The Best Things To Do In NYC This Week: From Bushwig To Pig Island

Beatnix @ Nuyorican Poets Café

Each month, Puerto Rican poet, actress, and activist Caridad de la Luz, aka La Bruja, hosts a new edition of Beatnix. The artistic evening convenes Puerto Rican and Nuyorican poets, musicians, and other artists for performances and dialogues centering around cultural and political issues. This installation features poet Iveliste Namaste, violinist Luna Muni, performance artist Michael Reyes, and children’s book author Willie Perdomo.

Tuesday, September 3rd, 7 p.m. // Nuyorican Poets Café, 236 East 3rd St., Manhattan // Tickets: $10

Resonant Bodies Festival @ Roulette Intermedium

Try an “aural tasting menu” at the Resonant Bodies Festival, a vocal showcase demonstrating the "shape-shifting power of the human voice." Now in its sixth year, the fest presents artist-driven programming by nine vocalists with vastly different aesthetics. There will be a renowned opera star in male drag, a duo weaving ASMR and ’80s power ballads, a Pakistani performer combining Sufi mystical poetry with indie rock, a composer-vocalist using nontraditional vocal techniques devoid of semantic language, and much more.

Tuesday, September 3rd, through Thursday, September 5th // Roulette Intermedium, 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn // Tickets: $20

We Are Here Festival @ Abrons Arts Center

Honor this country’s past and present at the We Are Here Festival, three days of music, film, and art by indigenous creators. The artists hail from 18 different nations, and each draws on their own technologies, ancestral knowledge, and survival tactics. Highlights include a plant walk through the ancestral lands along the East River, communal sand-painting, a multimedia visual-art exhibit, an evening of experimental theater, a night of films by indigenous female directors, and more.

Thursday, September 5th, through Saturday, September 7th // Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St., Manhattan // Tickets: Various

Novenas for a Lost Hospital @ Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

For more than 160 years, St. Vincent’s Hospital has treated victims of calamities, from the sinking of the Titanic to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire to September 11th. At playwright Cusi Cram’s Novenas for a Lost Hospital, attendees remember and celebrate the institution, which opened during a cholera epidemic and went on to become a center for AIDS research and treatment. The interactive theatrical experience journeys throughout the West Village and is inspired by the hospital’s caretakers and patients. Shows run through October 13th.

Opens Thursday, September 5th, 6:30 p.m. // Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Pl., Manhattan // Tickets: $36–$61

dapperQ Presents Pursuit @ Brooklyn Museum

New York Fashion Week is once again upon us, and for the seventh year running, Brooklyn Museum kicks things off with dapperQ’s queer runway showcase, Pursuit. Red carpet arrivals will be hosted by B. Hawk Snipes, and the evening begins with vendor tables and pop-up shops, as well as a happy hour by Henrietta Hudson, New York City’s longest-standing brick-and-mortar queer women’s bar. The runway show will be soundtracked by DJ M.O. and features a wide range of designers, including TomboyX, Sharpe Suiting, Devonation, Claire Fleury, Travis Oestreich, and more.

Thursday, September 5th, 6 p.m. // Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn // Tickets: $16

Pig Island @ Erie Basin Park

Prep your palate for a plethora of pork at the 10th-annual Pig Island, presented by Food Karma Projects. There will be more than 20 chefs slinging porcine provisions, like pulled-pork bacon cups, habanero honey hog, puerco ahumado, apple-cider-brined hog, Vietnamese larb, puerco a ló Cubano, and lots more. There will also be plenty of craft beer, hard cider, and non-pork dishes if you need to take a break from pigging out.

Saturday, September 7th, 11:30 a.m. // Erie Basin Park, 1 Beard St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $75

Collective Reading: The Odyssey @ Berl's Poetry Shop

Participate in a community literary event at Berl’s new summer series of Collective Readings, in which a crew of lit lovers make their way, marathon-style, through a long poetic work. This weekend’s tome is the new translation of the Odyssey by Emily Wilson, the first woman to tackle the epic work and whose endeavor has been called “complicated and radical.” The reading will last several hours; anyone can read but advanced sign-ups are encouraged.

Saturday, September 7th, 1:30 p.m. // Berl’s Poetry Shop, 141 Front St., Brooklyn // Free

Bushwig 2019 @ Knockdown Center

Douse yourself in glitter and make your way to Bushwig, two days of extraordinary queer entertainment, which Billboard calls “the Coachella of drag.” The eighth-annual spectacular features more than 200 emerging and established performers for 23 hours of debauchery, drops, and drama. There will be several RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants, including Miss Congeniality winner Nina West and past season alums Scarlet Envy, Soju, Thorgy Thor, and Tammie Brown, plus plenty of local legends, like Penny Arcade, Lady Bunny, Horrorchata, Chris of Hur, Divina GranSparkle, Gage of the Boone, Merrie Cherry, Nyx Nocturne, and Untitled Queen.

Saturday, September 7th, and Sunday, September 8th // Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Ave., Queens // Tickets: $40–$80

Beard & Moustache Competition @ Coney Island USA

Wax your wacky whiskers on the waterfront at the 12th-annual Coney Island Beard & Moustache Competition. Dozens of men (and women!) will flaunt their most extravagant facial hair, vying for Coney-inspired titles like Moustachio Marvel, Ballyhoo Beard, and Man or Beast? Guest judges include author and musician Larry “Ratso” Sloman, Coney Island Brewery manager Katherine Telesca, and street artist Big Ronnie Parisella. Attendees will be entertained between bearded bouts by sideshow acts Serpentina, the Flying Kavadlo Brothers, Xander Lovecraft, and Adam Realman.

Saturday, September 7th, 6 p.m. // Coney Island USA, 1208 Surf Ave., Brooklyn // Tickets: $25

MoMA PopRally × The Bronx: Beauteous @ Andrew Freedman Home

While MoMA is closed in preparation for its reopening this fall, they’ve taken their programming on the road, crisscrossing the five boroughs. This weekend they’ll pop up in the Bronx for Beauteous, a site-specific theatrical presentation that reflects the borough’s cultural evolution through narratives about LGBTQ subcultures, rap, hip-hop, and DJing. The evening consists of theatrical vignettes, musical performances, and art installations, culminating in a rooftop party soundtracked by Brujas, DaDaCoz, DJ Red Alert, Grandmaster Caz, DJ She Marley Marl, and more.

Saturday, September 7th, 6 p.m. // Andrew Freedman House, 1125 Grand Concourse, Bronx // Tickets: $10

AAA Autumn Starfest in Central Park

Sure, you’ve seen the moon, but have you really looked at the sky? This Saturday, the Amateur Astronomers Association is holding its annual Autumn Starfest in Central Park. Join AAA members who set up their telescopes and give attendees the chances to commune with the stars or star clusters or double stars or the Summer Triangle stars,Vega, Altair and Deneb! Count some of the craters of the moon or admire Jupiter and Saturn as well.

Saturday, September 7th, 7-10 p.m. // Sheep Meadow, Central Park, Manhattan // Free (first 250 attendees get glow sticks)