The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include jazz, comedy, opera … plus a whole lot more.
(Clockwise from top left) Actor Jim Fletcher; Delia the dog; actor Ismail ibn Conner; director Pascal Rambert
MONOLOGUES at PS21
In early December, acclaimed playwright/director Pascal Rambert arrived at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., from France for a weeklong residency with actors Jim Fletcher and Ismail ibn Conner, to rehearse and refine two of Rambert’s masterful monologues, The Art of Theater and With My Own Hands.
The director and actors return to PS21’s Black Box Theater this weekend and next to present the U.S. premiere of the two monologues. Fletcher, who has acted in Rambert’s two-character Love’s End, developed the role of the protagonist in The Art of Theater. Conner will perform the searing monologue With My Own Hands. And Delia the dog is making her acting debut on PS21’s stage.
The Art of Theater is Pascal Rambert’s 40-minute manifesto on the nature of his craft, in which he addresses, not the audience but his patient and considerate dog. The audience, in effect, eavesdrops on the monologue. With My Own Handsis described as “a meditation on the human condition, performed with searing intensity and somber humor.” (January 14-15, 22-23)
VANYA ROSE and COURTNEY MAUM at THE MOUNT
Over at The Mount in Lenox, Mass., essayist Courtney Maum continues her monthly Beyond the Writing of Fictioncraft series on Tuesday, January 18, at 4pm, in conversation with filmmaker Vanya Rose, whose movie Woman in Caris inspired by Wharton’s 1912 novel The Reef.
Colin Quinn (photo Carol Rosseg:courtesy artist)
COLIN QUINN at THE EGG
Comedian Colin Quinn will perform his new show, Colin Quinn: The Last Best Hope, at the Egg in Albany tonight at 8. This is the latest offering from the standup comedian and off- Broadway favorite, whose past shows include Red State Blue State, New York Story, Unconstitutional, and Long Story Short. (Fri, Jan 14)
Scene from Met LIVE HD’s ‘Cinderella’
‘CINDERELLA’ at THE BARDAVON
The Bardavon in Poughkeepsie will screen Massenet’s opera Cinderella, in a specially abridged English-language child-friendly version, on Saturday at 1pm as part of the Met Live HD series. What a great way to introduce young people to opera – with a story with which they are already intimately familiar. (January 15)