What they’re saying: live arts in Brooklyn this week, April 3

A roundup of Brooklyn’s cultural offerings this week, from comedy to theater to music to art, and what critics are saying about them.

April 3, 2024 Evan Rosen

Employees at the Brooklyn Academy of Music voted overwhelmingly to unionize. Eagle photo by Ned Berke

Brooklyn Academy of Music. Eagle photo by Ned Berke

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Macbeth (an undoing) @ Theatre for a New Audience
Theatre
TFANA, 262 Ashland Pl, Fort Greene
Shows April 5 through May 4
New Deal tickets available for $20 for those under 30. Use code: NEWDEALER at checkout

Playwright Zinnie Harris has adapted Shakespeare’s legendary play in a production that focuses on the perspective of Lady Macbeth and undoes the classic story we’ve come to know. After making its world premiere at The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh last year, the same team, featuring Nicole Cooper as Lady Macbeth and Adam Best as Macbeth,is bringing the acclaimed production to Brooklyn.

“It is not so much a revival as an exhumation, one in which [Harris] dares to speculate what the playwright might have done had he been true to his own instincts.” – Mark Fisher, The Guardian

“Cooper conveys all this with a ferocious intelligence that brims with barely restrained rage amongst the everyday madness in a thrilling reimagining that lays bare the real power behind the blood- spattered throne.” – Neil Cooper, The Herald Scotland

“Zinnie Harris reinvents Lady Macbeth as a flawed feminist icon in this respectful but powerfully reimagined adaptation.” – David Pollock, The Stage

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8th Annual Sideshow Hootenanny
Circus, Sideshow, Live Performance
House of Yes, 2 Wyckoff Ave and Coney Island USA, 1208 Surf Ave, Coney Island
April 4 to 7, various times, activities, locations

This week Brooklyn is hosting the country’s only large-scale festival of sideshow performers, fans and producers from across the globe. The circus sideshow acts include magicians, sword-swallowing, jugglers, fire breathing, contortionists and much more.

Opening night will take place at House of Yes on Thursday, and numerous shows, workshops and parties will follow on Coney Island.
“The Hootenanny is my most anticipated event of the year! The collective group of Sideshow weirdos and shows that keep you on the edge of your seat make for a fabulous weekend of entertainment and conversation! It’s a guaranteed good time!” – Elaine Steele, Hootenanny Facebook page

“There are sword-swallowers, fire breathers, human pin cushions, daredevils, burlesque dancers, circus arts and aerial acts, puppeteers, musicians and more.” – NOLA.com

“The most amazing and bizarre collection of twisted human talent I have ever experienced, I was hooked and it is now an annually recurring trip for me.” – Brett Baker, Hootenanny Facebook page

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Slow Bird: Single Release @ Brooklyn Made
Music, Live Performance
Brooklyn Made, 428 Troutman St., Bushwick
April 4 @ 7pm

Brooklyn Made presents the local band “Slow Bird,” a duo featuring Jennae Quisenberry and Joshua Dore, who originally came together in Seattle and now create moving songs that are addicting and heart wrenching. Their latest single, “Fight,” was released on April 2.

The new single will be performed live for the first time in Bushwick on Thursday, in a night that will also include performances from Leon Sinks, a singer who offers a refreshing take on country music.

“The soaring guitar leads compliment the haunting vocals which constantly cascade into visceral sentiment; submerged with rich bass tones and driving drums. The experience elucidates the audience into full attention, the termination of which leaves the listener plummeting back into tumultuous reality.” – The Vogue

“Everything about [Brooklyn Made] is planned as deluxe and high-concept, from the Moroccan lamps adorning the 500-capacity performance space to the adjoining cafe and rooftop deck. Visiting artists will find an impossibly luxurious spread, including a private pool and use of a loft apartment with striking views of the Manhattan skyline.” – Ben Sisario, New York Times

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The Art of the Benshi @ BAM: Japan’s Silent Film Era
Film, History
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave, Fort Greene
April 5 to 7, various showtimes

The Art of the Bensh is a showcase of classic, newly restored silent films from Japan and the U.S. with live narrators.

“Benshi” comes from the Japanese “katsudō benshi” or “movie talker,” describing the narrators who would offer live dialogue as the movies played behind them. This program will feature three different benshi, narrating together and individually throughout the films.

“The Art of the Benshi 2024 tour will offer a unique theatrical experience that combines cinema and live performance that is rarely seen on this scale, even in Japan.” – Michael Emmerich, UCLA’s Tadashi Yanai Professor of Japanese Literature and director of the Yanai Initiative, UCLA Newsroom

Sheepshead Bay Game Hour & Other Events @ Bklyn Public Library
Video Games, Chess, Arts and Crafts, Knitting
Sheepshead Bay Library, 2636 E. 14th St. at, Avenue Z, Sheepshead Bay
Thursday, April 4 @ 3:30pm and other dates/times

Every Thursday, 3:30 to 4:30 pm, kids ages 7-12 are invited to come to the Sheepshead Bay Library for Game Hour. They can battle their peers or play solo, on the Nintendo Switch, Playstation or board games.

On Wednesday and Thursday from 11am to 4pm, the library is offering Grab and Go Activity Craft Bags, with a surprise gift, puzzle and stickers for children to play with in each bag.

Thursday from 4pm to 5pm, instructor Vladimir Mazo is offering a Chess Workshop for all levels, and a Knitting and Crochet group for adults is ongoing every Friday from 10:30 am to 12 pm in the library’s meeting room.

“The Sheepshead Bay Library — located between Avenue Z and Voorhies Avenue — is one of Brooklyn’s busiest branches, according to the Brooklyn Public Library and features a diverse range of programming such as English classes for foreign-language speakers and a regularly scheduled community talent showcase.” – Jessica Parks, Brooklyn Paper

“Knitting and crochet group for adults every Friday at the Sheepshead Bay Library! Make progress on longer projects or start something new and exciting, in the company of others who knit and crochet in your community.” – Patch.com

Good People Comedy
Comedy
Somethin’ Else, Dekalb Market, 445 Albee Square W, Downtown Brooklyn
Shows every Wednesday @ 8pm

Some of New York’s best young comedians are flocking to the new comedy show in Dekalb Market’s hidden back-area bar every other Wednesday.

The room is an up-scale lounge space, with couches instead of front-row seats, the space has the new-age aesthetics and positive vibes that are reshaping the city’s comedy scene in Brooklyn’s image. This week’s set is headlined by Truck Hudson from “The Last OG.”

“After spending much of my adult life around stand ups, I finally realized there’s a real negativity that hangs around the scene. I decided to make this show to have a space for comedy where we’re not complaining about everything being horrible.” – Sam Poznak, Founder of GPC.