#WeeklyColumn | It’s In Queens!
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Never mind the public school system, the Queens entertainment/enrichment scene is thriving on a hybrid model. This week features outdoor and indoor tours, outdoor and indoor dance, and outdoor and indoor nature, plus cinema, Muppets, poetry, and history.
Sept. 29, Korean Folk Music, 7 pm. Flushing Town Hall presents Coreyah, a psychedelic Korean folk group whose members integrate traditional Korean instruments, vocals, guitar, and percussion. The band consists of Kim Dongkun (daegeum, sogeum, tungso), Ham Boyoung (vocal), Kim Chorong (percussion, Chulhyungeum), Kyungyi (percussion), Na Sunjin (geomungo), and Ko Jaehyeon (guitar).
Sept. 29, Oldest Takeout in Queens, 7 pm. Queens Council on the Arts streams a virtual showcase of Matthew Schickele’s “The Oldest Takeout in Queens: A Singer and a Menu of Languages.” This new music composition is inspired by the linguistic diversity of Ridgewood and Queens. Get ready for Albanian, German, Gottscheerisch, Gurung, Ikota, Irish, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Shughni, Sicilian, and Spanish.
Sept. 29, Godwin-Ternbach Museum, 7 pm. GTM Co-Directors Louise Weinberg and Maria Pio and Queens College President Frank Wu lead a livestream about the new exhibition, “HUMAN/Nature:
Sept. 29, The Disciple, 7 pm (ish). Queens Drive-In shows an Indian film about a Mumbai man whose life goal is to follow in the footsteps of his father and become a practitioner of the centuries-old Khayal music tradition. New York Hall of Science Parking Lot, 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Sept. 29, Center of Attention: The Well, 2 pm. The Noguchi Museum’s Matthew Capezzuto leads an interactive virtual learning program for adults centered on Noguchi’s “The Well (1982).”
Sept. 30, Shadow Theater, 7 pm. This is Flushing Town Hall’s first show in a series featuring Spica Wobbe, who performs her new “Hand in Hand,” which is inspired by interviews with her mother during COVID-19.
Sept. 30, A Decade of Stories: The Queens Memory Project Celebrates 10 Years, 7 pm. Queens Memory Project Director Natalie Milbrodt shares highlights from the collections and welcomes special guests who have contributed to this program that has more than 600 oral history interviews.
Sept. 30, Creating a Concentration Camp Society: How Governments Push for Mass Detention and How People Resist, noon. The Kupferberg Holocaust Center and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center present the first event in a colloquium. Author and journalist Andrea Pitzer lectures on how ruling parties engineer mass detention of civilians without trial.
Oct. 1, Festival of Cinema 2020, Oct. 4. The fourth annual Festival of Cinema NYC has a drive-in format. Organized into six thematic blocks, the lineup features 28 independent shorts, features, documentaries, experimental work, and animations chosen from submissions from around the world. They’ll be projected onto a five-story screen in St. John’s University’s parking lot at either 7 pm or 10 pm.
Oct. 1, Author Talk with Tyler Maroney about The Modern Detective, 4 pm. Queens Public Library’s Author Talk series continues with Tyler Maroney, former journalist who is now a private investigator and cofounder of Quest Research & Investigations. He discusses his new book “The Modern Detective: How Corporate Intelligence is Reshaping the World,” which uncovers the crucial role modern day private investigators play in global commerce, government accountability, and legal disputes.
Oct. 1, Paint Under the Full Moon, 7 pm. Masa Kitani of Creative Scene teaches how to paint a magnificent butterfly, the symbol of hope, on a wine glass during this Alley Pond Environmental Center program.
Oct. 1, Hitching for Hope: A Journey into the Heart and Soul of Ireland, 2 pm. Best-selling author Ruairí McKiernan provives stories, inspiration, and great conversation from the west coast of Ireland during this virtual event sponsored by the New York Irish Center.
Oct. 2, REZA! Edge of Illusion Preview, 7 pm. Reza, who led a summer workshop at QPAC, takes illusion to new extremes with cutting-edge magic, comedic timing, and interactive moments during this Queensborough Performing Arts Center stream.
Oct. 2, Free First Friday, 10 am. Noguchi Museum re-starts an old program! On the first Friday of every month, admission is free. Due to COVID, a limited number of guests can visit at any one time, and all visits must be scheduled in advance. NM, 9-01 33rd Rd., LIC.
Oct. 2, I Carry You With Me, 7 pm (ish). Queens Drive-In screens a Mexican movie about a gay romance between a semi-closeted young father and a high school teacher that takes a turn when El Norte beckons. New York Hall of Science Parking Lot, 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Oct. 2, Maskerade LIC: Neuman’s Kitchen, 3 pm. A walking tour of LIC businesses with tastings, samples, special features, and masked creations.
Oct. 3, Dance Finale, Oct. 5. Queensboro Dance Festival 2020’s season finale streams live from Queens Theatre. The lineup features 24 borough-based troupes and such styles as Ballroom, Bellydance, Chinese, Cumbia, Flamenco, Greek, Hip-Hop, Hula, Kathak, Modern, Street Jazz, Tap, and West African. The fun begins at 6 pm all three nights.
Oct. 3, Maze by Moonlight, Oct. 24.Walk through the three-acre corn maze as darkness sets and crickets chirp. The adventure begins with a Stalk Talk. Then it’s off to finding clues, solving puzzles, and reaching Victory Bridge and a Vincent Van Gogh-inspired masterpiece. Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Pkwy., Glen Oaks.
Oct. 3, LIC Springs Returns, Oct. 4. LIC Partnership hosts its seventh annual community block festival on Vernon Boulevard between 50th and 46th avenues. Live music, dance, theater, interactive lessons, art, sculpture, fitness, outdoor dining, pop-ups, sports, games.
