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

ALL FOR ONE THEATER FESTIVAL: ANOTHER MEDEA

Tom Hewitt gives an unforgettable performance in Aaron Mark’s mesmerizing ANOTHER MEDEA (photo by Aaron Mark)

Tom Hewitt gives an unforgettable performance in Aaron Mark’s darkly mesmerizing ANOTHER MEDEA (photo by Aaron Mark)

Cherry Lane Studio Theatre
38 Commerce St.
Saturday, October 26, 4:00, and Wednesday, October 30, 7:00, $26 ($5 off with code LEGENDARY)
Festival runs through November 9
www.afofest.org
www.aaronmark.webs.com

Aaron Mark’s Another Medea is as intense and gripping a show as you’re ever likely to see, a harrowing examination of Euripides’ Medea myth, set in modern-day New York City. The eighty-minute one-man show is spectacularly acted by Tom Hewitt, in a 180-degree turn from his Broadway resume, which includes such villainous musical characters as Dr. Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Scar in The Lion King, and Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar. Hewitt plays an actor determined to meet fellow thespian Marcus Sharp, who is in prison for committing a horrific crime. For most of the show, Hewitt is seated behind a small table, retelling the story that Sharp told his onetime understudy when they finally met. Sharp shares his tale in precise, exacting detail, using multiple voices as he talks about his relationship with a wealthy British doctor named Jason, one that ends in heartbreaking tragedy. Writer-director Mark (Commentary, Failed Suicide Attempts, Random Unrelated Projects) wrote the show specifically for Hewitt, who is performing it at the third annual All for One Theater Festival at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (and for the first time without the script in front of him). Hewitt is nothing short of breathtaking, immersing himself in the role of an extremely complex and conflicted character whose crime is unfortunately all too familiar in these difficult times. His mastery of the material is stunning, poetically delivered without calling attention to itself. Brutal and beautiful at the same time, Another Medea is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience that deserves to have a longer life in a bigger venue.

(Mark and Hewitt, who originally produced Another Medea earlier this year at the Duplex in the West Village and then New York Theatre Workshop at Dartmouth, will be participating in the All for One panel discussion “Something Wicked: Writing and Performing Dangerous Characters” on October 26 at 11:00 am.)

MARIE ANTOINETTE

Marie Antoinette (Marin Ireland) discusses the state of her sheltered world in Soho Rep. production (photo by Pavel Antonov)

Soho Rep.
46 Walker St. between Broadway & Church St.
Tuesday – Sunday through November 3, $35-$50; November 5–17, $55-$75; November 19—24, $55-$80; Sunday, October 27, $0.99, first come, first served
212-352-3101
www.sohorep.org

Following more lavish productions at American Repertory Theater and Yale Repertory Theatre, David Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette gets the stripped-down, minimalist treatment at Soho Rep., where it’s just been extended through November 24. The staging is stark; the seventy-three-seat general admission audience sits in two long, horizontal rows of chairs, facing a white wall that announces the name of the play, and its main character. The story begins in 1776, as Marie (the always wonderful Marin Ireland) is gossiping over tea and macarons with her friends Yolande de Polignac (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and Therese de Lamballe (Jennifer Ikeda), discussing Rousseau, revolution, and the height of their hair. “I do like to disport myself,” the Valley Girl-like Antoinette says. “I’m sorry, even buffeted by the outcries of peasants — I’m a queen. I cannot simply forfeit my luxuries.” Among her luxuries is a dazzling red dress designed by Anka Lupes and a fab blonde wig courtesy of Amanda Miller. (The previous productions featured bigger hair and numerous costume changes, but Ireland now remains in the same dress until it’s nearly ripped off of her in act two.) She wants to have children, but her husband, the diminutive and hapless King Louis XVI (Steven Ratazzi), is scared of getting an operation on his member that would help them conceive.

