Arts Fuse critics select the best in film, dance, theater, music, and author events for the coming weeks.

By The Arts Fuse Staff

Film

The 16th Annual Boston Turkish Film Festival
through April 2
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Turkey produces vibrant films that receive far too little distribution in this country: many of the movies in the festival this year are North American and US premieres (18 to be exact). Q&A sessions with a selection of the directors will follow film screenings. According to Erkut Gömülü, founder and director of the event, 20 percent of the entries in this year’s program are by women filmmakers. Complete schedule.

Mulholland Drive
March 20 at 7 p.m.
Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline, MA

Big Screen Classics presents David Lynch’s masterpiece of dream, illusion, reality and performance. This is another film well worth a viewing on the big screen — it will help you sink into its world. Click here an analysis of the film.

Remedy
March 21 at 7 p.m.
Bright Family Screening Room at Emerson/Paramount Center, Boston, MA

Remedy follows a young woman from the underground kink clubs of New York City into the world of commodified BDSM, where workers are paid to embody the sexual and psychological fantasies of complete strangers. Despite her habitually submissive tastes, the protagonist finds a job as a dominatrix at a commercial dungeon, working under the pseudonym “Mistress Remedy.” Discussion with director Cheyenne Picardo moderated by author Melissa Gira Grant to follow. Part of the MIT Women Take the Reel series.

Deprogrammed
March 23 at 7 p.m.
Bright Family Screening Room at Emerson/Paramount Center, Boston, MA

Deprogrammed chronicles Ted “Black Lightning” Patrick’s anti-cult crusade. His practice of “deprogramming,” also known as “reverse brainwashing,” started up in the early 1970s and quickly snowballed into a vast underground movement composed of concerned parents, ex-cultists-turned-deprogrammers, and some sympathetic law enforcers whose mission is to physically and mentally remove individuals from “cults”. Discussion with director Mia Donovan follows.

ReelAbilities Film Festival
March 23–April 6
Various Venues

ReelAbilities Film Festival promotes awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. These are always uplifting films focusing on the lives of powerful people in this line-up. The opening feature was an Academy Award nominee. A sample includes:

Life, Animated – March 29  at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of Science
Discussion, reception and book signing to follow with Ron Suskind, film subject and Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author.
Notes On Blindness –  April 3 at 7 p.m. at the Brattle Theater
In 1983, after many decades of deterioration, writer and theologian John Hull became totally blind. To help him make sense of the upheaval in his life, he documented his experiences on an audio cassette. The result is a poetic and intimate story of loss, rebirth, and transformation. Skype Q&A to follow with directors James Spinney and Peter Middleton.
Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing – April 6 at 7 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre
Using never-before-seen footage, this documentary focuses on the emotional and physical recovery of the individuals whose lives were forever changed by the Boston Marathon bombing. Discussion to follow with film subjects Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, moderated by Boston Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz.

Full Schedule

The Irish Film Festival Boston
March 23 – 26
Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA

The Boston Irish Film Festival is the largest event of its kind outside Ireland, providing exhibition, distribution, and educational opportunities for Irish filmmakers. The event also honors their work via award, and produces original documentaries on contemporary Irish cinema. The award winners include: The Young Offenders, Gridlock, A Date For Mad Mary, Terminal, and Rocky Ros Muc.

— Tim Jackson

---

Dance

Dig Mine Excavate
March 24 & 25 at 8 p.m.
Byrnes Theatre, Walnut Hill School for the Arts
Natick, MA

Prometheus Dance’s Dig Mine Excavate brings acclaimed choreography by directors Diane Arvanites and Tommy Neblett and guest choreographer Korhan Basaran to the stage, through a mix of works both past and new.

— Merli V. Guerra

---

Theater

temping by Wolf 359. Part of The Mini Series: Performance for Small Audiences, presented by the American Repertory Theater at Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA, through March 19.

Theater meets technology. To be absorbed? In the future, all you will need is a virtual reality visor to become part of the show — the devices are being test marketed at this moment. “Sarah Jane Tully, a 53-year-old actuary, is taking her first vacation in years, and YOU have been hired to cover for her. temping, the strange and comic tale of an employee’s inner life, is performed for an audience of one by a Windows PC, a corporate phone, a laser printer, and the Microsoft Office Suite. Filling in at Sarah Jane’s cubicle, you’ll update client records, send emails, and eavesdrop on intra-office romance. Each performance is unique, depending on which tasks you accomplish and which of your co-workers you decide to trust.”

Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. Directed by David R. Gammons. Staged by the Actors’ Shakespeare Project at the Charlestown Working Theater, Charlestown, MA, through March 19.

A rare outing in Boston for Marlowe’s prophetic exploration of the social consequences of homosexual desire: The playwright “uses the tumultuous history of 14th century England to share one man’s struggle between self identity and the demands of his court and kingdom, presented in a taut new version that pares the work to eight characters.” Arts Fuse review

Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Dori A. Robinson. At the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA, through March 25.

A “melodious period drama about the Hidden Figures-esque women who worked at Harvard Observatory in the early 1900’s.”

Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Staged by the Lyric Stage Company at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA, through March 26.

“Life imitates Art. Art imitates Life — and Love.” In this script, “two squabbling long-lost loves are cast as long-lost lovers, and quickly lose touch with reality in this comic, romantic, and revealing play-within-a-play.” Arts Fuse review

Precious Little by Madeleine George. A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production at the Central Square Theater, Cambridge, MA, through March 26.

“A research linguist, Brodie, receives genetic testing results: her unborn child may never be able to learn a language. Her girlfriend’s unsympathetic; her genetic counselor’s a rookie; her own uncompromising intellect betrays her. Her search for guidance takes her to unexpected places. Three actresses play multiple roles – including a gorilla – in this irreverent exploration of one of our most fundamental questions: when does too much knowledge get in the way of our basic instincts?”

Grand Concourse by Heidi Schreck. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the South End/ Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, through April 1.

First-rate Boston actors Melinda Lopez and Thomas Derrah star in the New England premiere of a “compelling” story, set in a Bronx soup kitchen, which explores the mysteries of faith and forgiveness. Arts Fuse review

Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Billy Porter. Staged by the Huntington Theater Company at the Boston University Theater, Avenue of the Arts, Boston, MA, through April 9.

The script is “a darkly comic, deeply theatrical fable about family wounds and healing bonds. Lincoln and Booth are brothers: best friends and bitter rivals. Lincoln, a former 3-card monte hustler, works as a Lincoln impersonator in a shooting gallery; Booth is an aspiring grifter. He tempts his brother to get back in the game, but the consequences could be deadly. Suzan-Lori Parks made history as the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002 with Topdog/Underdog.”

Finish Line: A Documentary Play About the 2013 Boston Marathon, co-created by Joey Frangieh and Lisa Rafferty. Directed by Frangieh. Presented by the Boch Center in association with Boston Theater Company at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre, Boston, MA, through March 26.

The world premiere of a play that “brings a local story of recovery, resilience, and determination center stage. Through a transcript created verbatim from dozens of interviews, Finish Line uses powerful firsthand accounts to show how a community came together to heal and grow stronger after a tragic act of violence.” ($3.00 of every ticket sold will be donated to support the Martin Richard Foundation and Martin’s Park.)

Our American Hamlet by Jake Broder. Directed by Steven Maler. Presented by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company at the Sorenson Center for the Arts at Babson College, 19 Babson College Drive, Wellesley, MA., through April 2.

The world premiere of a script “based on the true story of Edwin Booth, the leading Shakespearean actor of his day and the brother of John Wilkes Booth. Less than one year after President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth, Edwin decided to perform Hamlet on Broadway, a role he had performed in the past to great acclaim. A huge crowd turned up for the performance — but it wasn’t clear whether they were there to see the actor perform, or to exact their revenge.” The impressive cast includes Will Lyman and Maureen Keiller and the playwright, Jake Broder.

Mrs. Packard by Emily Mann. Directed by Emily Ranii. Produced by Bridge Repertory Theater and Playhouse Creatures Theatre Co, NYC at Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St E. Cambridge, MA, through April 9.

A regional premiere of Mann’s doc-u-drama: “Illinois, 1861. Proclaimed insane by her husband, Elizabeth Packard is committed against her will to the Jacksonville Insane Asylum. An astonishingly accurate chronicle of true historical events, this stunning American drama follows one woman’s struggle to fight for her life and, in the process, right a system gone wrong.”

Chill by Eleanor Burgess. Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. Staged by the Merrimack Repertory Theater at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre, 50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA, March 22 through April 16.

The world premiere of a “new bittersweet drama about all life throws you between 18 and 28. The play follows four Massachusetts teens across a decade of change in America, and is inspired by the real-life experiences of playwright (and Brookline, MA native) Eleanor Burgess.”

