Still from “Christmas on Earth” (double-projected 16mm film, 1963).
BARBARA RUDIN’S “CHRISTMAS ON EARTH” Boo-Hooray Gallery extends the holiday season through the middle of the month, with an exhibit comprised of images and ephemera from 1963’s “Christmas on Earth.” Filmed at 56 Ludlow St. (which at the time was occupied by John Cale and Tony Conrad, and later home to Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison), “Christmas on Earth” was among the first sexually explicit films of America’s post-war avant-garde. All about “fantasies that freely expressed our sexual needs and dreaming beliefs” painted on the nude bodies of both gays and straights, filmmaker Barbara Rudin spent three months “chopping the hours of film up into a basket” until its contents were ultimately separated onto two different reels, with one reel projected at half size inside the other reel’s full-screen image. In 1966, the film was projected onto the performing Velvet Underground as a part of Andy Warhol Up-Tight (an early incarnation of his Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia events). Rudin, who introduced Bob Dylan to Allen Ginsberg (and, according to John Cale, Edie Sedgwick to Andy Warhol), died in 1980 (in childbirth, in France) at the age of 35.
In conjunction with the exhibition, “Christmas on Earth” and “To Barbara Rubin With Love” (by Jonas Mekas) will be screened at Anthology Film Archives at 7:30pm on Wed., Jan. 9. Boo-Hooray is also publishing a limited edition book of still images from the film, which comes with an extended biographical essay and bibliography by art historian Daniel Belasco, alongside rare ephemera and correspondence.
Free. Through Tues., Jan. 15. At Boo-Hooray Gallery (265 Canal St., 6th Fl., btw. Broadway & Lafayette). For more info, visit boo-hooray.com.
THE !BadAss! POST-APOCALYPTIC 9th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL Velocity Chyaldd’s long-running burlesque revue ought to come with a warning for prudes, squares and minors — just like her show’s website does. Both take that standard disclaimer (“contains sexually explicit material”) and wear it, along with little else besides a thin leather strap, like a badge of honor. An unapologetic skin show as interested in mental stimulation as physical thrills, “!BadAss! Burlesque” is bound and determined to get you off by any means necessary. This upcoming probe of humanity’s dark psyche (among other hidden recesses) uses its post-apocalyptic theme to mine the erotic potential of zombies, cannibals, werewolves, cult leaders, aliens, mutants, Mayans, pagans, Shiva, Jesus and Satan himself. World Famous *BOB* and Michael FORMIKA Jones host, welcoming toxic hotties and atomic insurgents including Reverend Mother Flash, Rosabelle Salavey, Velocity Chyaldd, Delysia LaChatte, Magdalena Fox, Julie Atlas Muz, Misty Meaner, Legs Malone, Fem Appeal, Danger Doll, Anna Evans, Mocha Lite, Mat Fraser, Jo Boobs, Ammo and Tigger. Stage Masters Faceboy and SuperMorgan are also on the bill, and Stage Kitten Amanda Whip will transform the simple task of cleaning up between acts into a compelling act of slinky provocation.
Fri., Jan. 18, 1am-4am, at The Kraine Theater (85 E. Fourth St., btw. Bowery & Second Ave.). Admission is $15. For reservations and info, call 212-460-0982. For more info: badassburlesque.com or facebook.com/BadAssBurlesque.
“T R I B E S” CLOSES JAN. 20 The most nominated new play of the 2012 season is set to close in early 2013, after almost 400 regular performances at the Barrow Street Theatre. Directed by David Cromer (whose outstanding production of “Our Town” also had a similarly long, acclaimed run at Barrow Street) and written by Nina Raine, “Tribes” concerns the emotional awakening of Billy — who, born deaf into a hearing family, ventures beyond his parents’ politically incorrect and idiosyncratic cocoon when he meets a young woman on the brink of deafness.
Through Sun., Jan. 20. At the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow St., at Seventh Ave. South). For tickets ($79.50), call 212-868-4444, visit smarttix.com or purchase in person at the box office, open at 1pm daily. Performance schedule: Tues.-Fri. at 7:30pm and Sat./Sun. at 2:30pm & 7:30pm. For more info: barrowstreettheatre.com and oandmco.com.
FOCUS 2013: DANCE GOTHAM Presented as part of Gotham Arts Exchange’s FOCUS 2013 event, Dance Gotham’s annual performance series at the Skirball Center expands to three nights, with an expanded roster of companies whose aesthetic ranges from post-modern athleticism to seasoned theatricality. Among the offerings: Keigwin + Company’s “12 Chairs,” Parsons Dance’s “A Stray’s Lullaby,” Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo’s “Patterns in Space,” Armitage Gone! Dance’s “Quantum” (an excerpt from “Three Theories”), Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s “Square None” and Lucky Plush Productions’ “Cinderbox 2.0.” FOCUS 2013 events are also taking place at New York City Center and Chelsea’s The Joyce Theater (where Parsons Dance will have a stand-alone run Jan. 15-27).
Dance Gotham is presented (with varying performers on each night’s bill) Fri., Jan. 11 & Sat., Jan. 12 at 8pm and Sun., Jan. 13 at 7pm. At NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South). For tickets ($18), call 212-352-3101 or visit nyuskirball.org. For info on other FOCUS 2013 events, visit focusdance.us.
