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

By The Arts Fuse Staff

Film

Boston Area Film Schedules — What is playing today, Where and When

Happy Valley
March 30 at 7 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Postponed due to snow, Amir Bar-Lev’s look at the Jerry Sandusky scandal is finally screening (via the DocYard). The longtime defensive coach was convicted on 45 counts related to the sexual abuse of children. Much of the tragedy revolves around the fall of revered Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno. Interviews with Matt Sandusky, Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son, adds another disturbing element to the story. Bar-Lev has directed two other superb documentaries, The Tillman Story and My Kid Could Paint That. As he did in those films, whose subjects were war and art respectively, the director will only use the topic at hand (in his case, sports) as the means to spark the beginning of a much larger and important conversation.

The Boston LGBT Film Festival
April 2 -12
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, ICA Boston, Brattle Theatre Cambridge, Bright Family Screening Room, Boston

Now in its 35th year, the festival has evolved over the years: it still emphasizes movies with gay and transgendered themes, but the lineup of documentaries, comedies, dramas and short films revolve around humanist stories that will appeal to a broad audience. Opening night at the ICA is David Au’s first feature film, Eat With Me, which draws on the work of Ang Lee and Wong Kar Wai. The movie looks at how the power of food can help form bonds and strengthen community. Look for a special guest appearance by George Takei. Also featured is Welcome to this House, a documentary by Barbara Hammer, which focuses on the loves of poet Elizabeth Bishop. It screens on April 10 and makes for a intriguing companion to last October’s Lyric Stage production of Dear Elizabeth. There is also a shorts program (at the Brattle) and films from Venezuela, France, Chile, and Germany. Schedule

Lily
April 2, 7 p.m.
UMass Campus Center Ballroom, Dorcester, MA
Free and open to the public.

First-time director Matt Creed’s film is loosely based on the real-life experiences of its co-writer and lead actress Amy Grantham. Lily wanders the atmospheric New York City streets as she reevaluates her relationship with her older boyfriend and her feelings about her long-absent father. Lily explores a rarely seen side of a cancer survivor’s story — what life is like after treatment. A Q&A will follow the Boston premiere screening.

Boston Cinema Census
April 2, 7 p.m.
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, MA

The films presented at the BCC span the cinematic genres: narrative, documentary, and experimental. It is an invaluable vehicle for regional filmmakers to demonstrate their place in the regional filmmaking community and an opportunity for audiences to experience current trends in local filmmaking.

The Ten Commandments
April 5, 2 p.m.
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, MA

This is the original 1923 silent film epic, which DeMille remade in 1953 with Charlton Heston. For this version he employed 3000 animals and 2500 extras including 250 Orthodox Jews. The main set took 1600 craftsman to build including twenty-one giant sphinxes that lined a path to an 800-foot-wide temple. They were so massive that to keep them from being poached he had them buried beneath the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes just outside the small farming town of Guadalupe, CA. Archaeologists have excavated what has now been dubbed the Lost City of DeMille. No questions that this director defined Hollywood’s Golden Age of excess and spectacle. Live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis at the organ.

— Tim Jackson

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Dance

Twyla Tharp
Thursday, April 2, 7 p.m.
Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School Auditorium
Cambridge, MA

Do not miss this rare opportunity to sit in on a lecture with renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp as she tells stories about her career, her work, and the challenges along the way. One of America’s leading choreographers, Tharp has been the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center honors, and a MacArthur Fellowship, to name just a few of her awards.

Caitlin Corbett Dance Company: New and Recent Work
April 3 & 4, 8 p.m.
Somerville, MA

Join Caitlin Corbett Dance Company this weekend for an exploration of human interaction as depicted through dance. The evening showcases a series of disconnected vignettes, including company favorites created throughout the past decade.

Gamelan Galak Tika Concert
Saturday, April 4, 8 p.m.
Kresge Auditorium, MIT
Cambridge, MA

Ending eight years in residency at College of the Holy Cross, Master Balinese dancers Made Bandem and Suasthi W. Bandem are staging a celebratory farewell performance before their return to Bali.

