Theater artists Normandy Sherwood and Craig Flanigin, who together run the company The Drunkard’s Wife, are always up to something colorful. They specialize in the zany, the musical, the site-specific, the historically-inspired. Their latest creation, Madame Lynch, is sure to be no different. It centers around the self-proclaimed “Empress of Paraguay” Eliza Lynch, a woman who is not in fact from Paraguay but from Ireland. To help tell this tale of imperialism, they’ve enlisted the Paraguayan “folkloric dance group” Ballet Panambí Vera as choreographic collaborators.
Queer as in Fuck You Presents Just Kids Thursday, May 30 at Otto’s Shrunken Head, 10:30 pm: $10
Though technically Pride month doesn’t kick off till June, there’s no reason you shouldn’t enjoy some good old fashioned queer performance before then (and, of course, during Pride month too). Tonight, it’s the return of Vylette Tendency’s punk drag showcase Queer as in Fuck You, taking up residence at East Village bar for tiki weirdos, Otto’s Shrunken Head. This time, they’re paying tribute to the OG punk poet, Patti Smith. Grab a drink, park yourself in the back room, and have a queer old time watching performances by C’était BonTemps, Ash Blight, Chris of Hur, and winner of this year’s Brooklyn Nightlife Award for Drag King of the Year, God Complex. More →
In Living Color! Weekly on Wednesdays at UpNorth, 9 pm: FREE
There are so many drag shows in the city, they can be hard to keep track of. When a show happens every week, it can create a comfortable consistency; you always know it’s going to be there. The newest weekly sensation to hit Bushwick is In Living Color, a free evening of drag and burlesque hosted by effervescent drag performer Junior Mint, who may be new on the scene but has so much talent and vibrant presence that you’d never know it. Every Wednesday, she hosts a crop of multitalented local performers for your entertainment, while you sip drinks and dine on vegetarian food from the bar. This week features Rara Darling, Thee Suburbia, and Tink, with gogo dancing and kittening by Foxy Belle Afriq. More →
Quitters Thursday, May 16 at C’mon Everybody, 8 pm: $8 advance, $10 doors
Whom among us has not quit something? This shared sentiment typically unites the room at Quitters, Sam Corbin and Ian Goldstein’s monthly comedy show that asks performers to ruminate upon the times they decided to throw in the towel. However, the quitting isn’t entirely pervasive, as the show is celebrating two whole consistent years of existence tonight. Yes, that’s two years without quitting, or at least without quitting this once specific thing. The folks helping the two hosts celebrate their commitment to the quit include Rachel Kaly, Shalewa Sharpe, Rachel Pegram, and Chris Donahue, and a portion of the ticket proceeds will be going to the ACLU. More →
Yourself, Your Body Thursday, April 4 at Union Hall, 9:30 pm: $10
Arti Gollapudi, who we interviewed back in 2017 about her aggressively inclusive Comedy Cunt Collective, has been quite busy lately. One of her many endeavors include the recurring show Yourself, Your Body, a comedy show (produced by Amanda Justice, also of Comedy Cunt Collective) perhaps unsurprisingly about how bodies and brains alike can be, well, extremely weird. Anyone with a human body (and maybe some without) knows there’s a lot to be mined from this topic. This time around, the funny folks waxing humorously about this weirdness include Rachel Sennott, Rebecca O’Neal, Drew Anderson, Mia Myles, Amanda Justice, and guest co-host Maya Deshmukh.More →
Eh Dah? Questions For My Father Now through April 14 at NYTW Next Door, 7:30 pm (some shows other times): $49 ($25 day-of cash only rush tickets available to artists, residents of the East Village and Lower East Side, seniors, and people 25 and under)
This new musical by Aya Aziz and Hypokrit Theater Company, which previously won two awards at 2016’s New York Musical Theater Festival, transcends cultures and continents. It centers around a multi-generational family spread across Egypt and America who are grappling with with what’s simultaneously a very 2019 issue and one that stretches far into the past: coming to terms with the best way to digest the stories we were told growing up, and figuring out what is more truth than fiction, particularly in a post-9/11 world.More →
(Photo: Russ Rowland, via One Year Lease Theater Company / Facebook)
Eat The Devil Now through March 9 at The Tank, 8 pm: $25
The best way I can describe Eat The Devil, a multimedia-laden play by Nadja Leonhard-Hooper and Dan Nuxoll of Rooftop Films, is kind of like a cross between the movies Sorry To Bother You and Ex Machina, but way weirder, way more online, and with more theatrics. But even that doesn’t really do its uniqueness justice. The play, set in a strange-yet-feasible version of the future, centers around the development of Mia, an artificially intelligent sex doll played by nonbinary drag performer Theydy Bedbug. Meanwhile, airlines are sponsored by porn tube sites, Amazon is run by a flying Alexa device, Alex Jones is still screaming away, and furries are experiencing a cultural moment. It’s both a night of delightfully strange escapism and a harrowing vision of what very well may soon be our reality.
