Here are the highlighted Lower East Side events from our September events calendar, out later this week in the latest edition of The Lo-Down’s print magazine.
Tues. 8 – Thee Oh Sees at Bowery Ballroom: Frontman John Dwyer leads his prolific San Francisco- based garage rock band on a tour in support of their latest album, the highly rated Mutilator Defeated At Last. After the band took a hiatus in 2013, fan worried that the band, and its legendary live shows, would be no more. Dwyer moved to L.A., but now they’re back in NYC (with two other shows in Brooklyn) and have added a second, groove-locked drum set to their current mix.
6 Delancey St. (at Bowery) // 9 p.m. // $20
Fri. 11 – Marc Dendy Projects’ Whistleblower at Dixon Place: Catch the latest dance-theater work from choreographer Marc Dendy’s group, helmed by longtime collaborator Stephen Donovan. The piece takes place in the mind of Chelsea Manning at the moment of her sentencing for leaking proof of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and utilizes transcripts from her actual trial.
Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 26 // 161A Chrystie St. (just above Delancey) // 7:30 p.m. // $16 adv/$20 door
Sat. 12 – Communal Spaces: A Garden Play Festival: See two short plays inspired by, and presented in, a Lower East Side community garden. This creative theatrical team is celebrating five years of plays in local gardens around the city. You can even do a garden play “crawl” this year. They are providing maps, with notes on where to get food or drinks or coffee, to encourage exploration of new neighborhoods.
Weekends through September at the Green Oasis Community Garden // 372 E. 8th St. (bet. Aves. C & D) // Catfight at the Oasis @ 2:30pm // Welcome to The Fall @ 3:30pm // Free
Tues. 15 – The Visionaries Series – Hilton Als at The New Museum: Hear author and famed New Yorker critic Hilton Als read from his new, unpublished essay about photographer Diane Arbus and her passionate engagement with New York City. Als is featured as this year’s Visionary speaker in NuMu’s annual series honoring forward-thinking leaders and innovators who “shape intellectual life and define the future of culture.”
235 Bowery // 7 p.m. // $25,
Weds. 16 – Queer New York International Arts Festival at Abrons Arts Center: Broadening the traditional concept of “queer” in art, the Queer New York International Festival returns to Abrons for a fourth year with a diverse slate of artists from around the world, including Ivo Dimchev (Bulgaria), Joshua Monten (Switzerland), Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens (US) and Bruno Isakovic (Croatia). Curated by Zvonimir Dobrović.
Through Sept. 26 at various venues, headquartered at Abrons Arts Center // 466 Grand St. (at Pitt) // Ticket prices/showtimes vary
Fri. 18 – Justin Vivian Bond, Dixie McCall’s Patterns for Living: Joe’s Pub kicks off a yearlong retrospective of Mx Justin Vivan Bond’s 25 year career as a performance artist, writer, activist and transgender icon with this revival of v’s cabaret and debut accompaniment by Thomas Bartlett. Mx Bond and longtime collaborator Kenny Mellman first brought Dixie to San Francisco on September 9, 1990, at Athens By Night, a hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant, laying the groundwork for what became the pair’s legendary signature act, Kiki and Herb.
Fri./Sat. (and one Sun.) through Oct. 4 // 425 Lafayette St. (at Astor Place) // 9 p.m. // $25
Sat. 19 – Mid-Autumn Moon Family Festival at the Museum of Chinese in America: Join MOCA for a fun-filled afternoon of activities exploring the customs and traditions behind this full moon harvest festival. Make your own mooncake, go on a scavenger hunt, create a Jade Rabbit lantern and pose in a photo corner that will send you to the moon and back.
215 Centre St. (one block north of Canal St.) // Noon to 4 p.m. // $10 ($8 MOCA members)
Thurs. 24 – Jack Ferver and Marc Swanson’s Chambre at the New Museum: Don’t miss writer, choreographer, and director Jack Ferver and visual artist Marc Swanson’s take on Jean Genet’s The Maids as a point of departure for a farcical and haunting attack on our culture of celebrity and greed. Tackling the timeless tension and widening gap between the “haves” and “have nots,” the work is a hybrid performance and art installation drawing from Jean Genet’s iconic play Les Bonnes and the real-life Papin murder case which inspired it. Swanson’s mythic and evocative sculptures—on view as an installation during museum hours—function as both freestanding artworks and a theatrical set. The duo refracts Genet through many lenses, including Lady Gaga’s infamous courtroom deposition speech, role-play and a manic fantasy escape to the City of Lights.
Through Sun., Oct. 4 // 235 Bowery (at // Prince) Thurs/Fri at 7 p.m., Sat/Sun. at 3 p.m. // $20