And farther afield…

The Montpelier Project: Culminating Performance Event
Saturday, April 4, 3 p.m. & 4 p.m.
City Center Atrium
Montpelier, VT

Over the past month, Bryce Dance Company has presented a creative residency and performance project in Montpelier, VT. Now, the company welcomes audiences to join it for the project’s two culminating performances, which will feature more than 20 Vermont-based performers, a live sound score by guest artists, and active community involvement.

— Merli V. Guerra

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Theater

A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Feydeau. A new translation by Curt Columbus. Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky. Staged by the Trinity Repertory Company in the Dowling Theater, Providence, Rhode Island, through April 26.

“Often heralded as the most masterful farce ever written, A Flea in Her Ear is an uproarious tale of a disintegrating marriage” and slamming bedroom doors.

Shockheaded Peter, created for the stage by Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott. Original music and lyrics by The Tiger Lillies. Originally conceived and produced by Michael Morris for Cultural Industry, London. Directed by Steven Bogart. Staged by Company One at Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre, 525 Washington Street, Boston, MA, through April 4.

“The most damning [tale] ever told on stage” — I will be the judge of that. “Fall into the world of Victorian SteamCRUNK nightmares as a manic music-box spins stories of naughty children and misguided parents.”

The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe. Directed and choreographed by Billy Porter. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Boston University Theatre, Boston, MA, through April 5.

I remember enjoying George C. Wolfe’s savvy satiric revue back in the ’80s. It will be interesting to see if the show still contains much sting after two decades. Again, this major theater revival raises the question of why we need to go back so far in time to find a stage piece that addresses racial issues. Aren’t there any pieces penned after the millennium that tackles these issues? Does commercial success have to determine whether a piece with political bite can be produced? Aren’t there any young dramatists with something to say about what is going on today? Just wondering … Arts Fuse review

Big Fish Book by John August. Music & Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the Columbia Motion Picture written by John August. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for The Arts, through April 11.

A revival (with some streamlining changes) of the Broadway musical about “Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman whose larger-than-life stories of epic adventures delight everyone around him, except his pragmatic son Will.” Arts Fuse review

The Misadventures of Spy Matthias by Joe Byers. Directed by Darren Evans. Staged by Theatre on Fire at the Charlestown Working Theater, Charlestown, MA, through April 4.

The world premiere of what sounds like a solipsistic apocalyptic comedy/romance: “In a universe of blistering dread, when everyone you love is either burning or drowning or vaporizing into limbo, maybe the best you can do is save yourself.”

The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht. Directed by Liz Diamond. Staged by the Yale Repertory Theatre at the University Theater, New Haven, CT, through April 11.

Critic Martin Esslin’s verdict: “With its poetry, its use of narrators, its two-pronged construction, it stylized action — the negative, wicked characters are masked — The Caucasian Chalk Circle is the outstanding example of the technique of ‘epic’ drama. It is one of Brecht’s greatest plays.” I have no quarrel with that — and, given how few productions of Brecht are around these days, it may well be worth a trip down to New Haven to see OBIE award-winning director Diamond’s revival.

Stronger Than the Wind, written and performed by Alice Manning. Part of the second annual Next Rep Black Box festival in the Black Box Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA, through April 5.

Alice Manning’s one-woman show deals with her life after she gave birth to her twin boys. She “finally has everything she wants. But a twist of fate and a hospital error leaves her newborn son, Aidan, fighting for his life. Through anger, humor, and tears, Alice fights to keep her family afloat in the midst of unspeakable trauma and fear.”

Out of the City by Leslie Ayvazian. Directed by Christian Parker. Staged by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell, MA, through April 22.

The regional premiere of a romantic comedy by an Outer Circle Critics Award-winning playwright that “presents endearing, relatable characters in a setting that’s both fantastical and familiar. It’s a play about friendship amidst marriage, forgiveness amidst hurt, and enduring love amidst elusive romance.”

The Mikado, performed by The Hypocrites. Adapted and directed by Sean Graney. Co-Directed by Thrisa Hodits. Music Direction by Andra Velis Simon. Presented by the American Repertory Theater at Oberon, Cambridge, MA, March 31 through April 5.

