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

A SURVIVOR’S ODYSSEY: THE JOURNEY OF PENELOPE AND CIRCE

A SURVIVOR’S ODYSSEY: THE JOURNEY OF PENELOPE AND CIRCE
White Snake Projects
September 24, 26, 28, free with advance RSVP (suggested donation $25-$150), 7:30
www.whitesnakeprojects.org

Boston-based activist opera company White Snake Projects concludes its inspiring, barrier-breaking livestreamed opera trilogy with A Survivor’s Odyssey: The Journey of Penelope and Circe, which opened on September 24 and has two more presentations, on September 26 and 28 at 7:30. In October 2020, WSP debuted Alice in the Pandemic, which took place in a video-game-like world as Alice searches for her mother while a hospital fills up with Covid-19 patients. In May 2021, WSP premiered Death by Life: A Digital Opera in One Act, following the stories of several incarcerated individuals facing racism and injustice, with music by five Black composers and accompanied by an online art exhibition.

WSP reinterprets Greek mythology and Homer’s Odyssey in A Survivor’s Odyssey: The Journey of Penelope and Circe, reimagining Odysseus’s (James Demler) long-suffering wife, Penelope (Amanda Crider), and the witch-goddess Circe (Teresa Castillo) as survivors of sexual and physical abuse. The show begins with the two women, along with two men, Mark and Jan (Patrick Dailey and James Demler), in an online therapy group helping one another. “Is he still hurting you?” Circe asks Penelope, who replies, “It’s hard being locked down with him.”

Penelope has been weaving and unraveling a shroud to turn away suitors as she waits for her husband to return to her after twenty years away fighting the Trojan War; she is also hoping for her son, Telemachus (Dailey), to come home, having been banished by his father, who believes a prophecy that says he will be killed by his male child. Meanwhile, Circe is terrified of telling her sixteen-year-old boy, Telegonus (Dailey), her “dirty little secret” about his birth. When Odysseus ultimately returns, battle lines are drawn and blood flows.

White Snake Projects incorporates magic and cutting-edge technology in livestreamed opera

Made with the support of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, Casa Myrna, Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, the Network/La Red, a Call to Men, a Window Between Worlds, and Jane Doe Inc., A Survivor’s Odyssey is a riveting tale reinvented for the twenty-first century and particularly during the coronavirus crisis, responding to the rise in intimate partner violence (IPV) that has been occurring around the globe during the pandemic lockdown. “I’ve been thinking about why IPV is endemic in the world. I keep coming back to the male gaze, the power of the patriarchy to shape every country’s and every culture’s perceptions of who and what women are,” librettist and WSP founder Cerise Lim Jacobs writes in a program note. “Women, myself included, have been imprisoned by the male gaze. Our aspirations, hopes, and dreams have been limited by this gaze; our fears, insecurities, and nightmares magnified by this gaze. The male gaze has defined our world’s ideas, imaginations, cultures, and subconscious dreams of womanhood. . . . This has to stop.” The women characters ultimately take back the power in A Survivor’s Odyssey, refusing to allow the patriarchy to run roughshod over them anymore. Composer Mary Prescott’s lovely score was inspired by the idea of weaving, long considered women’s work, to create a tapestry of sounds, linking the past and the present and denouncing misogyny.

Despite their far-flung locations, soprano Castillo (in New York City), countertenor Dailey (in Nashville), mezzo-soprano Crider (in Miami), and bass-baritone Demler (outside Boston) pull off the near-impossible, appearing to be performing together in front of such backdrops as Helios’s lush garden, Circe’s mountain home on Aeaea, and the courtyard of Odysseus and Penelope’s grand estate in Ancient Greece when actually in front of green screens in their bedrooms and basements. Elena Araoz, who has never met her cast in person, directs the piece virtually, with music direction by Tian Hui Ng featuring the Victory Players, with Nathan Ben-Yehuda on piano, Clare Monfredo on cello, Giovanni Perez on flute, and Elly Toyoda on violin and viola. The costumes are by Christopher Vergara, with playful 3D animation of the pigs by Lesley University senior Paola Almonte. An online exhibition also accompanies this production, “To Live: Transcending Trauma Through Art,” with works by Carole Alden, Taecia Prows, Cedar Annenkovna, Zhi Kai Vanderford, Ruby Rumié, Annie Chang, Catriona Baker, and Tashi Farmilo-Marouf.

