Star Trader, Beer Week, Clown Class, de Kooning: N.Y. Weekend
Freaktoberfest
JP Cutler Media via Bloomberg
The logo for Freaktoberfest 2011. The design was created by Dave C. Wallin and Matt Polacheck.
The logo for Freaktoberfest 2011. The design was created by Dave C. Wallin and Matt Polacheck. Source: JP Cutler Media via Bloomberg
"Gran Elefandret"
Marlborough Gallery via Bloomberg
"Gran Elefandret" by Miquel Barcelo. The 26-foot-tall, upside-down bronze elephant on its trunk is displayed at a Union Square traffic island through May 2012.
"Gran Elefandret" by Miquel Barcelo. The 26-foot-tall, upside-down bronze elephant on its trunk is displayed at a Union Square traffic island through May 2012. Source: Marlborough Gallery via Bloomberg
"Cirque de Legume"
Mark Fearon/Karen Greco PR via Bloomberg
Jaimie Carswell and Nancy Trotter Landry in "Cirque de Legume." Carswell leads a clowing workshop on Saturday night.
Jaimie Carswell and Nancy Trotter Landry in "Cirque de Legume." Carswell leads a clowing workshop on Saturday night. Photographer: Mark Fearon/Karen Greco PR via Bloomberg
"Woman I"
MoMA via Bloomberg
"Woman I" (1950-52) by Willem de Kooning. A retrospective of the artist's work is at the Museum of Modern Art through Jan. 9.
"Woman I" (1950-52) by Willem de Kooning. A retrospective of the artist's work is at the Museum of Modern Art through Jan. 9. Source: MoMA via Bloomberg
"The Invested"
Carol Rosegg/Heller Highwater PR via Bloomberg
Thomas Hildreth, left, and Christina Haag in "The Invested" in New York. The financial drama is playing through Sept. 24 at the 4th St. Theatre.
Thomas Hildreth, left, and Christina Haag in "The Invested" in New York. The financial drama is playing through Sept. 24 at the 4th St. Theatre. Photographer: Carol Rosegg/Heller Highwater PR via Bloomberg
A timely drama for Wall Street and its customers, Sharyn Rothstein’s “The Invested” aims to explore the roots of the 2008-2009 financial crisis from the inside out. The tale of corporate intrigue and amorality is set at a fictional behemoth ripe with conflicts of interest.
Catherine Murdock (Christina Haag) is a hard-working mom who runs the wealth-management division of “MetroBank.”
Although a darling of the financial press, she has been passed over for chief executive in favor of an aggressive, ethically challenged star trader (Thomas Hildreth).
He persuades her to pimp a risky in-house investment fund he runs, to goose bank profits and theoretically her career. She accedes, a decision that backfires and sets in motion corporate warfare.
The lively, well-crafted play suffers from some factual missteps. One small example: Following a reorganization, MetroBank’s research department reports to investment banking. That’s a structure Eliot Spitzer helped end as New York State Attorney General years ago. Ron Canada directs.
Through Sept. 24 at 83 E. 4th St. Information: http://www.theinvested.com.
Trunk Show
Had it with bulls and bears? Sculptor Miquel Barcelo’s “Gran Elefandret” is a 26-foot-tall upside-down bronze elephant balanced on its trunk, on a Union Square traffic island across the street from a Starbucks. Arrive before it stampedes away in May 2012.
Two blocks north, Union Square Café remains splendid (and packed) 26 years after Danny Meyer opened it. The service is attentive and the wild striped bass hits the spot, as do the contents of the fresh bread basket.
Beer Week
New York’s fourth Annual Craft Beer Week started Friday at Southpaw, a converted 99-cent discount store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with the Freaktoberfest Boutique Beer and Music Festival. Some 20 breweries pour samples of their best beers, supplemented by burlesque dancers, sideshow performers and indie-rock bands.
Revelry continues at 110 bars and restaurants throughout the week. Avoid the “I’m Lost and I Can’t Find My Beer” syndrome by downloading the event’s smart phone application, with a GPS component. Information: http://www.nycbeerweek.com/.
Saturday
It’s back to school on the Upper East Side. The National Academy Museum and School reopens after a year of renovations in its townhouse on 89th Street, with an exhibition of the work of artist Will Barnet. Free art classes all weekend include sessions on drawing, painting and printing, a chance to recreate an old masterpiece and sketch from a live model.
At 1083 Fifth Ave. http://www.nationalacademy.org.
Clown Class
At 5 p.m. at 59E59 Theaters, half the cast of Cirque de Legume -- Jaimie Carswell -- offers a 90-minute workshop on European clowning. Both he and his onstage cirque conspirator, Nancy Trotter Landry, trained in Paris, their clown visages consisting of red noses and their own rubbery faces.
At 8:30 p.m., they play any number of characters and several animals. Root vegetables are messily masticated, particularly when Carswell assumes the role of a horse who loves to chew on carrots.
At 59 E. 59th St. Information: http://59e59.org/.
For imaginatively prepared vegetable dishes, the nearby Candle 79 on East 79th is a popular choice. The fresh-squeezed juices are a draw.
Sunday
The Museum of Modern Art opens “de Kooning: A Retrospective.” Trace Willem de Kooning’s evolution over about seven decades of fertile experimentation. (He died in 1997.) Part of the fun is discovering who owns what and lent these multimillion-dollar treasures to MoMA. And try to discern what the titles, such as “Carole Lombard” (1947) and “Merritt Parkway” (1959) have to do with the pictures.
Through Jan. 9, 2012, 11 W. 53rd St. http://www.moma.org/.
Carrie Ahern, a Brooklyn performance artist, choreographer and carnivore, previews her new work, “Borrowed Prey,” at Taste Williamsburg Greenpoint.
In pursuit of the question, “what is sustainable meat?”, she has been hunting, butchering and slaughtering animals. She plans to appear with a professional butcher and both answer questions and illuminate humans’ relationship to the animals they consume.
There will be the butchering of a pig carcass, an event that could send some scurrying to Candle 79.
From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 5 N. 11th St. at Kent Ave., Brooklyn. Information: http://tastewg.wordpress.com/.
(Philip Boroff is a writer at Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
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