This week, weekdays are for introducing us to new and renewed things, while the weekend puts the “fun” in fundraisers.
Monday, May 9
For Iran, formerly Persia, the 20th century was a series of coups and overthrows, at least two of which were the direct result of meddling from Britain and America. Or were they? At noon today in Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven), Iran scholar and Sorbonne Nouvelle professor emeritus Yann Richard argues that “blaming foreign interference” for Iran’s 1921 and 1953 coups is “misleading,” seeking to buttress his case with “newly published documents.”
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Tuesday, May 10
There’s an “extraordinarily uncomfortable road trip,” “a clownish captain and his crew of misfits” and “the perfect lakeside spot to build a monastery,” among other things, during Yale Drama’s 11th annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays, which began last Friday and proceeds through this Saturday. The itinerary, wherein three shows rotate showtimes at the Iseman Theater (1156 Chapel St, New Haven), picks up today with an 8 p.m. performance of Brendan Pelsue’s New Domestic Architecture, “a comedy about the spaces, both physical and emotional, that we build up and tear down.” $25, or $15 for students.
Wednesday, May 11
The Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel St, New Haven; 203-432-2800), the missing half of Yale’s dynamic downtown duo of world-class art galleries, reopens today after a 16-month conservation and reinstallation effort. For today, that means extended hours, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with “behind-the-scenes tours” “throughout the day” and refreshments being served from 3 to 8. On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., YCBA is hosting a “Community Day” event with special “art, music, dance, gallery tours, food, children’s activities and more.” Free.
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Thursday, May 12
Local public art champion Site Projects is hosting three events in two days featuring social sculptor and MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe (pictured above). The first, “An Introduction,” happens at 10 a.m. today inside the Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven), where Lowe is set to tell us about himself as well as his most famous endeavor, Project Row Houses. The second event happens at 6 p.m. at Co-Op High School (177 College St, New Haven), where Lowe is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “community-engaged art and social sculpture.” The third, a lunch and roundtable-style affair titled “Food for Thought,” happens tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Edgewood Park’s Coogan Pavilion. All events require advance registration, which you can accomplish here.
Friday, May 13
From 5 to 8 p.m., Artspace (50 Orange St, New Haven; 203-772-2709) hosts an opening reception for I Like the Sound of That, a group show that includes, alongside any given artist’s contributions, “a soundscape specific to the studio environment in which the artwork originated.” The exhibition’s sound designer, Joel Abbot, will also have a work in the show—a new and separate work built from the exhibit’s various studio recordings. Free to attend.
It’s Friday the 13th, giving Branford’s Blackstone Library (758 Main St; 203-488-1441) an opportune moment to host a murder mystery party. “Murder at Blackstone Abbey,” it’s called, featuring an interactive whodunnit wherein attendees are the detectives. “Question the suspects. Collect the clues. Catch a killer,” organizers say. Tickets cost $50 apiece, with all proceeds benefitting the library. 7 p.m.
Art Garfunkel, one half of the iconic folk duo Simon & Garfunkel and an accomplished solo artist, brings decidedly non-murderous sensibilities to the Shubert (247 College St, New Haven) tonight for an 8 p.m. show. The set list will span “his solo hits, Simon & Garfunkel songs, cuts from his favorite songwriters—Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman and George Gershwin—and parts of his forthcoming autobiography.” $50-100.
Saturday, May 14
From 6 to 8 p.m., Creative Arts Workshop (80 Audubon St, New Haven; 203-562-4927) hosts its annual “Hats Off!” soiree, an evening of “fashionable festivities” in which professional artists/amateur milliners make/wear fabulous/zany hats to sell/buy. Proceeds—including from tickets, which start at $50—go to the host, helping fund its efforts to educate and train local artists.
Sunday, May 15
Marking its “first seven years of creative innovation” and setting the stage for more, A Broken Umbrella Theatre—a site-specific theater company that creates original work inspired by Elm City history—is throwing itself a “grassroots gala” times two today on the second floor of Erector Square’s Building 5. Involving hourlong performances of a new work inspired by its own history, and involving locally inspired food and drink, regular tickets for both the ‘matinee’ gala (1 p.m.) and the evening gala (5:30) start at $40. 315 Peck St, New Haven.
Written by Dan Mims. Image provided courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
