Theater: Wallace Shawn's "Evening at the Talk House"

From left, Matthew Broderick, John Epperson, Wallace Shawn, seated, and Claudia Shear in Mr. Shawn’s “Evening at the Talk House” at the Pershing Square Signature Center. CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

"The banality of evil."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/theater/evening-at-the-talk-house-review.html?_r=0

.......
"I love how Wallace Shawn's writing begins with the simplest premise: people in a context. He cloaks the people with everything familiar to us, the audience, because it's a reflection of the way we live now. He shows us who we are, now. He mirrors the things we think are important; the misconceptions that we promote or hide; the ways that we are, perhaps minutely, cruel to fellow humans. In this same way he begins with a social context equally familiar to our present, even pointing out to us, in Talk House, that we are playing the part of "the audience" and are watching a play. And "this is the way aging actors talk about their careers and their comrades and competitors on the stage."

From familiar turf, Mr. Shawn moves us as smoothly as the ticking of a clock into future time - a future that extrapolates our behaviors as if they have profound future implications if unchecked.

In "Talk House," the dystopian future seems to be only about 10 years from the present. People have become obsessed with the idea of real/imagined threats and personalized danger posed by individuals around the world. Informants have become all-powerful. Distrust of one's fellow human beings has destroyed things like the theater and the former pleasant social club known as the Talk House. Retaliation against undesirable people is extreme: sophisticated poisons and drone-driven micro-bombs are used to commit murder. The job of being a killer has become ubiquitous: any individual with some free time and who needs a part time job can become a paid murderer.

The play is sprinkled with humor as we laugh at ourselves, our foibles, our penchant for verbal punishment of friends and foes alike. The theater is dead for a reason in this dystopian future: it is no longer safe to be oneself and to express oneself. In this new world, kindness itself becomes the greatest human flaw."  --dp

Theater: WHITE GUY ON THE BUS @ 59E59

Delaware Theatre Company presents WHITE GUY ON THE BUS Written by BRUCE GRAHAM Directed by BUD MARTIN With Robert Cuccioli, Jessica Bedford, Danielle Lenee, Susan McKey, Jonathan Silver A fearless new play by Bruce Graham (the writer behind 59E59 Theaters sold-out hit shows Any Given Monday and The Outgoing Tide) that unravels a complex web of moral ambiguity, revenge, and racial bias. A wealthy white businessman and a struggling black single mom ride the same bus week after week. As they get to know each other, their relationship sparks a candid and surprising look at racial and economic divides.

Music: Philip Glass, Songs and Poems for Solo Cello

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=wendy+sutter+song+i&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLSz9U3MK4oLzYrUwKz04xMio0stESzk630c0uLM5P1E3OSSnOtivPz0osBqFYJ1jEAAAA&*

Music: Arooj Aftab at the Ecstatic Music Festival 2017

Arooj Aftab processes the Sufi tradition through an open-minded approach to sonic matter, reminiscent of jazz improvisation, and a contemporary production that does not shy away from incorporating subtle electronic undertones. With this method, the Lahore-born, Brooklyn-based artist completely reworks classical Pakistani and North Indian forms, like thumri, khayal, and kafi. With those broad inspirations, she creates a fascinating mix of sounds and cultures.

Listen to the concert on Q2 music:

Leo Genovese, piano
Nathan Ellman-Bell, drums
Yusuke Yamamoto, synths

https://www.facebook.com/aroojaftabmusic/

Music: Dadan 2017

http://www.bam.org/music/2017/dadan-2017

In Dadan, Japan’s preeminent taiko ensemble showcases the spectacular sonic possibilities of these time-honored instruments, supplemented with cymbals, xylophone, and more. Led by Kabuki theater luminary Tamasaburo Bando, the members of Kodo (Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery, 2015 Winter/Spring) summon decades of training to exalt the drum in this tightly choreographed pageant of percussion.

Film: Sophie's Misfortunes

About the Countess of Ségur:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countess_of_S%C3%A9gur

“Sophie’s misfortunes” In this new adaptation of the Countess of Ségur’s iconic books, film director Christophe Honoré brings back to life, with nostalgia, Sophie’s misadventures. The Countess of Segur remains to this day France’s best-selling children’s author. Sophie is a naughty little girl living in a castle, in nineteenth century France. She simply cannot resist disobeying her mother and engaging in mischievous pranks, accompanied by her cousin Paul. When her parents announce the family moving to America, Sophie is thrilled. One year later she comes back to France with her horrible step-mother, Madame Fichini. But Sophie can rely on her two friends, the Good Little Girls, and their mother, Madame de Fleurville, to help her from falling into the awful lady’s clutches.

Film: I am Not Your Negro

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_am_not_your_negro

Art Gallery: photographer Richard Mosse, Heat Maps

Photographer Richard Mosse is using a military thermal radiation camera to capture detailed photos of refugee camps. His ongoing series is titled Heat Maps, shown at the Jack Shainman Gallery, in New York.

