Coming Attractions: September 25 Through October 8 — What Will Light Your Fire

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

By The Arts Fuse Staff

Film

Bisbee ’17
Through September 26
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Robert Greene’s latest film explores the 1917 roundup and banishment of some 1,300 striking miners. Radically combining documentary and present day dramatizations, the narrative follows several members of the workers close-knit community as they collaborate with the filmmakers to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Bisbee Deportation, where 1200 immigrant miners were violently taken from their homes by a deputized force, shipped to the desert on cattle cars, and left to die. Spaces in town double as past and present; reenactors become ghosts in the haunted streets of the old copper camp. Enacted fantasies mingle with very real reckonings: it all builds towards a massive restaging of the Deportation itself on the exact day of its centennial anniversary.

70mm & Widescreen Festival
Though September 30
Somerville Theater in Davis Square, Somerville MA

One of the privileges of living in the Boston area is easy access to theaters that project celluloid film, particularly in the gorgeous, 70mm Widescreen format. This year’s Widescreen Festival offers some pretty interesting selections. Here’s the lineup.

Boston Women’s Film Festival
September 27 through 30
The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge and
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

This is the Boston area’s leading festival for international films created by women. The festival will host panel discussions by leading figures in the media industry, bringing together creators and audiences for a weekend of celebrating the diversity and power of women’s cinema.

Family
September 27 at 7 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Kate Stone (Taylor Schilling) is a workaholic. She hates kids. She is successful but unpopular at work. She dislikes most social situations because she doesn’t know what to do with her arms. And now she has been saddled with taking care of her awkward 12-year-old niece Maddie (Bryn Vale) — who she barely knows — just when a big proposal is due at work. Kate thinks this is as bad as her life can get — until Maddie runs away to become a Juggalo. The premise of director Laura Steinel’s debut film is familiar: closed-off character is forced to learn how to make connections with other people through awkward missteps and misunderstandings. But there are pleasant surprises thanks to a strong script, the performances of Schilling and newcomer Vale, and a stellar supporting cast — including Kate McKinnon playing an uptight, athleisure-wearing neighbor. This terrific film celebrates everything that family means, from the complicated relationships you have with your blood relative to the family that you create to the larger tribe that you belong to whether you know it or not.

A scene from “Little Woods.”

Little Woods
September 28 at 7 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

In this neo-western, Ollie (Thompson) is barely making ends meet in economically depressed Little Woods, a fracking boomtown in North Dakota. After her mother dies, Ollie learns that the family house has been foreclosed upon and her estranged sister (James) is homeless, living in an RV with her son. In order to help her sister and save their home, Ollie has to return to drug dealing and smuggling.

Jennifer’s Body
September 28 at 9:30 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Back in 2009, Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody joined forces to create this excellent feminist horror film. Nerdy teenager Anita (Seyfried) must delve into the world of the occult when her best friend, popular cheerleader Jennifer (Fox), develops an unholy taste for (male) human flesh. Anita races to discover what has led Jennifer to this fate in an attempt to stem the tide of blood that has taken over her town.

Yellow Is Forbidden
September 29 at 2 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

How did the daughter of a communist soldier and primary school teacher, raised during the Cultural Revolution, become the designer of choice for China’s one percent? This film is also a document of how much China has changed from Pei’s childhood to today. She uses words like ‘empirical’ and ‘regal’ to sell to her Chinese clientele, words that would have gotten her jailed during the Cultural Revolution. It also points out the realities of haute couture: who the actual buyers are and the truth about what it takes in human labor and financial backing to realize the designs. Brettkelly’s years of experience documenting other driven people over the world make her a singularly qualified filmmaker to take on the inspiring, and troubling, world of high fashion design.

Netizens
September 29 at 4 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Filmmaker Cynthia Lowen’s (Bully) latest documentary continues her investigation of the complex psychology of contemporary America. This powerful film focuses on three women and their war against the internet’s most malevolent forces: online, physical, and emotional harassment. They battle a justice system that refuses to see digital abuse as a crime – and challenge the idea that cyber harassment exists ‘only’ online. Lowen’s documentary examines not just social and institutional indifference (though the #metoo movement is changing much of this) but also the strategies that women are forced to create in order to navigate a culture that all too often doesn’t understand the cruelty and vindictiveness that can be experienced on the internet.

All About Nina
September 29 at 7 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Meet Nina (Winstead). She’s a funny, filthy, feminist comedian. She doesn’t do relationships but she does puke after every gig. In order to fully break from an abusive lover, she moves to LA to audition for a prestigious comedy show a-la Saturday Night Live. While there she meets Rafe (Common), and her commitment to not being committed is challenged by his determined pursuit – and their obvious chemistry.

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts
September 29 at 9:30 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

This film is a feminist Spaghetti western from Indonesia — complete with soaring guitar score and strange, surreal touches. After surviving an encounter with a band of rapist thieves, Marlina (Timothy) leaves her remote home on a mission to confess to her crimes. She travels on foot, by bus, and, fittingly, by horse as she carries the severed head of her rapist with her in a sack.