Sinners by Joshua Sobol. Directed by Brian Cox. New Rep and Boston Center for American Performance presents in association with Greensboro Arts Alliance & Residency/Mirror Theater at theatrelab@855, 855 commonwealth avenue, Boston, MA, March 23 through April 2.

A production of a play by the renowned Israeli playwright and novelist. “Layla, a married English professor, has an affair with one of her married students, Nur. Out of fear that the oppressing authorities would find out and kill them both, Nur decides to confess, claiming that Layla seduced him.” Directed by actor Brian Cox, who gave one of the finest Shakespearean performances I have ever seen — in Debra Warner’s amazing Titus Andronicus.

Note: Internationally respected dramatist Joshua Sobol is in the area and, besides the New Rep production of Sinners, there will be staged readings of his scripts and various interviews. Here is how one of the presenters, Guy Ben-Aharon, artistic director of Israeli Stage, summed up the visit:

How theatre can be a form of resistance is a very timely question for artists and audiences alike. This is the question that has been driving Joshua Sobol throughout his four-decade long career in theatre. Engaging Boston in dialogue over how theatre can be a form of resistance is the underlying theme for Joshua Sobol’s two weeks residency.

Sobol will be in Boston, March 20 through 31. His residency will feature free lectures, seminars and performances of his work at half a dozen universities across the Greater Boston Area. Check the New Rep and Israeli Stage websites for events, dates, etc.

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower: A Concert Performance, adapted from the novel of the same name by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon. Eric Ting directs. Presented by Arts Emerson at the Emerson/Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage, Boston, MA, March 23 through 26.

“This genre-defying work of concert performance features a powerhouse ensemble of 20 singers and musicians performing 30 powerful songs drawn from 200 years of Black music to give musical life to Butler’s acclaimed science fiction novel of the same name.” Given how little theater has been written about climate change (or manages to be staged), this is a very welcome addition to the season.

— Bill Marx

---

Jazz

Joshua Redman’s Still Dreaming
March 19, 7:30 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston

For this project, Redman has assembled a piano-less ensemble that recalls the Ornette Coleman bands of the 1960s and those of his father, Dewey Redman (who was also a key Coleman sideman). Joining him in this adventure are trumpeter Ron Miles, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade.

Vinicius Cantuária Plays Jobim
March 23, 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA

One Brazilian singer/songwriter pays tribute to another when guitarist Vinicius Cantuária visits the Regattabar with a superb quartet that includes pianist Helio Alves, bassist Paul Socolow, and drummer Adriano Santos.

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
March 23, 8:30 p.m.
160 Mass. Ave., Boston

This 18-piece ensemble and the compositions/arrangements of its mastermind, Darcy James Argue, turned heads last year with their unsettling evocation of American paranoia, Real Enemies. This year, against the background of a full-bore assault on the very notion of verifiable facts, the Grammy-nominated album feels even more prescient, and will be the centerpiece of the Secret Society’s performance as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston’s Stave Sessions.

Alex Alvear and Mango Blue
March 24, 7:30 and 10:00 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA

Now that vocalist/bassist/composer Alvear splits his time between Boston and his native Ecuador, appearances with his longtime Afro-Latin fusion band, Mango Blue, in his northern home are less frequent—all the more reason not to miss this opportunity to warm yourself by Alvear’s fire.

Buster Williams’ Something More Quartet
March 24-25, 8 p.m.
Scullers, Boston, MA

The ghosts of the MJQ must be haunting Scullers this month, as veteran bass master Buster Williams arrives with his own piano-vibes-bass-drums ensemble. Williams’s stellar quartet, Something More, features pianist George Colligan, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, and drummer Lenny White.

— J. R. Carroll

---

Classical Music

The Rake’s Progress
Presented by Boston Lyric Opera
March 19 at 3 p.m.
Cutler Majestic Theater, Boston, MA

Stravinsky’s collaboration with W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman comes to Boston courtesy of BLO. Anya Matanovic sings Anne Truelove, Ben Bliss is Tom Rakewell, and Jane Eaglen takes a turn as Mother Goose. David Angus conducts.

Haitink conducts Beethoven
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
March 21 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

The BSO’s conductor emeritus conducts Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, as well as Debussy’s magical Nocturnes and Haydn’s Symphony no. 60.

Yehudi Wyner Celebration
Presented by Jewish Arts Collaborative
March 22, 7:30 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston, MA

Local compositional icon Yehudi Wyner is the subject of the first annual Michael B. Rukin Memorial Concert. The evening involves a performance of his chamber music plus a discussion between Wyner and music critic Lloyd Schwartz.