The performers have earpieces in which they can hear a recording of the others singing; the live vocals are sent to electronic music designer and audio engineer Jon Robertson (in Kansas City) and the video to projections designer and broadcast engineer Paul Deziel (in New York), who mix the sound and images using the Unreal Engine video game platform by Curvin Huber and their proprietary audio plugin Tutti Remote to instantaneously sync it all. It’s a massive undertaking, and there were a few glitches and delays, but don’t go anywhere if that happens; the live chat fills the gaps and offers more information about the cast, crew, and technology. After the show’s over, stick around for a live discussion and Q&A that answers just about every question you can think of.

One of the main themes of A Survivor’s Odyssey is the lost connection that the pandemic has wrought, between friends, family members, and performers and audience. At one point during a Zoom therapy meeting, the participants reach out their hands, proclaiming, “I touch you, I hold you, I feel you.” In its remarkable trilogy of live online opera, WPS reaches out to us, immersing us in their spectacularly creative storytelling, and we feel them.

NYFF59: FREE TALKS

Apichatpong Weerasethakul will discuss his new film, Memoria,) at NYFF59 free talk

NYFF59 FREE TALKS
Film at Lincoln Center
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
144 West Sixty-Fifth Street between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
September 25 – October 9, free (first come, first serve one hour before program)
www.filmlinc.org

The New York Film Festival, which opens today, has just announced its slate of free talks, taking place September 25 to October 9 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater (with one exception). Admission is first come, first served starting an hour before each event; the talks will also be recorded for later on-demand viewing on YouTube. The highlight is the inaugural Amos Vogel Lecture, honoring the centennial of the birth of the cofounder of the festival, who is also the subject of a centenary retrospective. The lecture will be given by Albert Serra, the director of previous NYFF selections The Death of Louis XIV and Liberté and who wrote the foreword for the French edition of Vogel’s seminal book, Film as a Subversive Art.

The rest of the panel discussions, in-depth conversations, and filmmaker dialogues are divided into “Deep Focus,” “Crosscuts,” and “Film Comment Live,” with such participants as Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Sofia Coppola, Mia Hansen-Løve (Bergman Island), Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World), Todd Haynes (The Velvet Underground), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Memoria, Night Colonies), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), and Amy Taubin. The discussion about the thirtieth anniversary of Mississippi Masala with director Mira Nair, star Sarita Choudhury, and cinematographer Ed Lachman, moderated by Jhumpa Lahiri, follows the free screening of the film in Damrosch Park, for ticket holders only. Below is the full schedule.

Jane Campion will delve into her NYFF59 centerpiece selection, The Power of the Dog, with Sofia Coppola

Saturday, September 25
Deep Focus: The Making of Mississippi Masala, with Mira Nair, Sarita Choudhury, and Ed Lachman, moderated by Jhumpa Lahiri, Damrosch Park, 9:30

Sunday, September 26
Roundtable: Cinema’s Workers, with Abby Sun, Ted Fendt, Kazembe Balagun, and Dana Kopel, moderated by Gina Telaroli, Amphitheater, 7:00

Monday, September 27
Crosscuts: Mia Hansen-Løve & Joachim Trier, Amphitheater, 7:00

Saturday, October 2
Deep Focus: Jane Campion, moderated by Sofia Coppola, Amphitheater, 4:00

Crosscuts: Silvan Zürcher & Alexandre Koberidze, Amphitheater, 7:00

Sunday, October 3
Film Comment Live: The Velvet Underground & the New York Avant-Garde, with Todd Haynes, Ed Lachman, and Amy Taubin, Amphitheater, 4:00

Deep Focus: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Amphitheater, 7:00

Tuesday, October 5
Deep Focus: Maggie Gyllenhaal & Kira Kovalenko, Amphitheater, 7:00

