This Week in New Haven (March 19-25)

Monday, March 19
Australian animator Dennis Tupicoff screens and discusses some of his short films, including Dance of Death (a crass TV variety show hosted by “Don Death”), The Darra Dogs (Tupicoff’s memories of childhood pets), His Mother’s Voice (a rotoscoped rendition of a real-life tale of a mother learning that her child had died) and the dangerous romantic metaphor Chainsaw. 7 p.m. at Yale’s William Harkness Hall (100 Wall St., New Haven; 203-436-4668).

Tuesday, March 20
It’s the first day of Spring—not that we’ve had such a long, hard winter. The Edgewood Ranger Station in Edgewood Park is holding a special Nature Walk for the occasion from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. The event is free, but pre-registration is required. (203) 946-8028, www.cityofnewhaven.com.

Wednesday, March 21
You can play to your heart’s content this afternoon at the main (Ives) branch of the New Haven Free Public Library. It doesn’t matter whether you’re into tactile or virtual, old-school or futuristic, building or blowing up. At 5 p.m. you can meet with the Lego Blocks enthusiasts, while at 7 p.m. the library plugs you into Wii and Xbox Kinect games. 133 Elm St., New Haven. (203) 946-8130.

sponsored by

Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven

Thursday, March 22
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven puts its arts where its council is, designating the walls of its offices at 70 Audubon Street as the Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Up through May 11 is Spectra 2012, the annual exhibition of works by members of the Photo Arts Collective. There’s an opening reception tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. (203) 772-2788, www.newhavenarts.org.

Just a couple of blocks from the Arts Council, at the New Haven Museum (114 Whitney Ave., New Haven; 203-562-4183; www.newhavenmuseum.org), Katherine Wiltshire discusses four women who’ve been inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame: Ella T. Grasso (first female governor of Connecticut), Yale astronomer Dorrit Hoffleit, textile artist Anni Albers and civil rights activist/lawyer/politician Constance Baker Motley. The talk is free; donations are welcome. 6 – 7 p.m.

Friday, March 23
A big weekend for theater at Yale. There’s the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, which began its preview performances last week and had its opening night on Thursday. The show, which runs through April 7, is directed by Liz Diamond, who heads the directing program at the Yale School of Drama, and features a cast of seasoned professionals (Felicity Jones, Hoon Lee, Richard Ruiz) plus some standout talents from the Yale School of Drama acting program.

And there’s more from Yale Rep: In conjunction with the undergraduate Yale Theatre Studies Program, YR offers the third and final presentation of the 2012 edition of No Boundaries: A Series of Global Performances. Directed by Spanish dancer/filmmaker Cuqui Jerez, The Rehearsal is a metatheatrical performance in which audiences come to terms with whether they’re witnessing a show, the rehearsal of a show, reality or something in between. The Rehearsal, which has a cast of five (including Jerez himself) plays Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 & 8 p.m. at Yale’s Iseman Theater, 1156 Chapel St., New Haven; 203-432-1234. $35, $25 with Yale ID, $10 for students; www.yalerep.org.

Saturday, March 24
Calling all guitars! The Yale School of Music is holding an all-day Guitar Extravaganza in Morse Recital Hall (part of Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven; 203-432-4158; www.music.yale.edu). A $40 fee covers an array of workshops, lectures, exhibits, panel discussions, master classes… or if you just want to hear someone else’s guitar gently weep, concerts at 2 p.m. (featuring the Dither Guitar Quartet), 6  p.m. (“Music of the Americas” with Kim Perlak and Zaira Meneses) and 8 p.m. (the Yale debut of Italy’s SoloDuo).

Sunday, March 25
Joe Krown, who rocks a Hammond B3 organ, was in the late Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s band for over a decade, and got to play himself in an episode of the HBO series Treme. Drummer Russell Batiste Jr. is known from The Funky Meters, while guitarist Walter “Wolfman” Washington spent his youth touring with the great Lee Dorsey. Known collectively as The Joe Krown Trio, these men have been the Sunday house band for years at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans. This Sunday, they can be found instead at Café Nine (250 State St., New Haven; 203-789-8281; www.cafenine.com). It’s an early show, 8 p.m., for $15.

Written by Christopher Arnott.

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Christopher Arnott has written about arts and culture in Connecticut for over 25 years. His journalism has won local, regional and national awards, and he has been honored with an Arts Award from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. He posts daily at his own sites www.scribblers.us and New Haven Theater Jerk (www.scribblers.us/nhtj).

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