T he academic year is over, but Yale’s still got stuff to show us. So does the sun, which looks like it’ll be visiting all week, warming up a friendly fundraising effort and a community celebration on the water.
Monday, May 15
Bookplates were custom labels secured inside books to identify their owners. Then they became collector’s items all their own. That’s where Sterling Memorial Library’s new exhibit, Constructing a Pictorial Identity: Bookplates in the Golden Age of Collecting, finds them. In the Selin Courtyard (if weather is friend) or the Periodicals Reading Room (on the off-chance it’s foe), the show’s opening reception, which includes a curator’s talk, lasts from 4:30 to 6 p.m. 120 High Street, New Haven. (203) 432-1810.
Tuesday, May 16
At 7 p.m., the Institute Library (847 Chapel St, New Haven; 203-562-4045) hosts the next installment of its “Listen Here” series, when actors from the New Haven Theater Company read themed short fiction aloud. Selected by the people behind the New Haven Review, the theme this time is “Know-It-Alls” and the works are Tobias Wolff’s Bullet in the Brain and Katharine Weber’s Louisa Huntington’s Last Caller, at Easter. Free.
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Wednesday, May 17
At 5:30 p.m., the New Haven Museum (114 Whitney Ave, New Haven; 203-562-4183) hosts historian and author Laura A. Macaluso for “The Spirit of 1776/1917: Town and Gown Prepare for War.” It’s a free talk about the efforts and sacrifices of the city and Yale during both the American Revolution and the first World War, whose fascinations include a muster at the Yale Bowl during its “first-ever electrified evening,” which attracted some 50,000 people, as well as a battle, not long after, in which more New Haveners died than in any other fight of the 20th century.
At 7, the Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven) hosts a Yale Film Study Center presentation of House of Games (1987; screen-capped above), which is legendary writer David Mamet’s debut directorial effort. Almost universally praised by critics, it’s playing here as it did 30 years ago, in 35mm, when Roger Ebert called it “awake” and described it as “a movie about con men that succeeds… in conning the audience.” Free.
Thursday, May 18
From 6 to 9:30 p.m., the local environmental education and excitation organization Solar Youth holds its annual Solar Jam fundraiser inside the magnificent Kroon Hall, a.k.a. the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (195 Prospect St, New Haven). $60 tickets get you access to “food, drinks, music and a live and silent auction”—an “auction… like no other,” organizers say, whose bounty ranges from “experiences offered by local notables” to a presumably no-hunting African safari.
Friday, May 19
Hosted by Elm City Games (760 Chapel St, 2nd Fl, New Haven), Fantasticon “brings together game designers, publishers, artists and game enthusiasts for a weekend of playtesting, networking and having fun!” The games in question—some of which are in the pre-production design phase—are tabletop games, but there’s a lot of possible range there, from boards to cards to role-playing. The weekend officially begins tonight at 5:30 and ends Sunday night at 8, with tickets for each day costing $5 per player, or $0 for ECG members.
Saturday, May 20
Celebrating the sea life but welcoming the landlocked, Riverfest 2017 happens today from 11 to 4 at the Quinnipiac River Marina (309 Front St, New Haven). With food from three vendors, beer and flavored seltzer tastings, music and dancing, canoeing, fun stuff intended especially for kids and a new one-mile race—or “Front Street Dash”—to kick things off, admission is free unless you’re running the race, which’ll run you $15.
Sunday, May 21
Words ending with “-art” become words ending with “-ort.” “Not” becomes “nought,” “all” becomes “awl,” “coming” becomes “combing.” Such are the allowances we make for singers like Andy Shauf, a mild-mannered Canadian with depths to plumb, who’s making a stop at Cafe Nine this evening to headline a 9:15 show opened by prolific local songster Sam Carlson. $15, or $13 in advance. 250 State Street, New Haven. (203) 789-8281.
Written by Dan Mims. Image is a screen cap from the film House of Games. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
