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Performance Picks: Three Theater Festivals and Quit-Happy Comedy

A scene from Chambre Noire, running January 10-13 at The Public Theater as part of The Public’s 15th Annual Under the Radar Festival. Photo Credit: Benoit Schupp

Under the Radar Festival
Now through January 13 at The Public Theater (some shows at offsite venues), various times: $30

Yesterday marked the start of the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, which showcases new performance from around the globe and is now in its impressive 15th year. While most of the shows take place at The Public, some are staged elsewhere, from Chelsea’s SVA Theater to The Met. Festival loyalists may recognize some familiar names—Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey’s [50/50] old school animation, a monologue-based work about violence that’s hard to adequately describe, also appeared as part of UTR’s smaller fest-within-a-fest last year, but is chillingly compelling enough to warrant a repeat viewing. Other highlights include creative storytellers James + Jerome filling the halls of The Met with their music-laced tales, multimedia puppet-centric riffs on both Frankenstein (Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein) and Warhol shooter Valerie Solanas (Plexus Polaire’s Chambre Noir), an evening with darkly odd comedian Lorelei Ramirez, and more. More →

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So, How Was Courtney Love’s Experimental Opera Debut?

Almond and Love. (Photos: Cory Weaver, Courtesy Prototype Festival)

Almond and Love. (Photos: Cory Weaver, Courtesy Prototype Festival)

I can’t say I’m as lucky as the friend who claims he was the only other person in the store when Courtney Love was shopping for lingerie at Agent Provocateur this one time – but I have seen the former Hole frontwoman in an intimate setting before. Namely, at a surprise show at Plaid in 2004, when she ended up getting arrested for heaving a microphone into the crowd.
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