Film: Heal the Living

Trailer on Youtube

Director: Katell Quillévéré
2016 France/Belgium French with English subtitles
103 minutes

 A medical drama of unusual depth and sensitivity, Heal the Living charts the disparate lives touched by a tragedy. Following a car accident, 17-year-old Simon (Gabin Verdet) is left brain-dead, setting into motion a chain of events that affects everyone from his family to the hospital staff to a mother of two (Anne Dorval) in need of a heart transplant.

 Director Katell Quillévéré weaves together the multistrand narrative with consummate grace, abetted by a remarkable ensemble cast (including Emmanuelle Seigner and Tahar Rahim), elegant camerawork, and a striking score by Alexandre Desplat. The result is an enormously affecting study of human interconnectedness that finds a silver lining of hope in a wrenching situation. A Cohen Media Group release.

Film: Mr. Gaga

Director: Tomer Heymann
2015Israel/Sweden/Germany/Netherlands English and Hebrew with English subtitles
100 minutes

Enter the world of Ohad Naharin, renowned choreographer and artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, and creator of an innovative and exciting movement language known as Gaga. Eight years in the making, this high-energy documentary immerses the audience in the creative process behind Batsheva’s unique performances. Using intimate rehearsal footage, extensive unseen archival materials, and stunning dance sequences, acclaimed director Tomer Heymann (Paper Dolls, The Queen Has No Crown, I Shot My Love) tells the fascinating story of an artistic genius who redefined the language of modern dance.

Film: Kedi

2016 / 80min / DCP

DIRECTOR: CEYDA TORUN
In this sumptuously-shot documentary tribute to the street cats of Istanbul, the people of the city warmly reflect on these collective pets who are neither stray nor domestic, and the role that they play in the life of the dynamic megalopolis. A movie of enormous, playful charm, with keen insights into this rapidly changing city trying to hang on to its felines, and its soul. Cat lovers, meet the best movie you will ever see.

An Oscilloscope Laboratories release

Theater: The Tempest by the Donmar Warehouse, St. Ann’s, Brooklyn

The Donmar Warehouse (London) returns to St. Ann’s with The Tempest, the finale to Phyllida Lloyd’s thrilling all-female Shakespeare Trilogy. Led by the great Harriet Walter as Prospero, and with songs by the legendary Joan Armatrading, The Tempest takes place in a women’s prison, where Lloyd’s intrepid “inmates” play the roles Shakespeare originally wrote for men. The Tempest proves a moving metaphor, conjuring Prospero’s magical island from the stark prison setting. The result “…is a multilayered act of liberation.” (Ben Brantley, The New York Times)  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/theater/review-in-the-tempest-liberation-and-exhilaration.html?_r=0

Theater: Kunstler at 59E59

The Creative Place International in Association with AND Theatre Company presents

Jeff McCarthy in:

KUNSTLER

by Jeffrey Sweet

Directed by Meagen Fay

With Nambi E. Kelley

Broadway star Jeff McCarthy brings William Kunstler back to life in Jeffrey Sweet's fascinating play, which revisits Kunstler's timely message of Constitutional civil rights under rule of law in an exciting theatrical event.

Theater: THE DRESSMAKER'S SECRET at 59E59 Theater

By Sarah Levine Simon and Mihai Grunfeld

Directed by Roger Hendricks Simon

Featuring Bryan Burton, Robert S. Gregory, Caralyn Kozlowski, Tracy Sallows

Nineteen-year-old Robi is eager to escape the oppression of Communist Romania to forge a new life in the west. The unexpected return of his mother's estranged fiance after a 20 year absence, may hold a key to his freedom. However, when his mother reveals that Robi's father was not killed in action as he'd believed, but is either a Jewish teacher his mother hid during the war or the Hungarian soldier who persecuted him, Robi must decide whether to embrace his ancestry or run from it.

The Simon Studio in association with Amanagion LLC.

Dance: Antony Hamilton and Alisdair Macindoe (Australia) MEETING

"Two performers share space with 64 robotic instruments. A relentless stream of activity unfolds, where the bodies enter states of heightened physical and mental agency, with all actions carried by the meditative pulse of the machine beat. 

MEETING reveals a fascination with the articulation of the body and mind in motion. A choreographic study stripped to the bare essentials, the work pairs Hamilton’s compulsive choreography and unique physical grammar with Macindoe’s obsessive machine-making practice." 

MEETING composes the body, space and robots into a riveting choreographic soundscape flooding your eyes and ears with technical mastery at its finest.

“MEETING is a quietly rich encounter between man, machine, motion and sound that rewards your attention with mesmeric human feats and meditative sonic patterns.” – Ian Abbott, Writing about Dance

Choreographer, Director and Performer: Antony Hamilton
Instrument Design & Construction, Composer, Performer: Alisdair Macindoe

Dance: Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo (NYC) "Custodians of Beauty"

http://www.ps122.org/custodians-of-beauty/

"For decades in the humanities, various arguments have been put forward against beauty. Where do we find beauty today and does it need our defense? Bessie Award–winning choreographer/director Pavel Zuštiak and his Palissimo Company examine beauty and its intrinsic relationship with art through minimalist movement, sensuous abstraction and potent stage imagery. 