Weilerstein plays Pintscher
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
March 23-25, 8 p.m. (1:30 p.m. on Friday)
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Cellist Alissa Weilerstein joins the BSO for the world premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s un despertar. The program also includes Berlioz’s Le Corsaire Overture and Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony. Francois Xavier-Roth conducts.

March Madness: Game On
Presented by Grand Harmonie
March 24 at 7:30 p.m. and 26 at 3 p.m.
Center for Arts at the Armory, Somerville (Friday) and Second Church in Newton (Sunday), MA

Scott Allen Jarrett conducts Grand Harmonie in a program of music by Mozart, Weber, and Beethoven. The first concert (in Somerville) promises to be riotously informal – “more of a party than a concert,” the group’s website says – while the second (in Newton) is slated to be more traditional.

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor
Presented by Boston Conservatory
March 30-April 2, 8 p.m. (2 p.m. on Sunday)
Boston Conservatory Theater, Boston, MA

Otto Nicolai’s 1841 rarely-staged adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor comes to town for four performances, courtesy of the Boston Conservatory.

Capuçon plays Lalo
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
March 30-April 1, 8 p.m. (1:30 p.m. on Friday)
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Violinist Renaud Capuçon plays Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole with the BSO. The program includes another Berlioz overture (Roman Carnival), plus Dutilleux’s Symphony no. 2 and the Suite no. 2 from Albert Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariane.

Boston Accent
Presented by Boston Modern Orchestra Project
March 31, 8 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston, MA

BMOP plays pieces by four composers with local connections: David Sanford, John Harbison, Eric Sawyer, and Ronald Perera.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Music for Food: From Bach to Berio
March 19 at 7:30 p.m.
At MIT Killian Hall, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

On the program: J.S. Bach’s Ciaccona, Berio’s Violin duets, Harbison’s Cucaraccia and Fugue, Elgar’s Piano Quintet in a, Op. 84.

Blodgett Chamber Music Series
Parker String Quartet
March 24 at 8 p.m.
At Harvard Paine Hall, 3 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA

On the program: Rebecca Saunders’s Fletch and Schubert’s Octet in F Major, D. 803.

Chinese Foundation for the Performing Arts
March 25 at 8 p.m.
At Jordan Hall/New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA

The performers: Meng-Chieh Liu, piano, Borromeo String Quartet, and the Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra.

Winsor Music
Daedalus Quartet
March 26 at 7 p.m.
At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 15 St. Paul Street, Brookline, MA

On the program: Haydn’s Quartet in B minor, Op 33, No. 1, Anna Weeesner’s Quintet for Oboe and Strings (Boston premiere), James Primosch’s Song for the Spirit, “Come Brothers All, Come Sisters, Too,” Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115.

— Susan Miron

---

Rock, Pop, and Folk

Mavis Staples with Dwight & Nicole
March 24 (doors at 7, show at 8)
The Cabot, Beverly, MA

Gospel and soul legend Mavis Staples requires no one’s aid in maintaining her profile. Her seven-decade-spanning career that began with The Staple Singers is sufficient to guarantee her visibility whenever she chooses to be seen or heard. However, her recent collaborations with Jeff Tweedy, M. Ward, and Arcade Fire certainly haven’t hurt in terms of introducing her to a new generation of fans. The 2016 Kennedy Center honoree will grace the stage of The Cabot on March 24. Dwight & Nicole, who won the 2016 New England Music Award for Band of the Year, will open.

Foxyen with Gabriella Cohen
March 25 (doors at 8, show at 9)
Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

Foxygen went two for two with its first and second albums in 2012 and 2014. With 2015’s 24-song, 80-minute …And Star Power, however, the commendably ambitious indie rock duo may have bitten off more than it could chew. Having weathered the accompanying backlash from some critics, Sam France and Jonathan Rado returned in January with Hang, which has a single-digit tracklist and 32-minute running time that probably put fans in a forgiving enough mood to pack the Paradise this Friday.

At the Drive-In with Le Butcherettes
March 25 (doors at 7, show at 8)
House of Blues, Boston, MA

With three albums and five EPs to its credit, El Paso’s At the Drive-In enjoyed a fine run from the mid-90s through the early aughts. Now, 16 years after it first broke up, the post-hardcore quintet has reunited and is set to release in•ter a•li•a in May. Stalwart followers can relive the old and preview the forthcoming at the House of Blues on Friday.