Hapless King Louis XVI (Steven Ratazzi) is at a loss as revolution threatens (photo by Pavel Antonov)

Eventually, the regal Antoinette is singing a very different tune after being imprisoned by revolutionaries. “I wasn’t raised, I was built: I was built to be this thing; and now they’re killing me for it,” she says. Ireland (The Big Knife, Reasons to Be Pretty) has a ball as Antoinette, and her enthusiasm is infectious. She exhibits the queen’s fall from grace with just the right amount of pathos, especially as the peasants start their vicious personal attacks on her, centered around a pseudo-autobiography that declares her a sex-addicted whore. Director Rebecca Taichman’s spare staging turns both wacky and sublime when Antoinette, who thought of herself as a shepherdess, is visited by a talking sheep (manipulated by David Greenspan). The cast also includes Chris Stack as Marie’s would-be lover, Axel Fersen; Aimée Laurence as the dauphin; and Will Pullen as an unsympathetic revolutionary. With its swift and elegant tongue placed firmly in its stylishly made-up cheek, this Marie Antoinette is an engaging, seriocomic look at a legendary historical figure who has become an unlikely pop-culture icon.

(There will be several special events associated with the play. The October 27 show will be followed by the discussion “What Is a History Play?,” the talk “How to Grow a New Play with David Adjmi” is scheduled for October 28 at 6:00, and the 7:30 performance on November 2 will be followed by the program “The Queen’s Room: French Interior Design and the State of the Nation.” In addition, Barbara Schulz will star in the one-woman show Les correspondances de Marie-Antoinette on October 24 at FIAF, and Perrin Stein will lead tours of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Artists and Amateurs: Etching in 18th-Century France” display on October 25 and November 1.)

QUEER NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL

Sineglossa’s REMEMBER ME is part of second Queer New York International Arts Festival

Abrons Arts Center and other venues
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
October 23 – November 3, free – $18 (many shows $10 suggested donation)
212-598-0400
www.queerny.org
www.abronsartscenter.org

In a 2012 Huffington Post blog about the first Queer New York International Arts Festival, artistic codirector André von Ah wrote, “Queerness, in perhaps its barest and most basic concept, is about breaking the rules, shaking things up, and challenging preconceived ideas.” The second QNYIA continues to shake things up with twelve days and nights of performances, panel discussions, film screenings, workshops, and other events at such venues as Abrons Arts Center, the Invisible Dog, La MaMa, Joe’s Pub, and New York Live Arts, but sadly, it will be proceeding without von Ah, who curated this year’s programming with artistic director Zvonimir Dobrović but sadly passed away suddenly last month, still only in his mid-twenties. This year’s festival, which is dedicated to von Ah, opens October 23 with the U.S. premiere of Ivo Dimchev’s P-Project at Abrons Arts Center, the Bulgarian artist’s interactive piece that uses words that begin with the letter P to investigate societal taboos. Italy’s Sineglossa uses mirrored screens in Remember Me, based on Henry Purcell’s opera about Dido and Aeneas. Audience favorite Raimund Hoghe pays special tribute to von Ah with An Evening with Judy, in which he channels Judy Garland, Maria Callas, and others. Poland’s SUKA OFF investigates skin shedding in its multimedia Red Dragon. Brazil’s Ângelo Madureira plays “the dreamer” in his contemporary dance piece Delírio. Croatia’s Room 100 presents the U.S. premiere of its dark, experimental C8H11NO2. Dan Fishback offers a concert reading of The Material World at Joe’s Pub, the sequel to You Will Experience Silence; Fishback will also participate in the October 26 panel discussion “Creating Queer / Curating Queer” at the New School with Carla Peterson, Tere O’Connor, TL Cowan, Susana Cook, and Dobrović. The Club at La MaMa will host the New Music Series, featuring M Lamar, Shane Shane, Enid Ellen, Nath Ann Carrera, and Max Steele. The festival also includes works by Bojana Radulović, Elisa Jocson, Guillermo Riveros, Daniel Duford, Bruno Isaković, Gabriela Mureb, Heather Litteer, CHOKRA, Antonia Baehr, and Antoni Karwowski, with most shows requiring advance RSVPs and requesting a $10 suggested donation.

