THE STEM FEST
How do you wrap your head around the weighty topics of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? Well, first, you give it an acronym — STEM — and then you challenge experts in each field to deliberately expose themselves to the show business bug. The result is a noble, if somewhat unpredictable, experiment known as the STEM Fest, in which said number crunchers and lab rats collaborate with storytellers, comedians, playwrights, and musicians.
On the fest’s opening night, Jan. 7, “Long Story Long” (7 p.m.) has teacher, host, and STEM educator Eli Reiter expanding the slice-of-life narrative format you’ll find at showcases like The Moth into 30-minute storytelling sessions. Joining Reiter for half-hour endeavors of their own will be Jeanne Garbarino, a Ph.D. in metabolic biology who serves as Director of Science Outreach at Rockefeller University, and Herman Pontzer, a professor of Anthropology at Hunter College who lists “drinking beer” among his interests (when he’s not investigating energy expenditure among Hadza hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania). At 10 p.m., “This Week in Science: The Kickass Science & Technology Tour” is a stage version of the weekly web and radio show that injects opinion and irreverence into the past seven days’ worth of notable developments in the broad, bold, titular field of inquiry. Kirsten “Dr. Kiki” Sanford brings her doctorate in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology to the table, along with a sassy attitude — and is joined by part-time car salesman and self-proclaimed “opinionologist and science enthusiast” Justin Jackson. Zoologist and giant panda disrespector Blair Bazdarich rounds out the trio. These west coast folks made the trip to NYC just to be in STEM — so be nice, and buy them a drink at the venue’s very own in-theater bar!
Drinks bought in-house are also a must, for the Sat., Jan. 16, 8 p.m. show — when the roving Astronomy on Tap series touches down at STEM, on a mission to mix alcohol-based brain cell murder with grey matter-building infotainment with their “Pop Science!” presentation. It will discuss things like genetic engineering, cybernetics, space exploration, neuroscience, and microbiology — along with installments of audience favorites, like the sobering Countdown to World Robot Domination. DJ Carly Sagan and MC Tycho Brewhaha reward your knowledge (or at least your spirited participation) with prizes from the trove of Neil Tyson’s Trash Treasures. This tipsy foolishness is all for a good cause: proceeds will benefit Astronomy on Tap’s free NYC events and DonorsChoose.org.
On Sat., Jan. 9, beginning at 1 p.m., the STEM Fest offers a decidedly more family-friendly event. The stage and video educational organization Conservation Theater teams up with Wildlife Theater (The Wildlife Conservation Society and Central Park Zoo’s outreach program) and Jersey City’s Liberty Science Center for a “Cool Kids Conservation Celebration” — a day of live performances about animals, science, and how young audience members can use what they learn to make the planet a better place for wildlife, and our lives.
The STEM Fest takes place Thurs., Jan. 7–Wed., Jan. 16, at The Kraine Theater (85 E. Fourth St., btw. Second Ave. & Bowery). For tickets ($4–$18), visit horseTRADE.info.
GARY BUSEY’S ONE-MAN HAMLET AS PERFORMED BY DAVID CARL
Writer and performer David Carl’s adaptation of “Hamlet”— as performed by actor and reality TV star Gary “You Can See the Crazy in His Eyes” Busey — is so very, very much more than an extended stop at the site of a celebrity trainwreck. Of course it’s got plenty of that, as Carl milks every drop of comedic potential out of the inspired premise: Busey mounts a one-man production of Shakespeare’s much-interpreted classic, in a bid to prove he’s survived working for Donald Trump with his “acting chops” still intact.
Focus, though, remains elusive, as Busey uses multimedia, hand-made puppets, beat poetry narration, and song to put a certifiably nutso spin on the melancholy, faux-crazy Dane’s daddy-issues revenge tale. Like some gullible members of the “Hamlet” cast, audiences and critics have been falling hook, line, and sinker for this show — which won the Outstanding Solo Performance Award at FringeNYC 2014, and will be touring the world this year to coincide with the 400th anniversary of William “He’d Either be Flattered or Horrified” Shakespeare’s death.
Thurs.–Sat., Jan. 14–16, 10:30 p.m., at the PIT Loft (154 W. 29th St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.). For info and tickets ($20), visit buseyhamlet.com.
WinterWorks: A FESTIVAL OF NEW ONE-ACT PLAYS
At some point while touring in the 1975 production of “Shot in the Dark” with Patty Duke and John Astin, actors Robert Elston (1934-1987) and Elizabeth Perry made a pact that once home in NYC, they’d form “a workshop where theater artists could expand their abilities, reach into all areas of creativity in the theater, and regain the breadth of expression that was afforded ‘a simple player’ before the age of specialization.” Folk singer Susan Reed, old touring chums Astin and Duke, and Janet Hayes Walker (who would go on to form the York Theatre Company) shared their vision — and were among the founding members of The American Renaissance Theater Company.
Still active and vital today, with the expanded mission of developing new American plays and performance pieces, ARTC’s WinterWorks 2016 Festival is currently presenting 10 works running in rep — all tackling, from different angles, the theme of transformation during and after various phases of life. Program A zeroes in on the lines we draw (and cross) to get by. Program B dissects the dynamics of relationships, and Program C takes the theme into comedic, absurdist realms.
Through Mon., Jan. 18 in The Shop@Cap 21 (sixth floor of 18 W. 18th St., btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves). All performances 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For the schedule, visit americanrenaissancetheater.com. For tickets ($16 general admission, $10 for ages 30 and under, $40 for the thee-program package), visit brownpapertickets.com (keyword, ARTC) or call 800-838-3006.
THE TranscendentalFest AT METROPOLITAN PLAYHOUSE
Having already staged literary luminary celebrations in the form of a Twainathon, a Poefest, and a (no moshing, please!) Melvillapalooza, the East Village theatrical heritage tribute trove that is Metropolitan Playhouse turns its gaze — and turns over its stage — to the works of The Transcendentalists, for this year’s edition of the Living Literature Festival.
One-acts, full-length works, and musical interpretations, all by emerging artists, take their cue from the American Transcendentalist Movement, as lived by the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sarah and George Ripley, Margaret Fuller, and others.
In a program of two short plays, Nina Davis’ “Leaving Brook Farm” charts what rises from the ashes after a March, 1846 fire devastates a Utopian community — while Toni Schlesinger’s “The Fifth Woman,” set in 1870, adds a plus-one to Louisa May Alcott’s famed novel by tasking an ambitious rookie reporter with following a hot tip that leads down a dark road. Walt Whitman’s work gets put through the prism of gospel, hip-hop and spoken word, in actor/vocalist John Slade’s “Whitman Sings.” Food for thought as April 18, 2016 approaches comes in the form of Dan Evans’ “The Poll Tax Matter.” Set in Concord, MA, circa 1846, it gives the comedic treatment to Henry David Thoreau’s night in jail, after refusing to pony up money to the state — as, he maintains, a protest against slavery. With a chatty drifter and a young fugitive slave as cellmates, Thoreau begins to mull over matters that will eventually form the philosophy, and practice, of civil disobedience.
Jan. 11–24: Mon.–Sat., 7:30 p.m., Fri. & Sat., 9 p.m., Sat. & Sun., 2 & 4 p.m. At the Metropolitan Playhouse (220 E. Fourth St., btw. Aves. A & B). Opening Reception: Mon., Jan. 11, 9 p.m. For tickets ($15-$18, $12 for seniors, $15 for full-time students, $10 for children under 10), call 800-838-3006. For schedule and online tickets, visit metropolitanplayhouse.org.
–BY SCOTT STIFFLER
