Events on Wednesday, May 21

Word for Word feat. Augusten Burroughs

Books: Reading

Augusten Burroughs

Wednesday 5/21 @ Bryant Park

During this midweek, midday installment of Bryant Park's Word for Word series, memoirist (or is that novelist?) Augusten Burroughs reads from... 

KTL w/ Németh

Music

Németh

Wednesday 5/21 @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn

Situated squarely between ambient, techno, jazz, post-rock, indie, and the avant-garde, Radian offshoot Németh is a pretty tough pony to pin... 

Ed Park: <em>Personal Days</em>

Books: Reading

Ed Park

Wednesday 5/21 @ McNally Robinson Booksellers

Welcome to the working weak: reading Personal Days the debut novel by Ed Park, a founding editor of The Believer... 

Indie Rock Trivia w/ Zach Galifianakis and Les Savy Fav

Comedy

Indie Rock Trivia

Wednesday 5/21 @ Highline Ballroom

Known for riffing with audience members, comedian Zach Galifianakis isn't afraid of saying anything that pops into his mind — from... 

The Dead Science w/ Rain Machine and Extra Life

Music

The Dead Science

Wednesday 5/21 @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn

The Dead Science singer Sam Mickens makes no bones about being a total and complete nut. Like fellow over-emoters Jamie Stewart... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Les Liaisons Dangereuses </em>

Theatre

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Wednesday 5/21 @ American Airlines Theater

Christopher Hampton's stage adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses befitted the greed and self-absorption that characterized the '80s. The play, and its... 

GlassLab feat. Antenna Design, Constantin & Laurene Boym, and Kid Robot

Art

GlassLab

Wednesday 5/21 @ Cooper-Hewitt

The Corning Museum of Glass sets up shop in the Cooper-Hewitt garden for live demos of scalding hot design in its... 

E.S.T. Marathon 2008

Theatre

E.S.T. Marathon

Wednesday 5/21 @ Ensemble Studio Theatre

Ensemble Studio Theatre's festival of one-act plays is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Presenting established and emerging playwrights, the festival is usually... 

<em>Adding Machine</em>

Theatre

Adding Machine

Wednesday 5/21 @ Minetta Lane Theatre

After 25 years of tedious number crunching, Mr. Zero finds out that he is being replaced by an adding machine. Driven... 

Paul Chan: <em>The 7 Lights</em>

Art

Paul Chan

Wednesday 5/21 @ New Museum of Contemporary Art

Paul Chan's series of seven digital projections recounts the story of Genesis in light and shadow. Silhouettes of familiar objects drift... 

Christian Vincent: <em>Runyon Canyon</em>

Art

Christian Vincent

Wednesday 5/21 @ Mike Weiss Gallery

  The realist vignettes of Christian Vincent's Runyon Canyon are akin to the character sketches in Spoon River Anthology — they... 

<em>Jollyship the Whiz Bang</em>

Theatre

Jollyship the Whiz Bang

Wednesday 5/21 @ Ars Nova Theater

Life ain't easy for the aging, alcoholic pirate in Jollyship the Whiz Bang, a "Pirate-Puppet-Rock Odyssey." At sea for months, Captain... 

Sol LeWitt at Storm King

Getaways

Sol LeWitt

Wednesday 5/21 @ Storm King Art Center

In the laboratory of conceptual art, Sol LeWitt is the mad scientist. Engineered from instructions, his hard-lined geometric sculptures are austere,... 

<em>Jeff Koons on the Roof</em>

Art

Jeff Koons on the Roof

Wednesday 5/21 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

It's difficult to reconcile the Jeff Koons of topiary puppies, pool floaties, ornamental hearts, and oversized choo-choo trains with the man... 

<em>Jump</em>

Theatre

Jump

Wednesday 5/21 @ Union Square Theatre

After achieving worldwide success, Korean phenomenon Jump has landed at Union Square — and it's easy to see what makes its... 

<em>&copy; MURAKAMI</em>

Art

© MURAKAMI

Wednesday 5/21 @ Brooklyn Museum of Art

Japanese neo-pop artist Takashi Murakami once said that Andy Warhol — to whom he's often compared — made art in order... 

<em>The Fall</em>

Film

The Fall

Wednesday 5/21 @ Landmark Sunshine

In The Fall, a paralyzed Hollywood stuntman convalesces in a hospital where a young Romanian girl heals from a broken collarbone.... 