The film is gruesome, funny, and beautiful, deftly navigated through the shifting tones by filmmaker Mouly Surya. It is a perfect example of the kinds of wonderful surprises we will see as more and more diverse voices are able to contribute to the film industry.

Jamilia
September 30 at 1 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Jamilia, the debut documentary feature from French director Aminatou Echard, begins with a woman’s voice describing the self-confident and strong-willed Jamilia. She is the protagonist of Chingiz Aitmatov’s eponymous Soviet-era novel. In that book, Jamilia breaks with tradition and leaves her arranged marriage to elope with her great love. Echard uses the heroine as a jumping-off point to enable women in Kyrgyzstan to tell their own stories. It quickly becomes clear that, for these women, Jamilia represents the possibilities of self-determination. No longer simply a character, Jamilia has become a symbol for personal conflicts, longing, and desire for contemporary Kyrgyz women.

Shot is stunning, beautiful Super-8, with separately recorded audio, Echard’s film juxtaposes the gorgeously composed visuals of day-to-day life with the powerful voices of the women of Kyrgyzstan. At once connecting literature, reality, past, and the present, Echard’s film is a testament to the importance of women’s stories.

Eva & Candela
September 30 at 3 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

A portrait of two strong, independent women drawn together by a powerful attraction and their shared desire to take on the movie world. As the years pass, their relationship changes from one of passion to logistics.

Ruth Caudeli’s first feature film balances the hope and bitterness that pulls at the edges of a struggling relationship. The film jumps back and forth between Eva and Candela falling in love to their future relationship, all within the timeline of the making and release of the film that they have made together.

A scene from “Dead Pigs.”

Dead Pigs
September 30 at 5 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

This black comedy from Chinese-American writer/director Cathy Yan follows the intertwining fates of 5 disparate people caught in the inexorable tides of a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai. Catch up with this director’s debut feature before she breaks big – Yan is currently at work on the first big-budget, all-female superhero team-up movie, Birds of Prey!

Wild Nights With Emily
September 30 at 8 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Molly Shannon plays Emily Dickinson in the dramatic comedy. The poet’s persona, popularized since her death, has been that of a reclusive spinster – a delicate wallflower, too sensitive for this world. This film, however, explores her vivacious, irreverent side that was covered up for years – most notably Emily’s lifelong romantic relationship with another woman.

Boston Women’s Film Festival — Schedule of screenings at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

A scene from “Shirkers.”

Shirkers
September 28, 6 p.m. See Arts Fuse review

A scene from “Narcissister Organ Player.”

Narcissister Organ Player
September 28, 8:30 pm
September 29, 1:30 pm
With live a performance by Lani Asuncion performing her piece “Bloodless”

I Am Not a Witch
September 29, 4 p.m. See Arts Fuse review

Daisies
September 30, 1:30 p.m.

What They Had
September 30, 4 p.m.

On Her Shoulders
September 30, 6:30 p.m.

A scene from “Attack of the Mushroom People.”

Attack of the Mushroom People (1963)
October 5 at 8 p.m.
The Somerville Theatre (micro-cinema) in Davis Square

A Kaijū is a Japanese film genre that features giant monsters. Japanese Tourists are shipwrecked on a radioactive desert island presided over by an aggressive species of sentient mushrooms! Can they escape before starvation sets in or will everyone be absorbed into that vast vegetable collective!? Also screening: the short film A Padded Envelope from Madrid.

— Tim Jackson


Jazz

Satoko Fuji and This Is It! comes to Cambridge’s Lilypad.

Satoko Fujii
September 26 at 8:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge MA

The protean Japanese composer, pianist, and bandleader Satoko Fujii turns 60 on October 9, and has been celebrating the year with a new CD release every month — ensembles of all size (including big band) with every manner of compositional approach, from long, slow “process” pieces to precisely arranged “free” explorations, each piece producing its own distinct aura and after-effects. She comes to the Lilypad with the band This Is It!, celebrating their June release, 1538 (the melting point temperature for iron). The other players in This Is It! are trumpeter and longtime collaborator Kappa Maki and percussionist Yoshi Shutto.

Kenny Werner Quartet
September 28 and 29 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA.

The master composer and keyboardist Kenny Werner leads this jazz supergroup of sorts: saxophonist Dave Liebman, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.

Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival
September 29 from 12 noon to 6 p.m.
Columbus Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue and Burke Street, Boston, MA.

Berklee College of Music hosts its annual free fall block party. This year’s players —— as usual, a mix of talented students, faculty, and alumni — feature saxophonist Tia Fuller; saxophonist Marco Pignataro’s Almas Antiguas Quartet with bassist Eddie Gomez; drummer Ralph Peterson’s Aggregate Prime; singer Catherine Russell; MikroJazz, with saxophonist Philipp Gerschlauer, guitarist Dave Fiuczynski, keyboardist Utar Atun, and special guest drummer Jack DeJohnette; trumpeter Jason Palmer; pianist Rina Yamakazi, and many more, on several stages.

