THURSDAY
(image via The Bushwick Starr)
Furry! / La Furia!
Continues through November 26 at The Bushwick Starr, 8 pm (November 20 show at 3 pm): $15.
Imagining the everyday life of someone who dresses up as Elmo and roams around Times Square for tips is entertaining enough, but now you have a chance to see it on stage, in two different languages. Playwright William Burke has teamed up with Modesto Flako Jimenez and the Brooklyn Gypsies Collective for a “Spanish/Spanglish/human” translation of his play FURRY to be performed by Jimenez and Olander “Big O” Wilson. Also, this play isn’t even about the regular life of an Elmo in Times Square, however odd and intriguing that may be. It’s about “a street Elmo who rises to power by taking over the streets of 42nd to 46th Street by using The Art of War.” I don’t think I could imagine the details of such a thing if I tried, so you’re better off checking it out for yourself.
FRIDAY
Piano Tales
Continues through November 20 at La MaMa, 10 pm (Sunday at 6 pm): $20, $15 students.
Storytelling is a fairly open-ended art form, conjuring images of compelling prizewinners at The Moth, college students rambling into a microphone for twenty minutes about their life, or even just friends at a bar. Telling stories can be a tricky act, especially more literary ones, as they can fall into the trap where the words just don’t sound as nice spoken aloud as they would sitting on a page to be read. Luckily, the duo James Harrison Monaco & Jerome Ellis (or more simply, James & Jerome) manages to escape this trap entirely. Their tales run the gamut, going from from more casual quips to poetic poignance in a matter of minutes and transforming a simple stage into space for transformation using only words and music. At an excerpt performance of a story from the show I saw last night at Dixon Place’s Little Theater, Monaco (sans Ellis) adapted a portion of an Arabian Nights story beautifully, adding that it has been helpful right now to hear and tell stories from places outside New York or even America. Maybe it will be for you too.
SATURDAY
(flyer via Annoyance Theater)
You Are Heard
Saturday, November 19 at The Annoyance Theater, 10:30 pm: $5.
This monthly show bills itself as “an interactive comedy show about feelings,” which could throw some off. Don’t most comedy shows scoff at emotions? Well, not this one. They value your feelings, and actually want to listen to things shouted from the audience, whether they be through tears, anger, love, or some other thing entirely. Through the course of the show, hosts Mitra Jouhari and Betsy Kenney will lend an ear to a selection of comedians and spectators alike as they explain all the things they are feeling—sure to be quite a lot this week—and attempt to deal with these feelings through anything from eating and hugging to smashing. Plus, you can put your money where your (emotional) mouth is: at the show, they will be collecting donations for Planned Parenthood in Louisiana.
SUNDAY
(flyer via Incarnata Social Club / Facebook)
Incarnata Social Club
Sunday, November 20 at 25 Avenue A, 9 pm: $10 suggested donation.
Sunday marks the return of this performance salon from artist Orlando Estrada and feminist performance artist, nightlife figure, singer, and literal punk rock archive member Kembra Pfahler. The “social club for anti-socials / party for anhedoniacs” boasts a full-to-the-brim lineup of music, performance art, poetry, and more. This iteration includes rapper Mister Wallace, choreographer/nightlife host/musician Richard Kennedy (who recently released an EP), poet Aeliana Nicole Anderson, self-proclaimed “most important artist of the 21st century” Nandi Loaf, and several others.