(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings November 8–14, 2019
CINEMA
Warming up
It’s the hottest film of the year!
A new climate documentary brings viewers
on a cinematic tour of the five boroughs as it explores
how New York City residents feel about a
future impacted by climate change. “The Hottest
August,” debuting at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music on Nov. 15, aims to show that global
warming will affect people right here in Kings
County, said its director.
“It’s not something happening in some nature
far away,” said Brett Story. “It is in a social
space of people dealing with the daily grind —
with homes, jobs, kids and transit.”
To create her film, Story spent the summer
of 2017 asking dozens of New Yorkers “How do
you feel about your future?” — finding them in
locations that include Brighton Beach, Staten
Island, and the Rockaways. The movie displays
the worries that haunt people about rising ocean
levels, she said.
“It really focuses on the social question of
how people are handling the unrelenting news
of climate catastrophe,” Story said.
Her film’s focus on everyday places makes it
different from other climate-related documentaries,
which typically revolve around a single
catastrophic event, Story said. Instead, she suggests
that the climate crisis is happening where
people live.
A three-day series titled “In the Climate:
Brett Story Selects,” will showcase other climate
driven documentaries, chosen by Story,
from Nov. 12–14, before the week-long screening
of “The Hottest August.” Story said that
she selected films that also push the envelope
for the genre.
“I was looking for films that expanded what
we think counts as a climate change film, that
ask questions about colonialism and capitalism,”
Story said. “They expand our idea of what the
climate crisis is all about.”
“The Hottest August” at BAM Rose Cinema
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Place and
St. Felix Street in Fort Greene, (718) 636–4100,
www.bam.org. Nov. 15–21 at various times.
$16. ”In the Climate” films at the same location:
“Children of Men,” Nov. 12 at 7 pm; “Darwin’s
Nightmare,” Nov. 13 at 9:15 pm; “Swarm Season,”
Nov. 14 at 7 pm; and “The Pearl Button,”
Nov. 14 at 9:15 pm. All $16. — Jessica Parks
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
They’re dancers in the dark.
A bizarrely beautiful new dance
performance will showcase humanity’s
dark side, but serves it up with a sense
of humor. “The Great Tamer,” showing at
the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Nov.
14–17 as part of the Next Wave Festival,
demonstrates mankind’s sinister tendencies,
with an otherworldly show featuring
10 performers moving and writhing across
a malleable stage, accompanied by wellknown
music and images, according to its
creator and director.
“It’s a kind of poetry that doesn’t take
itself seriously,” said Dimitris Papaioannou.
“It sometimes deals with dark issues,
but hopefully in a light way.”
In the roughly 100-minute show, the performers
create temporary interpretations of
DANCE
well-known artworks, myths, and archetypes
from across the Western world, imitating Michelangelo’s
“David,” Botticelli’s “The Birth
of Venus,” or the story of Narcissus looking
at his reflection — all used to tell a story
without words, said the Greek artist.
“When you go to archetypes you go to
Greek myths, they’re kind of a common
global language — at least in the Western
world,” Papaioannou said. “They are familiar
themes in an unfamiliar atmosphere.”
The bizarre assembly of images will include
— among other things — dancers
performing in the nude, others pulling fake
intestines out of each other, and an appearance
by an astronaut.
The stage itself will come to life, with
the floorboards tilting, trapdoors opening,
and the whole stage threatening to devour
the people standing on it, which creates an
uneasy feeling among the audience, said
the director.
“At certain points you don’t know if the
stage could swallow you,” Papaioannou
said. “The interaction of elements, light,
stage, and bodies, all those elements are
equally important.”
The artist decided to explore human darkness
in the wake of a tragic 2015 suicide by
a Greek student who had been bullied by
classmates. The show is not about that incident,
said Papaioannou, but the emotions
he felt as a result of that story kept coming
up when he created the show.
“You will see a lot of destruction and
people devouring other people, but it’s more
like a meditation about those things,” he
said. “The element of hostility and bullying
and this kind of cannibalism and all these
issues about wanting grace, searching grace,
all these things that humans do.”
TV
Divine comedy
All hail!
A new web series follows a depressed Brooklyn
woman who wakes up one day as a beloved
Babylonian goddess.
“All Hail Beth,” produced by Downtown arts
organization Bric and debuting on its Youtube
channel on Nov. 11, follows its title character’s
mysterious transformation from hapless millennial
to Ishtar, the venerated goddess of love,
war, and civilization. The show can be seen all
over the world, but is aimed at an audience in
Kings County, said its creator.
“It’s a very New York show,” said Misha
Calvert. “There’s a lot of in-jokes for New Yorkers
and specifically for Brooklyn residents.”