Pat Metheny
September 30 at 7 p.m.
Cabot Theatre, Beverly, MA.

The former boy wonder of jazz guitar — now one of its undisputed masters — Pat Metheny comes to Beverly with yet another powerhouse ensemble: drummer Antonio Sanchez , bassist Linda May Han Oh, and pianist/keyboardist Gwilym Simcock.

Ran Blake and Sara Serpa
October 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA.

Pianist, composer, and New England Conservatory improv guru Ran Blake established himself on a duo recording with singer Jeanne Lee (The Newest Sound Around, 1961), and he still shines in that format. Blake’s duo partners in recent years have included Dominique Eade, Christine Correa (with whom he releases a new CD, Streaming, on October 12), and Sara Serpa, the last of whom joins him for this show at the Regattabar. You can expect Blake’s usual mix of blues and standards, music from and inspired by film noir, and maybe some fado from the Lisbon-born Serpa.

— Jon Garelick

Stan Strickland (ts/ss/vo) / Josh Rosen (p) “Trio and Quartet,” w. RaKalam Bob Moses (dm), Bruno Råberg (b), Dave Fox (dm) – Regattabar, September 25, 7:30 p.m. For Strickland and Moses alone, this date is worth putting on your calendar. Strickland is a magisterial Presence who always brings special qualities of grace and power to a gig, and Moses is a percussionist of supreme inventiveness. Hearing them play together should be special. Strickland has worked for some time with pianist Rosen – to hear how effective they are together, you can sample their duo CD called Instinct on the website of Ziggle Zaggle Records.

Bill Pierce (ts), w. Javon Jackson (ts), Mark Turner (ts), Antonio Hart (as), Melissa Aldana (ts), David Gilmore (g), Lawrence Fields (p), John Lockwood (b), Ron Savage (dm), Kevin Eubanks (g), Jake Sherman (org), Terri Lyne Carrington (dm) – Berklee Performance Center, September 26, 8 p.m. A much-deserved Berklee tribute, produced by Carrington, honoring the veteran saxophonist and teacher Bill Pierce. The collection of talent and the outpouring of emotion for a beloved figure on the local scene guarantee some great playing and a night to remember. In the first half, the four saxophonists above (all former students of Pierce, and all now leaders in their own rights) play with Fields, Lockwood and Savage. After intermission, Pierce himself fronts a team of his regular sidemen.

Singer Sarah McKenzie will perform in Boston. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

Sarah McKenzie (vo/p), with other players to be announced – Red Room at Café 939 (a Berklee venue), 939 Massachusetts Avenue, September 27, 8 p.m. A showcase for the Aussie singer-pianist, who possesses a crystalline voice and a light touch on the keyboard, supporting her new CD, Paris in the Rain.

Jason Palmer (tp), with other players to be announced – Massachusetts Avenue Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, September 29, 11 p.m. Sponsored by Berklee. Free. A young trumpeter with great technique and interesting ideas, who had the wisdom to record two recent CDs in live performance at Wally’s, the great South End institution, the Godfather of Boston Jazz Venues. And also see November 3

Darcel Wilson (vo), with other players to be announced – Burke Street Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, September 29, 11 p.m. Sponsored by Berklee. Free. A soulful singer just starting to make her mark.

Marco Pignataro (ts/ss), w. Alan Pasqua (p), Eddie Gomez (b), Adam Cruz (dm) – Massachusetts Avenue Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, September 29, 2:25 p.m. Sponsored by Berklee. Free. Italian saxophonist Pignataro co-directs the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. His sound falls somewhere between Coltrane and Getz, and his playing is also infused with what might be called “Italian soul.” This all-star group also plays on his new CD, Almas Antiguas.

Philipp Gerschlauer (microtonal saxophone). David Fiuczynski (fretless g), Utar Artun (per), Drew Gress (b), Jack DeJohnette (dm) – Burke Street Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, September 29, 11:50 p.m. Sponsored by Berklee. Free. No, they’re not playing out of tune. Gerschlauer and Fiuczynski explore the spaces between the notes of traditional Western intonation, and their supporting players follow suit. Once you retune your ears, the music is straightforward. Like hearing a whole band playing “in the cracks,” à la Jackie McLean.

Ralph Peterson (dm), w. Gary Thomas (ts/fl), Mark Whitfield (g), Davis Whitfield (p), Curtis Lundy (b) – Massachusetts Avenue Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, September 29, 3:40 p.m. Sponsored by Berklee. Free. In addition to leading the Messenger Legacy Band, Peterson leads Aggregate Prime, this quintet of formidable talents.

Tia Fuller (ts), with other players to be announced – Burke Street Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, Saturday September 29, 5 p.m. Facile and sharp, Fuller has a new CD, Diamond Cut, and should provide a very worthwhile show.

Catherine Russell (vo), with other players to be announced – Massachusetts Avenue Stage at Beantown Jazz Festival, September 29, 5 p.m. Russell has won Grammys for her deliberately retro approach. She draws inspiration from the great swing-era vocalists — you might think of her as a latter-day Helen Humes.

