[note: many, if not most, of these links may no longer be working, but such is the nature of the digital. hopefully, the url and context are enough to help you find any further information you want. if not, feel free to contact me, and i’ll try to help.]
septiembre 2017
¡hola, difus@s!
august was more beach and books (among them, this gem) than anything else, but i did squeeze in a few films and a bit of theater. machines was gorgeous, but, admirably, its aesthetics didn't neutralize or undermine its politics—quite the contrary (much like rachid ouramdane's ordinary witnesses and santiago sierra's polyurethane sprayed on the backs of ten workers). columbus was more visually engrossing than emotionally engaging (perhaps because its narrative begs a slightly comparison to lost in translation), but still a remarkable first feature. like columbus, marjorie prime is rigorously understated, but the themes it explores (technology, memory) and the questions it raises continue to haunt me—as does my regret for not seeing the original at playwrights horizons.
the two plays i caught were at opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum. home at dixon place was staged in the lounge, with minimal tech and free admission, while 1984 at the hudson theatre had a major production budget and a not insignificant ticket price. the latter was, in many ways, the better show, an intelligent adaptation of the novel delivered by seasoned actors. however, i found it less satisfying; some of the acting was competent but not moving, and much of the set and sound design i felt i'd seen used more effectively elsewhere (e.g., ivo van hove’s kings of war at bam). in all its imperfection, home gave me much more of what i want from art—vitality, integrity, risk. the contrast between the two shows galvanized my commitment to off-broadway theater.
a big part of this month was mapping out the coming season (and beyond), which is always exhilarating. currently, i pore over the calendars of more than 70 venues while putting this together, and i’m constantly adding new venues as i discover them. seldom do i remove venues from that list, but i'm making an exception for the public theater, which has deliberately built up its demand far beyond its supply. over the past few years it has shifted its focus to incubating broadway-bound shows (e.g., fun home, hamilton) and showcasing celebrities hungry for “downtown, artistic" cred (e.g., rachel weisz, anne hathaway). as a result, the public now has more members than it has tickets, so only the more moneyed and / or connected (amex pre-sale code? high-level donor? friend or family?) have a reasonable chance of getting tickets (and, no, a lottery is no more noble or effective a means of ticket allocation than it is of wealth redistribution). thus, the public theater has ceased to be "public" or even "downtown" in any meaningful way. i'd much rather support theaters whose commitment to artistry has not been eclipsed by their fascination with celebrity (and the money that follows it), and i encourage you—and troupes like elevator repair service—to do the same.
in that spirit, here’s my (admittedly aspirational) short list for the month:
dance: the new season is off to a strong start in this department, with early work from pina bausch at bam (which was my introduction to her via almodovár), new work from anne teresa de keersmaeker at new york live arts, and a one-off from wendy whelan at the 92y. dorothée munyaneza brings unwanted to the baryshnikov arts center, and faustin linyekula presents three works (in search of dinozord, festival of dreams, and banataba) as part of fiaf's crossing the line festival. other shows i’d like to catch are larissa velez-jackson’s zapatografía / shoegraphy at bushwick starr, antonio ramos and the gang bangers’ almodóvar dystopia at dixon place, stanley love performance group’s brings swings, sings chimes rings, and andré m. zachery / renegade performance group’s untamed space at dancespace (especially after listening to this recent podcast on marooning).
music: the first half of the month is packed with great music. wildproject celebrates john cage's 105th birthday, roulette hosts the resonant bodies festival, ice begins its fall season at abrons, and the stone presents the festival of the new trumpet. the metropolitan museum’s live arts program has two concerts of note, shanghai peking opera’s farewell my concubine (the related film was a formative undergraduate viewing experience) and fabio luisi’s saint bonaventure mass, while the guggenheim's works & process series has two other evenings of great music and conversation, “nico muhly and the countertenor” and “san francisco opera: girls of the golden west by john adams and peter sellars”. joe's pub’s programming is at its diverse best with east village opera company, ute lemper, and “the world of captain beefheart with nona hendryx & gary lucas” (i have very vivid memories of hearing trout mask replica for the first time).
