A helping of intimate jazz is served among courses of stirring speech (and actual food) as Black History Month goes out with a few bangs.
Monday, February 21 – Presidents Day
At 4 p.m., this week’s virtual Mondays at Beinecke talk, by Geffen School of Drama professor Catherine Sheehy, traces the inspiration for Maurine Dallas Watkins’s hit play Chicago, written while studying drama at Yale. Before then, Watkins had worked for the Chicago Tribune, where she reported on “the murder trials of women who had allegedly killed their lovers… Disgusted by their acquittals and the sensationalism with which these women’s crimes were reported,” she left journalism for dramaturgy, with her famous play “satirizing the newspaper industry and the criminal justice system” one of the more immediate and enduring results.
Tuesday, February 22
Presented by New Haven Jazz Underground, a free 7 p.m. show at Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 203-789-8281) features illustrious guest Wayne Escoffery on saxophone.
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Thursday, February 24
Three exhibitions open tomorrow at the Yale University Art Gallery, which we hope will soon reopen to the general public.
The Yale Divinity School’s annual Parks-King Lecture—named for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.—commences virtually today at 5:30 p.m. The speaker is William Barber, the eloquent reverend and longtime activist who rose to national prominence in 2016. “In his Parks-King Lecture, Barber will offer a moral analysis of current debates in public policy, diagnosing a crisis of possibility in American public life and demonstrating the need for mass action to reshape the moral narrative. Drawing on historical examples, he argues that such a moral reset is not only possible but has been a necessary prelude to every major stride toward a more perfect union in U.S. history.”
Friday, February 25
“In honor of Black History Month,” a coalition of Yale groups presents a virtual Afro-Peruvian Family Dance Class led by Oakland, CA-based dance company Cunamacué at 4 p.m. “Attendees will learn to dance the Festejo (the most popular and festive rhythm within Afro-Peruvian culture), and about instruments that are unique to Afro-Peruvian music. All ages are welcomed.”
“Exhilarating stories” come to the Shubert Theatre (247 College St, New Haven; 203-562-5666; $26-42) at 7 p.m. “Stand on the highest peaks, ski the steepest slopes, and be a part of the gripping adventures waiting for you in this year’s Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour.”
Saturday, February 26
At 1 p.m. on “the big screen in the auditorium,” the next monthly Saturday Cinema at the James Blackstone Memorial Library (758 Main St, Branford; 203-488-1441; free) shows the colorful, musical, all-around delightful 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.
A Black History Month Virtual Open Mic Night, starting at 6 p.m. and organized by NXTHVN, “celebrates and brings together local New Haven poets with those recognized on a national scale,” aiming to “make space for radical imagination and showcase the possibility of activating new worlds through the medium of poetry.”
Sunday, February 27
At 5:30 p.m. in Kehler Liddell Gallery (873 Whalley Ave, New Haven; 203-389-9555; virtual option available), where his joint exhibition Pest Control is currently on display, sculptor Gar Waterman will “answer everything you wanted to know about beetles and art but were afraid to ask!” Why beetles? Because Waterman, who specializes in animating the inanimate, has chosen their leggy, angular, curvaceous phenotype as his focus for the show.
From 6 to 10 at Studio i in Erector Square (315 Peck St, Bldg 5, Fl 3, New Haven; $60), project and event organizer Sweets & Sounds presents Jubilation, “a dinner celebration of Black culture.” The dinner, with “all ingredients… Black-owned or sourced from Black-owned business,” comes courtesy of “bespoke dining experiences” purveyor Nappe Roots, with wine from The Petite Sommelier, “vibes” from DJ Ch’Varda, flowers from florist and gift shop BLOOM and performances by Ro Godwynn, Chrystal Dickey and KeyofDee.
Written by Dan Mims. Image, featuring Wayne Escoffery, photographed by Mamo Delpero. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