Lisa Fischer
March 26 (show at 7)
The Wilbur, Boston, MA

Lisa Fischer is a Grammy-winning singer whose work with, inter alios, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, and Luther Vandross led to her begin featured in the Oscar-winning 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom. That same year, she toured as a backing vocalist with Nine Inch Nails, and in 2014 set off on her own tour with Grand Baton as her backing band. Join Fisher at The Wilbur next Sunday for what is sure to be an invigorating and memorable evening.

Lambchop with Animal Hospital
March 28 (doors at 7, shows at 8)
Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA

Lambchop, once and long-heralded as “Nashville’s most fucked-up country band,” released its debut in 1994. 23 years later, Kurt Wagner and company haven’t gotten any more predictable. This is indicated by, among other things, the fact that the title of their latest album—2016’s FLOTUS—does not stand for what it does in official circles. One-man Boston band Animal Hospital (Kevin Micka) will open Lambchop’s visit to Brighton Music Hall on March 28.

The Courtneys with Jay Som and Halfsour
March 28 (doors at 9)
Great Scott, Allston, MA

With an unlikely combination of specificity and nebulosity, Vancouver trio The Courtneys describes its sound as “Sun drenched flying nun influenced pop with sweet licks that’ll stick with you for days.” That makes perfect sense to the cognoscenti, but most likely leaves the uninitiated curious but bewildered. Sweetening the pot of the band’s performance at Great Scott next Tuesday is the bill’s inclusion of Jay Som, whose new album, Everybody Works, is receiving some of the ravest reviews of 2017. As if all of this were not a runneth-over cup, Boston’s Halfsour will start things of with some local flavor.

— Blake Maddux

---

Roots and World Music

TIGUE and Innov Gnawa
March 24
160 Mass. Ave, Boston, MA

The annual Stave Sessions presented by the Celebrity Series bring forward-looking programming to a unique venue at Berklee. (When the school isn’t on spring break, the space is actually a cafeteria.) What will happen when a new music trio collaborates with the traditional Moroccan trance ensemble, Innov Gnawa? We’ll have to show up to find out.

The Zombies: Odessey and Oracle
March 28
The Wilbur, Boston, MA

In 2015 we talked to Rod Argent of the Zombies right before the iconoclastic British psychedelic band came to town performing its classic LP Odessey and Oracle in its entirety. Now the band is reprising that tour with four original members — as well as an opening set in which the group’s current incarnation play a mix of new and classic tunes. In his review of the 2015 show Fuse rock critic Brett Milano noted how lead singer Colin Blunstone’s range and depth had actually improved with age and said the night “wasn’t great because it brought back memories or evoked a bygone era; it was great right now.”

Music of Brazil
April 2
Arts at the Armory Cafe, Somerville, MA

This acoustic double-header includes Brazilian vocalist Sofia Krigertrio’s Solos de Ave trio plus violinist Elinor Speirs’ Brazilian violin collective.

— Noah Schaffer

---

Author Events

Ganesh Sitaraman
The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution: Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic
March 21 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge MA
Free

Vanderbilt Law School’s Sitaraman comes to discuss how a stable middle class is actually a prerequisite for the country’s constitutional system. After the economic turbulence of the past few years, the threat of oligarchy is real, which puts our constitutional framework at risk. Elizabeth Warren says that “every American needs to read this book”— need I say more?

Morgan Parker
There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé: Poems
March 21 at 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner MA
Free

Described as “unrelentingly feminist, tender, ruthless, and sequined” Parker’s poems speak urgently about issues of bodies, race, and power that are all-too- prevalent in contemporary culture.

Kate Alcott
The Hollywood Daughter: A Novel
March 22 at 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner MA
Free

The bestselling novelist returns with a new novel that investigates the life of Ingrid Bergman in Hollywood in the 50’s, at a time when her state of grace as America’s sweetheart had turned bitterly controversial after she left her husband and children to become involved with the great Italian director Roberto Rossellini.

Sheila Katz
Connecting with the Enemy: A Century of Palestinian—Israeli Joint Nonviolence
March 27 at 7 p.m.
Porter Square Books, Cambridge MA
Free

The Israeli—Palestinian conflict has been as confounding as it is tragic — it often seems as though peace is impossible. Katz is a PhD from Harvard, who studied the history of the conflict and has worked with Middle Eastern women extensively. She will read and discuss the extensive history of grassroots efforts involving both sides to create nonviolent alternatives to strife.

— Matt Hanson