THE PRIME MINISTERS: THE PIONEERS

Golda Meir meets with Yitzhak Rabin, Abba Eban, and others in archival footage from new documentary on Israeli prime ministers (photo by Milner Moshe / Israel National Photo Library)

THE PRIME MINISTERS: THE PIONEERS (Richard Trank, 2013)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St.
Opens Friday, October 18
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.theprimeministers-thefilm.com

The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Oscar-winning team of writer-director-producer Richard Trank and writer-producer Rabbi Marvin Hier (The Long Way Home, Genocide) has followed up the staid, plodding It Is No Dream: The Life of Theodor Herzl with the relatively dull and lifeless The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers. Based on Israeli ambassador Yehuda Avner’s 2010 book, The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, the film is built around Avner sharing his firsthand accounts of stories from his years of service to the government of the Jewish State, focusing on the War of Independence, the Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, and the Yom Kippur War. Although Avner, who is now eighty-four, is an interesting character, it’s not enough to sustain a nearly two-hour film, which consists solely of archival footage and Avner speaking, with no one else adding their thoughts, remembrances, and opinions. There is some fascinating material on lesser-known Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol and the indefatigable Golda Meir, but the documentary is more like propaganda that should be shown at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance than a theatrical release. It’s heavy with star power, which actually does it no favors; Sandra Bullock is the voice of Meir, Michael Douglas voices Yitzhak Rabin, Christoph Waltz is Menachem Begin, and Leonard Nimoy is Eshkol. Meanwhile, Lee Holdridge’s sweeping music overstates the case. Up next for Moriah Films is the second part of Avner’s story, The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, which zeroes in on Rabin, Begin, and Shimon Peres. The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers opens October 18 at the Quad, with four Q&As scheduled for opening weekend with Trank, including one with Avner as well after the 4:45 show on Sunday.

CUT TO BLACK

Writer, producer, director, and star Dan Eberle plays the big, silent type in neo-noir CUT TO BLACK

CUT TO BLACK (Dan Eberle, 2013)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
Opens Friday, October 18
212-924-3363
insurgentpictures.com
www.cinemavillage.com

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2013 Brooklyn Film Festival, Cut to Black is a dark, gritty slice of neo-noir from writer, director, producer, and star Dan Eberle. Part brooding Mickey Rourke, part humorless Vin Diesel, Eberle (The Local, Prayer to a Vengeful God) plays brooding, humorless disgraced ex-cop Bill Ivers, a big, hulking man who doesn’t say much as he goes through his lonely daily existence. Running out of money to pay the landlord — whose wife (Alexandra Mingione) he is sleeping with — Ivers is surprised by a visit from an old police friend, Gunther (Beau Allulli), who takes him to meet with his former boss, John Lord (James Alba), who wants Ivers to track down a man who is stalking his biological daughter, Jessica (Jillaine Gill). Ivers at first is hesitant, not wanting to get involved in anything having to do with Lord, a possible gubernatorial candidate, but he can’t say no to 200 G’s. It turns out that Jessica is working as a stripper, and her longtime boyfriend, a sleazeball named Duane (Joe Stipek), owes a fat wad of cash to local gangster Yates (Paul Bowen). Ivers can’t help himself from doing what he thinks is right, so he’s soon in the middle of it all, with all kinds of people wanting him out of the picture. Eberle regular cinematographer James Parsons shoots Cut to Black in sharp black-and-white, offering a unique view of modern-day Brooklyn (as well as Manhattan, Queens, and upstate New York). Eberle might not have a lot of range as an actor, but he dominates the screen with a firm presence, especially when Parsons zooms in on his beaten and battered face. The pacing is relatively slow until the twists start piling up one after another, some predictable, some not, others just plain strange, as Ivers is determined to see things through to the potentially violent end. As low-budget crime thrillers go, Cut to Black packs quite a stylish little punch. The film opens October 18 at Cinema Village, with Eberle and other members of the cast and crew on hand for a Q&A following the 7:15 screening.

CMJ 2013: DAY TWO

No, Jamaican Queens has nothing to do with changing trains on the LIRR. Instead, it’s a Detroit-based duo that has numerous CMJ gigs scheduled this week; you can catch Ryan Spencer and Adam Pressley and their “satanic doo wop” October 16 at Pianos at 6:00 and Webster Hall’s Marlin Room at 9:20, followed on October 17 at Muchmore’s at 3:00 and at Littlefield at 7:00. See below for our other top picks for CMJ Day Two.

KEXP Live Broadcast: Bear Ceuse, 10:00; Cub Sport, 12 noon; Weekend, 2:00; the Helio Sequence, 4:30

“The New Curators,” with Kenna, David Adams, and Matthew Perpetua, NYU Kimmel Center, room 802 Shorin, 12:30

Kanine Records and SESAC’s Trick or Treat Party: the History of Apple Pie, 2:00; the Valleys, 2:45; Joanna Gruesome, 3:30; Beach Day, 4:15; Eagulls, 5:45; Eternal Summers, 6:30, Pianos, 158 Ludlow St.

