F our mayoral candidates, three new plays, two opening receptions and once-a-year occasions count down the week ahead.
Monday, May 13
The 2019 Carlotta Festival of New Plays, which stages rotating performances of three fully produced plays by graduating playwrights in the Yale School of Drama’s MFA program, continues through Wednesday. In Alex Lubischer’s Pivot, staging at 2 p.m. today and Wednesday in Iseman Theater (1156 Chapel St, New Haven), “It’s Kara’s big day and she’s not here to make friends. Inspired by events from America’s heartland, this dark comedy imagines what happens when a bride’s best-laid plans explode the week before the wedding…” Meanwhile, in Christopher Gabriel Núñez’s Locusts, happening at 8 p.m. today and Wednesday in Iseman, “a group of friends gather[ing] in Jackson Heights to smoke weed, make food, and commune. They’re all anxious to see their friend Piedad, who had been attacked on the subway a few months ago. When she doesn’t show up, a mystery unravels revealing a disturbing truth that tests their ideas of justice, morality, and resolve.” (The festival’s third play, Jeremy O. Harris’s Yell: a “documentary” of my time here, has one remaining performance, on Tuesday, but it’s sold out.) $25, with discounts for students and Yale employees.
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Tuesday, May 14
At the Space Ballroom (295 Treadwell St, Hamden; 203-573-1600), the Meat Puppets, whose output over the course of nearly 40 years invites fleeting comparisons to REM, The Presidents of the United States of America, Tom Petty and countless others, headline an all-ages show at 7:45 p.m. Before the Puppets is Sumo Princess, an invigorating duo that rocks a lot with a little (bass, drums, vocals), with question mark Stephen Maglio—he bills himself as “a musical nut ball who defies not [just] description, but [also] worthiness of it”—in the opening slot. $20.
Wednesday, May 15
From 7 to 9 p.m. at Mauro-Sheridan Middle School (191 Fountain St, New Haven), a Democratic mayoral forum brings together candidates Justin Elicker, Wendy Hamilton, Mayor Toni Harp and Urn Pendragon, who “will be questioned on and asked to discuss their respective positions on public safety, revenue, education, governance, economic development and jobs.”
Thursday, May 16
From 10 a.m. today through early afternoon on Saturday, Gateway Community College (20 George St, New Haven; attendees should use the entrance at Church and George Streets) hosts the 2019 New Haven International Film Festival. The schedule is beyond packed, with entrants ranging from features to documentary shorts to animated films to “PSAs, ads and micro shorts.” Single-screening tickets cost $8, while day passes cost $20 for Thursday and Friday and $15 for Saturday.
A 5 p.m. reception at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (121 Wall St, New Haven) celebrates the opening of two new exhibitions: Life of the Party: Jerome Zerbe and the Social Photograph, featuring photos of “the golden age of nightclubbing” by “the first paparazzo,” and Michael Childers: Author! Author!, featuring photos of writers including Amy Tan, Carrie Fisher, Gloria Steinem and Gore Vidal. Free; “festive night club attire is encouraged.”
Friday, May 17
From 6 to 11 p.m. on College Street between Elm and Chapel, the next New Haven Night Market features “entrepreneurs, art, music, food, drink, culture and more,” including a game zone and a live art project. Attendance is free, with food and drink available for purchase.
Saturday, May 18
A “Giant Tag Sale” to benefit the Branford Compassion Club Feline Rescue and Adoption Center hits the Branford Town Green from 8:30 a.m. to 1. Also present, according to the club, will be the Branford Community Gardens, Branford Garden Club and Friends of Blackstone Library, “who will have plant, flower and book sales.”
This year’s Quinnipiac Riverfest, located at the Quinnipiac River Marina (309 Front St, New Haven), starts at 11 a.m. and finishes up at 4. Along the way, guests can enjoy live music, food, a beer tasting, canoeing and kid-friendly activities including arts, crafts and games. Free to attend.
Sunday, May 19
From 1 to 4 p.m., Artspace (50 Orange St, New Haven) hosts an opening reception for Perverse Furniture, “a group exhibition that upsets conventional notions of furniture to explore a range of materially expressive and emotionally intelligent ‘designs for the body.’” The reception also covers Seven Spans, “a solo show of nine wall mounted fiber sculptures created by our current Artist-in-Residence, Erin Lee Antonak, and a collaborative multisensory installation produced by Antonak and photographer Kim Weston.” Free to attend.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