performance + theater: joe’s pub also has some great performance lined up this month, including ryan rafferty, justin sayre, and unitard. arsnova's kpop and the play company's oh my sweet land sound like wonderfully innovative theater, and i’m eager to see inanimate and check out the flea’s new home. though the literary hype around roberto bolaño has faded, i’d love to catch caborca’s adaptation of his distant star at abrons. shakespeare is seldom a high priority for me, but karin conrood’s production of the merchant of venice looks good—and montclair state deserves much recognition for programming an entire year of women artists. wildproject's line-up this month has some interesting offerings: in a little room, outside paducah: the wars at home, and (for the really adventurous) star wars...entirely from memory. other performances that have my interest piqued are aunts at skirball, blank out at the park avenue armory, a remedy for a constitutional crisis at abrons, stairway to stardom at here, and the great outdoors at fiaf.
film: a new dardenne brothers’ film always makes me happy, so i’m looking forward to the unknown girl. two other directors i admire, kelly reinhardt and frederick wiseman (who has a new film out), get retrospectives this month. the quad has a short series entitled "paris stripped bare,” bam also has a french film series (“plus ça change: french new wave in the new millennium”), and metrograph has a trippy series for those of us not quite ready to say good-bye to summer. several worthwhile documentaries arrive on screen this month (enough to fill the month, really): trophy, company town, school life, red trees, unrest, bobbi jene, bugs, i am another you, and prosperity.
art: the latter half of the month will be a blitz of openings (for which, honestly, my stamina is in steep decline), so i’ll catch those shows early next month (except maybe for ad reinhardt’s blue paintings) and keep my ambitions a bit more modest this month. besides trying to catch the public art i still haven't seen while the weather’s favorable, i want to see two museum shows on topics very dear to me. i’m unabashedly geeking out over relative values: the cost of art in the northern renaissance, having just finished my dissertation in this field after teaching in it for a while. at the museum of the city of new york, aids at home: art and everyday activism feels particularly urgent right now.
as always, the full calendar is below, and you're welcome to share all this with anyone you'd like by subscribing them here.
abrazos,
p
september / septiembre
1-7: look now: the universe according to nicholas roeg (film)
1-7: the films of ferry radax (film)
1-13: delores (film)
1-16: the itch (theater)
1-24: inanimate (theater)
5: 9/5/five/105 (music)
5-7: resonant bodies festival (music)
5-: kpop (theater)
6-7: supercodex [live set] (music, performance)
6-9: 2017 dance now (dance)
6-10: zapatografía / shoegraphy (dance)
6-12: white sun (film)
6-14: the complete wiseman: part ii (1986-1996) (film)
6-: mary jane (theater)
7: blanket statement (theater)
7-10: openice fall series (music)
7-30: the flatiron hex (theater)
8: east village opera company (music)
8-9: festival of the new trumpet (music)
8-10: paris stripped bare (film)
8-10: the innermost limits of pure fun: psychedelic surf films, 1966-1979 (film)
8-14: boris without beatrice (film)
8-17: plus ça change: french new wave in the new millennium (film)
8-21: trophy (film)
8-21: company town (film)
8-21: do re mi fa (film)
8-21: motherland (film)
8-21: school life (film)
8-: the unknown girl (film)
8-: oh my sweet land (theater)
9: the funkadelic 70s movie marathon (film)
9: byron westbrook: threshold variations (music)
9: #letnycdance (performance)
9-10: banataba [new work] (dance)
9-24: in a little room (theater)
10: charles gillibert’s dream double feature (film)
11: night of a thousand acid queens: a queer concert version of the who’s tommy (music, performance)
11: belladonna*: and/with: makhzin: zohra saed & mina zohal (with youmna chlala) (performance)
11-12: ryan raftery: the rise and fall (and rise) of martha stewart (performance)
