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The Best Things To Do In NYC This Week, From A VHStival To A Coronavirus Comedy Show
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Oriana Leckert
Published Feb 24, 2020
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Maria Baranova
By
Oriana Leckert
Published Feb 24, 2020
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Suicide Forest @ A.R.T. New York Theater
Broaden your perspective at Suicide Forest, a “bilingual nightmare play” about the Japanese American consciousness, produced by the acclaimed Ma-Yi Theater Company. Performed by a Japanese heritage cast, the production grapples with sex and sexuality, the masochism of a male-dominated society, the role of community in our lives, and the struggles of emotional, psychic, and social suicide. The play is returning by popular demand after a sold-out run at Bushwick Starr.
Opens Tuesday, February 25th // A.R.T. New York Theater, 502 West 53rd St., Manhattan // Tickets: $30–$75
Tales of Hopper @ DiMenna Center for Classical Music
See the combination of two artistic disciplines at Tales of Hopper, a new theater-dance work inspired by Edward Hopper. Choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino has cast the performers as figures from the realist painter’s works, using transparent set pieces to further contextualize the vignettes. It’s accompanied by a live score by composer Martin Bresnick for piano, violin, and cello. The performance will also include two of Lavagnino’s repertory works, Triptych and Veiled.
Tuesday, February 25th, and Wednesday, February 26th // DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th St., Manhattan // Tickets: $15
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York
Puerto Rican Activism from New York to San Juan @ Museum of the City of New York
Get a glimpse of a specific part of this city’s history at a conversation about Puerto Rican Activism from New York to San Juan. In association with the museum’s Activist New York exhibit, the talk on activism, diasporas, and colonization will be hosted by Johanna Fernández, author of the forthcoming book Young Lords: A Radical History. She’ll be joined by organizer Pablo Benson-Silva, filmmaker Frances Negrón-Muntaner, former Young Lord Mickey Melendez, and academic Monxo López.
Tuesday, February 25th, 6:30 p.m. // Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave., Harlem // Tickets: $12
VHStival Tour @ Alamo Drafthouse
Give in to nostalgia at the VHStival, a two-day celebration of tapes and tape culture. Things kick off with four hours of tape-swapping and the launch of Mondo’s newest tabletop game, Video Vortex. There will also be screenings: gory thriller Video Violence, about “a cult of small-town psychos” making perverted snuff films; At the Video Store, a documentary about tangible cinema and film nerds; and VHYES, an alt-comedy shot on Betamax. Plus author Josh Schafer will be signing his new book Stuck on VHS: A Visual History of Video Store Stickers.
Thursday, February 27th, and Friday, February 28th // Alamo Drafthouse, 445 Albee Square West, Brooklyn // Various prices
Country Over Party @ Cooper Union’s Great Hall
Hear prominent anti-Trump conservatives discuss what it means to be a patriot today at Country Over Party. Speakers include Kellyanne’s husband George Conway, political strategist Reed Gallen, media consultant Rick Wilson, communications strategist Jennifer Horn, and more. The talk is in honor of the 160th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s “Right Makes Might” speech, and the eight speakers are the founding member of the Lincoln Project, which is working to elect Democrats who support the Constitution over Republicans who do not.
Thursday, February 27th, 7 p.m. // Cooper Union Great Hall, 7 East Seventh St., Manhattan // Free
New York WILD Film Festival @ The Explorers Club
Give in to your animal nature at the seventh-annual New York WILD Film Festival, three days of award-winning documentaries, shorts, conversations, and parties. The fest intends to bring exploration, adventure, wildlife, conservation, and the environment to our very urban city. Some highlights among the 32 films: The Woman Who Loved Giraffes, about Anne Innis Dagg, the first person to study animal behavior in South Africa in 1956; Whale Wisdom, filmed in seven different countries; and Into the Jungle, in which Australian newlyweds try to save the world’s rarest animal.
Opens Friday, February 28th // The Explorers Club, 46 East 70th St., Manhattan // Tickets: $55 and up
Pozole
Food Karma Project
Bowl of 'Zole @ Biba
Warm yourself up at Bowl of 'Zole, a feast of Mexican comfort food and drinks. The star of the day is pozole, a hearty stew made with hominy, greens, and a variety of meats (with vegetarian options too, of course), prepared by 10 different chefs including Casa Enrique’s Cosme Aguilar, Toloache and La Chula’s Julian Medina, La Loncheria’s Danny Mena, and Casa Bocado’s Ivy Stark. To wash it down, there will be 50 different smoky mezcals, an ancient beverage traditionally distilled in in-ground fire pits.
Saturday, February 29th, 1 p.m. // Biba, 110 Kent Ave., Brooklyn // Tickets: $55
Marc Millman
Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple @ The Metropolitan Museum
See a site-specific tribute to a visionary artist at Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple. Musician and vocalist Nona Hendryx, who has been making music since the 1970s, when she was in a pop/soul trio with Patti LaBelle, has designed a multi-sensory celebration of Sun Ra to be performed in the Met’s Temple of Dendur. The production includes orchestration by composer, trombonist, and Sun Ra devotee Craig Harris, as well as choreography by Francesca Harper, costume and set design by Virgil Ortiz, and invocations by Carl Hancock Rux.
Saturday, February 29th, 7 p.m. // The Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave., Manhattan // Tickets: $85
Asians Strike Back @ Caveat
At Asians Strike Back, a comedy and science show about coronavirus, hosts Kyle Marian and Esther Chen will explore the science and social repercussions of racialized emerging diseases. The evening will feature an all-Asian roster of virologists, epidemiologists, anthropologists, and more, plus plenty of comedians to poke fun at haters and Sinophobics. The whole thing ends with a face mask fashion show, where commenters discuss what the different masks are good for.
Sunday, March 1st, 4 p.m. // Caveat, 21A Clinton St., Manhattan // Tickets: $15
For Every Real Word Spoken @ Bell House
Revel in verse at For Every Real Word Spoken, in support of youth poetry programming across the city. The lineup includes TED speakers, a National Poetry Series Winner, and a New York City Youth Poet Laureate, with a plethora of poetic performers such as Sarah Kay, Phil Kaye, Mahogany L. Browne, Jon Sands, and many more. All proceeds go to Urban Word NYC, one of the oldest youth literary arts organizations in the country.
Sunday, March 1st, 5 p.m. // Bell House, 149 Seventh St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $22–$35
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Oriana Leckert
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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