Before her deification, Beth works at a hip
public relations firm in Dumbo, where her coworkers
treat her like a second-class citizen,
and her friends and family members are too
busy with their own problems to care about
hers. But as Ishtar, strangers in the street offer
her flowers, and her co–workers bow down in
worship when she walks past. In the first few
episodes, Beth struggles with her newfound holiness
until she meets another Babylonian goddess,
Aya, who helps her navigate the world of
ancient deities.
Much of the show was filmed in Bay Ridge
and Dumbo, with the latter neighborhood’s constant
hordes of tourists and office workers creating
a challenge while filming, according to
Calvert.
“I will never forget wrangling 50 background
actors literally running through the street while
we stopped traffic on both sides, possibly without
a permit,” she said. “I feel like I could probably
tackle most problems as a filmmaker after
that.”
The series will have five episodes, with the
next four dropping on Nov. 12, so viewers can
savor the first episode, and then binge on the
rest of the series.
Calvert said she wanted to highlight the religion
of ancient Babylon, the pre-Biblical kingdom
located across present-day Iraq and Iran,
because of the negative stigma assigned to the
region today.
“I think I centered on that part of the world
to try to dispel some of the myths and fallacies
that vilify Middle Eastern Americans right now,”
Calvert said. “It’s also just a really fun time period,
it’s beautiful and decadent.”
“All Hail Beth” premieres Nov. 11 at noon
on Bric TV (www.bricartsmedia.org/tv-showsvideos/
all-hail-beth). — Ben Verde
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
This show has the
tragic touch!
Brooklyn’s oldest
opera company will
kick off its 50th season
with perennial favorite
“Carmen.” The 19th century
tragedy by Georges
Bizet, opening on Nov.
23, is a story of forbidden
love that viewers adore
because of its timeless
themes of jealousy and
revenge, said the show’s
director.
“At the core, there’s a lot of truth
about the relationships between people,”
said Linda Lehr.
Regina Opera Company will go all
out for this production, hiring dozens
of singers decked out as 19th century
Spanish peasants, featuring a full,
35-piece orchestra, and projecting an
English translation of the French songs
above the stage, Lehr said.
The company stages “Carmen”
about every five years, said Lehr.
Regina Opera Company
The popular show keeps opera-lovers
coming back to see new interpretations
of the fan favorite.
“It’s always new even if you do it
several times,” Lehr said. Many aficionados
return for each production
to see how a different actress will put
her spin on the infamous title character,
she noted.
The upcoming season marks a milestone
for the opera company, which
was founded by Dyker Heights residents
Marie Cantoni and Nick Tierno
in 1970, after Cantoni heard Tierno’s
brother singing gorgeous arias on Tabor
Court every morning . The small
project has since evolved into a training
ground for opera’s up-and-coming
stars, becoming one of the few places
where young soloists can get their singing
sea legs, according to Lehr.
“It’s where people learn their craft,”
she said. “It’s how we grow the next
generation.”
In 1980, now-world-famous mezzo
soprano Dolora Zajick got her start
singing “Cavalleria Rusticana,” now
one of her signature pieces, at the company.
In this year’s production of “Carmen,”
about half the cast is new to
Regina Opera, said Lehr.
Other opera institutions have struggled
with waning audiences, but Regina
Opera continues to thrive because
of its outreach efforts, according to
its chairwoman.
“We reach out to young people,”
said Francine Garber, noting that teenagers
pay just $5 for tickets. “A lot of
young people studying music come
to New York City.”
Garber added that producing wellknown
operas, like Carmen, helps attract
new viewers to the company.
“People who haven’t seen opera
— we try to entice them by doing
‘Carmen,’ ” said Garber. “It’s a good
starting point.”
“Carmen” at Regina Opera Company
5902 Sixth Ave. between 59th
and 60th streets in Sunset Park, (718)
259–2772, www.reginaopera.org.
Nov. 23–24, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 3
pm. $25 ($20 students and seniors,
$5 teens, kids free).
Stage
frights
Surreal dance performance
explores human darkness
Untamed hearts: The dance performance “The Great Tamer” uses evocative imagery
to tell a story without words.
Julian Mommert
“The Great Tamer” at Brooklyn Academy
of Music Howard Gilman Opera
House 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland
Place in Fort Greene, www.bam.org,
(718) 636–4100. Nov. 14–16 at 7:30 pm,
Nov. 17 at 3 pm. $25.
Golden ticket
Local opera company rings
in 50 years with ‘Carmen’
She’s back: Lara Michole Tillotson, who starred in Regina Opera
Company’s 2015 production of “Carmen,” will return to the role
starting on Nov. 23. Regina Opera Company
Bric TV
It takes a village: Regina Opera’s production
of “Carmen” will feature a huge cast,
a 35-piece orchestra, and a two-week run
starting on Nov. 23.
/www.reginaopera.org
/all-hail-beth
/all-hail-beth
/all-hail-beth
/www.bam.org
/www.bam.org
/www.bam.org
/www.bam.org
/www.reginaopera.org