The Best Things To Do In NYC This Week: From Wunderkammer To Dumboween

Wunderkammer @ The Bell House

Immerse yourself in strange beauty at Wunderkammer, where some of the country’s most innovative taxidermists will fill the Bell House with an IRL cabinet of curiosities. In addition to the huge taxidermy showcase, there will be demos, a wearable taxidermy photobooth, and performances by No Ring Circus and Sextia N'eight. The evening will be hosted by Brooklyn taxidermy doyenne Divya Ananthraman and Explorer Club culinary ambassador Justin Fornal. Guests are encouraged to dress in their fiercest fashion.

Tuesday, October 29th, 7 p.m. // The Bell House, 149 7th St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $10

The Most Scared I've Ever Been @ Brooklyn Museum

Creep yourself out during the inexorable lead-up to Halloween at movie series The Most Scared I've Ever Been. It’s three nights of frightening films, each presented by a person who was terrified by them: filmmaker Jim Jarmusch on The Evil Dead, playwright Jeremy O. Harris on Eve’s Bayou, and actors Zazie Beetz and David Rysdahl on Under the Shadow. Each film will be followed by a conversation with its presenter, and the Halloween screening will be followed by an after-party accompanied by Little Cinema doing a cinematic audio-visual DJ set. Tickets include museum admission.

Opens Tuesday, October 29th, 7 p.m. // Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn // Tickets: $16

Hot Mama: Singing Gays Saving Gaia @ Roulette Intermedium

It’s time again for the annual drag extravaganza from Heartbeat Opera. For its sixth iteration, Hot Mama, the ensemble celebrates Mother Earth, turning all the performers into walking, singing flora and fauna. The high-cultural pastiche will include virtuosic arias by Wagner, Vivaldi, Bernstein, Adams, and more, not to mention Gaia herself confronting the Monster of Climate Collapse. Bring your own cup for eco-friendly libations.

Opens Wednesday, October 30th // Roulette Intermedium, 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn // Tickets: $30 and up

Dumboweeeeeeen @ Dumbo Archway

Trick out the kiddos and get them lots of treats at the annual Dumboweeeeeeen. The festivities start with a costumed March to the Arch from Brooklyn Bridge Park, led by the Funkrust Brass Band. At the archway, the party continues with prizes for the best costumes, arts & crafts led by Creatively WILD Art Studio, a photobooth from The Self-Portrait Project, plus plenty of candy. There will also be neighborhood-wide storefront trick-or-treating all evening.

Thursday, October 31st, 4:30 p.m. // Meet at the John St. entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park // Free

Bongsan Talchum @ Flushing Town Hall

Try another country’s Halloween at a Korean performance of a scale never before seen in New York. One of Korea’s “Important Intangible Cultural Properties,” Bongsan Talchum is a masked performance with dancing, miming, speaking, and music. This one includes 22 dancers and musicians portraying people, animals, and supernatural beings; the characters are expressed through bold and rhythmic movements. Prior to the performance will be a first-come, first-served mask-making workshop and then a dance lesson that is open to all.

Thursday, October 31st, 6 p.m. // Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Queens // Tickets: $16

Queen of Hearts Masquerade @ Théàtre XIV

Have an extremely decadent night with Company XIV’s Queen of Hearts Masquerade, celebrating the show’s closing weekend. The acclaimed baroque burlesque interpretation of Alice in Wonderland features live music, circus, opera, magic, dance, and lavish costuming and set design, and the Halloween performances come with plenty of special treats. Each guest will receive a welcome cocktail upon arrival and can choose from a selection of tea sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres, and sweets throughout the evening. And don’t forget to dress up: there will also be a costume contest, and each night’s winner gets a gift bag of XIV swag.

Thursday, October 31st, through Saturday, November 2nd // Théàtre XIV, 383 Troutman St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $145 and up

Día de los Muertos @ American Museum of Natural History

Take a full day to appreciate a family-friendly Dia de los Muertos celebration. The fest features an array of exploration stations: design Día de los Muertos masks and altars, try paper-banner art form papel picador, learn about Zapotec artifacts and traditional funerary urns, read stories about Mexican culture, and more. There will also be performances throughout the day, including Cetiliztli Nauhcampa Quetzalcóatl en Ixachitlán doing a pre-Hispanic dance ceremony, Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Nueva York performing festive choreographies of indigenous identities, and Mariachi Sol Azteca playing a classical set.

Saturday, November 2nd, 11 a.m. // American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, Manhattan // Tickets: $13 children, $23 adults

Sake Festival @ Hester Street Fair

Have a hearty kampai! At Hester Street Fair’s first-ever Sake Festival, co-presented with Sake Discoveries and the Izakaya. There will be nine different sakes from an array of Japanese breweries that can only be found at the fest, as well as a variety of Japanese food from OtakuKatsu, Brooklyn Ramen, Hakata Tonton, and more. There will also be several kuramotos, or master brewers, from both Japan and the U.S.: Yuzo Kuji from Nanbu Bijin, Masayuki Imanishi from Mimurosugi in Nara, and Brian Polen and Brandon Doughan from Brooklyn Kura, New York’s first sake brewery.

Saturday, November 2nd, 11 a.m. // Hester Street Fair, Essex St. and Hester St., Manhattan // Tickets: $45

Now Serving: A Guide to Aesthetic Etiquette in Four Courses @ The Collapsible Hole

Gorge on theatrics at Radiohole’s newest production. Now Serving is an irreverent dinner party that moves, over the span of four courses, from fetishistically formal fare to a surreal bacchanalian feast. There are two ticket tiers: the peanut gallery and the dinner guests. Everyone gets cocktails, wine, and hours d’oeuvres, but only the dinner guests get a four-course meal, which, through its ritualistic and performative consumption, sets its sights on taking down nothing less than the patriarchy itself. (Note to dinner guests: you will get messy.)

Opens Saturday, November 2nd // The Collapsible Hole, 155 Bank St., Manhattan // Tickets: $25 peanut gallery, $50 dinner guest

National Theater Live: Fleabag @ Symphony Space

Symphony Space’s NT Live series brings award-winning theater from around the world onto its screens, and this weekend you can catch the one-woman-play version of Fleabag that went on to launch the Emmy-winning TV show (not to mention all those Hot Priest costumes). Performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in London’s West End, the original 67-minute play (which started out as a tiny Kickstarter campaign in 2013) has many of the series’ beloved elements, from its oversexed and unfiltered narrator to the delightful (and tragic) guinea pig café.

Saturday, November 2nd, and Sunday, November 3rd // Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, Manhattan // Tickets: $24