Thursday, October 7
Deep Focus: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Amphitheater, 6:30

Saturday, October 9
Film Comment Live: Festival Report, with Devika Girish, Clinton Krute, Molly Haskell, Bilge Ebiri, and Phoebe Chen, Amphitheater, 7:00

IN CONVERSATION WITH MERCE: LANDROVER

Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro perform excerpts from Merce Cunningham’s Landrover in online celebration (photo by Maria Baranova)

Who: Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro, Mariah Anton and Cemiyon Barber, Claude “CJ” Johnson and Donovan Reed, Patricia Lent, Kyle Abraham, Liz Gerring
What: Celebration of Merce Cunningham’s Landrover
Where: Baryshnikov Arts Center online
When: September 20-30, free
Why: In honor of the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Merce Cunningham’s Landrover, which premiered at BAM on February 1, 1972, the Baryshnikov Arts Center is presenting the free online program “In Conversation with Merce,” available on demand through September 30 at 5:00. The work, described by Cunningham as “people moving in different landscapes. American perhaps in the sense that we move in our country — across varied spaces — with varied backgrounds,” featured an original score by John Cage, David Tudor, and Gordon Mumma, boasted costumes by Jasper Johns, and was performed by Carolyn Brown, Ulysses Dove, Douglas Dunn, Meg Harper, Nanette Hassall, Susana Hayman-Chaffey, Chris Komar, Sandra Neels, Chase Robinson, Valda Setterfield, and Cunningham.

Mariah Anton and Cemiyon Barber perform in Liz Gerring’s Dialogue as part of BAC’s Merce tribute (photo by Maria Baranova)

“This program is the latest realization of a concept we began experimenting with during Merce Cunningham’s centennial,” Merce Cunningham Trust trustee Patricia Lent says in an introduction. “At its core is the idea of exploring Merce’s work as a resource for generating new work by contemporary artists.” Beautifully filmed by Tatyana Tenenbaum at BAC’s John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio, “In Conversation with Merce” starts with a thirteen-minute excerpt of Landrover, a series of solos performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater members Chalvar Monteiro in green and Jacquelin Harris in brown, moving about the spare space dominated by large windows and a mirrored wall, as the music fades to silence. (The lovely costumes for all three pieces are by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung.)

That is followed by two specially commissioned works made in response to Landrover, each introduced by the choreographer, beginning with Liz Gerring’s nine-minute Dialogue, in which Mariah Anton in yellow and Cemiyon Barber in white display numerous geometric possibilities of the human body, set to minimalist music by Michael Schumacher. “In Conversation” concludes with Kyle Abraham’s fourteen-minute MotorRover, a slow, intimate duet performed by Claude “CJ” Johnson and Donovan Reed in loose-fitting two-color costumes, the only sound that of the air-conditioning. BAC has presented a bevy of terrific filmed programs during the pandemic, and this is yet another winner; coming up next are digital works by Mats Ek and Ana Laguna, River L. Ramirez, Sooraj Subramaniam, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Ella Rothschild, and Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith.

NYFF59 MAIN SLATE: BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN

Emi (Katia Pascariu) goes on a strange journey in Rade Jude’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN: A SKETCH FOR A POSSIBLE FILM (BABARDEALA CU BUCLUC SAU PORNO BALAMUC) (Radu Jude, 2021)
New York Film Festival, Lincoln Center
Saturday, September 25, Alice Tully Hall, with virtual Q&A, 9:00
Sunday, September 26, Francesca Beale Theater, 8:00
www.filmlinc.org

Radu Jude’s brilliantly absurdist Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn lives up to its title, a wildly satiric takedown of social mores that redefines what is obscene. Winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 2021 Berlinale, the multipart tale begins with an extremely graphic prologue, a XXX-rated homemade porn video with a woman and an unseen man holding nothing back. In the first main section, the woman, a successful teacher named Emi (Katia Pascariu), is distressed to learn that the video is threatening to go viral. She determinedly walks through the streets of Bucharest, buying flowers (which she holds upside down), discussing her dilemma with her boss, the headmistress (Claudia Ieremia), and calling her husband, Eugen, trying to get the video deleted before her meeting with angry parents at the prestigious private school where she teaches young children.