“The Chicago-based company The Hypocrites (Pirates of Penzance, Romeo/Juliet, 12Nights) reimagines this 1885 operetta, infusing the absurdist comedy of W.S. Gilbert’s libretto with Monty Python clownishness, and bringing a folk/pop interpretation to Arthur Sullivan’s lovely, lilting melodies. Expect zany fun and hip tunes in this vibrant adaptation of one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most beloved works, The Mikado.”

Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge. Directed by David Cromer. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, through April 26.

In this intimate production of Inge’s play about frustrated lives in ’50s Middle America, celebrated director David Cromer “invites audiences into Doc and Lola’s home and examines how our yearning for the past can get in the way of living in the present.”

City of Angels Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, book by Larry Gelbart. Directed by Spiro Veloudos. Staged by the Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon Street, through May 2.

“Set in the seductive Hollywood of the 1940s, City of Angels chronicles the misadventures of Stine, a disillusioned young novelist attempting to write a screenplay for a tyrannical movie producer. As his marriage falls apart, we follow Stine’s film alter-ego, the dashing detective Stone, who is haunted by the memory of the girl that got away.” The Lyric Stage cast includes Leigh Barrett, Ed Hoopman, and Jennifer Ellis.

God’s Ear by Jenny Schwartz. Directed by Thomas Derrah. Staged by the Actors’ Shakespeare Project at the Davis Square Theatre, Somerville, MA, through April 12.

Edward Albee called this “a provocative, adventuresome, beautifully written play.” “Language works as equal parts shield and sword in the verbal warfare at the center of God’s Ear. As married protagonists Mel (Tamara Hickey) and Ted (Gabriel Kuttner) try to hold together a marriage unraveling after the accidental death of their son, words stream forth in torrents as both deflect their own pain by inflicting more.”

a.vanishing.point, conceived and performed by Andy Russ. Presented by Passive Aggressive Novelty Company at AS220’s Black Box, Rhode Island, April 8 and 9.

Russ’s performance piece is a “meditation and a provocation, a ‘physical poem”’composed of elements at once familiar and foreign. A chair, a book, a body, an ocean, a gesture, a song – these elements are repeated, rearranged and turned inside out, ignoring narrative logic in favor of ‘meaning’ that is gained or lost within the resonance between sensory combinations.”

Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsay-Abaire. Directed by Allison Olivia Choat. Staged by Moonbox Productions at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, April 3 through 25.

A revival of the “heartwarming and quirky coming-of-age play from Pulitzer Prize-winning South Boston native David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole).”

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, adapted by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by by Daniel Morris. April 4 through 12.
O, Ship! Aboard the Ship!, an original work for all ages adapted and directed by Liz Fenstermaker. April 11 through 18. Staged by Bad Habit productions in repertory at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA.

O, Ship! Aboard the Ship! guides children and families through an interactive journey around the globe using stories, music, dance and poetry; in Orlando, Ruhl adapts Virgina Woolf’s gender bending novel for the stage: “Orlando starts off life very much a boy. As a young servant in the court of Queen Elizabeth I many women fall in love with him, including the great Queen herself. But soon all his affairs start spinning out of control.”

— Bill Marx

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Visual Arts

Contemporary Handwoven Treasures: A Biennial Exhibit by the Handweavers’ Guild of Connecticut
April 4 – April 26
Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT

Made obsolete by the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago, handweaving in America has been revived several times since the Arts and Crafts Movement reacted against factory-made fabrics in the late 19th century. Founded in 1948, the Handweavers’ Guild of Connecticut is one of numerous organizations across the country devoted to hand woven and other “fiber” crafts. Not a guild in a traditional sense (anyone is welcome to join for a small fee) the HGC meets five times a year and offers workshops, speakers, and social events for members at all levels of the craft.

That handwaving is now more luxury art object than practical practice is suggested in the title “Contemporary Handwoven Treasures” and the art museum venue of the HGC’s biennial exhibition at the Lyman Allyn this spring. Chosen from entries submitted HGC members in March, this year’s edition is judged by Anita Thompson, award-winning co-president of the Weavers of Western Massachusetts, and Sarah Saulson, Wellesley College alum and full-time professional weaver, who also is an Instructor of Weaving at Syracuse University.

This is “contemporary” weaving so expect bright colors, bold patterns and designs, and unconventional shapes and uses.