Drawn from a dark Eastern European dance-theater aesthetic, this richly postmodern dance/live music event casts the human body as a sculptural form, an emotional trigger, or a political symbol. In an age when humanity, disenchanted with itself, seems to have rejected the necessity of beauty, Custodians of Beauty asks us to look again, beyond the surface, to see differently."

“Plunges headlong into questions about what is ‘beautiful’ by interrogating sources like Plato, Pope Benedict XVI, and of course, the dancing body.” – Time Out New York

Dancers: Nicholas Bruder, Emma Judkins, Justin Morrison

Pavel Zuštiak is a NYC-based director, choreographer and performer, born in the communist Czechoslovakia and trained at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. His works for stage and public spaces merge the abstract aspects of dance with nonlinear qualities of “theatre of images” into multidisciplinary pieces rich in evocative imagery and piercing emotional resonance. Zuštiak is the 2015 Bessie Juried Award winner for his “poetic layering of movement and visual imagery, conceiving the stage space as a decentralized world in which the corporeal body is the focus and canvas for a wide range of human expression,” a 2015-17 Princeton Arts Fellow, the recipient of 2013 LMCC President’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Practice and 2012 NEFA/NDP Production and Residency Grants, 2010 Guggenheim Fellow and 2014, 2009, and 2007 Princess Grace Awards Winner. His 5-hour trilogy The Painted Bird received a 2013 Bessie Award nomination for Outstanding Production. www.palissimo.org

Theater: Real Magic by Forced Entertainment, COIL Festival 2017

Forced Entertainment’s Real Magic

Caught in a world of second-chances and second-guesses, variations and changes, distortions and transformations, Real Magic takes you on a hallucinatory journey, creating a compelling performance about optimism, individual agency and the desire for change.

In Real Magic, Forced Entertainment create a world of absurd disconnection, struggle, and comical repetition. To the sound of looped applause and canned laughter, a group of performers take part in an impossible illusion – part mind-reading feat, part cabaret act, part chaotic game show – in which they are endlessly replaying the moment of defeat and the moment of hope.

Time Out New York calls it like it is: "Finally, the buzziest company coming to COIL is Tim Etchells’s long-lived Forced Entertainment, who bring Real Magic, a deconstructed cabaret act that will likely be one of January’s most confident pieces."

“Beckett meets trash TV” – Nachtkritik(Germany)

Director Tim Etchells

Devised with and Performed by Jerry Killick, Richard Lowdon and Claire Marshall

Forced Entertainment Creative Team Robin Arthur, Tim Etchells (Artistic Director), Richard Lowdon (Designer), Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O’Connor.

Film: Manifesto at the Park Avenue Armory

Artists discuss their personal revolutions with, through, and against the art of their ages.

Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/arts/design/12-faces-of-cate-blanchett-a-chameleon-in-the-armory.html?_r=0

Theater: Hundred Days (Under the Radar Festival)

Conceived by Abigail and Shaun Bengson
Book, Music and Lyrics by Abigail and Shaun Bengson
Additional Material by Sarah Gancher
Directed by Anne Kauffman

Featuring Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Colette Alexander, Geneva Harrison, Jo Lampert, and Reggie D. White

Hundred Days is the uncensored, exhilarating, and heartrending true story of how Abigail and Shaun Bengson met and fell in love, and how that love unleashed their terror of mortality. With magnetic chemistry and anthemic folk-punk music, the Bengsons explore the fundamental question of how to make the most of the time that we have.

Hundred Days was created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson with their collaborators Anne Kauffman and Sarah Gancher.

American folk/rock duo The Bengsons have performed their music worldwide. Theatre and Dance:You'll Still Call Me By Name (NYLA), Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theater Festival),The Place We Built (The Flea), Iphigenia in Aulis (CSC). Upcoming: Sun Down, Yellow Moon (Ars Nova, Women’s Project), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), and a LCT commission.

Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/theater/hundred-days-review-under-the-radar.html?_r=0

Theater: The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart

Melody Grove in The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart.

(© National Theatre of Scotland/Drew Farrell)

The National Theatre of Scotland's The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart.

"Created by writer David Greig and director Wils Wilson, with design by Georgia McGuinness, movement by Janice Parker and musical direction by Alasdair Macrae, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is described as "a transporting, music-filled folk theater fable." The show "unfolds among and around its audience, weaving an ingenious, lyrical and enchanting story told with live music throughout its intimate and supernatural setting."

The production will feature a full Scottish cast from the National Theatre of Scotland, including Annie Grace, Melody Grove, Peter Hannah, Alasdair Macrae, and Paul McCole.

The McKittrick Hotel's bar and music venue, the Heath, has been transformed into a high-spirited Scottish Pub for the production."