Julia Weldon, Alphabet Lounge, 104 Ave. C, 7:00

Glenn Tilbrook, with the Fabulous Miss Wendy and Awake, Stage 48, 605 West 48th St., 8:00

Tijuana Gift Shop: Amy Lynn & the Gun Show, 8:30; These Animals, 9:20; Mia Dyson, 10:10; Firehorse, 11:00; Wake Island, 11:50; Pool Cosby, 12:40, Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery

NME showcase: Theo Verney, 8:45; Porcelain Raft, 9:30; Courtney Barnett, 10:15; Eagulls, 11:00; Yuck, 12 midnight, Tammany Hall, 152 Orchard St.

Duck Down/Javotti showcase: Black Moon LIVE backed by Phony Ppl (Enta Da Stage 20-year anniversary set), Cory Mo, DJ Set by Meka of 2dopeboyz, Res of Idle Warship, Smif N Wessun Reggae Jam Session, T’Nah Apex (Pro Era), Talib Kweli, the Underachievers, Children of the Night, F. Stokes, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9:00

Au Revoir Simone, Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th St., 10:30

Megafauna, Left Field, 87 Ludlow St., 10:45

RICHIE’S FANTASTIC FIVE — KUROSAWA, MIZOGUCHI, OZU, YANAGIMACHI & KORE-EDA: HIGH AND LOW

A group of men try to find kidnappers in Akira Kurosawa’s tense noir / police procedural

HIGH AND LOW (TENGOKU TO JIGOKU) (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Friday, October 18, $12, 7:00
Series runs monthly through February
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

On the verge of being forced out of the company he has dedicated his life to, National Shoes executive Kingo Gondo’s (Toshirō Mifune) life is thrown into further disarray when kidnappers claim to have taken his son, Jun (Toshio Egi), and are demanding a huge ransom for his safe return. But when Gondo discovers that they have mistakenly grabbed Shinichi (Masahiko Shimazu), the son of his chauffeur, Aoki (Yutaka Sada), he at first refuses to pay. But at the insistence of his wife (Kyogo Kagawa), the begging of Aoki, and the advice of police inspector Taguchi (Kenjiro Ishiyama), he reconsiders his decision, setting in motion a riveting police procedural that is filled with tense emotion. Loosely based on Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novel King’s Ransom, Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low is divided into two primary sections: the first half takes place in Gondo’s luxury home, orchestrated like a stage play as the characters are developed and the plan takes hold. The second part of the film follows the police, under the leadership of Chief Detective Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai), as they hit the streets of the seedier side of Yokohama in search of the kidnappers. Known in Japan as Tengoku to Jigoku, which translates as Heaven and Hell, High and Low is an expert noir, a subtle masterpiece that tackles numerous socioeconomic and cultural issues as Gondo weighs the fate of his business against the fate of a small child; it all manages to feel as fresh and relevant today as it probably did back in the ’60s.

Kingo Gondo (Toshirō Mifune) has some tough decisions to make in HIGH AND LOW

High and Low is screening on October 18 at 7:00 at Japan Society, kicking off the first section of the monthly tribute series “Richie’s Fantastic Five: Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu, Yanagimachi & Kore-eda,” which honors Ohio-born writer, critic, scholar, curator, and filmmaker Donald Richie, who died in February at the age of eighty-eight. Richie was a tireless champion of Japanese culture and, particularly, cinema, and the series features six works by five of his favorite directors. Richie called High and Low, which will be introduced by series curator Kyoko Hirano and followed by a reception, “a morality play in the form of an exciting thriller. A self-made man (Mifune) is ruined by a jealous nobody ([Tsutomu] Yamazaki in his first important screen role) but goes on to do the right thing and in the end the camera observes more similarities than differences between the two. With a memorable mid-film climax on a high-speed bullet-train.” The series continues in November with Kenji Mizoguchi’s The Life of Oharu, in December with Yasujiro Ozu’s Late Autumn (screening on Ozu’s birthday, which will also mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death), in January with Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s Himatsuri, and in February with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After Life, appropriately on the one-year anniversary of Richie’s passing. “Thanks to Richie,” Hirano explained in a statement about the festival, “the world knows the greatness of Japanese cinema.”