Jerry Bergonzi (ts), with other players to be announced (at 8:30 p.m.) and The Fringe [George Garzone (ts/ss), John Lockwood (b), Bob Gullotti (dm)] (at 1030 p.m.) – The Lilypad, Monday October 1. Bergonzi, a saxophone giant, and The Fringe, one of the greatest free-jazz ensembles in the world, featuring fellow giant Garzone, play regularly at The Lilypad, leaving most concertgoers slack-jawed in astonishment at the sheer virtuosity on display. Don’t take them for granted. If not this Monday, go next Monday.

Thomas Oboe Lee (fl), w. Tim Ray (p). Gustavo Assis Brasil (g), John Lockwood (b). – Gaston Hall (Boston College), 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton, October 1, 8 p.m Free. Composer Lee, who Teaches at BC and wears a classical hat 364 days a year, offers an annual jazz recital where he returns to his Boston roots (those here in the seventies will remember him as a fleet improviser and an impeccable technician). This concert, with an outstanding team of sidemen, will focus on standards, with some great tune choices including “Close Your Eyes,” “In Your Own Sweet Way,” and “Skylark.”

Saxophonist Allan Chase — “an impeccable improviser, a deep thinker, and a deeply-respected teacher.”

Allan Chase (as), with other players to be announced – The Lilypad, October 2 and December 4, 8 p.m. An impeccable improviser, a deep thinker, and a deeply-respected teacher, Chase’s occasional visits to the Lilypad are more than worth your while.

Tetrapych [Bert Seager (p), Hery Paz (ts), Max Ridley (b), Dor Herskovits (dm)] – The Lilypad, October 3, 7:30 p.m. Tuneful free playing . . . is it possible? And how. See Steve Elman’s review and then go see Bert’s terrific quartet. (The band has been working the Lilypad on the first Wednesday of the month; hopefully this will continue through the end of the year, but further dates have yet to be announced.)

George Burton (p) Quintet, with other players to be announced – Scullers, October 5, 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. A pianist who knows what he’s doing, capable of setting the bandstand on fire. This quintet date promises steaming post-hard bop, at the minimum. There’s no guarantee that the personnel at Scullers will be the same as on this YouTube video of Burton and his band ripping through “Bernie’s Tune” — but count on a similar level of excitement when the band plays here

T.S. Monk will perform at Scullers. Photo: courtesy of the artist.

T. S. Monk (dm), with other players to be announced – Scullers, October 6, 8 p.m & 10 p.m. Thelonious Monk’s son, a terrific drummer, who usually works with top-class sidemen. They will surely do some of Monk Senior’s tunes, which T. S. always interprets definitively. There will also be a lot more post-bop, well-played. This full-length concert video will show you how good T. S. and his group can be — be sure you stick through it to hear the band play his father’s classic, “Monk’s Dream.”

Jerry Bergonzi (ts), with other players to be announced (at 8:30 p.m.) and The Fringe [George Garzone (ts/ss), John Lockwood (b), Bob Gullotti (dm)] (at 10:30 p.m.) – The Lilypad, Mondays October 8. Bergonzi, a saxophone giant, and The Fringe, one of the greatest free-jazz ensembles in the world, featuring fellow giant Garzone, play regularly at The Lilypad, leaving most concertgoers slack-jawed in astonishment at the sheer virtuosity on display. Don’t take them for granted. If not this Monday, go next Monday.

— Steve Elman

Magos Herrera & Brooklyn Rider
September 29 at 8 pm
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College
Amherst, MA

Jazz singer Magos Herrera and the Brooklyn Rider String Quartet bring their gorgeous new collaboration to Amherst on Sunday. The just-released recording, Dreamers, celebrates the power of beauty as a political act, and includes songs (and poems set to music) by Violeta Parra, Caetano Veloso, Garcia Lorca, Gilberto Gil, Octavio Paz, and others. Herrera, a New Yorker who hails from Mexico, has enlisted the arranging services of some of the best, including Jobim and Caetano stalwart, cellist Jaques Morelenbaum; Gonzalo Grau (cohort of Maria Schneider and Osvaldo Golijov, among others, and familiar to Bostonians as the driving force behind La Clave Secreta and Timba Loca), and Brooklyn Rider’s Colin Jacobsen. This promises to be an evening of deeply soulful and beautiful music.

— Evelyn Rosenthal


Dance

Luminarium Dance Company performs the opening scene of “HIVELAND” as the opening act for TEDxCambridge 2016.

Luminarium’s HIVELAND
September 28 & 29 at 8 p.m.
Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge MA

Hailed as one of “the most intelligent and innovative dance troupes in Boston,” Luminarium Dance Company returns after a two-year creation period with its newest feature production, HIVELAND. Submerge yourself inside the dreamlike world of HIVELAND’s athletic and weightless performers as they journey through a portal beyond the hive colony into the unknown, while composer Christos Zevos sets the pace with a driving electronic score.

— Merli V. Guerra


Visual Arts

Rena Detrixhe, “Red Dirt Rug,” 2018. Photo: Chris Anderson/CDA. Media.