Jude and cinematographer Marius Panduru follow the masked Emi — the film was shot during the pandemic, so masks are everywhere — on her journey, the camera often lingering on the scene well after Emi has left the frame, focusing on advertising billboards, couples in the middle of conversations, people waiting for a bus, and other random actions, before finding Emi again. She sometimes fades into the background, barely seen through the windows of a passing vehicle or amid a crowd crossing at a light. She gets into an argument with a man who has parked on the sidewalk, blocking her way; she insists that he move the car, but he unleashes a stream of misogynistic curses. Swear words are prevalent throughout the film, mostly adding poignant humor.

The second segment consists of a montage of archival and new footage that details some of Romania’s recent history, involving the military, the government, religion, fascism, Nazi collaboration, patriotism, the two world wars, the 1989 revolution, Nicolae Ceaușescu, domestic violence, jokes about blondes, and the value of cinema itself. The bevy of images also points out which NSFW word is most commonly looked up in the dictionary, as well as which is second. (The film is splendidly edited by Cătălin Cristuțiu, with a fab soundtrack by Jura Ferina and Pavao Miholjević.)

It all comes together in the third section, in the school garden, where Emi faces a few dozen masked, socially distanced, very angry parents and grandparents who want her fired immediately, while the headmistress demands a calm discussion. The masked Emi is a stand-in for all of us, facing the wrath of the unruly mob forcing its sanctimonious platitudes on others when it really needs to look at itself. It’s a riotously funny sitcomlike debate in which Jude roasts many common, hypocritical beliefs held by Romanians (and people all over the world) that have not necessarily changed much from the news clips shown in the previous part.

The cartoonish cast, which includes Olimpia Mălai as Mrs. Lucia, Nicodim Ungureanu as Lt. Gheorghescu, Alexandru Potocean as Marius Buzdrugovici, and Andi Vasluianu as Mr. Otopeanu, really gets to strut its stuff while making sure their masks are properly covering their mouths and noses. They argue about beloved national poet Mihai Eminescu and Russian writer Isaac Babel, delve into various sexual positions, repeat Woody the Woodpecker’s trademark call, and quote long, intellectual passages from the internet as Jude (I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, Aferim!) reveals where society’s true obscenities lie. It’s an irreverent tour de force that offers three distinct endings to put a capper on the strangely alluring affair, turning a scary mirror on the sorry state of twenty-first-century existence.

Playfully subtitled A Sketch for a Possible Film in a reference to André Malraux’s description of Eugène Delacroix’s belief that his sketches could be of the same quality as his paintings, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is making its US premiere September 25 and 26 at the New York Film Festival; the first screening will be followed by a virtual Q&A. The film opens in theaters November 19.

IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM

New documentary focuses on George Balanchine’s teaching methods (photo by Martha Swope)

IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM (Connie Hochman, 2021)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Opens Friday, September 17
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

This summer, dance fans have been treated to behind-the-scenes glimpses at the creative process of three legendary choreographers. First was Bill T. Jones in Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, followed by Alvin Ailey in Jamila Wignot’s Ailey. Now comes an exciting look at New York City Ballet cofounder George Balanchine in Connie Hochman’s In Balanchine’s Classroom, opening September 17 at Film Forum. Hochman, who trained at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet and danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet, has been working on the film since 2007, interviewing one hundred people who worked with Balanchine and gaining access to the archives of the George Balanchine Trust, incorporating rare, never-before-seen footage of Balanchine teaching his company in his unique style.

Several prominent former NYCB dancers share their experiences of the classes, in which Balanchine would focus on every minute aspect of movement, from the hands and the feet to the size of jumps. “He not only started a company; he changed the whole look of ballet,” says Gloria Govrin, artistic director of Eastern Connecticut Ballet. “It was more than just technique that he taught. It’s everything together that made the dancer,” Suki Schorer, senior faculty member of the School of American Ballet, explains. “The classroom was where he went to see how far he could make his dancers go,” Balanchine coach and stager Merrill Ashley notes. “He was our artistic father,” Edward Villella, founding artistic director of Miami City Ballet, says, pointing out how important it was for everyone to try to please him.

