Between a significant film screening, scientific discussion, masterful concerts, end-of-season athletic competitions, interdisciplinary magic shows and an overachieving theatrical engagement, you aren’t allowed to feel bored this week in New Haven.
Monday, February 24
Gateway Community College (20 Church St, New Haven; 203-285-2000) highlights Black History Month with a 1 p.m. screening of 12 Years a Slave, a favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Picture this coming Sunday. The movie is based on the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped by slave traders, sold into slavery in Louisiana and eventually liberated, after 12 years, with the help of family and officials in his home state of New York. Yale Ph.D. candidate Jamicia Lackey is set to “lead a post-film discussion.” Community Room N100. Free.
Tuesday, February 25
The next installment of the “Science in the News” series, intended to communicate about current science topics “in a way that everyone can understand,” happens tonight at the Ives branch of the New Haven Free Public Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8130). Put on by the Yale Science Diplomats, the topic is tissue regeneration, “from stem cells to growing whole organs in the lab.” 6:30 p.m. Free.
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Wednesday, February 26
“Milagres” means “miracles” in Portuguese, and the Brooklyn-based band Milagres (pictured above), headlining a free show tonight at BAR (254 Crown St, New Haven; 203-495-8924), achieves a sound that’s commensurately awe-inspiring—ethereal and dreamy yet driving and disciplined. Listening for the first time to the 2011-released album Glowing Mouth is a transformative experience, like riding the edge of an existential abyss for forty-five minutes and somehow, against all odds, coming out intact on the other side. On that record, a haunting reverb motif connects diverse songs, enveloping rung-out guitars, pounding drums, cutting synths and the searing, soaring voice of frontman Kyle Wilson. Listening to the soon-to-be-released Violent Light is different; that wayward, searching feeling from Glowing Mouth is still present, but it’s mitigated by clearer hooks and more straightforward grooves, with assertive bass lines and plenty of pleasing nods to 80s alt-pop. New Haven-to-Brooklyn transplanted trio Plume Giant and New Haven-native duo Ports of Spain lead the 9:30 p.m. bill in the second and first spots, respectively.
Thursday, February 27
The storied New Haven Symphony Orchestra, one of America’s oldest, is world-premiering Augusta Read Thomas’s Saxophone Concerto in the beautiful Woolsey Hall (500 College St, New Haven) tonight during a 7:30 p.m. concert. Concerto is being performed by Frederick Hemke, “famed teacher of international recording star David Sanborn.” A 6:30 p.m. lecture by the composer herself in Sudler Hall (100 Wall St, New Haven; enter from College St) precedes the show, as does a 6:45 performance in the rotunda of Woolsey Hall by the Educational Center for the Arts Student Ensemble. $15-69.
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Friday, February 28
The just-ended 2014 Winter Olympic Games put hockey in the spotlight even in the United States, where gridirons, diamonds and courts typically outrank rinks. New Haveners can get their stick-and-puck fixes tonight and tomorrow at Ingalls Rink (73 Sachem St; 203-432-1400), where the Yale men’s hockey team—the defending national champion—ends its regular season with a pair of 7 p.m. home games. The match tonight is against Union, which has the best record in the ECAC this season. Tomorrow’s is against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which sits just a couple places down from Yale in the conference standings. Tickets range between $5 and $20, with discounts for seniors and youngsters.
Saturday, March 1
Innovative Baltimore-based magician David London manages an appealing combination of earnestness and self-awareness as he pulls “storytelling, comedy, puppetry, philosophy, surrealism” and, of course, magic out of his proverbial hat. London is offering two dynamic shows today at Lyric Hall (827 Whalley Ave, New Haven; 203-389-8885). The first—“The Adventure to the Imagi Nation”—is free and geared towards kids and families, starting at 2 p.m. The second, “Magic Outside the Box,” is presumably more complex and heady, and promises “a journey to someplace else” starting at 8 p.m. General admission for the ticketed show costs $20 and VIP entrance—offering seating in the first two rows—goes for $30. In an unusual discounting system, students, artists, seniors and “wizards”—fellow practicing magicians, perhaps?—can get tix for $15 apiece.
Sunday, March 2
Enjoying a run at the Shubert (247 College St, New Haven; 203-562-5666) for most of the past week is Once, a musical where the actors sing and dance and—as if that weren’t enough—actually play the music, too. The story follows the budding romance between a singing-songwriting, guitar-wielding street musician and the woman who inspires him to keep pursuing his artistic ambitions. The first show at the Shubert was on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.; the last two shows are today at 1 and 6:30. $15-125.
Written by Dan Mims. Photograph by Cameron Wittig. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