Rena Dextrixhe: Red Dirt Rug
Through September 30
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, 460 Harrison Avenue #C7, Boston, MA

Meticulously crafted, this site specific installation meditates on the various ways humans impact the soil beneath us. In a careful laborious process, self identified “hunter gatherer” Rena Detrixhe spends countless hours sifting and grinding the red soil of her current homeland, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The finished work, with its historical and emotional resonances, is a marvel: expansive yet intimate and ephemeral.

Claes Oldenburg: Shelf Life
Through December 2
Henry and Lois Foster Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA

An engaging show that focuses on artistic process as a means to explore transformations generated by time and value. Exhibited alongside 17th century Dutch still life paintings, Claes Oldenburg’s Shelf Life (2017) features 15 mixed media works — intimate vignettes of seemingly random objects meticulously arranged on a set of custom-made wooden shelves. The exhibition is a playful compendium of objects and ideas that reflect the artist’s life and practice. It draws significant inspiration from Oldenburg’s iconic Pop art exhibition, The Store (1961). Approaching the latest period in his career, Oldenburg, now 89 years old, explains that this is “a time to decide what one keeps.”

Jan van Raay, Faith Ringgold (right) and Michele Wallace (middle) at Art Workers Coalition Protest, Whitney Museum, 1971. © Jan van Raay.

We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85
Through September 30
Karen and Brian Conway Galleries, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA

Offering contemplations on the work and lives of radical Black women artists and activists, this profound exhibition shifts and broadens our understanding of the feminist voices behind the emergence of the second wave of feminism. Artists include Camille Billops, Elizabeth Catlett, Julie Dash, Maren Hassinger, Jae Jarrell, Lorraine O’Grady, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Lorna Simpson, and Carrie Mae Weems, among several others. The show explores intersecting worlds: avant-garde art and radical politics.

Autumn (… Nothing Personal)
Through October 1
Tercentenary Theater Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA

Brilliant swashes of yellow measurably dissect the green scholarly landscape of Harvard Yard. Commissioned by the Harvard University Committee, Brooklyn artist Teresita Fernández has created this site specific public sculpture to be a space where students and local communities can read, perform, gather, and debate. The work draws its inspiration and title from a collaborative book that paired Richard Avedon’s diverse portraits of American life with James Baldwin’s 1964 essay, which discusses the underlying violence and grief that’s part of living in this country.

Fernández states that “the idea was to create an artwork that resided in this sort of iconic, very sacred, very protected place in the identity of Harvard’s campus, and to make people be in that space in a slightly different way than they are normally accustomed to.” Arts Fuse review

Carrie Mae Weems, “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried.” 1995. Photo: courtesy of McMullen Museum of Art.

Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement
Through December 13
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2101 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA

An innovative re-contextualizing of history – this expansive exhibition showcases thirty years of this renowned American artist’s cutting edge work. In recreated installations, ranging from the celebrated to the rarely exhibited, viewers are immersed in a critical exploration of our dark past — examinations of its systems of power and injustice. The goal is to incite new conversations regarding today’s social political climate.

Jason Moran
Through January 21
Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA

Jazz and visual arts combine in this talented interdisciplinary artist’s creations. Moran’s installations are inspired by famous venues from past eras such as New York’s Slugs Saloon, open from 1964 to the early 1970s. During the course of the exhibition, his sculptural work will become a ‘happening scene’ for several musical performances.

– Aimee Cotnoir


Theater

Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman in the Huntington Theatre Company production of “The Niceties.” Photo: T. Charles Erickson.

The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess. Directed by Kimberly Senior. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, through October 6.

The Huntington Theatre Company PR: “a black student and a white professor – both brilliant, both liberal – meet to discuss a paper about slavery’s role in the American Revolution. A polite conversation becomes a powder keg of race, history, and power, and neither woman will ever be the same.” Explosive? Who knows? Here is the Arts Fuse review of the Portland Stage production of the script last season. Arts Fuse review of the HTC production.

The Agitators by Mat Smart. Directed by Jacqui Parker. Staged by Gloucester Stage at 267 E. Main St., Gloucester, MA, through October 7.

The New England premiere of a script that “tells of the enduring but tempestuous friendship of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. Great allies? Yes. And at times, great adversaries. Young abolitionists when they met in Rochester in the 1840s, they were full of hopes, dreams, and a common purpose. As they grew to become the cultural icons we know today, their movements collided, and their friendship was severely tested.”

Ben Butler by Richard Strand. Directed by Daniel Burson.  Staged by Portland Stage,  25 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, through October 21.

“When a runaway slave demands sanctuary at a Union Army garrison, the General in charge is faced with a moral quandary: follow the letter of the law, or make a game-changing move that could alter the course of US history? Based on true occurrences that happened to General Benjamin Butler who graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1838, and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1840. During part of the Civil War, he commanded Fort Monroe.”

Vicuña by Jon Robin Baitz. Directed by David J. Miller. Staged by Zeitgeist Stage at the Plaza Black Box Theate at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, through October 6.