Hochman also speaks extensively with Balanchine-method coach and mentor Heather Watts and Jacques d’Amboise, the founder and president of National Dance Institute, who passed away in May at the age of eighty-six. (Sadly, twenty of Hochman’s subjects are no longer with us.) Photographs and film clips of all of the above show them dancing for the NYCB, interacting with Balanchine, and keeping his legacy alive by teaching such dancers as Tiler Peck, Stella Abrera, and Unity Phelan of NYCB, Calvin Royal III of ABT, and other professionals as well as young kids. “I think as teachers we have an obligation to share with the younger generation the way that he advocated, but it’s become the problem,” Ashley says. “We’re not Balanchine.”

There’s terrific, though grainy, black-and-white footage (and some later color) from such classic Balanchine ballets as Apollo, Prodigal Son, Serenade, Symphony in C, Orpheus, Agon, Jewels, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto while Hochman also explores Balanchine’s early years: He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1904, started dancing when he was nine, was hired as a choreographer by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes, was brought to American by Lincoln Kirstein, who cofounded the NYCB with Balanchine and helped fund the construction of the company’s home at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, and developed a fruitful working relationship with composer Igor Stravinsky. Balanchine is heard in numerous audio clips unearthed by Hochman. “I don’t accept the way it looks and it’s very difficult to discuss why,” he says. “I can’t say what inspires, if you use that high-class word, ‘inspiration.’ It’s your past, where you were born, what you’ve done in your life.”

All of the interview subjects agree that Balanchine could be extremely hard on his dancers, but he also gave them a freedom, appreciating them as individuals. They are also afraid of what might become of his ballets in the future, but Balanchine’s legacy seems safe in their capable hands. Film Forum will host three in-person Q&As opening weekend, with Hochman and Ashley on September 17 at 6:30 and September 19 at 5:20 and with Hochman and Villella on September 18 at 6:30. The 2021–22 NYCB season opens September 21 and will include Balanchine’s Serenade, Symphony in C, Western Symphony, Agon, La Valse, and The Nutcracker.

CURTAIN UP! FESTIVAL

A bevy of Broadway stars will celebrate reopening at free three-day outdoor fest

Who: Norm Lewis, Michael Urie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Daphne Rubin Vega, James Monroe Iglehart, Joe Iconis, Ayodele Casel, Joshua Henry, Jelani Alladin, Lauren Molina, Bryce Pinkham, Antoinette Nwandu, Lynn Nottage, A. J. Holmes, many more
What: Three-day festival celebrating the reopening of Broadway
Where: Duffy Square, Playbill Piano Bar in Times Square
When: September 17-19, free
Why: Dozens of performers, writers, directors, choreographers, podcast hosts, and others are coming to Broadway for a free outdoor three-day celebration of the reopening of the Great White Way. Playbill, in partnership with the Broadway League and the Times Square Alliance, are presenting “Curtain Up!” September 17-19, featuring live performances, panel discussions, singalongs, interviews, and more in Duffy Square and at the Playbill Piano Bar. Among the impressive list of participants are Norm Lewis, Michael Urie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ayodele Casel, Robin DeJesús, Daphne Rubin Vega, James Monroe Iglehart, Joe Iconis, Joshua Henry, Jelani Alladin, Bryce Pinkham, Antoinette Nwandu, Lynn Nottage, and A. J. Holmes. All events are free, but be prepared for big crowds.

