Theater and more theater. Art, both photographic (in a gallery) and text-related (in a library). Concerts outdoors, indoors, and reaching into the punk past. All ending with the start of a big racket in sports.
Monday, August 13
Tonight’s Summer Concert Series show in Westville’s Beecher Park (outside the Mitchell Branch library, 37 Harrison St., New Haven—which happens to be the indoor rain location for the show) features the danceable blues/rock of The Inflatables. Free.
Tuesday, August 14
A major touring exhibition of over 300 photos by Robert Adams (one of which you can see above) opened earlier this month at the Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St., New Haven; 203-432-0600). Adams is still with us, at age 75, and has been a noted artist since the early 1960s. He was born in New Jersey but made his name shooting up the old West—photographically speaking, that is. He was intrigued by changing landscapes, from dusty plains to dilapidated billboards. The retrospective is on view through October 28. Gallery hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 1-6 p.m.
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Wednesday, August 15
There’s a club show of genuine intimacy and originality tonight at BAR, with three self-styled acts assuring you a wild Wednesday night. Ezra Furman’s eclectic songwriting has a tragic, dramatic element. Golden Bloom is the one-man studio pop band concocted by multi-instrumentalist Shawn Fogel, who when not creating his own sounds has toured with The Zambonis and adapted the classic indie album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel to be played on ukuleles. Pocket Vinyl is a music/art collaboration in which Eric Stevenson plays raucous piano and Elizabeth Jancewicz paints. 254 Crown St., New Haven. 9 p.m. Free.
A more traditional concert in calmer surroundings tonight, also free, is the latest installment in the Twilight Concert Series at the historic Pardee-Morris House. (325 Lighthouse Rd., New Haven) featuring the folk duo The Sea, The Sea. Bring your own blankets and chairs, please. (203) 562-4183.
Somewhere in between is the new-music gaggle of Joe Moffett, Noah Kaplan, Jason Nazary and Dov Manski, 9 p.m. at Elm Bar (372 Elm St., New Haven). The show has been assembled by the progressively minded Uncertainty Music Series.
Thursday, August 16
The Elm Shakespeare Company’s production of Macbeth opens tonight in Edgerton Park (on Whitney Avenue and Cliff Street, straddling the New Haven/Hamden border) and runs through September 2. The last time the company (which has been doing professional outdoor Shakespeare in New Haven since 1995) chose to perform “The Scottish Play,” it was in 2002 and involved a finale of commandos with grappling hooks. This production will likely be different. ESC founder/Artistic Director James Andreassi takes the title role himself. Marianna Bassham is Lady Macbeth, and frequent ElmShakes performer Allyn Burrows (who, like Bassham, is affiliated with the Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston) directs. After this opening Thursday through Sunday weekend, performances are Tuesdays through Sunday nights, all at 8 p.m. Free; suggested donation $20 adults, $10 students. Picnicking and the bringing of chairs and blankets is encouraged.
Friday, August 17
The New Haven Free Public Library system’s summer reading program, Dream Big! Read!, concludes today with a performance by Mr. G, refreshments and an extraordinary raffle with such prizes as a Kindle Fire and a Nook Color. To enter the raffles, kids have to complete their summer reading logs. 2 p.m. 133 Elm St., New Haven.
The three-play 50 Nights: A Festival of Stories season at the Yale Summer Cabaret concludes this weekend with the final performances of the one-woman urban-legend tour-de-force The K of D tonight at 8 p.m., the silent movement fable/fantasy Of Ogres Retold on Saturday at both 2 & 8 p.m., and Mary Zimmerman’s dreamy fairytale romp The Secret in the Wings Sunday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25-$40, $10-$25 for students, and you can also buy food and drink before each show. 217 Park St., New Haven. (203) 432-12567.
Saturday, August 18
Joanne Wilcox, who’s been running an interactive public art project called “The Call to Everyone” with old card catalogues in the check-out area of the main branch of New Haven Public Library, is leading a “catalogue scavenger hunt.” It’s part of the ongoing celebration of the library’s 125th anniversary. 1 p.m. 133 Elm St., New Haven. Register here.
At night, those who cut their punk teeth in the early ‘80s Connecticut hardcore scene—a gaggle of arrested youth who now must be in their mid-30s—can attend a reunion of key bands and people from the legendary Anthrax club in Norwalk. Lost Generation and 76% Uncertain are back from the dead, joining Seizure, C.I.A., Zombie Squad and Skeletal Ambitions. Pete Morcey will play old punk records between sets. 9 p.m. at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven; 203-789-8281.
Sunday, August 19
It’s opening day of the 2012 New Haven Open at Yale. Qualifying rounds were held Friday and Saturday, and with Round 1 matches held today at 11 a.m. and Monday at noon & 7 p.m., the event is now in full swing. The city has hosted important national tennis events for decades. This year has a field of 23 players, five of whom are among the top ten ranked in the world (Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Sara Errani and Marion Bartoli) and 18 of whom are fresh from competing in the London Olympics. Daily tickets are $55 today for the Box Ring ($19 for the middle tier), and climb to $91 ($44 middle tier) by the tournament’s end, Aug. 25. Today is also Aetna Kids Day at the New Haven Open, with tickets for children starting at $11, free goodie bags, and chances to meet some of the WTA pros. The Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale, 45 Yale Ave., New Haven. (855) 464-8366.