The Mess With Jesse Roth Saturday, March 9 at The Footlight, 7 pm: $5-10 sliding scale
Some comedians describe themselves as clean, but performer Jesse Roth prefers her work to err on the messy side of things. That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s into flinging food and mud around (though there have been comedy shows where those things happen), but rather, she embraces the flawed nature of experimentation. At her recurring show at The Footlight, Roth delves into stand-up, dance, sketch, solo performance, music, and more, finding out what works along the way, and what doesn’t. This Saturday’s show features guests Steve Jeanty of hip-hop improv group North Coast and Graham Techler.
First of all, if you don’t get that little children’s song in stuck in your head eternally after reading the title of this show, I envy you. Skinnamarink, the latest production from offbeat theater company Little Lord, takes its inspiration from McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers, a series of vintage children’s books dating back to the 1800’s that aimed to teach the youth to read. Using this source material (and peanut butter, so if you’re allergic, consider yourself warned), the ensemble immerses the audience in a “little one-room schoolhouse of horrors” to educate on the curiously dark state and history of the American education system.
Quitters Thursday, February 28 at C’mon Everybody, 8 pm: $8 advance, $10 doors
It could be argued that February is a quitter. All the other months stretch on for 30 or 31 days, while February stops short. It gives up. And then, suddenly, it’s March, and you’re left wondering why rent costs the same for 28 days as it does for 31. Celebrate the last day of this short month tonight at Quitters, a comedy show hosted by Sam Corbin and Ian Goldstein that embraces failure in all its forms, particularly the funny ones. This time, they’re welcoming guests Karen Chee, Brett Davis, Marcia Belsky, and Matt Buechele to the stage, and audience members have the chance to confess their own memorable moment of quitting for a chance to win a free drink.More →
SHE Creates 2k19 Now through February 24 at New Ohio Theater, various times: $25
The hills are alive with the sound of performances from female-identifying and genderqueer artists at She Creates, a festival presented by Make/Shift and Akin running through the end of the weekend at the New Ohio Theater. The festival centers around the premiere of The Clark Doll, a play by Liz Morgan about three black women figuring out how to escape a confining situation, but it offers much more than just plays, with night after night of drag, performance art, live music, visual art, and more.More →
Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque Valentine’s Spectacular Thursday, February 14 at Brooklyn Bowl, 7:30 pm: $25
There are a staggering number of events of all stripes happening on Valentine’s Day, as show and party producers rush to appeal to the lovers, the lonely, and everyone in between. Some happenings are best enjoyed in a coupled sense, but others are fun for anyone. I wouldn’t say something called the Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque Valentine’s Spectacular is necessarily fun for the whole family, due to the large quantities of well, titties, but it’s an evening that can certainly be a good time for anyone regardless of relationship status. “Singing siren” Shelly Watson will welcome a stacked lineup that includes Jo “Boobs” Weldon, Darling Just Darlinda, and this year’s Miss Coney Island Pearls Daily, plus live rockabilly music.More →
