(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings May 17–23, 2019
THEATER
Free Shakes
Is there no play to ease the anguish of a torturing
hour?
There is, my lord, but Brooklyn is a little light
on the Bard this summer. South Brooklyn Shakespeare
is on hiatus, and New York Classical Theatre
has moved on to Oscar Wilde. Smith Street
Stage will launch its “Romeo and Juliet” on June
14, but if you want a Shakespearean comedy,
you might have to travel across the river, to the
distant isle of Manhattan’s Central Park.
The Public Theater launches its 56th season
of free Shakespeare in the Park next week with a
production of “Much Ado About Nothing” (pictured)
featuring an all-black cast, and residents
of Kings County can get a pantaloon up on Manhattanites
— for five performances, free tickets
will be released right here in Brooklyn.
These distribution points typically attract
fewer people than the Public Theater’s home
base across the river, which means your chance
of getting a pair of tickets is much higher.
To score your passes, you will need a Public
Theater Patron ID. Follow this link: http://publictheater.
org/Programs--Events/Shakespearein
the-Park/register , and type in your email address
to receive your Patron ID number. Bring
it with you to the distribution site.
On the days and locations listed below, ticket
distribution will start at noon, but the line starts
a few hours in advance. Show up early and bring
a book. When you reach the front, each person
can get a voucher for two tickets to that
night’s show.
Finally, go to the Delacorte Theater in Central
Park in Manhattan (enter at 81st Street and
Central Park West), between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
that evening to exchange your voucher for a pair
of tickets. The show will start at 8 p.m.
Where to go:
May 21 at Brooklyn Children’s Museum (145
Brooklyn Ave. at St. Marks Avenue in Crown
Heights).
June 6 at Brownsville Recreation Center
(1555 Linden Blvd. at Mother Gaston Boulevard
in Brownsville).
June 8 at King’s Highway Library (2115 Ocean
Ave. between Kings Highway and Quentin
Road in Sheepshead Bay).
June 14 at Macon Library (361 Lewis Ave. at
Macon Street in Bedford-Stuyvestant)
June 18 at Clinton Hill Library (380 Washington
Ave. between Lafayette and Greene avenues
in Clinton Hill).
— Bill Roundy
Spring forward: The youngsters in “Spring Awakening” are eager to explore their sexuality, while their parents (shown in silhouette) prefer to keep them in the dark.
Rock of ages
Teens angst on stage in ‘Spring Awakening’ at Gallery Players
By Julianne McShane
Brooklyn Paper
Parents just don’t understand.
A rock musical coming to Park Slope
this week will dramatize what kids
know across the land, showing the generation
gap as a village where adults are
stuck in the 1890s, but their rock musicloving
spawn live in the present day. This
version of “Spring Awakening,” opening at
Gallery Players on May 18, highlights the
eternal chasm between parents and their
offspring through live music, according
to its director.
“The rock music is a metaphor for the
way that parents just don’t understand their
kids,” said Nick Brennan. “The music represents
the way the kids are trying to communicate
to themselves and their parents
THEATER
about what’s happening to them, because
the parents aren’t on their level — it’s a
generational difference.”
The musical, based on an 1891 play by
Frank Wedekind and given a rock score by
Duncan Sheik in 2006, follows a pack of
teenagers in a religious rural village who
take matters into their own hands (sometimes
literally) when their parents refuse
to discuss the birds and the bees, the director
said.
“As these kids are hitting puberty and
going through their sexual awakening,
they’re in 1890s Christian Germany, which
in terms of sexual thought was a very oppressive
place,” he said. “Some of these
parents have told their children that the
stork brings the baby.”
In the Gallery Players production, the
kids form a band, and some of the characters
— who are almost all played by actors
in their late teens or early 20s — play live
music on stage, giving the show the feel of
a rock concert, Brennan said. The young
thespians play acoustic guitar, electric guitar,
bass, piano, drums, and the violin, all
while dressed in modern-day threads.
“We’re using all kinds of rock sounds,
so it’s going to have a little touch of the
1890s, but it’s going to feel very modern,”
he said.
The songs are only performed by the
youngsters, the director said. The parents
— all of them played by just two actors —
are stuck with regular speech, because the
music symbolizes the conversations about
sexuality they are trying to avoid. The adult
actors also dress in 19th century garb.
The coming-of-age show will have the
feel of a concert, but the play has plenty of
drama — the young characters deal with
gun violence, sexual harassment, and abortion,
issues that keep the more than century
old story relevant to today’s audiences,
the director said.
“We all go through this, everybody
goes through the same thing, everybody
goes through that body change,” he said.
“Even though it takes place in the 1890s,
it’s very 2019.”