Friday, September 17
Wake Up, Broadway!, with Joe Iconis, Ilana Levine, and Sam Maher, hosted by Ayanna Prescod and Christian Lewis, Playbill Piano Bar, 11:00 am

Curtain Up! Festival Kick-off Event, with Chuck Schumer, Anne Del Castillo, Alex Birsh, Charlotte St. Martin, Tom Harris, Vikki Been, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Jessica Vosk, with music direction by John McDaniel, Duffy Square, noon

Divas of Broadway Sing-Along, with Brandon James Gwinn, Playbill Piano Bar, 1:00

Dear White People Panel, with Kandi Burruss, Ashley Blaine Featherson, Logan Browning, DeRon Horton, and Bryan Terrell Clark, Duffy Square, 1:30

New Broadway Hits, with Brandon James Gwinn, Playbill Piano Bar, 2:30

Sing Along with Joe Iconis, with Joe Iconis, Amina Faye, Jason SweetTooth Williams, Kelly McIntire, and Mike Rosengarten, Playbill Piano Bar, 3:00

The Playbill Variety Show, with Bryan Campione, Joshua Henry, Tom Viola, Frank DiLella, Joseph Benincasa, and T.3., Duffy Square, 3:30

Wicked Sing-Along, with Adam Laird, Playbill Piano Bar, 4:30

Jimmy Awards Reunion Concert!, with Bryson Battle, John Clay III, Sofia Deler, Caitlin Finnie, Elena Holder, Lily Kaufmann, McKenzie Kurtz, Sam Primack, Josh Strobl, and Ekele Ukegbu, directed by Seth Sklar-Heyn, with music direction by Daryl Waters, hosted by Jelani Alladin, Duffy Square, 5:30

Curtain Up After Dark Presents: Lauren Molina, Playbill Piano Bar, 6:30

Pass Over playwright Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu is part of “Curtain Up!” Broadway reopening festival (photo by Marc J. Franklin)

Saturday, September 18
The Broadway Morning Warm-Up, with James T. Lane, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Tyler Hanes, Chryssie Whitehead, and Alexis Carra, Duffy Square, 10:30

Wake Up, Broadway!, with Kaila Mullady, Anthony Veneziale, Tarik Davis, James Monroe Iglehart, and Jan Friedlander Svendsen, hosted by Ayanna Prescod and Christian Lewis, Playbill Piano Bar, 11:30

Black to Broadway — It’s “Play” Time!, with Harriette Cole, Kennan Scott III, Antoinette Nwandu, Lynn Nottage, and Douglas Lyons, Duffy Square, 12:15

The Golden Age of Broadway Sing-Along, with Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill Piano Bar, 2:00

Sing-Along with Rob Rokicki, Playbill Piano Bar, 2:30

The Playbill Variety Show, with Bryan Campione, Bryce Pinkham, Shereen Pimentel, Lauren Gaston, Austin Sora, Valerie Lau-Kee, Minami Yusui, Jose Llana, Lourds Lane, and Ted Arthur, Duffy Square, 3:00

A. J. Holmes: Live in Times Square, Playbill Piano Bar, 4:00

Musical Theatre Hits Sing-a-Long with Concord Theatricals, with Michael Riedel and Zachary Orts, Playbill Piano Bar, 4:30

¡Viva Broadway! When We See Ourselves, with Bianca Marroquín, Ayodele Casel, Janet Dacal, Robin DeJesús, Alma Cuervo, Linedy Genao, Nicholas Edwards, Eliseo Roman, Daphne Rubin Vega, Josh Segarra, Caesar Samayoa, Jennifer Sánchez, Henry Gainza, Claudia Mulet, David Baida, Florencia Cuenca, Marielys Molina, Natalie Caruncho, Angelica Beliard, Sarita Colon, Gabriel Reyes, Roman Cruz, Steven Orrego Upegui, Adriel Flete, Noah Paneto, Harolyn Lantigua, Valeria Solmonoff & Iakov Shonsky, Luis Miranda, Rick Miramontez, Emilia Sosa, and Sergio Trujillo, directed and choreographed by Luis Salgado, written by Eric Ulloa, with musical direction by Jaime Lozano, Duffy Square, 5:00

Curtain Up After Dark, with Lauren Molina, Nick Cearley, and Eric Shorey, Playbill Piano Bar, 6:30

