WEIRD SISTERS
SBy Rose Adams omething twisted this way
comes!
A gender-swapped
production of Shakespeare’s
“Macbeth” will descend on
Williamsburg’s Brick theater
starting on Nov. 8, taking the
15th-century play into a postapocalyptic
future of disordered
power structures and uncertain
gender roles.
“Unsex Me Here: The Tragedy
of Macbeth” — which takes its
name from Lady Macbeth’s famous
line, wishing for the murderous
ambition of a man — has cast
female and nonbinary actors in male
roles, and male actors as women,
although each actor’s costume will
match their real-life identity. The
gender swap helps viewers meet
the characters without gendered
expectations, said the director
“One of the things it does is
it frees you from all the cliches
that this play usually comes with,”
said Maggie Cino. For instance,
audiences often expect a heightened
sexuality from Lady Macbeth, said
Cino, but in this play “we’ve been
able to get into her vulnerability and
her pain.”
By Bill Roundy It had a Strong start!
The Brooklyn Academy of
Music unveiled its newest arts
space with a gala party on earlier
this month. The BAM Strong
space, on Fulton Avenue in Fort
Greene, includes the downtown
arts organization’s first dedicated
gallery for visual arts space, along
with a rooftop sculpture garden,
and a renovated entrance to the
Harvey Theater. The design for
COURIER L 46 IFE, NOV. 1-7, 2019
Power couple: An avant-garde
production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”
will star Mick O’Brien (left) as Lady
Macbeth, and Moira Stone in the title
role. Kampfire Films PR
The cast features mostly
cisgender and transgender women
and nonbinary actors, Cino said. Only
four characters will be played by
cisgender men: the three witches —
noted in the play for their beards —
and Lady Macbeth.
The production is set in a
post-apocalyptic future, in which
survivors of climate crisis and a
the new space, which has been
underway for about six years, had
a lengthy set of goals, said the
Academy’s president, at the Oct.
15 opening.
“We wanted to improve the
experience of coming here, and we
really, really, wanted an elevator,”
said Katy Clark. “We wanted a
grand staircase, we wanted a place
for a party. We wanted to have a
space that would marry the old and
the new.”
The new space has accomplished
all of those goals. An elevator —
the building’s first — now travels
between the ground floor lobby,
the second floor lounge, and the
third floor balcony.
A new staircase begins in the
back, in space created by adding
about 10 feet to the side of the
115-year-old brick building, and
it climbs around a wide, empty
space with a shining “vertical
chandelier” that plunges from the
roof to the second floor.
The previous stairwell, whose
outline is still visible in parts of
the lobby, required balcony visitors
to exit the building and climb a
grueling 69-step staircase to the
third floor, said Jonathan Jones,
who spearheaded the project.
The new stairway is both easier
to climb, and keeps the audience
together as they enter the theater,
he noted.
On the ground floor, the
new Rudin Family Gallery —
constructed in space formerly
occupied by an empty lot —
connects the outer lobby with the
building’s interior. On opening
night, it held the two-piece art
installation “When a Pot Finds
Its Purpose,” which will officially
open on Nov. 7.
BAM opens new venue
global pandemic have reorganized
society and restructured gender
roles, Cino said.
“We talked a lot about our
invented backstory,” she noted.
“One of the things we decided is
that not a lot of the cis men survive,
and the people left have decided to
take on different gender pronouns.”
Cino found plenty in
Shakespeare’s Scottish play to
support her dystopian vision,
including the show’s focus on
rapidly changing fair and foul
weather, reflecting our present-day
struggles with climate change.
“The play is obsessed with the
weather,” she said.
For Cino, giving a modern spin
to the classic tragedy allowed her
to explore aspects of the original
text that resonate most with modern
viewers.
“I wanted to take those things
that are already in the play and
explore them in a way that is
relevant,” she said.
“Unsex Me Here” at the Brick
(579 Metropolitan Ave. between
Lorimer Street and Union Avenue
in Williamsburg, (718) 907–6189,
www.bricktheater.com). Nov. 8–23;
Wed–Sat at 7 pm. $20.
TBy Jessica Parks hey’ll make your dancin’
dreams come true!
Brooklynites can get
down with some of the world’s
best swingers next weekend,
when the American Lindy Hop
Championships jitterbugs its
way on the multiple dance floors
of the Grand Prospect Hall. The
three-day dance extravaganza,
running Nov. 8–10, is open to
any one who is interested in
the vintage dance style, whether
they want to coaster step their
way to the top prize or just
spectate from the sidelines, said
the event’s director.
“The American Lindy Hop
Championships is a friendly
atmosphere,” said Paulette
Brockington. “You don’t need
experience, and all levels of
dancers attend. Many nondancers
come just to watch and
listen to the music.”
For those new to swing, there
will be plenty of opportunities to
learn the steps. Each afternoon,
experts will offer a wide variety
of classes and workshops in
the dance genre that swept the
nation during the first half of
the 20th century — and, to a
lesser extent, during the swing
revival of the late ’90s.
A slew of performances
will be held throughout the
hoppin’ weekend, with dancers
showing off their best Shim
Sham — known as tap dance’s
national anthem — to open up
the weekend on Friday night.
The evening will also feature
open dancing sessions, a
“Cabaret” competition for nonswing
styles, and contests in
which couples show off their
best choreographed routines in
various dance styles, including
West Coast Swing and Carolina
Shag, styles that are returning
to the competition for the first
time in 21 years.
One notable new event this
year will be the “Truckin’
Division” competition, where
solo dancers must show off their
steps while carrying a heavy
metal tray. The division nods to
a tradition in dance halls of the
1920s, said Brockington.
“It is one in which solo jazz
dancers dance with trays, as
waiters did during the Harlem
Renaissance to get big tips,”
she said.
A tribute to swing legend
Mama Lu Parks will close out
the weekend on Sunday.
“Mama Lu Parks carried on
the legacy of the Lindy Hop
and the Savoy Ballroom from
the 1960s until her death,” said
Brockington. “Her dancers
toured the world and also
danced for three presidents.”
The Championship has
happened annually for the last
22 years, but this is its first
time in Brooklyn. The Grand
Prospect Hall’s history as a
dance hall during the Roaring
’20s made it an attractive
venue, said Brockington.
Dancers can sign up to
compete in any of the weekend’s
13 dance contests until Nov. 6.
The American Lindy Hop
Championships at Grand
Prospect Hall 263 Prospect
Ave. between Fifth and Sixth
avenues in Park Slope, (718)
788–0777, artspectrum.org/
alhc.htm. Nov. 8–10. $15–$25
(spectator only); $25–$90
(competition); $40–$60 (single
day social dance and classes);
$130–$339 (all-weekend
passes).
Going Strong
Brooklyn Academy of Music Trustee Brigette Vosse cuts the ribbon to welcome
visitors to the new and renovated spaces of BAM Strong. Photo by Trey Pentecost
Swing state
Vintage dance competition
lindy hops into Park Slope
Genderbent ‘Macbeth’ comes to the Brick
Anyone can join the American Lindy Hop Competition, coming to Park Slope on Nov.
8–10. Getty Images
/www.bricktheater.com
/www.bricktheater.com)
/artspectrum.org
