I said, a throwaway. And they expect you to fail,” McKinley says in the powerful hour-long documentary The Throwaways, which he codirected with Bhawin Suchak. “That’s when I started my activism. I told people, ‘Listen, you’re in here messing with the wrong person.’” McKinley went to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he learned about filmmaking at a public access station. He then went out with his camera, using it as a “tool,” a “weapon,” and an “equalizer” as he talked to people in the abandoned streets of Albany, attended press conferences by Van Jones, mayor Jerry Jennings, and police chief Steven Krokoff, and met with such activists as Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, a book that has had a profound influence on McKinley. He also visits places from his past that are filled with a mix of painful and poignant memories. The documentary was initially supposed to be about social justice in the state capitol, but the focus turned to McKinley when Suchak couldn’t line up enough talking heads — and, perhaps more important, because McKinley, a big bear of a man, proved to be such a fascinating character, one who the camera is naturally drawn to. McKinley has been through it all, so he’s not afraid to get up in people’s faces, which is not always the best way to try to implement change, but he’s determined to show the government and society at large that human beings should not be thrown away like yesterday’s trash and that something can be done about it.

The Throwaways is screening March 18 at 3:00 in the Documentary Competition section of the inaugural Rated SR Socially Relevant Film Festival; it will be preceded by Mariel Waloff and Rachel Waldholz’s A Confused War, a short about combating gun violence, and will be followed by a Q&A. The festival runs March 14-20 at the Quad and includes such other socially relevant films as Alessandra Giordano’s Coney Island: Dreams for Sale, Bared Maronian’s Orphans of the Genocide, Elizabeth McIntyre’s The Lost Children of Berlin, and Richie Sherman and Judy Maltz’s From the Black You Make Color. In addition, SVA will host a special panel discussion on March 17, and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! will deliver the keynote address on March 18.

EXPOSED

Bambi the Mermaid gets emotional in Beth B’s intimate and revealing documentary

EXPOSED (Beth B, 2013)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Thursday, March 6, 7:45, and Monday, March 10, 12:45
Series runs March 5-13
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.exposedmovie.com

In Exposed, visual artist Beth B, who got her start in the 1970s underground scene in New York City, invites viewers into the inner world of burlesque, going behind the scenes with eight current performers who share intimate details about their lives and their shows. Beth B (Two Small Bodies, An Unlikely Terrorist), who wrote, directed, produced, edited (with Keith Reamer), and photographed (with Dan Karlok) the seventy-six-minute documentary, goes backstage at such New York venues as the Slipper Room, Le Poisson Rouge, the Cutting Room, Dixon Place, P.S. 122, Galapagos Art Space, and Coney Island’s Sideshows by the Seashore as burlesque performers discuss issues of gender, control, freedom, disabilities, power, nudity, femininity, personal and professional identity, and more. “What the world projects as normal, it’s just such an illusion, it’s such a fantasy,” Bunny Love says, “and I love that fantasy.” UK comedian and cabaret performer Mat Fraser, who was born with “flippers” for hands, explains, “If you can make them laugh and make a political point that fuels your outrage, all the better.” And Rose Wood adds, “I’ve tried to present my audience with an indelible picture of the body seen in another way, seen in a way that’s different than they see themselves. They have ideas of what’s normal — what a man does, what a woman does, what a heterosexual does, what a gay person does — and I try to present them with another way of seeing the body.” Among the other performers who share their stories are Tigger!, who uses burlesque as a kind of sexual political theater; Dirty Martini, who pays tribute to such early stars of the wordless art form as Dixie Evans and Vickie Lynn; Bambi the Mermaid, who produces Coney Island’s popular Burlesque at the Beach series; Julie Atlas Muz, who honors Pina Bausch in her performance art; and World Famous *BOB*, who points out, “I never lie to people. People would say, ‘Are you a man or a woman?’ And I would say yes. That quick wit was something that I learned from my drag family, that quick wit, that ability to turn anything that hurts you inside into something that’s funny.”

World Famous *BOB* takes on the Patriot Act and freedom in EXPOSED

But whereas previous documentaries about burlesque, like Leslie Zemeckis’s Behind the Burly Q, examine its history, Exposed delves into the very personal, individual stories that drive these performers’ desire to take the stage and reveal themselves. While some are clearly proud of who they are and what they do, others appear to still be working out deeply felt, raw and painful emotions and memories. The eight subjects hold nothing back in the film as they bare body and soul; many of the performances are extremely graphic, but it is often as freeing to watch the acts onstage as it appears to be for the performers to perform them. Exposed is running March 14-20 nightly at 9:30 at the IFC Center, with a sold-out sneak preview on March 13. Each screening will be accompanied by a live performance by at least one of the cast members, with World Famous *BOB* on March 14, Dirty Martini on March 15 & 17, Bunny Love and Tigger! on March 16, Mat Fraser and Julie Atlas Muz on March 18, and special guests TBA on March 19-20. (In addition, Fraser and Muz are starring in their own unique version of Beauty and the Beast at the Abrons Arts Center through March 30.)

TICKET GIVEAWAY: MY MOTHER HAS 4 NOSES

Jonatha Brooke gets personal in poignant one-woman show, MY MOTHER HAS 4 NOSES

MY MOTHER HAS 4 NOSES
The Duke on 42nd St.
229 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Thursday – Sunday through May 4, $55 – $75
646-223-3010
www.4noses.org
www.dukeon42.org

Three and a half years ago, singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke put her career on hold as she cared for her mother, a poet and clown who had contracted Alzheimer’s. She has turned that experience into an album and a poignant new one-woman show, My Mother Has 4 Noses, which her failing mother encouraged her to write. “Almost daily she would say, ‘Boolie [my nickname], that’s good!’” Brooke explains on the show’s website. “‘Are you getting this down? We should make a play out of it!!’” Brooke, who has released such records as 10 Cent Wings, Steady Pull, and Careful What You Wish For, adds, “My Mother Has 4 Noses is my story, but it’s everyone’s story.” Among the songs Brooke wrote for the show are “My Misery,” “Superhero,” “Scars,” “Time,” “How Far You’d Go for Love,” and “What Was I Thinking?” all of which you can sample here.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Directed by Jeremy Cohen, My Mother Has 4 Noses is running at the Duke on 42nd St. through May 4, and twi-ny has four pairs of tickets to give away for free for performances through March 30. (Saturday matinees in March will be followed by a talk back with Brooke and various specialists on dementia and caregiving.) Just send your name, daytime phone number, and all-time-favorite play or movie about a mother and daughter to contest@twi-ny.com by Monday, March 17, at 12 noon to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; four winners will be selected at random.