The New England premiere of a obviously pointed script: “A tailor to the wealthy, powerful, and famous struggles to serve a very unusual client: a blustering real estate tycoon and reality TV star who—to everyone’s surprise—becomes a major party’s nominee for President. As the election spins out of control, the tailor and his apprentice are forced to examine their roles as confidants and image-makers for the candidate … and whether the right suit has the power to clinch the presidency.”

Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene. Staged by Speakeasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, through October 13.

Winter of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “dark urban comedy explores, with both street-smart wit and disarming tenderness,the slippery nature of justice, and the grit it takes to move on.”

Being Earnest, a musical interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s classic The Importance of Being Earnest by Paul Gordon (Book, Lyrics and Music) and Jay Gruksa (Music). Directed and choreographed by Ilyse Robbins. Staged by the Greater Boston Stage Company at 395 Main Street, Stoneham, MA, through October 7.

Well, the East Coast premiere of an intriguing update of Wilde’s masterpiece: “London, 1965. The sounds. The colors. Skirts are getting shorter, hair is growing longer, and times are changing fast … ” The action takes place in “a Carnaby Street flat, where a wild comedy of romance and mistaken identities ensues.”

A scene from “Hamnet,” coming to Arts Emerson.

Hamnet by Bush Moukarzel, Ben Kidd, and William Shakespeare. Directed by Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd. Staged by Dead Centre and presented by Arts Emerson at the Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, through October 7.

A multimedia theatre experience, this production brings Shakespeare’s only son, who died at age 11 without knowing his famous father, to the stage.

Oslo by by J.T. Rogers. Directed by Peter Hackett. Staged by Northern Stage at the Barrette Center for the Arts, 74 Gates Street, White River Junction, VT, September 19 through October 21.

“Inspired by the true story of the back-channel talks, unlikely friendships, and quiet heroics that led to the Oslo Peace Accords between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Oslo is a deeply personal story set against a complex historical canvas, a story about the individuals behind world history and their all too human ambitions.” Winner of the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play – a regional premiere.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare, via a modern verse translation by Migdalia Cruz.
Directed by Dawn Meredith Simmons. Staged by the Actors Shakespeare Project at the United Parish, 210 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA, September 26 through November 11.

A world premiere of a verse version of Shakespeare’s tragedy, generated by the Hitz Shakespeare Translation Project as part of the “Play On!” Project of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Meet Fred, performed and created by Hijinx Theatre of Wales. Presented by Puppet Showplace Theater (Puppets at Night series for adults and teens) at the Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St., Boston, MA, September 27 through 30.

An American premiere: “Meet Fred, a lovable puppet with an authentic British accent who just wants to live a normal life like everyone else. Too bad the world wasn’t built with Fred in mind. When a trip to the Unemployment Office goes awry, things begin to spiral out of control. Will Fred have to fire one of his puppeteers? Will he meet an untimely end? Is there really no one out there who can help!?!”

Naked by Luigi Pirandello in a new version by Nicholas Wright. Directed by Eric Hill. At The Unicorn Theatre’s Larry Vaber Stage, Berkshire Theater Group’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street, Stockbridge, MA, September 27 through October 28.

Don’t miss an opportunity to see a play by one of drama’s most penetrating masters. This script “delves deep into the struggle of self-identity, and the tendency to skew reality to benefit desires of the heart.”

El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith. Directed by Laurie Woolery. Presented by Yale Rep in collaboration with The Sol Project at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven, September 28 through October 20.

World premiere of a climate change savvy script: “An epic hurricane threatens Miami. A mother and daughter ready themselves for the storm as Abuela takes shelter in a world of memory, music, and magic.”

A glimpse of Flat Earth Theatre’s “Delicate Particle Logic.” Photo: Jake Scaltreto.

Delicate Particle Logic by Jennifer Blackmer. Staged by Flat Earth Theatre at The Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA, September 28 through October 13.

This no doubt brainy script “fuses art and science to unpack questions about the discovery and subsequent usage of atomic fission.”

— Bill Marx


Classical Music

H&H plays Bach
Presented by Handel & Haydn Society
September 28 (at 7:30 p.m.) and 30 (at 3 p.m.)
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Harry Christophers leads H&H in an all-Bach season-opener that features the Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, D-minor Double Concerto (with soloists Aisslinn Nosky and Susanna Ogata), and the Mass in G (among other favorites).

Solace
Presented by Radius Ensemble
September 29, 8 p.m.
Pickman Hall, Cambridge, MA

Radius Ensemble’s 20th-season premiere culminates in Dmitri Shostakovich’s epic Piano Trio no. 2. Before that comes Osvaldo Golijov’s alluring Lullaby & Doina, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Eclogues, and a new piece for solo cello by Elena Ruehr (Lift).

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Victor Rosenbaum Faculty Recital
September 27 at 7:30 p.m.
At New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA

A piano recital featuring the music of Schubert, Brahms, and NEC composer John Heiss.

First Monday at Jordan Hall: Exploring Cultures of the World—American
September 27 at 7:30 p.m.
At New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA

The first of six concerts celebrating world cultural traditions in music. Artistic Director Laurence Lesser has teamed up with NEC faculty, alumni, and friends to bring you the music they love from across the globe.

