Staff Picks No. 6
Iceblink (and more!) at Second Sundays: Lynn Avery, Mari Rubio, Jeff Tobias
Pioneer Works
Sunday, August 13th 2023
Second Sundays at Pioneer Works are always a good hang: open studios, lectures, telescopes for stargazing, good food and drink in the garden. August’s edition (on the 13th) is particularly special, featuring a 2pm performance by Lynn Avery’s moody, tender, genre-defying, classical guitar ambient project Iceblink, joined by Mari Rubio and Jeff Tobias in a new trio configuration. It'll be a lovely afternoon; come through!
Staffer: Joshua Dumas
Ultra Left Violence: Robert Lyons & Daniel Irizarry
New Ohio Theatre
August 9th-August 12 2023
My friend recommended this. And Matthew's never given me a bad recommendation before. But even if Matthew hadn't recommended it, the show had me from "Imagine two activists hashing out a freely-associated anti-capitalist manifesto."
Staffer: Hillary Gao
Habitus: Collective Nafass (Nidal Abdo, Katell Ollier, Cynthia Dariane, OSLOOB, and Khaled Alwarea)
Chez Bushwick
Monday, August 14th 2023
A dance looking at embodied memory (whether it be consciously, unconsciously, or subconsciously collected), and how that relates to our bodies’ states of dis/placement.
Staffer: Marissa Joyce Stamps
elsewhere, within here: Xinan Helen Ran & Sharmistha Ray
The Rubelle and Schafler Gallery
August 1st, 2023 – September 30th, 2023
An AAPI Pratt student art show—what’s that doing on this performance picks site?? Well, because it’s curated by one of my favorite minds. A mind that is incisive, ingenious, and provocative: the mind of Xinan Helen Ran. In everything she does, she manages to shift one’s vision the quarter inch needed to see a whole new perspective. I am certain her co-curator has in her skull a mind with vision equally as exciting. I’d say whatever they’ve cooked up is worth a trip to the galleries.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
?!:New Works - Night 22: Colin Heininger, Jude Gallegos, Leonie Bell and Peter Mills Weiss
The Brick Theater
Tuesday, August 15th 2023
EXTREME BIAS ALERT! ?!:New Works (pronounced interrobang new works) is a wild project that I started back at Silent Barn in 2016 where there are tons of artists from different mediums on different split bills every night, giving us a real mix and mash and match of forms, communities, vibes and potentially disastrous art. August 15 is the first night of the August iteration (we did 3 weeks in April and 1 week in June) and it launches us into two more weeks of magical experimentation. Peter Mills Weiss is hosting, which is everything. Leonie Bell is a fixture in the theater scene and my heart, as a performer, writer, sound designer, innovator, animator and sometimes T-Rex. Colin Heininger choreographed and danced in one of the most stunning pieces I saw in 2021 and he is back with something new! And Jude Gallegos is new to The Brick and I have been itching to work with them all year! It is a dreamy way to kick things off, so check it out and check out the line-ups for the other 9 nights happening this month!
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Self-described as the spiritual successor to The Exponential Festival, so you know it’s going to be experimental and maybe “raw” or “rowdy” or “confusing, but in a good way”. And as a HUGE plus, Peter Mills Weiss is hosting the opening night off the series. One time Peter “performed” to help me fundraise for a show. He got on the mic and said, “I’m going to talk about my back rash until we have $100 dollars” and was off the mic in 4 minutes. That’s the kind of effective hosting you’re in for. Not to be missed.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
Tactics for the Future: Ta-Nia (Talia Paulette Oliveras and Nia Farrell)
An autochthonous digital environment
Asynchronous
Ta-Nia is inviting everyone to pitch-in to the future’s birthday party, which is def an abundant pitch-in of manifestations! To partake in the newly relaunched virtual experience, all you have to do is be a lil present with yourself.
Staffer: Marissa Joyce Stamps
For One Night Okay: Richard Perez
Union Hall
Thursday, August 10th
Look. Richard Perez is working on something in this show. He’s cooking something up—up there on the stage. I’ve seen it myself. He’s going to make something amazing out of these shows; something that reflects us back to us. Do you want to be a part of the us that gets reflected back? You do. I got asked what being in love felt like and my answer is now in the ingredients of whatever he’s cooking up, and that feels good.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
Character Night: Branded Silk, Amanda Xeller, Allie Kroeper, Jackie Skinner, Kurt Cruz, Nivedita Kulkarni, Tim Girrbach, & Zach Young
The Magnet
Sunday, August 13th
If I were a person going on dates, I would bring a date to Character Night and see what the hell happens. Shenanigans, for sure. Ridiculousness. Absurd props. Wig acting. I guess Three Stooges is my love language.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister