October/November 2009

Films ° Performances ° Lectures
and other events in October and November 2009

October 1–November 1
Kicking off Central Square Theater’s second season will be The Caretaker, in celebration of Harold Pinter. The Nora Theatre Company brings to life one of his greatest psycho- logical dramas. When an elderly tramp is given lodging in the derelict home of two brothers, the ensuing relationships and shifting alliances intensify with hilarious and unsettling consequences. 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. 866.811.4111, www.centralsquaretheater.org

October 3
Classical Theatre of Harlem presents Waiting for Godot, directed by Christopher McElroen. In this spin on Samuel Beckett’s classic, the Classical Theatre of Harlem uses the agonizing wait for help after Hurricane Katrina as the central metaphor. The artists feel they are living in a time of moral emergency, much as did Beckett himself. The project was conceived by New York artist Paul Chan, who is known for his unique way of bringing light onto dynamic situations in the current times. 8 p.m. Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT. 203.254.4010, www.quickcenter.com

October 16–November 14
The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. When a man at a café table suddenly dies and his cell phone rings, the woman at the next table answers it, dropping her into the labyrinth of his life. As she forges new relationships on his behalf with his bereft family members, she discovers his life was a mystery even to those closest to him. Call for times. 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA. 617.585.5678, www.lyricstage.com

October 18–November 7
New Repertory Theatre presents David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow. When an ambitious woman comes between two long-time friends, she threatens to derail the green-lighting of their sure-fire screenplay. In the business of making movies, we quickly learn that money talks, sex sells, and doing the right thing can be professional suicide. Call for times. Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. 617.923.8487, www.newrep.org

November 19–22
Boston Conservatory presents Machinal, a play by American playwright and journalist Sophie Treadwell, inspired by the real life case of convicted and executed murderess Ruth Snyder. Its 1928 Broadway premiere, directed by Arthur Hopkins, is considered one of the high points of expressionist theatre on the American stage. Directed by Doug Lockwood. Call for times. Midway Studios, 8 The Fenway, Boston, MA. 617.536.6340, www.bostonconservatory.edu 

Music

October 13
World-renowned pianist Misha Dichter will perform a concert of Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Bartok, and Liszt. 8 p.m. Boston Conservatory, Seully Hall, 8 The Fenway, 4th Floor, Boston, MA. 617.912.9240, www.bostonconservatory.edu

October 17
The Bridgeport Symphony will perform a concert entitled Ode to Joy, which will include Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll as well as Beethoven’s Choral Symphony No. 9. Singers include Lisa Daltirus, Korby Myrick,
Mark Thomsen, and
Kristopher Irmiter, the Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut and the Fairfield University Chamber Singers. 8 p.m. Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport, CT. 203.576.0263, www.bridgeportsymphony.org

November 14–15 & 19–22
The Boston Opera Collaborative, a non- profit organization dedicated to providing opportunities for emerging artists, will present Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, The Crucible. What happens when you tell a lie? Based on Arthur Miller’s play of the same name, The Crucible recounts the tragic consequences of a jealous falsehood. Over 300 years after the Salem witch trials, this story of frenzy and integrity still fascinates. 7:30 p.m. Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. 617.517.5883, www.bostonoperacollaborative.org

November 15
New World Rhythm, the Providence Singers’ season opener, offers an appealing range of masterworks expressly written for chorus and percussion. Works include the New England premiere of Lou Harrison's epic La Koro Sutro (Heart Wisdom); the world premiere of the Singers' latest commission by Grammy-nominated composer Tarik O'Regan; a double-chorus work by Nico Muhly, who is frequently featured in The New Yorker; and works by Philip Glass and Steve Reich. 3 p.m. Beneficent Church, 300 Weybosset Street, Providence, RI. 401.751.5700, www.providencesingers.org

November 28
The Boston Early Music Festival presents the original 1718 chamber version of George Frideric Handel's Acis and Galatea, with tenor Aaron Sheehan and soprano Amanda Forsythe in the title roles, accompanied by the three-time Grammy-nominated Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble. Staging by Gilbert Blin and costumes by Anna Watkins. Led by Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs. 8 p.m. New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA. 617.661.1812, www.bemf.org

Film

October 29
A feature-length documentary on the life and art of American painter Alice Neel (1900-1984), Neel (2007) tells the story of the artist’s life, exploring the struggles she faced as a woman, a single mother, and a painter who defied convention. 7:30 p.m. Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, 10 Vernon Street, Brattleboro, VT. 802.257.0124, www.brattleboromuseum.org

November 4–15
The Boston Jewish Film Festival presents the best contemporary films from around the world on Jewish themes at its annual Festival and throughout the year. Through features, shorts, documentaries, and conversations with visiting artists, the Festival explores Jewish identity, the current Jewish experience, and the richness of Jewish culture in relation to a diverse modern world. Call or visit the website for more information. The final film schedule will be available online in early October. 617.244.9899, www.bjff.org

October 16–18
Newport’s resident contemporary ballet company, Island Moving Co., will present a new site-specific Dracula at the historic and atmospheric Belcourt Castle. Dracula at Belcourt Castle will feature dance, film, live music and a commissioned score from New York composer Felix Ventouras. The new ballet, created by artistic director Miki Ohlsen, will move from room to room in Oliver Belmont’s magnificent 1894 mansion. Performances will be limited to 100 patrons, who will follow the action of the story as performed by the dancers in the salons, galleries and ballrooms of the Castle. 657 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI. 401.847.4470, www.islandmovingco.org

November 6
Ronald K. Brown founded Evidence, A Dance Company, to create dance stories in response to the human condition. Brown explores traditional dance forms from Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America with modern and urban dance to convey his experiences and perceptions and to compose emotionally-charged pieces that speak directly to a person’s core. Here, he presents his newest work, Two-Year-Old Gentleman. 8 p.m. Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT. 203.254.4010, www.quickcenter.com    

October 1
Guatemalan artist Luis González Palma will present a lecture to correspond with his two-site exhibition, Jerarquías de Intimidad–Hierarchies of Intimacy, up through October 25 at the Art Institute of Boston. González Palma first came to international attention with his luminous and politically-charged portraits of indigenous people in his native country. In his newest work, González Palma presents intricately hand-worked images combining photographs with resin, bitumen, and gold leaf. The exhibition also features large-scale photographs and collages. 7 p.m. Prospect Hall, Lesley University, 1803 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. www.aiboston.edu

November 15
Thomas Loughman, assistant deputy director at the Clark, will present a lecture entitled Picturesque and Heroic: Nineteenth-Century Painters Imagining the Eternal City, which will explore the myriad responses of nineteenth-century painters to the reality and fantasy of Rome. Some artists envisioned Rome within the realm of the rustic, and others generated grandiose riffs characterizing antiquity in hyper-dramatic terms. The lecture will address the paradox: long revered as a fountain of inspiration in the visual arts, ancient and modern Rome’s place within the nineteenth-century mind was in as much flux as Italy’s socio-political conditions. 3 p.m. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute,
225 South Street, Williamstown, MA. (413) 458-2303, www.clarkart.edu

October 17
Explore contemporary art in Forest Hills Cemetery, a 250-acre historic cemetery which is also a park and arboretum filled with treasures of nineteenth-century sculpture and stone carving. Contemporary artists have created site-specific work inspired by this extraordinary environment; they explore themes of family, memory, nature and mortality, using materials ranging from gathered branches to bronze. Cecily Miller, organizer of the contemporary art programs since 2001, leads a tour tracing some of the connections between new work and the Victorian art, architecture and history of the cemetery. $9. 2 p.m. Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Avenue, Boston, MA. 617.524.0128, www.foresthillstrust.org