SVA’S 26th DUSTY FILM & ANIMATION FESTIVAL
Some of our favorite film fests can be found at The School of Visual Arts’ wonderfully comfortable two-screen 23rd St. theatre (the pugilist-themed Shadow Box Film Festival, the Chelsea Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival). So it’s nice to see them rolling out the red carpet for some of their own. SVA’s Dusty Film & Animation Festival screens over 100 works: dramas, comedies, thrillers and documentaries, plus animated shorts and features — all created by students graduating this spring.
Free. Sat., May 9 through Mon., May 11 at the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St., btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). For the schedule, visit dusty.sva.edu. Facebook: facebook.com/DustyFestival. Twitter: twitter.com/DustyFestival.
PEN PARENTIS LITERARY SALON
Just leaving the house without a small fry or juice box would more than qualify for an evening of therapeutic relief — but a Pen Parentis Literary Salon gives parents who write the chance to meet like-minded authors and access resources to help them become prolific (or at least productive). Their May 12 gathering will be an especially swanky one, given that it takes place in an elegant private library on the top floor of the original home of the New York Times.
The guests are best-selling author Sarah Pekkanen, Pulitzer Prize nominee Charles McNair, Amazon #1 Women’s Fiction pick author Amy Scheibe, and triple-threat writing phenomenon Liz Rosenberg. Wine-fueled schmoozing precedes the readings, after which there will be a Q&A moderated by Pen Parentis founder M. M. De Voe and its new Salons curator, novelist Christina Chiu. Purchase books to be signed (or at least read), and proceeds will go to Community Bookstore in Brooklyn. This is the Salon’s season-closer. It returns, monthly, beginning on Sept. 8 — with Ed Lin, Jack Miller and Tim O’Mara already booked for the night’s “Crime Fiction” theme.
Tues., May 12, 7 p.m. on the 16th floor of 41 Park Row (btw. Spruce & Nassau Sts.). Free and open to the (21+) public. RSVP strongly suggested via penparentis.org. Twitter: @penparentis. Yeah, they’re on Facebook too (facebook.com/penparentis).
BENEFIT FOR THE WOODSTOCK COMEDY FESTIVAL
An A-team of comics standing in front of a wall, holding a mic and telling one joke at a time adds up to a whole lot of help, when Gotham Comedy Club pitches in to ensure the success of its witty upstate brethren. Hosted by Vic Henley and featuring the talents of Tom Cotter, Myq Kaplan, Bonnie McFarlane and Liza Treyger, the show will benefit the Woodstock Comedy Festival. Subtitled “Comedy for a Cause,” this third annual edition of the fest happens Sept. 18–20 in, as a reasonable person would correctly deduce, Woodstock, NY. Its net profits go to charities that aid victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. Back here at home, the Gotham benefit will also feature a live auction of tickets to “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Broadway’s “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” and other comedy television and Broadway-related items.
Wed., May 13, 7 p.m. at Gotham Comedy Club (208 W. 23rd St. btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). Tickets: $25 ($50, VIP). Info at gothamcomedyclub.com.
—By Scott Stiffler
