Lines are drawn—also run, strummed, spoken, painted, read, ridden, sung, printed and sculpted—this week in New Haven.
Monday, September 5 – Labor Day
For most, Labor Day is a chance to kick back. For the runners of this morning’s annual Faxon Law New Haven Road Race—whose four different courses, from a blocks-long “kids’ fun run” to a miles-long half-marathon, begin and end on the New Haven Green—it’s a chance to kick things up a notch. If you’re not racing, you can witness all of this year’s starting pistols between 8:15 and 8:42 a.m., with a “post-race party” on the green from 9 to 11:30, as the runners cross their respective finish lines.
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Tuesday, September 6
SCSU’s John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts is also a center for the visual arts thanks to a wide lobby gallery. Since last Monday, it’s hosted Channelings and Portals, a collection of local artist Daniel Eugene’s mesmerizing line drawings—one of which is pictured above, and whose viewers, Eugene hopes, will be “drawn inward to think their own thoughts and develop a deeper relationship with their inner world.” You can visit the show, which is up through October 16, on regular weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., or you can attend the opening reception this Saturday, which lasts from 5 p.m. to 8. 501 Crescent Street, New Haven.
Wednesday, September 7
Dinosaur Jr. and its kinetic meld of classic rock and grungy ’90s alt-rock headline an 8 p.m. bill at College Street Music Hall tonight. The opener, Cloud Nothings, is kinda grungy, too: it’s more uptempo and youthful, but it has a copacetic garage-y, lo-fi streak. $28-30. 238 College Street, New Haven. (203) 867-2000.
Thursday, September 8
Shaka Senghor spent more than a third of his 19 years in prison in solitary confinement. Now he’s making up for lost time, becoming “a leading voice in criminal justice reform”—not just through interviews on channels from CBS to C-Span, with interviewers from Oprah Winfrey to Trevor Noah, but also via a New York Times-bestselling book (Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death and Redemption in an American Prison, 2016). Today at 4 p.m., he comes to the Omni Hotel (155 Temple St, New Haven), where he’ll speak about “Emerging: Life after Incarceration,” and while online registration for the talk is now closed, you might be able to grab a spot on the waiting list by emailing convenings@cfgnh.org.
Today at City Gallery (994 State St, New Haven; 203-782-2489), painter Kathy Kane’s Outside the Lines—an exhibit of lush but minimalist works exploring “the perception of the line, its placement on the paper and the effect it has on the space surrounding it,” incorporating tools such as “mops, squeegees, rubber spatulas, you name it”—enjoys both its opening day and its opening reception. The party, free to attend, lasts from 5 to 7 p.m.
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Friday, September 9
Long Wharf Theatre’s Contemporary American Voices Festival gives “adventurous, innovative new work” three staged readings in two days. The first, happening tonight at 7 p.m., features Miller, Mississippi, “a Southern Gothic tale of one family’s heartfelt and devastating descent into ruin.” The second, happening tomorrow at 5 p.m., performs The Last Tiger in Haiti, which begins on “the final night of Kanaval in Haiti,” as “a group of restaveks, abandoned children living in servitude, trade spellbinding tales blurring fiction and reality.” And the final, starting at 8:30 p.m., reads Dance Nation, in which “an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plot to take over the world.” $5 apiece. 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven. (203) 787-4282.
Saturday, September 10
The annual “Closer to Free” bike ride fundraiser for Smilow Cancer Hospital, with 10-, 25-, 62.5- and 100-mile routes beginning and ending at the Yale Bowl (81 Central Ave, New Haven), starts the day bright and early with an “opening ceremony and ride-out” at 6:45 a.m. Then, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., it’s time for the ride’s free-to-attend Finish Line Festival. Open to both riders and the general public, attractions include live music, a “food truck village” and kids’ activities—plus at least one adults-only activity, centered around a beer garden.
From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Edgerton Park (75 Cliff St, New Haven), the 2016 CT Folk Festival gathers 16 musical acts, from local folk-scene stalwarts Stacy Phillips and His Bluegrass Characters to the must-see, nationally touring headliner Susan Werner. Meanwhile, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the festival’s connected, environmentally focused Green Expo gathers together more than 75 vendors, from community organizations to local businesses. Among them are 11 mobile food outfits like Chief Brody’s Bahn Mi, Lalibela Ethiopian and Ashley’s Ice Cream. This year’s event also has a beer garden sponsored by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Free to attend.
Sunday, September 11
Kehler Liddell Gallery (873 Whalley Ave, New Haven; 203-389-9555) opened dual exhibits on Thursday: Robert Bienstock’s A Diversity of Lines—“a collection of ink and monotype images exploring pattern and contrast, order and disorder through parallel lines”—and Gar Waterman’s Metal Sculpture, inspired by “organic and inorganic” forms including “insects, orchids, birds
Written by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