<em>Macbeth</em>

Theatre

Macbeth

Wednesday 5/21 @ Lyceum Theatre

Director Rupert Goold switches out Scottish castles for Soviet regalia in his modern revamping of Macbeth. Patrick Stewart returns to the... 

Robert Therrien

Art

Robert Therrien

Wednesday 5/21 @ Gagosian Gallery

Robert Therrien quite literally transforms mundane items into objects of whimsically huge proportion. In No Title (Folding Table and Chairs), super-sized... 

<em>Sangre de Mi Sangre</em>

Film

Sangre de Mi Sangre

Wednesday 5/21 @ IFC Center

New York has always been a magnet for black sheep, a makeshift family for people who don't have family of their... 

<em>Top Girls </em>

Theatre

Top Girls

Wednesday 5/21 @ Biltmore Theater

Top Girls isn't what you'd call a "feel-good" play. It's more like a provocative, hard-to-digest one that will leave you thinking... 

Cameron Hayes

Art

Cameron Hayes

Wednesday 5/21 @ Ronald Feldman Gallery

For his second solo show at Ronald Feldman Gallery, Australian artist Cameron Hayes parodies colonialism's effect on his native country with... 

<em>The Sound and The Fury (April Seventh, 1928)</em>

Theatre

The Sound and the Fury

Wednesday 5/21 @ New York Theatre Workshop

Elevator Repair Service's inventive adaptation of the opening chapter of The Sound and the Fury delivers the soul of Faulkner's novel... 

Bill Shannon: <em>WORK</em>

Art

Bill Shannon

Wednesday 5/21 @ Douz and Mille

Outside the world of visual arts, Bill Shannon is best known as the breakdancer (and sometime-skater) deftly balanced on a pair... 

Francisco de Goya: <em>Los Desastres de la Guerra</em>

Art

Francisco de Goya

Wednesday 5/21 @ Peter Blum Gallery Soho

Just before producing his modern masterpieces, dubbed the Black Paintings, Goya vented his disgust with the human animal in a series... 

Theatre

La Femme Est Morte

Wednesday 5/21 @ P.S. 122

Having picked up the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's Best Ensemble award last summer, the Shalimar company returns to New York with eight... 

Olafur Eliasson: <em>Take your time</em>

Art

Olafur Eliasson

Wednesday 5/21 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Olafur Eliasson works beyond gallery and exhibition spaces, dictating every aspect of the viewer's experience to create environments that are worthy... 

Paragraph

City Gems

Paragraph

Wednesday 5/21 @ Paragraph

Joy Parisi and Lila Cecil understand the importance of having a room of one's own. At Paragraph, their Union Square writing... 

<em>South Pacific</em>

Theatre

South Pacific

Wednesday 5/21 @ Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center Theater's revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific is one of those rare, magical experiences that makes musical theater... 

Kanishka Raja: <em>Indian Yellow</em>

Art

Kanishka Raja

Wednesday 5/21 @ Envoy Gallery

Kanishka Raja's immersive installation Indian Yellow, which tackles India's Gujarat carnage of 2002, greets viewers at the door with figures from... 

<em>Redbelt</em>

Film

Redbelt

Wednesday 5/21 @ Various locations

Gulf War veteran Mike (Chiwetel Ejiofor) runs a ju-jitsu studio but refuses to participate in competitions, which he believes compromise the... 

<em>The New Normal </em>

Art

The New Normal

Wednesday 5/21 @ Artists Space

Dick Cheney's deliciously/terrifyingly Orwellian phrase "the New Normal" — referring to the newly shifted line between the private and the public... 

The Bruce High Quality Foundation: <em>The Retrospective </em>

Art

The Bruce High Quality Foundation

Wednesday 5/21 @ Susan Inglett Gallery

The Bruce High Quality Foundation's motto is "Professional problems, amateur solutions" — a perfect summary of its invigorating handmade aesthetic and... 

<em>Son of Rambow</em>

Film

Son of Rambow

Wednesday 5/21 @ Angelika Film Center

Young Will lives in a religious cult that forbids television or film. But once school bully Lee exposes him to a... 

<em>Fuerza Bruta: Look Up </em>

Theatre

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up

Wednesday 5/21 @ Daryl Roth Theatre

Avid fans of spectacular spectacle De La Guarda are rejoicing with the arrival of Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, a sort of... 

Purvis Young: <em>Protest</em>

Art

Purvis Young

Wednesday 5/21 @ GalleryBar

After encountering the works of van Gogh and Rembrandt in a prison library, Purvis Young went back to his cell and... 

Zhang Huan: <em>Blessings</em>

Art

Zhang Huan

Wednesday 5/21 @ PaceWildenstein

For Zhang Huan and his Chinese art-boom contemporaries, coming from rigid, egalitarian China to its antithesis — the ego- and market-centric... 

<em>STRETCH (a fantasia)</em>

Theatre

STRETCH (a fantasia)

Wednesday 5/21 @ The Living Theatre

Kristin Griffith gives an uninhibited performance as Richard Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods in Susan Bernfield's STRETCH (a fantasia). History remembers... 

Tamara Kostianovsky: <em>The Proper Animal, Part II</em>

Art

Tamara Kostianovsky

Wednesday 5/21 @ Black & White Gallery

Tamara Kostianovsky's debut solo exhibition, Actus Reus, is the second part of a three-part series, titled The Proper Animal and hosted... 

<em>Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy</em>

Fashion/Style

Superheroes

Wednesday 5/21 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In association with Giorgio Armani and Vogue's Anna Wintour, curator Harold Koda of the Costume Institute investigates the distinction between costume... 

MOMIX <em>Passion</em>

Dance

MOMIX

Wednesday 5/21 @ The Joyce Theater

Moses Pendleton's gravity-defying MOMIX dance company performs Passion, a visually stunning piece that kicks off the group's four-week season at the... 

<em>Darger</em>ism<em>: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger</em>

Art

Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger

Wednesday 5/21 @ American Folk Art Museum

The American Folk Art Museum is home to the world's largest collection of work by Henry Darger, the Chicago recluse and... 

<em>Then She Found Me</em>

Film

Then She Found Me

Wednesday 5/21 @ Various locations

Ever since Mad About You made Helen Hunt a household name, she's never been able to shake the distinct scent of... 

<i>August: Osage County</i>

Theatre

August: Osage County

Wednesday 5/21 @ Imperial Theatre

Set in present-day Oklahoma, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a bad case of "the plains," as... 

Walton Ford

Art

Walton Ford

Wednesday 5/21 @ Paul Kasmin Gallery

Walton Ford's watercolors mimic the composition and style of history painting, and the confusing overlap of myth that accompanies it. In... 

<em>Noise</em>

Film

Noise

Wednesday 5/21 @ Various locations

With Noise, writer/director Henry Bean has made a feature about urban sound pollution that doesn't grate on its viewers. It's no... 

<em>Boeing Boeing </em>

Theatre

Boeing Boeing

Wednesday 5/21 @ Longacre Theatre

It takes an exceptional director and a brilliant cast to transform a frivolous film with an old-fashioned plot into a satisfying... 

Brooklyn College MFA Thesis Exhibition

Art

Brooklyn College MFA Thesis Exhibition

Wednesday 5/21 @ NYCAMS

Two years ago, Brooklyn College's MFA thesis exhibition became a First Amendment cause célèbre, after city officials closed the show because... 

<em>Steve & Idi</em>

Theatre

Steve & Idi

Wednesday 5/21 @ Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

Aspiring playwright Steve's life is becoming bleaker and bleaker — his boyfriend dumps him, his agent drops him — and then,... 

<em>From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art</em>

Art

Recent Icelandic Art

Wednesday 5/21 @ Scandinavia House

Beyond Vikings, black metal, and squealing, elvish pop stars, Iceland has a rich cultural terrain that Americans are slowly exploring. Scandinavia... 

Tom Sachs:  <em>ANIMALS</em>

Art

Tom Sachs

Wednesday 5/21 @ Sperone Westwater

In one of his two latest exhibitions, high-profile craftsman Tom Sachs (and his basement factory of art-elves) transform a Chelsea gallery... 

<em>Port Authority</em>

Theatre

Port Authority

Wednesday 5/21 @ Linda Gross Theater

"I never thought about myself," claims senior citizen Joe (Jim Norton) in playwright Conor McPherson's Port Authority. Yet he does. A... 

<i>Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970 to Now</i>

Art

Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970 to Now

Wednesday 5/21 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

MoMA's permanent collection gobbles up so many artworks that many aren't ever seen again, which is why Multiplex: Directions in Art,... 

Adolph Gottlieb: <em>Paintings from Four Decades</em>

Art

Adolph Gottlieb

Wednesday 5/21 @ PaceWildenstein

Although he shared many of their artistic concerns, Adolph Gottlieb didn't have the fraught backstory of his more prominent American and... 