Sunday, September 19
Wake Up, Broadway!, hosted by Ayanna Prescod and Christian Lewis, with Off Book: The Black Theatre Podcast!, with Kim Exum, Ngozi Anyanwu, and Drew Shade, Playbill Piano Bar, 9:00

Curtain Up: This Is Broadway! Finale Concert, with performances by stars of more than twenty current and upcoming Broadway shows, Duffy Square, 11:00

TICKET ALERT: THE NEW YORKER FESTIVAL 2021

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac will talk about their new HBO series at New Yorker Festival

Who: Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, Dave Grohl, Aimee Mann, Stanley Tucci, Jelani Cobb, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Jonathan Franzen, Tara Westover, Liza Donnelly, Roz Chast, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jane Goodall, Andy Borowitz, Beanie Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, Richard Jenkins, more
What: Hybrid New Yorker Festival
Where: Skyline Drive-In, 1 Oak St. in Brooklyn, and online
When: October 4-10, free – $180, virtual all-access pass $59
Why: Tickets for the in-person outdoor events at this year’s New Yorker Festival go on sale September 14 at noon, along with the specially curated culinary meals, which will be delivered to your door (as long as you live in New York City). Among those appearing live at the Skyline Drive-In on the Brooklyn waterfront are Aimee Mann and Dave Grohl (separately), who will talk and sing, as well as Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, who will discuss their new HBO series, Scenes from a Marriage, and Beanie Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, and Richard Jenkins, who will screen and discuss their new film, Stephen Karam’s The Humans, an adaptation of his hit play. The virtual programs, featuring Jane Goodall, Stanley Tucci, Emily Ratajkowski, Amy Schumer, Jonathan Franzen, Tara Westover, Roz Chast, and others, will be available September 20, including an all-access pass for $59. As always, you can expect tickets to go fast, especially for the free events and the food deliveries. Below is the full schedule.

Monday, October 4
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Yellow Rose, three-course vegan menu delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chefs, Dave and Krystiana Rizo, $50

Tuesday, October 5
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Dacha 46, three-course vegetarian meal delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chefs, Jessica and Trina Quinn, $50

Wednesday, October 6
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Reverence, three-course vegetarian meal delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chef, Russell Jackson, $50

Thursday, October 7
Dining In with the New Yorker Festival: Kimika, three-course meal delivered, with on-demand access to Helen Rosner’s interview with the chef, Christine Lau, $50

Friday, October 8
Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, and Hagai Levi talk with Esther Perel about Scenes from a Marriage, free, 6:30

Dave Grohl talks with Kelefa Sanneh about his upcoming memoir and performs, $90-$180, 9:00

Saturday, October 9
Aimee Mann talks with Atul Gawande and performs, $60-$120, 6:30

Drive-In: The Humans, preview screening of Stephen Karam’s debut film, followed by a conversation with Karam, Beanie Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, and Richard Jenkins, moderated by Michael Schulman, $25-$50, 9:00

Liza Donnelly, Roz Chast, Liana Finck, and Amy Hwang will celebrate the history of women cartoonists at the New Yorker at virtual event (illustration by Liana Finck)

Virtual Events, available September 20

Jane Goodall talks with Andy Borowitz

The Matter of Black Lives, with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Jamaica Kincaid, moderated by Jelani Cobb

Stanley Tucci talks with Helen Rosner about his TV series and his new book, Taste: My Life Through Food

Politics and the Novel, with Yiyun Li, Valeria Luiselli, and Viet Thanh Nguyen, moderated by Parul Sehgal

Emily Ratajkowski and Amy Schumer talk with Michael Schulman

Globalism’s Legacy, with Esther Duflo, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, moderated by Evan Osnos

Jonathan Franzen and Tara Westover talk with Henry Finder

Some Very Funny Ladies, with Liza Donnelly, Roz Chast, Liana Finck, and Amy Hwang, celebrating the history of women cartoonists at the New Yorker, moderated by Emma Allen, free

Rachel Cusk and Patricia Lockwood talk with Deborah Treisman

How to Accelerate Climate Action, with Katharine Hayhoe, Bill Ulfelder, and Allegra Kirkland, free