at IFC Center more ›

FILM: A tribute to Jean Genet on film begins tonight at BAM. The focus will be on films inspired by the French writer, as well as Genet's own Un Chant D'Amour. BAM describes the festival further: more ›

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. more ›

In theater, as in television, summer is an opportunity for producers and creative teams to try ideas that may be a little wackier than main-season fare – off- and off-off Broadway, that’s what all the play festivals that are currently on and coming up are about. But the theater world also has its version of summer TV’s ubiquitous reruns, only there we like to think the phenomenon of show extensions and brief revivals is weighted more toward being a chance to see things you didn’t see previously, rather than being an expression of laziness or lack of better things to show. more ›

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. more ›

Bertolt Brecht is having quite a month on New York stages. First there’s the Jean Cocteau Repertory’s production of Mother Courage, in a never-before-seen translation by Marc Blitzstein – see our review of this excellent show, which will jar you in a good way, after the jump. Then there’s Ralph Lee’s adaptation of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which is playing at the Garden of St. John the Divine. Lee is a puppet artist, so his creations stalking through that beautiful setting, acting out Brecht’s retelling of a folk tale about a peasant girl who raises a baby of noble birth that was abandoned, are likely to make for a striking vision. Finally, the Creative Mechanics company is performing Edward II at the Bank Street Theatre beginning today (photo at right). Like Mother Courage, this play has to do with the effects of war on society, but here it is shown through the never-dull life of the eponymous king of England. The company’s production of Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher got raves last year, so we have high hopes for this one. more ›

Tickets for the Fringe Festival, which starts August 12, went on sale on Saturday, and by the looks of the website there’s going to be the same mind-boggling range of performances that theatre-loving New Yorkers have come to expect. Just scrolling through the titles of the shows about to be put on by the 200+ companies is practically an adventure in itself. Gothamist will have much more to say about the Fringe in the next couple weeks, but in the meantime there are still plenty of interesting new non-festival offerings. more ›

Interesting assortments of shows just keep opening. At this rate, theatre-lovers will be worn out and sick of novelty onstage by the time the Fringe Festival steamrolls into town…nah. Gothamist hopes people took last week’s advice and went to the Ice Factory festival in SoHo to see Fathom, SaBooge Theatre’s mesmerizing tale of English devils in Tasmania. Too bad for those who didn’t, but you can catch this week’s offering, courtesy of Sponsored by Nobody: The Position, a satire that features six guys waiting for their interview at a big corporation. more ›

- It was draft weekend, and Gothamist Sports will have more tomorrow more ›

Sunday night Gothamist caught the final day of previews of “The Maids”, the last show of the season for the Jean Cocteau Repertory, and came away with mixed feelings. The play was Jean Genet’s first (it premiered in Paris in 1947) and is still frequently performed – just last month another version was playing at the Chocolate Factory. Cocteau’s interpretation of this tale of two maids’ fury at their mistress has a few twists: for one thing, it’s set in Los Angeles in a movie starlet’s home, and for another, the maids are portrayed by women (men are often given their roles, because Genet is supposed to have said once that he wanted it so). more ›

Wings of Desire plays tonight, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (check here for showtimes; sometimes there is just one show per day). more ›