THU. MAY 4
Women In Iran
Join an evening of readings and conversation with four powerful Iranian women as they discuss their works and the changing status of women in Iran. Dissident author of “Women without Men” Shahrnush Parsipur, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Shirin Neshat, and notable scholars Fereshteh Nouraie-Simone and Houra Yavari will explore the history, literature, and culture of a nation constantly in the news. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028. 7 p.m. Free.
Designer Genes
The Center, the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment, and the Center for Genetics and Society invite you to a free panel and discussion tracing the links between reproductive and emerging genetic technologies, our identities as LGBTQI people, and the history of eugenics. Advocates and scholar activists will discuss what is at stake and strategies to protect our community’s future. Featured guest speakers: Dr. Marsha Darling; David Serlin, PhD; Dr. Nancy Ordover; & Patricia Berne. Hosted by Miriam Yeung. Panel tonight from 7-9 p.m. Workshop on Saturday, May 6 from 1-5 p.m. exploring the impacts of genetic control and manipulation and the privatization of genes. What is to be done in response to an assertion that the rights of the market determine whether we screen and pre-select traits—including the projections of gender, race, ability, and sexual norms? Lunch provided. For more information and a pre-registration form, please contact pberne@genetics-and-society.org. The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. 212-620-7310.
FRI.MAY 5
GenderTech6
Toby Meltzer, M.D., one of the world’s foremost providers of surgical services to the trans-communities, presents gender-confirming surgeries, with a focus on genital surgeries (SRS, GRS) for both transmen and transwomen. Dr. Meltzer will offer a PowerPoint presentation of surgeries, including vaginoplasty, labiaplasty, and breast augmentation for trans-women, and metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, and chest reconstruction surgery for transmen. He will leave time at the end of the presentation for questions and answers. GenderTech is a workshop series offered by the Gender Identity Project and seeks to highlight clinical issues of relevance to the trans-communities and those who offer services to them. GenderTech is open to trans-people, friends, allies and providers. For more information, contact the GIP at 212.620.7310 ext.248. 6:30 p.m. at The LGBT Center, 208 W. 13th St. 212-620-7310.
From Britain To The Bronx
British artist Robin Footitt’s solo exhibition includes prints, drawings, sketchbooks, appropriated comics strips, and photographs, which weave empty landscapes, political monuments, and theatrical explosions into ambiguous narratives of social panic, geopolitical apocalypse, and natural disasters. Other works show characters from disaster and revenge films and political thrillers in wry and unexpected ways. Hagan Saint Philip, 112 Lincoln Ave. at Bruckner Blvd., #514 in the Mott Haven section of The Bronx. Through May 10. 6 train to 138th St. and Third Ave. Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, please contact Tim McDonnell at 718-877-1176 or Wayne Northcross at 917-608-3271.
Lypsinka, Playwright
John Epperson’s new play, “My Deah,” an update of Euripides’ “Medea” set in the New South, will be presented as the Abingdon Theatre Company’s final Stage II Production of the 2005-2006 season. Directed by Mark Waldrop “My Deah” spotlights Gator Hedgepeth, a former Mississippi football star, and his plans to abandon his wife, My Deah—an ex-beauty queen from Louisiana with a penchant for a gossip-filled bridge game—to marry Simplicity Bullard, the daughter of the corrupt, one-armed Governor. The cast features Bryan Batt, Phillip Clark, Lori Gardner, Michael Hunsaker, Geoffrey Molloy, Nancy Opel, Jay Rogers, and Kevin Townley. Lypsinka penned the script, but is not in the cast. Wed.–Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sat. 2 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Through May 7. Dorothy Strelsin Theatre at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 W. 36th St., btwn. Eighth & Ninth Aves. $19 at smarttix.com or 212-868-4444.
Dance Now
The artistic and fashionable will not want to miss the performance of The Amazing Russello, prestidigitator par excellence, when he hosts the May dancemOpolitan series at Joe’s Pub. His original and witty delivery exerts a special charm. Even if his mixture of languages strikes one as strange, his amusing remarks serve only to heighten the merriment. He is the king of conjurers, whose good spirits, dexterity, and absolute certainty allow him to accomplish everything. The 65-minute cabaret series includes performances by guest artists Kyle Abraham, Dixie Fun Dance Theater, Keely Garfield, John Heginbotham, Deborah Lohse, Christopher K. Morgan, Regina Nejman, nugent+matteson dance, and Peggy Peloquin. Russello has conjured at Mo Pitkin’s, Low, Galapagos, Slipper Room, Sidewalk Cafe, Rififi, Ars Nova, Palace of Variety, Combustive Arts, Pleasuredome, and at El Cid and Largo in Los Angeles. Tonight and tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. btwn. E. Fourth & Astor. $20, $15 in advance at 212-239-6200 or telecharge.com. Dinner reservations at 212-539-8778. Seating and standing-room on a first-come first-served basis for all shows without a dinner reservation.
SAT.MAY 6
Orpheus
The Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra closes its 33nd season, with the world premiere of “Chamber Dance” by Joan Tower and celebrated pianist Leon Fleisher as guest soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in C Minor, “Emperor.” The program also includes Bach’s Orchestral Suite in C Major, “BWV 1066.” Carnegie Hall, 57th St. at Seventh Ave. at 8p.m. $30-$88 at 212-247-7800 or carnegiehall.org. Additional information about the season is available by calling the Orpheus’ office at 212-896-1700.