Chamber Series
October 5 at 8 p.m.
At Seully Hall, 8 Fenway, Boston, MA

Boston Conservatory at Berklee faculty members Amanda Hardy (oboe), Michael Norsworthy (clarinet), Margaret Phillips (bassoon), Eli Epstein (french horn), Markus Placci (violin), Lila Brown (viola), and Rhonda Rider (cello) launch the 2018–2019 Chamber Series season with performances of chamber works, featuring guest artist Robert Levin (piano).

Purcell & Byrd
October 5 at 8 p.m.
St. Paul’s Church Brookline, 15 St. Paul Street, Brookline, MA

The Henry Purcell Society of Boston is proud to present the acclaimed New York Renaissance Ensemble Sonnambula for a special program of Henry Purcell’s viol fantasias and consort songs by William Byrd.

— Susan Miron


Roots and World Music

The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo
September 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston MA

There probably won’t ever be another reunion of the David Crosby-era Byrds, but here’s a regrouping of the post-Crosby country-rock pioneering band that featured Gram Parsons. Surviving members Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman will be on hand with the rest of the slack picked up by the best country band in the land: Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives.

New England Shake-Up
Sept 28-30
Sturbridge Host Hotel, Sturbridge MA

The friendliest rockabilly fest around is right in our backyard. Dozens of bands purveying early rock ‘n roll, hillbilly, swing, and R&B are coming in from as far as the Netherlands. Among the highlights: Detroit hillbilly champions Michael Hurtt and the Haunted Hearts, past ArtsFuse interview subject Dave Stuckey with his Four Hoot Owls, Canada’s all-gal Surfrajettes, and Boston’s own R&B shouter Barrence Whitfield.

Newpoli in action. The group will perform at The Rockwell. Photo: courtesy of the artist.

Newpoli
October 4 at 7:30 p.m.
The Rockwell, Somerville MA

Boston-based but internationally respected Newpoli has specialized in introducing listeners to the myriad regional folk music traditions of Italy. Now the energetic combo has taken their vision to the next level with Mediterraneo, an album filled with originals that explore the stories of migrants and traditional pieces that are newly reimagined.

BU Global Music Festival
October 5-6
Tsai Performance Center, George Sherman Union, Commonwealth Ave, Boston

The Boston area presents international music performances year-round. Now it’s finally getting a fully realized Global Music Festival courtesy of Boston University — and it’s free! The event takes place at a variety of BU venues and includes the pairing of Ethiopia’s Fendika with Boston’s Debo Band, Congolese rockers Jupiter & Owkiss, the Zhou Family Band of China and Egypt’s Dina El Wedidi. There are also workshops and a global bazaar. Organizers request that attendees RSVP via the fest’s website.

Blue Hill Gospel MCs Anniversary
October 7 at 3:30 p.m.
Global Ministries Christian Church, Dorchester MA

Promoter Jeannette Farrell’s annual celebration of the Blue Hill Gospel MCs has over the years, become the highlight of the traditional gospel calendar during the fall. This year’s edition is especially strong, with the irrepressible Joy Boyz, Little Sammy and the New Flying Clouds, and many of “Boston’s own” on the bill.

— Noah Schaffer

Delgres will perform at the Rockwell.

Delgres
September 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Presented by World Music Crash Arts at The Rockwell 255 Elm St., Somerville, MA

This compellingly dark and funky band — “playing contemporary Creole blues with an African flair” — has just release a fine new album, Mo Jodi, which strikes with rough verve into political territory. They will be well worth hearing live.

HONK! Festival, The 13th Annual Festival of Activist Street Bands, at wide variety of events planned in Somerville, Cambridge, & Boston, October 5 through 7. Free. Check the website for details.

“HONK! is a rousing socio-political music spectacle which features social activist street bands from all over the world, who come together to share their different approaches in merrily instigating positive changes in their communities.” A rousing sonic extravaganza that entertains and inspires.

— Bill Marx


Rock, Pop, and Folk

Simple Minds
October 3 (doors at 6:30, show at 7:30)
Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA

In the mid-1980s, Scotland’s Simple Minds shone briefly but brightly in the United States thanks to “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” the chart-topping theme to the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club, and the album Once Upon a Time, which delivered three additional Top 40 hits. This was probably most Americans’ introduction to the band, even though their releases had been well-received in Europe since 1979. Music fans in the States soon lost interest, but Simple Minds has continued to record and maintain its European profile. Walk Between Worlds came out last May, and singer Jim Kerr and company’s 2018 North American tour includes a stop at 1 Hamilton Place.

Great Lake Swimmers with Joshua Hyslop
October 3 (doors at 8, show at 9)
Great Scott, Allston, MA

In the 15 years since their eponymous debut album, Toronto’s Great Lake Swimmers have epitomized the sepia-toned indie rock of the 2000s. The band has recorded some of their albums in churches, castles, and abandoned silos. This year’s The Waves, The Wake–the band’s seventh album–continues this tradition, having been put to tape in a 145-year-old London, Ontario, church. Fellow Canadian Joshua Hyslop will open GLS’s show Great Scott on this coming Wednesday.

