This week, New Haveners get together over music, food and dancing outdoors; movies, drinks and “magic” indoors; and plenty of furred and feathered friends come the weekend.
Monday, August 10
For the fourth of five straight Mondays, the Beecher Park Summer Concert Series and Hi-Fi Pie Fest take over the small park behind Mitchell Library (37 Harrison St, New Haven) tonight. Starting at 6 p.m., the concert side of things showcases acoustic country music from Boondocks, while the pie side entails savory versions instead of the usual sweet and dessert-y stuff. But there’ll still be plenty of the latter courtesy of the NoRA cupcake truck. Free to attend.
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Tuesday, August 11
Maybe you’re feeling comfortable, even chipper, this deep into a rather reasonable-weather summer, and could use a jolt. Lyric Hall’s got it tonight via The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), the latest film to screen as part of its one-dollar-admission “Saloon Cinema” series. Starring the legendary Christopher Lee as the fanged menace, “Vampire and vampire-hunter meet in one final, bloody conflict!” as the poster puts it. Showings happen at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with the venue’s wine-and-beer bar starting pouring at 6. 827 Whalley Ave, New Haven. (203) 389-8885.
Wednesday, August 12
Six-time novelist and longtime New Havener Alice Mattison helms the next “Get Lit” event at the Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8835). Co-organized by online project Placing Literature, which lets you mark the real-world locations where book scenes take place, Mattison is planning to discuss “what it’s like to write a novel about her hometown of New Haven—and, in general, what it’s like to write about the place where you live.” She’s also set to read an excerpt from her New Haven-set book, The Wedding of the Two-Headed Woman, and to “respond to your writerly quandaries.” 6 p.m. Free.
Thursday, August 13
From 6 to 8:30 tonight, Common Ground High School puts on its fourth annual “Funk on the Farm” event. The Hartford-hailing band Out the Boxx brings the funk, while attendees are encouraged to bring things like “a blanket and a picnic” and/or “your dancing shoes.” There’ll be food trucks on hand, too, and as for admission, it’s technically free, though a donation of $5 per individual, or $10 per family, is suggested. 358 Springside Avenue, New Haven. (203) 389-4333.
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Friday, August 14
Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter has its yearly “Yappy Hour” fundraising party tonight at vegetarian fixture Claire’s Corner Copia (1000 Chapel St, New Haven) and next-door Italian spot Basta Trattoria. “$25 per person/dog” gets you a martini or a smoothie, a “generous plateful” of appetizers from Claire’s and “a slice of Claire’s famous bone-shaped cake,” plus a goodie bag for the pup, who “must be leashed, licensed, vaccinated, socialized and ready to party!” 6 to 8 p.m.
Saturday, August 15
Yale Summer Cabaret caps off the capper of its 2015 “Rough Magic” season tonight with the eleventh and final performance of Orlando, a whip-smart adaptation of the Virginia Woolf play about a time-removed, sex-morphing inamorato/a. As the titular character advances through generations and gender while hardly aging, the company’s other players change lots, too, inhabiting a role from this new era or that, adopting this new accent or that, wearing this new costume or that. It’s the rare show that, especially for the first half, lives up to a word theater critics have used ad nauseam: “romp.” Regular tickets cost $25, with Yale faculty and staff getting in for $20 and students paying $14. 217 Park Street, New Haven. (203) 432-1566.
Sunday, August 16
This afternoon from 1 to 4, the New Haven Land Trust and the Connecticut chapter of the National Audubon Society flock up to bring us the Folk for Feathers Festival in Bayview Park. Just north of the Sound School aquaculture center at 60 S. Water Street, New Haven—which organizers indicate is a promising place to find parking—live music from local folk acts Bait and Switch and 81 South is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Bayview, with “guided bird walks” through the adjacent Long Wharf Nature Preserve commencing at 2. Organizers also say “special guests” are set to attend on the arm of a wildlife rehabilitator, including a Northern Saw-whet Owl like the one pictured above. $5-10 suggested donation.
Written by Dan Mims. Photographed by Jason Idzerda. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