Water Ways: Tension and Flow
April 4 – August 23
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

Water, much of it run-off from the last Ice Age, made New Hampshire into one of America’s first industrial states in the early 19th century. The state’s numerous rivers and streams powered countless mills, including the mighty Amoskeag in Manchester, once the largest cotton mill on the planet. Today, numerous lakes and a popular coastline create water-centered tourism for the 21st-century economy, keeping water very much on local minds.

The Hood’s exhibition of photographs, “Water Ways,” explores human fascination with water well beyond New England, as a vital, constructive force, tough task-master, and potential destroyer alike. On view are such powerful, water-created abstractions as Peter Eve’s River Wandjina (2004) and water ecosystems in distress in Edward Burtynsky’s Oil Spill #1, Rem Forza, Gulf of Mexico (May 11, 2001).

— Peter Walsh

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Roots and World Music

Feufollet
March 31
Johnny D’s, Somerville, MA

A Southwest Louisiana band that long mixed up Cajun with folk-rock sounds, Feafollet has more English-language songs on their new LP Red Light but still plenty of Acadian soul.

A Friday Night of Manouche
April 3
Arts at the Armory Café, Somerville, MA

Improvisational singer/tap dancer Jenny Herzog opens for the mighty hot swing of the Rhythm Future Quartet.

— Noah Schaffer

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Jazz

Kat Edmonson
March 29, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA.

Singer Kat Edmonson’s covers and originals are inspired by American Songbook standards and movie musicals, from Cole Porter to Henry Mancini to Ennio Morricone. She brings laser-like focus to her cinematic dreamscapes. Her Sony Masterworks debut, The Big Picture, was one of the highlights of 2014.

Kyle Eastwood Band
April 1, 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA.

Bassist and composer Eastwood has done a lot of soundtrack writing for his dad, Clint, and his own pieces have a cinematic quality that’s not so far removed from the pop-inflected writing in bands like James Farm and the Brian Blade Project. Now based in France, Eastwood has also picked up an appealingly cosmopolitan French accent.

Donald Harrison
April 2, 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA.

In his hometown of New Orleans, Donald Harrison is a bona-fide Big Chief, of the Mardi Gras Indian crew formerly run by his late, legendary father, Donald Harrison Sr. On the road, his repertoire can extend from NOLA second-line riffs to the kind of hi-test hard bop he played in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and in the long run he had with his frontline partner from that band, trumpeter Terence Blanchard.

Eliane Elias
April 3 and 4, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA.

Based in New York since 1981, the charismatic pianist and singer Eliane Elias returned to Sao Paulo to record her new Made in Brazil (Concord). Expect a mix of Brazilian standards and Brazil-influenced originals and arrangements from that disc.

Makanda Project
April 4, 7 p.m.
Dudley Branch Library, Boston, MA.

The ensemble dedicated to the music of the late Boston reed player Makanda Ken McIntyre welcomes the great alto saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake for what’s becoming his annual visit. The rest of the band includes a bunch of Boston ringers: saxophonists Kurtis Rivers, Arni Cheatham, and Charlie Kohlhase; trumpeter Jerry Sabatini, trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy; trombonist and tubist Bill Lowe; singer Diane Richardson; bassist John Lockwood, drummer Yoron Israel, and Makanda mastermind pianist and arranger John Kordalewski. Aside from the Makanda pieces, expect a couple of arrangements of Oliver Lake big-band originals from his recent disc. And it’s all free.

Maggie Scott
April 6, 8 p.m.
Top of the Hub, Boston, MA.

The doyenne of Boston singer-pianists, Maggie Scott, makes her monthly visit to the empyrean realm of the Top of the Hub’s cocktail lounge to show the kids how it’s done. Joining her are her superb rhythm mates, Marty Ballou on bass and Jim Gwin on drums.

International String Trio
April 8, 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA.

The Russian-born guitarist Slava Tolstoy, English violinist Ben Powell, and Japanese bassist Ippei Ichimaru are all former Berklee students, now playing music with a core in gypsy jazz but extending to Shostakovich and American folk. They’re joined for this outing by young Finnish guitar ace Olli Soikkeli (Rhythm Future Quartet) and Czech violinist Jakub Trasak.