<em>Prisoner of the Crown</em>

Theatre

Prisoner of the Crown

Wednesday 5/21 @ Irish Repertory Theatre

The Chelsea-based Irish Repertory Theatre company is devoted to Irish and Irish-American work. The New York premiere of Richard F. Stockton's... 

Cai Guo-Qiang: <em>I Want to Believe</em>

Art

Cai Guo-Qiang

Wednesday 5/21 @ Guggenheim Museum

Inopportune: Stage One is characteristic of Cai Guo-Qiang's grand ambitions and themes — a cascade of nine upended cars exploding with... 

15th Annual New York African Film Festival<em> </em>

Film

New York African Film Festival

Wednesday 5/21 @ Various locations

Given their stakes and scope, it's no wonder that even the weakest of African films tend to pack a visceral punch.... 

<em>Sunday in the Park with George</em>

Theatre

Sunday in the Park with George

Wednesday 5/21 @ Studio 54

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George is a concept musical based on the beyond-famous Georges Seurat... 

Neo Rauch

Art

Neo Rauch

Wednesday 5/21 @ David Zwirner

Many critics think Neo Rauch is too slick for his own good — a hunky, brooding German painter with an abiding... 

<em>Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead</em>

Film

Poultrygeist

Wednesday 5/21 @ Village East Cinema

Serving up buckets of undead breasts and extra-slimy special sauce, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead keeps Troma Entertainment's traditions of... 

<em>In the Heights</em>

Theatre

In the Heights

Wednesday 5/21 @ Richard Rodgers Theatre

There's a lot more color and zing on the Great White Way with the addition of In the Heights, an ebullient... 

<em>The Edge of Heaven</em>

Film

The Edge of Heaven

Wednesday 5/21 @ Film Forum

Fatih Akin's last feature, the much-touted Head-On (2004), packed a punch so punk rock that it injected raw adrenaline directly into... 

<em>Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan </em>

Art: Photography

Recent Photography and Video from Japan

Wednesday 5/21 @ International Center of Photography

Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan features 13 contemporary Japanese artists whose funny, evocative, and startling images penetrate Japanese... 

<em>Oedipus Loves You</em>

Theatre

Oedipus Loves You

Wednesday 5/21 @ P.S. 122

The barrier-breaking, Dublin-based Pan Pan Theatre reinvents a classic Freudian tale in Oedipus Loves You. This innovative stab at the plays... 

<em>Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City</em>

Art: Photography

Eminent Domain

Wednesday 5/21 @ LIVE from the NYPL

When, in 2007, the New York City government considered requiring permits to photograph in public, officials were met with cries of... 

Urs Fischer and Gavin Brown: <em>Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns?</em>

Art

Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns?

Wednesday 5/21 @ Tony Shafrazi Gallery

The Four Friends exhibition at Tony Shafrazi closed two months ago, bu­t you can still see it, sort of. American gallery... 

James Nares Retrospective

Film

James Nares Retrospective

Wednesday 5/21 @ Anthology Film Archives

As befits a linchpin of film's no wave movement, an anti-commercial culture founded partly in response to downtown NYC's new wave,... 

Bernd and Hilla Becher: <em>Landscape/Typology</em>

Art

Bernd and Hilla Becher

Wednesday 5/21 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

From the 1950s on, Bernd and Hilla Becher traversed the United States and Europe photographing silos, factories, mills, processing plants, and... 

<em>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</em>

Theatre

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Wednesday 5/21 @ Broadhurst Theatre

Hopelessness and self-loathing are frequent players in Tennessee Williams' work, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is no exception. The... 

<em>Passing Strange</em>

Theatre

Passing Strange

Wednesday 5/21 @ The Belasco Theatre

The loose autobiography-in-song of one Mark Stewart (aka Stew), Passing Strange tells the story of a restless Youth (the excellent Daniel... 

Ralph Bakshi

Art

Ralph Bakshi

Wednesday 5/21 @ Animazing Gallery

With his controversial adult animation, Ralph Bakshi paved the way for Ren & Stimpy and South Park. Throughout his career, Bakshi's... 

<em>Roman de Gare</em>

Film

Roman de Gare

Wednesday 5/21 @ Angelika Film Center

Roman de Gare takes its name from the French term for popular novels sold in train stations, and, indeed, this film's...