Get Woke and Dodge the Oscars With This Week’s Performance Picks

THURSDAY

Woke AF: A Mind-Opening Variety Show
Thursday, March 1 at UCB East, 11 pm: $7

Minds are like doors, I guess. Some are closed and some are open and some are in between and uh, some have doorbells? I’m working on it. Instead of trying to continue this bit, let’s get to the point here: Woke AF is a comedy variety show that aims to open your mind by exposing you to a diverse group of people waxing poetic/comedic about social issues they feel particularly attached to. Maybe it’s a topic you’re well versed in but have never heard joked about lovingly, or maybe you’ll learn something totally new. However your mind will react to this proposed awakening, you can expect to see ruminations of all sorts from Jes Tom, Corin Wells, Timothy Dunn, Glorilis Tavarez, Jesse Roth, and Kami Dmitrova. Just remember not to be too performatively woke, even if this is a performance.

FRIDAY

Time No Line
Thursday-Sunday through March 11 at La MaMa, 7 pm (Sundays at 2 pm): $25

Personally, I am really bad at journaling. I do it maybe once a month when I am having some sort of crisis. I admire people who journal diligently; they are creating such thorough and personal archives that just seems better than, say, looking at your social media from six years ago. Performance artist John Kelly, who I should make clear is in no way associated with the current political administration, is one such dedicated journaler. The multidisciplinary artist, who was a mainstay of the East Village underground at its queer prime, has been writing in his since 1976. His latest performance endeavor at La MaMa utilizes these journals, placing them in conversation with music, movement, drawing, and more to create what he calls a “live memoir,” focused not just on himself but on the people he has lost over the years due to the AIDS epidemic.

SATURDAY

Clip Show Carnage
Saturday, March 3 at Vital Joint, 8 pm: $5

Some movies are good, some movies are bad, some movies are so bad that they transcend badness and fling themselves all the way into the realm of the good. Many of these B-movies, I will also say, have very fun posters. At Clip Show Carnage, hosted by two Steves (DeSiena and Whalen), not only will you get to feast upon delicious tidbits from a variety of the worst-best movies out there, you will also get to see real live comedy. The people doing these jokes include Joe Rumrill, Joe Castle Baker, Francesca d’Uva, Andrew Tisher, and John Rosenberger. Prepare yourself for the carnage! You can probably assume it will be less violent than if you entered a scene of actual carnage. But who knows.

SUNDAY

Seeing Red: A Drunk Ed Anti-Oscars Benefit Show
Sunday, March 4 at Union Hall, 8 pm: $12 advance, $15 doors

Awards shows are strange. I mostly do not watch them because I forget they are happening and usually do not care very much, or have not stayed hip to what the Teens are into nowadays and thus would not know most of the people and things being discussed. If you are like me, cool. But if you’re abstaining from the Oscars this year due to more legit reasons, like the fact that the industry is not always so welcoming to marginalized groups, you’re in even more luck. Rather than hate-watching statuettes be handed out, instead you can listen to some drunk comedians (specifically Mitra Jouhari, Liza Treyger, and Nicole Silverberg) give humorous presentations (complete with wacky Powerpoint transitions) at the latest Drunk Ed show, hosted as usual by Eric Thurm. Not only will it be fun, it is also a benefit show for RAINN and Time’s Up.