T he week ahead is a doozy, so let’s get right to it.
Monday, April 10
Starting the day after Easter, in Yale’s Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, Dale Allison, “a New Testament scholar with a research focus on the historical Jesus and related subjects, will present Yale Divinity School’s Shaffer Lectures for 2023. The lectures, titled ‘Pursuing the Historical Jesus,’ will be given April 10, 11, and 12 in Niebuhr Hall, each beginning at 5:30 p.m. A reception will follow the first of the three.”
At 6 p.m. at Mitchell Library comes the last in a long series of events remembering and honoring the library’s namesake. “Join Barbara Lamb, coordinator for the year-long Donald Grant Mitchell Bicentennial Celebration, in conversation with Rona Johnston, President of the New Haven Preservation Trust, … as Mitchell’s Bicentennial year comes to a close.” Register here.
Also at 6, Singaporean documentarian Tan Pin Pin visits Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center to view and discuss her hourlong film Invisible City (2007). Through interviews with cagey subjects afraid to speak their full minds, as in this teaser trailer—implicitly, it seems, for fear of crossing Singaporean authorities—the movie “chronicles the ways people attempt to leave a mark before they and their histories disappear.”
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Tuesday, April 11
The Yale Political Union hosts independent presidential candidate Marianne Williamson “for a conversation on spirituality and politics” at 7:30 p.m. in room 114 of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall.
Wednesday, April 12
Want to play or learn to play bridge? From 7 to 8:30 at the Institute Library, tonight could be the night.
Thursday, April 13
Start in New Haven returns to NXTHVN for its next “community pitch night where individuals can pitch ideas for new events, civic improvements, startups, and other projects to a community audience—with the goal of providing energy, support, and resources to turn the ideas into a reality.” The starting starts at 6 p.m.
Friday, April 14
At the Yale Schwarzman Center, DanceHaven: A Celebration of Vernacular Dance runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. tomorrow. “Featuring renowned and award-winning dance artists, the multifaceted festival offers performances and masterclasses in Chicago footwork, tap, swing dance, commercial dance, Dunham jazz, Lindy Hop, and African diasporic movement, as well as a pop-up exhibition on the history of dance in New Haven and a dance party.”
Firehouse 12 is back. Its spring jazz series continues with 8:30 and 10 p.m. performances by Tomas Fujiwara’s Seven Poets Trio, whose compositions here are like great indie cinema: thoughtful, experimental and prodigious, without forgetting the interests of the audience. For extra motivation, Firehouse says its beloved bar, perhaps the city’s only still-operating venue not to return from the pandemic with regular hours, will be serving from 6:30 to midnight.
At 8 p.m. at The State House, Elm Underground presents a release show for local recording artist Blake Hatch, with guests. The release may center around the single “Tidal Waves,” heralded by Hatch’s website as “an indie-pop hit in the making” “prov[ing] that Blake will write the next chapter of indie rock history.” The song’s music video, at least, suggests the bluster might be self-aware (even as it almost literally portrays him as a big fish in a small pond).
Saturday, April 15
A week before the holiday, an Earth Day Fair from 10:30 to 1:30 on the Branford Green promises “exhibits, swaps, activities, vendors, education, giveaways—and fun!” The swaps in particular—“an opportunity to recycle/renew/reuse for free! Bring your board games, backpacks, jigsaw puzzles, toys and sports equipment—then shop for something to take home. All in excellent condition, please!”—sound fun to me.
As of this writing, specifics aren’t known for Yale School of Art’s 2023 Open Studios weekend. But we do know the school’s artist studios will be open from noon to 6 today and tomorrow and that “events—satellite projects, screenings, performances, and workshops—are also being hosted across the School of Art.”
A 2 p.m. screening of Eternal Harvest (2022) at Ives Main Library aims to raise awareness of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War: America’s mass bombing of neighboring Laos, where “the U.S. military dropped 4 billion pounds of explosives…, making it the most heavily bombed country per capita on the planet. Up to 30 percent of those bombs did not detonate, and they remain in the Laotian soil today as unexploded ordnance (UXO) contaminating more than one-third of the country’s surface area. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and injured in UXO accidents since the war officially ended. The first bombs fell more than 50 years ago, and still today, more Laotians are hurt and killed.”
At the Eli Whitney Museum, Raise Every Voice, a “two-part event” whose joinable parts start at 6 and 8 p.m., raises funds for Horizons at Foote, a multi-year summer and school-year enrichment program offering New Haven Public School students an amazing array of benefits. Tonight’s fundraiser promises performances and conversations over drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
Sunday, April 16
From noon to 4:30, the perennially popular Cherry Blossom Celebration in Wooster Square Park celebrates its 50th. Food trucks, live music and an arts-focused “Engagement Zone” color this year’s event—and so, it seems, will the cherry blossoms, whose progress you can track online or in person.
Also back is New Haven Restaurant Week, with 24 restaurants offering a mix of $25 two-course lunches and $45/$55 three-course dinners today through April 21.
And at 3 p.m. at SCSU’s Lyman Center, fourth and final music director candidate James Blachly takes the helm of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, conducting a concert of music by Beethoven, William Levi Dawson and Jessie Montgomery featuring violin soloist Simone Porter.
Written by Dan Mims. Image 1, photographed by Dan Mims, features early cherry blossoms in Wooster Square Park last year. Image 2 features Tomas Fujiwara’s Seven Poets Trio. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
