It’s a week for adults, and also for Disney movies, a playground, a costumed bike ride, Saturday morning cartoons, face-painting and comic books.
Monday, May 15
“Broadway legend, Emmy-, Grammy- and Tony-award winning performer, and all-around superstar” Audra McDonald performs a 7 p.m. concert to benefit Long Wharf Theatre at SCSU’s Lyman Center.
Tuesday, May 16
The Beinecke Library hosts “a discussion with artist Titus Kaphar, poet Dwayne Betts, and art historian Bridget R. Cooks, in celebration of Kaphar and Betts’s new book, Redaction, and in light of artist Roy DeCarava and poet Langston Hughes’s The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955),” at 5:30 p.m.
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Wednesday, May 17
At 4 p.m., historian and author David Alan Richards discusses the subject of his latest book, I Give These Books: The History of Yale University Library, 1656-2022, in the most appropriate location possible: Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library.
Starting at 6:30, East Rock Brewing’s next trivia night focuses on Disney movies.
Thursday, May 18
“Never built a playground? Same here!” say the organizers behind a two-day all-volunteer effort starting at 10 a.m. to build the Kathy Carroll Playground at 660 Winchester Avenue. To join them, all you have to do is show up, for any amount of time.
The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop’s annual Leonardo Challenge soirée promises “a vibrant art auction” with works pinging the occasion’s theme, “In Flight,” and “a delicious spread of treats from local vendors.”
Friday, May 19
“Bumblebees & Butterflies,” the New Haven Bike Party’s next eight-to-ten-mile, “costume-friendly, SLOW social ride,” meets at the New Haven Green at 7:30 and leaves at 8.
Saturday, May 20
Remember Saturday morning cartoons? Between 9 a.m. and noon at Best Video in Hamden, “grab a bowl of Frosted Flakes, watch some Smurfs and Thundarr the Barbarian in your pajamas (optional), and relive the days when Saturday mornings were a kid’s most anticipated time of the week (and grab a coffee too, reliving one’s youth is tiring). You can bring a kid or just show up and be a kid again. Original Nintendo Entertainment System games and very unhealthy cereal and Pop-Tarts will be served along with a big ol’ slice of nostalgia.”
The 11th New Haven Family Stroll & Festival convenes at 10 a.m. at Quinnipiac River Park, steps off at 10:30 for the stroll to benefit early childhood education and returns at 11 for the festival with “food trucks, face painting, parachute play, magicians, musicians, Zumba, bubbles, arts and crafts, and… information from over 40 resource partners.”
From noon to 5, Stony Creek Brewery in Branford hosts a Makers with Moxie market featuring “a curated group of artisans and makers” alongside “live music, the food trucks as well as our own outdoor bartender.”
At 7:30 p.m., “Three Meditations,” the final concert of the season for the Haven String Quartet, presents “three meditative explorations from opposite ends of the stylistic spectrum.” They include Brahms’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, “renowned for its soaring lyrical melodies,” and work by Raven Chacon, who “finds new sounds through unusual techniques within the medium of the string quartet to express a narrative with echoes of traditional Navajo mythology.”
Sunday, May 21
From 10 a.m. to 2, a community-wide Expecting Expo at the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven in Woodbridge aims to help local parents “embark on this journey from pregnancy to pre-K.” Attractions include “expert presentations, breakout sessions, a Bump Booth (for photos), giveaways” and more while showcasing local OBGYNs, childbirth educators, doulas, lactation consultants, support groups and even toy companies.
Also at 10 (or 9:30 for those willing to pay a little extra for a head start), the next New Haven Comic & Collectible Spectacular comes to the Annex YMA Club. In addition to vendors selling new and vintage comics, cards, toys, video games and other collectibles, “featured artists who’ve worked for the major publishers” will be “doing live sketches, taking commissions and selling their original art.”
At 2, the Yevshan Ukrainian Vocal Ensemble, based in Hartford, perform at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in conjunction with the exhibition Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles.
Written by Dan Mims. Image 1, from a past New Haven Family Stroll & Festival, photographed by Ian Christmann. Image 2, of the Starr Reference Room in Sterling Library, photographed by Dan Mims. Image 3 features a still from Thundarr the Barbarian. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