— Jon Garelick

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Rock

Swervedriver
March 28
The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA

After disbanding at the end of the 20th century, English shoegazers Swervedriver reunited in 2008 and have been touring off and on ever since. This year brings not only another tour, but the first new album from the band: I Wasn’t Born to Lose You.

Belle and Sebastian
March 30
House of Blues, Boston, MA

January 2015 saw the release of Scottish group Belle and Sebastian’s first album of new music in five years, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. They aren’t a band that typically tops the pop charts, but they’re critically acclaimed for a reason and well worth your time.

Upcoming and On Sale…

The New Highway Hymnal (4/10/2015, Middle East-Upstairs); Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble Preliminary Rounds (4/11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18/2015, TT the Bear’s Place); Jeff Beck (4/19/2015, Orpheum Theatre); They Might Be Giants (4/23/2015, House of Blues); Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble Semifinal Rounds (4/23-24/2015, TT the Bear’s Place); Manic Street Preachers (4/24/2015, The Sinclair); Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble Finals (5/1/2015, TT the Bear’s Place); Sufjan Stevens (5/4/2015, Citi Performing Arts Center); Faith No More (5/11/2015, Orpheum Theatre); Kasabian (5/15/2015, House of Blues); Primal Scream (5/17/2015, Royale); Crosby, Stills and Nash (5/19/2015, Citi Performing Arts Center); Boston Calling (featuring Beck, Pixies, My Morning Jacket) (5/22-24/2015, City Hall Plaza); The Who (5/24/2015, Mohegan Sun Arena); Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (6/6/2015, Boston Opera House); Best Coast (6/12/2015, Paradise Rock Club); Paul Weller (6/13/2015, Paradise Rock Club); Spoon (6/18/2015, House of Blues); Rush (6/23/2015, TD Garden); Buffalo Tom (6/26 and 27/2015, The Sinclair); Huey Lewis and the News (6/27/2015, Indian Ranch); Melvins (6/27/2015, Paradise Rock Club); U2 (7/10, 11, 14, 15/2015, TD Garden); Mudhoney (7/11/2015, Brighton Music Hall); Billy Joel (7/16/2015, Fenway Park); Foo Fighters (7/18-19/2015, Fenway Park); Modest Mouse (7/23/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); Interpool (7/23-24/2015, House of Blues); Bombino (7/27/2015, The Sinclair); Willie Nelson & Family (8/21/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); AC/DC (8/22/2015, Gillette Stadium); Death Cab For Cutie (9/11/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); Mark Knopfler (10/9/2015, Orpheum Theatre); The Who (10/29/2015, TD Garden)

— Adam Ellsworth

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Classical Music

Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
Presented by Lowell House Opera
April 3 and 4, 8:30 p.m.
Lowell House, Cambridge, MA

Tchaikovsky’s rarely performed tale of obsession, madness, and death comes to Cambridge, courtesy of Lowell House Opera. Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts and the stage direction by Roxana Myhrum.

Nelsons conducts Shostakovich and Beethoven
Presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
April 2-4, 8 p.m. (1:30 p.m. on Friday)
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Andris Nelsons’ spring residency continues with Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 10 and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (featuring Christian Tetzlaff). The Passacaglia from the former’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District rounds out the program.

Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony
Presented by the Boston University Symphony and Chorus
April 7, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Mahler’s epic Symphony no. 2 returns to Symphony Hall courtesy of the Boston University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Kelley Hollis and Sara Beth Shelton are the soloists; David Hoose conducts.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Violinist Lisa Batiashvili and pianist Paul Lewis
March 29 at 3 p.m.
Presented by Celebrity Series at Jordan Hall, Boston, MA

On the program: Franz Schubert’s Sonata in A Major “Grand Duo,” D. 574 and Rondo in B minor “Rondeau Brillant,” D. 895; J.S. Bach’s Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023, and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Opus 96.

Chameleon Arts Ensemble
March 28 at 8 p.m. and March 29 at 4 p.m.
First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough St, Boston, MA

The program of chamber music includes: Schubert’s Auf dem Strom for soprano, piano, and horn; Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin for wind quintet; George Crumb’s Apparition for soprano & piano; George Rochbeg’s Contra Mortem et Tempus for flute, clarinet, violin & cello; Louis Vierne’s Piano Quintet in c minor, Op. 42 (1917).