BOOKS
Reading picks
Word’s picks:
“Daisy Jones and
the Six,” by Taylor
Jenkins Reid
This novel reads like
the juiciest episode of
“Behind the Music”
you’ve ever seen in your
life — it has romance, addiction,
sleazy managers,
tension in the band, and
more addiction. Its only
flaw is that you cannot
actually listen to the Six, who in Reid’s fictional
universe were the biggest band of the ’70s. I finished
it in two sittings while listening to the “A
Star Is Born” soundtrack, an experience I highly
recommend for anyone else with strong opinions
about “Rumours.”
Eliza Thompson, Word 126 Franklin St. at
Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096,
www.wordbookstores.com .
Community
Bookstore’s pick:
“Sea Monsters,” by
Chloe Aridjis
This beguiling beach
read begins with 17-yearold
Luisa, who pines for
her classmate, the punk
rock poet Tomas. Together
they flee Mexico
City for the Oaxacan
beach town of Zipolite,
looking for a fabled band of Ukrainian dwarfs.
They drift apart, but Luisa stays at the beach,
living in a kind of dream state and watching the
tourists come and go — until eventually her old
life catches up with her.
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore 43
Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield
Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.
commu nityb ookst ore.net .
Greenlight
Bookstore’s pick:
“Necessary People,”
by Anna Pitoniak
“Necessary People” is
a workplace drama about
two competitive friends
who work for the same
cable news show. It’s super
entertaining, and I devoured
it in a couple of
sittings. Anna Pitoniak
expertly taps into class
resentment and friendly jealously to drive the
drama, and the novel is quite sharp about privilege.
It’s like “Broadcast News” meets the work
of crime author Megan Abbott.
— Matt Stowe, Greenlight Bookstore 686
Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland
Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200,
www.greenlightbookstore.com .
“Spring Awakening” at Gallery Players
(199 14th St. between Fourth and Fifth
avenues in Park Slope, (718) 595–0547,
www.galleryplayers.com). May 18–June
9; Thu–Fri at 8 p.m.; Sat, 2 p.m. and 8
p.m.; Sun at 3 p.m. $30 ($20 seniors and
kids under 12).
By Aidan Graham
Brooklyn Paper
This art space is hitting a Mylesstone!
A Crown Heights gallery
known for hosting both established
and up-and-coming artists is celebrating
its 20th anniversary with a
lavish display of work from some of
the best creators to grace its walls
over the years. FiveMyles gallery is
currently showing off 82 paintings,
sculptures, and interactive installations,
all of which will be raffled off
to guests at the end of its fund-raising
birthday bash on May 19, said the
gallery’s director.
“We have 82 pieces of art, from
artists who have shown here in one
way or another,” said Hanne Tierney.
“Your name is pulled out of a hat, and
when your name is called, you choose
your favorite piece from the art that’s
left, and it’s yours.”
The anniversary spectacle will help
fund the gallery’s mission of bringing
the art world to Kings County,
said Tierney.
“We have about five or six full exhibitions
per year, and we have performances
going on in between showings,
ART
when the gallery is empty,” she said.
“That’s been one of the most useful
things, because people often have a
hard time getting their work out.”
Artists hoping to get eyeballs on
their work can appeal to Tierney and
her artistic advisory committee, who
are open to creatives at any stage of
their career.
“Artists come in and show us their
work. If it’s interesting, we’ll show
it,” said Tierney.
The gallery has two showrooms —
a main space, and the PlusRoom — a
small, former garage that was designed
as a locale for lesser-known artists, but
has become a favorite of those seeking
a more intimate setting.
“The small space started out as
space for emerging artists, but it turns
out that it has a quiet magic to it,” she
said. “Very established artists want to
do things in the space, and it’s often
breathtaking because it small, and it
totally involves you.”
Tierney takes pride in using her
space to feature artists who might
not get a chance elsewhere, such as
John Valembrun, who displayed his
abstract drawings in the gallery last
December.
“He makes the strangest and most
peculiar drawings,” said Tierney. “It’s
always a pleasure when you can do
things like that. He was completely
self-taught, and he had never even
thought about a career in the art
world, but we were able to give him
a platform and put his work out to
the public.”
After the 20th anniversary celebration
closes, FiveMyles will feature
an exhibition of moving sculptures
made from re-purposed street
litter by artist George Simonds, opening
on May 30.
Tierney said the gallery is able to
feature artists of limited fame like
Simonds, because its non-profit nature
eliminates the monetary incentive
to focus on big names.
“We’re not obliged to sell work, so
we have a lot of freedom,” she said.
“FiveMyles 20th Anniversary
Benefi t” at FiveMyles Gallery
558 St. Johns Place between
Classon and Franklin avenues in
Crown Heights, (718) 783-4438,
www.fi vemyles.org. May 19 at
4 p.m. $250. Art on display May
16–18; 1–6 p.m.
Joan Marcus
Painting the town!
FiveMyles gallery celebrates 20th anniversary
Home sweet gnome: FiveMyles gallery will raffle off 82 works of
art at its May 19 anniversary benefit, including this resin sculpture
of a garden gnome by Sam Tufnell. Photo by Aidan Graham
Photo by Julianne McShane
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