Oct. 3, Jim Henson’s World, 7 pm. The Jim Henson Legacy President Craig Shemin, author of “The Muppet Character Encyclopedia,” and performer Stephanie D’Abruzzo participate in an online conversation with special guest Matt Vogel, who is behind Kermit, Big Bird, The Count, and other Henson characters.
Oct. 4, Marcuy Yi’s Lucky 88: The Food Court Musical, 2 pm. Flushing Town Hall streams this reading of a play about vendors in a Flushing food court. The hand-pulled noodle guy, 60, is struggling to put his son through law school. He doesn’t know it, but the youth has dropped out and wants to take over the noodle business. The dumpling lady, 50, has mourned her husband’s death and is ready to date again. A 20-year-old female wants to be a Hip-Hop dancer, but she has to work the bubble tea stand to pay for her mother’s chemotherapy.
Oct. 4, Queens Virtual Walking Tours: Elmhurst, 2:30 pm. Take a history-filled zoom stroll through Elmhurst with tour guide Adrienne Onofri, author of “Walking Queens: 30 Tours for Discovering the Diverse Communities; Historic Places; and Natural Treasures of New York City’s Largest Borough.”
Oct. 4, Poets of Queens, 2 pm. Astoria’s Olena Jennings hosts a free, 90-minute event with 15 poets, who will read one — or two — of their own works.
Oct. 4, I Want To Be A Vet, 1 pm. Alley Pond Environmental Center streams an educational program for aspiring veterinarians with real animals.
Oct. 5, The Truffle Hunters, 7 pm (ish). Queens Drive-In screens this documentary, which takes viewers to the forests of Northern Italy, where dogs look for the precious white Alba truffle. New York Hall of Science Parking Lot, 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Oct. 6, The Notturno, 7 pm (ish). Queens Drive-In presents a documentary on violence that was shot over three years along the borders of Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, and Lebanon. New York Hall of Science Parking Lot, 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Oct. 7, The 1964 World’s Fair: Peace Through Understanding, 7 pm. Amy Raffel, the Andrew W. Mellon Interpretation Research Fellow at Queens Museum, offers a virtual presentation on the history of the 1964 World’s Fair, hosted by Harrison Public Library.
Oct. 7, Hand in Hand, 7 pm. Flushing Town Hall presents shadow puppetry expert Spica Wobbe, who shares “Hand in Hand,” her new story inspired by interviews with her mother during COVID-19.
Oct. 7, VP Debate Watch Party, 7 pm (ish). Drive in to watch Vice President Mike Pence debate Senator Kamala Harris for free along with a pre-debate program.
Oct. 8, Literary Thursdays, 4 pm. Queens Public Library sponsors this talk with Connor Towne O’Neill, who has written “Down Along With That Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory and the Legacy of White Supremacy,” which reports on conflicts over monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who was also a plantation owner, slave trader, and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard.
Oct. 8, Virtual STEAM Workshop: Clay Creations, 3:30 pm. Lewis Latimer House Museum streams the chance to learn how to make air-dry clay using ingredients that can be found at home. Clay is a natural material made up of tiny particles of rock. When mixed with enough water, it feels like soft, gluey mud. Unlike regular mud, however, clay holds its shape; it can be pinched, rolled, cut, or built up in layers to form shapes of all kinds.
Oct. 9, Undine, 7 pm (ish). Queens Drive-In presents a melodrama about an intense romance which can only do so much to help the woman overcome the considerable baggage of her former affair. New York Hall of Science Parking Lot, 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Continuing Programs:
Sunnyside Shorts International Film Festival, until Oct. 10. The 15th annual exposition features 76 movies from more than 20 countries, selected from a pool of more than 400 submissions. They’re organized into five themes: Comedy, Documentary, LGBTQ, Narrative, and Miscellaneous. So be prepared to laugh, cry, be amazed, and maybe even eat some Microwaved popcorn. Attendance is $15 for the entire slate, and viewers can vote for their favorite shorts in each of the categories.
Film Discussion Group, until Dec. 15. Matthew L. Weiss is a critic, director, editor, graphic artist, producer, and writer. The Astoria man leads a 90-minute film discussion group at noon on the following Tuesdays: Sept. 22 and 29; Oct. 6, 13, 20, and 27; Nov. 10 and 17; and Dec. 1, 8, and 15.
Two New Exhibitions, until Jan. 25, 2021. SculptureCenter opens and unveils “Tishan Hsu: Liquid Circuit,” which brings together roughly 30 key sculptures, wall reliefs, drawings, and media work from 1980 to 2005. The museum also unveils “Jesse Wine: Imperfect List,” which features new sculptures by a British-born, New York-based artist whose work is concerned with the explicit and implicit regulations that determine the observable world’s features and their manifestations in human form. SC, 44-19 Purves St., Long Island City.
Modern Jewish Theologians, In Their Own Words, until Dec. 10. Irwin Goldenberg is a retired Reform Rabbi who worked at Gettysburg College and York College of Pennsylvania before retiring to Forest Hills. He leads these discussions at noon on eight Thursdays: Sept. 24; Oct. 8, 15, 22, and 29; Nov. 12 and 19; and Dec. 10.
Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, until April 4, 2021. MoMA PS1 exhibits pieces by incarcerated and nonincarcerated artists concerned with state repression, erasure, and imprisonment. MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave., LIC.
Rashid Johnson: Stage, until Fall 2021. This participatory installation and sound work draws on the microphone as a tool for protest and public oratory, while recalling microphones in hip-hop lyrics from the 1980s to the present. It features a yellow powder-coated stage with Johnson’s signature markings. MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave., LIC.
Top image: Claudia Valentina/Live at the Gantries