The Decemberists with Marissa Nadler
October 5 (doors at 6:30, show at 7:30)
Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA

As someone who was born in 1976 but has long been a huge fan of 1970s progressive rock, The Decemberists were literally music to my ears when I somewhat tardily first heard them in the mid-2000s. Singer-songwriter Colin Meloy emptied the band’s prog-rock tank with 2009’s The Hazards of Love, and the band has since adopted a more succient sound that includes elements of Americana, folk, and pop. 2018’s I’ll Be Your Girl is not one of the Portland group’s finer all-around efforts, but it still contains plenty for fans to savor. A particularly strong incentive to be at their Orpheum show on October 5 is that Jamaica Plain-based singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler will be showcasing material from her new album, For My Crimes, in her opening set.

Cat Power with Willis Earl Beal
October 5 (doors at 8)
Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

The new album by the musician who was born Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall in Atlanta is called Wanderer and is her first since 2012. Boston-area fans can celebrate it with her at the Paradise on October 5, which happens to also be the LP’s street date. The single “Woman” features Lana Del Ray and is ample evidence that her songwriting mastery hasn’t diminished in her 23 years as a recording artist.

Art Thieves. Photo: John O’Donnell.

Art Thieves with Stemwinder, Michael Kane & the Morning Afters, and Blood Built Empire
October 6 (show at 8)
O’Brien’s Pub, Allston, MA

Art Thieves is a trio from Boston whose first full-length album, Russian Rats, became available on September 14 via the local punk label State Line Records. Their Facebook page describes them as “Anti-Establishment Italian-Americans with joint pain, and children.” If that sounds like your kind of thing, check them out at O’Brien’s on October 6 along with two other Massachusetts bands and one from Tennessee.

–Blake Maddux


Author Events

Jill Lepore
These Truths: A History of the United States
September 24 at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30)
First Parish Church, Cambridge MA
Tickets are $42.50 with book, $8 for GA

“Written in elegiac prose, acclaimed historian Jill Lepore’s groundbreaking investigation places truth itself―a devotion to facts, proof, and evidence―at the center of the nation’s history. The American experiment rests on three ideas―”these truths,” Jefferson called them―political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. And it rests, too, on a fearless dedication to inquiry, Lepore argues, because self-government depends on it. But has the nation, and democracy itself, delivered on that promise?”

Amy Hempel
September 25 from 6-8 p.m.
Bill Bordy Theater, 216 Tremont St, Boston MA
Free

“Amy Hempel is the author of four collections of stories. Her Collected Stories was named one of the NYTimes’ Ten Best Books of the Year, won the Ambassador Award, and the Harold Vursell Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an inaugural United States Artists Foundation Fellowship, the PEN/Malamud Award, and many others.”

Sarah Smarsh
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
October 1 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge MA
Free

“During Sarah Smarsh’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, the forces of cyclical poverty and the country’s changing economic policies solidified her family’s place among the working poor. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country and examine the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less. Her personal history affirms the corrosive impact intergenerational poverty can have on individuals, families, and communities, and she explores this idea as lived experience, metaphor, and level of consciousness.”

Glenn Rifkin
Future Forward: Leadership Lessons from Patrick McGovern, the Visionary Who Circled the Globe and Built a Technology Media Empire
October 3 at 6 p.m.
Singleton Auditorium, MIT Building 46, 43 Vassar St, Cambridge
Free

A new book from a regular contributor to The Arts Fuse. “Like Steve Jobs, Patrick McGovern built a worldwide multibillion-dollar industry by thinking differently, disrupting old business models, and embracing new technology trends. He drove the future forward and never looked back. With magazines such as Computerworld, PCWorld, and Macworld, his company, International Data Group (IDG), quickly became a global powerhouse with information technology publications in nearly 100 countries. The story of IDG’s astonishing success has been a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs all around the world. No matter what industry you work in―whether you’re heading up a small startup, expanding a mid-sized company, or running a major global corporation―McGovern’s people-first principles, insights, and integrity will help you lead the way.”

Eric Idle
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography
October 4 at 7:30
Wilbur Theatre, Boston MA
Tickets are $40

“Join us for an evening of hilarious conversation with Eric Idle–ingenious comic performer, founding member of Monty Python, and creator of Spamalot–to celebrate the release of his new memoir! Tickets include a pre-signed copy of the book.”

Trivia! at Trident
Trident Booksellers & Café
338 Newbury St, Boston MA
Tickets are $5 at door

Trident is back! The beloved bookstore/restaurant/cafe has returned, after a brief hiatus caused by a small fire on the second floor. The beloved, Buddhist-inspired Newbury St institution is now officially reopened for business. Come on down for a little piece of book-nerd heaven by playing a specially-designed trivia game with the chance to win a $35 gift certificate. Tickets are $5 at the door, which also entitles you to a voucher good for $5 off your food and drink during the game.

— Matt Hanson

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