Boston Trio
April 2 at 8 p.m.
Presented by New England Conservatory at Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Free

On the program: Rachmaninov’s Trio élégiaque; Musto’s Trio for Piano and Strings; Brahms’s Trio for Piano and Strings no 1 in B major, Op. 8.

Sunday Concert Series
April 5 at 1:30 p.m.
At the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Fenway, Boston, MA

Cellist Cicely Parnas and pianist Noreen Polera perform a program that includes: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69; Cassadó’s Suite for Solo Cello; Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19

— Susan Miron

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Author Events

Katherine Grandjean
American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New England
March 30 at 7 p.m.
Porter Square Books, Cambridge MA
Free

Early New England was based on written communication. Most histories of the region understandably focus on colonialism and the process that converted the wilderness into farms and communities. Gradnjean, an assistant professor at Wellesley College, takes a different approach, emphasizing the importance of mail and the freedom of  travel as a major influence on English control of the colonies.

Hilton Als
Diane Arbus in Manhattan
April 1 at 4:30 p.m.
Newhouse Conference Room at Wellesley College, Wellesley MA
Free

Als is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the celebrated 2013 collection White Girls. He will present a talk as part of the Cornille Colloquium on the work of Diane Arbus, exploring “her relationship with New York, the city of her birth and early death, and home to the subjects- deviant, deformed, and singularly beautiful.”

Veronia Golos
Rootwork
April 1 from 7:30 — 9 p.m
Gloucester Writer’s Center, Gloucester MA
Free

In her third collection of poetry, Golos digs deep into some of the more radical voices in the American grain. Rootwork is an imaginative reconstruction of the abolitionist voices of John Brown, Sojourner Truth, and especially Mary Day Brown, a trio whose intellectual, political, and spiritual engagement invite the reader to rethink the foundations of American history.

David Ferry
“Echoes of Dawn” Reading
April 2 from 7-8:30 p.m.
The Castle, Boston University, Boston MA
Free

Every spring, the great books program at Boston University organizes a poetry reading. This year’s special guest is the poet David Ferry, who will be reading with other distinguished poets and scholars such as Zachary Bos, Stephanie Nelson, Anita Patterson, Christopher Ricks, Sassan Tabatabai, Meg Tyler and former BU president Jon Westling.

Jon Ronson
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
April 2 at 6 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA
$5 tickets

The bestselling author of The Psychopath Test returns with a book that investigates the nature and origins of public shaming. Ronson talks to shamers and shamed alike, and gets to the bottom of what motivates a culture obsessed with public embarrassment. He has come to Cambridge to read from and sign copies of the book, so don’t be ashamed to ask for his autograph.

Laura van den Berg and Jaime Clarke
Find Me and World Gone Water
April 2 at 7 p.m.
Newtonville Books, Newton Centre MA
Free

Newtonville Books hosts two of the brightest lights in contemporary American fiction. Van den Berg’s debut novel about a young woman trying to find her place in the world has been widely praised; The Boston Globe called it “deep and moving and real.” Clarke’s fourth novel is an emotionally complex tale set at the intersection of love, maturity, and friendship. The volume continues the multivolume character study begun with last year’s Vernon Downs.

Laura Brown-Lavoie and Andrew Lewis
“For The Love of Words”
April 7 from 8:00 pm to 10:00pm
Blackthorne Publick House, S Easton, MA
Free

As part of the lively “For the Love of Words” series, two up-and-coming poets will read along with an open mic available to all and sundry. The Providence-based Laura Brown-Lavoie describes herself as “a farmer with a pen clipped to her belt loop. A poet with leaves in my hair.”

Lydia Davis
Can’t and Won’t: Stories
April 8 at 6 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA
$5 tickets

An American literary master and a celebrated translator of Proust, Lydia Davis will read from and sign copies of her latest short story collection, her fifth. Can’t and Won’t continues Davis’s career-long exploration into how much emotional weight and philosophical inquiry can be contained in a single sentence. Her sly, witty, and piercingly precise eye for detail has been known to turn the pieties of the everyday life on their head.

— Matt Hanson