12: butch morris & radical black composition (music)
12: argus quartet (music)
12: old man dancing (performance)
12-17: josiah mcelheny’s prismatic park: jodi melnick (dance)
12-23: stairway to stardom (performance)
12-25: kelly reichardt: powerfully observant (film)
13: peggy lee septet: tell tale (music)
13-26: dayveon (film)
13-26: ex libris – the new york public library (film)
14: this civilized world: jonas mekas & charity coleman (film)
14: matana roberts: “breathe…” (music)
14-23: stage (performance)
14-23: star wars…entirely from memory (theater)
14-24: café müller / the rite of spring (dance)
14-: distant star (theater)
15: wendy whelan and kathy westwater: wendy dances a solo by kathy (dance)
15: aunts (performance)
15-17: justin vivian bond is down on creation: on top of the world with the carpenters (music, performance)
15-24: film is like a battleground: sam fuller’s war movies (film)
15-24: farewell my concubine (music)
15-28: red trees (film)
15-28: the cinema of gender transgression: trans film (film)
15-28: strong island (film)
16: lois weber’s the dumb girl of portici (film)
16-17: almodóvar dystopia (dance)
17: diary of a lost girl (film)
17: nico muhly and the countertenor (music)
17: a remedy for a constitutional crisis (performance)
17-18: luminous procuress (film)
18: crossing delancey (film)
18-20: lena horne 100 (film)
19: fast forward (dance)
19: beggars of life (film)
19: saint bonaventure mass (music)
19-24: lab25 (theater)
19-: the merchant of venice (theater)
20: new noir chinese crime films (film)
20: the world of captain beefheart with nona hendryx & gary lucas (music)
20-23: olivier py sings les premiers adieux de miss knife (music, performance)
21: radames gnattali quartet (music)
21-22: unwanted (dance)
21-22: san francisco opera: girls of the golden west by john adams and peter sellars (music)
21-22: kaneza schaal's jack&jill (work-in-progress) (theater)
21-23: stanley love performance group: brings swings, sings chimes rings… (dance)
21-23: the great outdoors (performance)
21-27: hissein habré, a chadian tragedy (film)
21-27: blank out (performance)
21-28: kim david smith's "morphium kabarett" (music, performance)
22: steven warwick: elevator to mezzanine (performance)
22: the kind of thing you don't talk about (performance)
22-23: almodóvar dystopia (dance)
22-23: in search of dinozord (dance, performance)
22-24: justin sayre: i’m gorgeous inside (performance)
22-27: jamaa fanaka (film)
22-: unrest (film)
22-: also starring harry dean stanton (film)
22-: bobbi jane (film)
22-: warner bros. tough guys, tough dames… tough pictures (film)
23: junk by ayad akhtar (theater)
23-24: festival of dreams (dance, performance)
23-24: ute lemper: songs from the broken heart (music)
25-: syncing ink (theater)
26-: no wake (theater)
26-: outside paducah: the wars at home (theater)
27: unitard: tard core - there are no safe words (performance)
27: banned together: a censorship cabaret (performance)
27-30: anne teresa de keersmaeker & salva sanchis : a love supreme (dance)
27-30: my lai (music)
27-: clive davis: soundtrack of our lives (film)
27-: bugs (film)
27-: i am another you (film)
27-: {my lingerie play} 2017: the concert and call to arms!!!!!!!!! the final installation (performance)
28: 2017 dance now (dance)
28: winter house (film)
28: mdou moctar (music)
28: bach + glass (music)
28-30: andré m. zachery/renegade performance group: untamed space (dance)
28-30: untitled_i will be there when you die (dance, performance)
28-: brand new sidewalk (dance)
28-: prosperity (film) ifc
28-: whiskey pants: the mayor of williamsburg (theater)
29: for: works by christian wolff, ashley fure, annea lockwood / christian wolff & michael pisaro duo (music)
29-30: almodóvar dystopia (dance)
29-30: mette ingvartsen: 7 pleasures (dance)
29-30: maryanne amacher: adjacencies (music)
29-: autumn, autumn (film)
30: draftwork: jonathan gonzalez / jessie young (dance)
30: with: works by michael pisaro, annea lockwood, christian wolff / roundtable discussion (music)
30-: corbeaux (crows) (art, performance)