Symmetry
“No Lemons, No Melon,” a group art show curated by Gay City News writers and visual artists Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe featuring Linda Benglis, Fritz Buehner, Jenny Dubnau, Robert MacDonald, John Monti, Bruce Pearson, Kay Rosen, James Siena, Shellburne Thurber, Anthony Viti, and Carrie Yamaoka opens tonight, with a reception from 6-8 p.m. The show revolves around the theme of symmetry, and runs through June 3, Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. In the precise mathematical sense, the modern definition of symmetry is “immunity to change.” For artists, symmetry’s potential for a kind of ultimate formal resolution is undeniably seductive. So too is the allure of making an object, or image that is seemingly immune to change. Does our own bilateral anatomy create an innate preference for the same? We wonder, considering both the desire for the perfection suggested by immunity, and the beauty that arises in the small failures toward that quest. David Krut Projects, 526 W. 26th Street, #816. 212-255-3094 or davidkrut.com.
Ball 208
Dance 208 usually ends the season with a ball… Ball:208! Get on the runway and strike a pose. DJ Carlos Sanchez of our Garage Classics dance, and a legend himself, will be spinning. There’ll be competition and fierce music with Trai La Trash hosting, celebrity judges and the Imperial Court… so keep it real. For those who prefer not to compete, there will be fierce music all night long. A great way to end the season and say hello to the summer. Celebrity judges will include Willie Ninja, Will Clark, Clover, Rollerena, Mike Peyton, Empress Gefil Tefish, and Emperor Fantasia, Derek Scott Graves. Performances by Trai La Trash & House of Ninja. The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St.$10, $6 center members or before 9:45 p.m.
SUN.MAY 7
The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode
Written by LA Weekly Theatre Award-winner Jamie Morris, this unauthorized parody features an all-male cast as the girls from Eastland. The lost episode in question is a two-part, viewer-discretion-advised, musical entitled “The Best Little Whorehouse in Peekskill.” Budget cuts are threatening to force Mrs. Garrett to leave Eastland and the girls will do anything to raise enough money so she can stay. So, they become hookers. And they sing and dance about it! Add an evil Headmaster who has a thing for Mrs. G, lesbian overtones between Jo and Blair, and a guest cameo by cousin Gerri, and it adds up to an unforgettable evening of tragedy and triumph. Directed by Chris Melohn with set design by Michael Lee Scott, “Facts” features lyrics by Brooks Braselman and Jamie Morris with musical arrangements by Hank Bones. Sundays through May 28 at 7 p.m. Ace of Clubs, inside Acme at 9 Great Jones St. at Lafayette St. $17 at 212-352-1010 or TheaterMania.com.
Feminist Book Club
The feminist book club reads books and discusses feminism. No claim is made about what feminism is or whom it serves; this is not a forum for affirming any predetermined feminist platform. Rather, feminism(s) are used as a lens for examination of theoretical texts, literature, and primary works. The book club is open to everyone, and welcomes people of all genders, political persuasions, and levels of familiarity with feminism. The group meets on the first Sunday of every month. Books are chosen by consensus. This month’s reading is “The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values” by Nancy Folbre. Contact feministbookclub@yahoo.com for more information. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028. 2:30 p.m. Free.
MON.MAY 8
Subterranean Fire
Workers in the U.S. have a rich tradition of fighting back and winning. But in 2005, the number of workers organized in unions reached a 100-year low. In “Subterranean Fire, A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States,” Smith explores how the connection between the US labor movement and the Democratic Party has hurt the labor movement, and shows how a return to the fighting traditions of US labor history, with emphasis on rank-and-file strategies for change, can turn it around. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028 7 p.m. Free.
In The Life
Emmy Award winning talk show host and mother of four, Rosie O’Donnell, hosts the May episode of In the Life, the monthly Gay and Lesbian newsmagazine on public television. This month, “FAMILY TIES” explores the diverse and complex world of family within the LGBT community. ”FAMILY TIES” features three powerful segments that couldn’t be more different from one another yet show how families, regardless of the sexual orientation of the parents or children, are more alike than they are different.O’Donnell says of her own family experience, “Kelly and I are constantly reminded as we raise our two sons and two daughters that the joys, challenges and frustrations of family life are universal.” 10 p.m. on WNET Channel 13.
TUE.MAY 9
The C Word 3
The C Word is a community forum dedicated to creating discussion around lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender men and women who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis. This year’s event will include a networking component where participants will have an opportunity to meet in a non-therapeutic environment. Various community agencies that are part of the New York City Lesbian Cancer Support Consortium will have resources available. The networking portion will be followed by a panel discussion of experts speaking from the medical, psychosocial, and legal perspectives. Featured panelists include Dr. Julia A. Smith, a long-time women’s health advocate who has spent many years treating women with breast cancer; social worker Penny Damaskos from Memorial Sloan Kettering speaking about psychosocial adjustment to cancer survivorship; and lawyer Judith Turkell, an attorney in private practice in New York City for more than 23 years with an emphasis on the legal needs of the LGBT community—including adoptions and family law, wills, and advance directives such as living wills and health care proxies. For more information.Call or email the Lesbian Cancer Initiative at 212-620-7310 ext.258 or lci@gaycenter.org. 7 p.m. at The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. 212-620-7310. Free.
Love Hate Readership
To spice things up a little, this will be “Love to Hate It” night—writers will read both passages they’re proud of from their own work and items from the larger culture that they love to hate, hate to love, or otherwise can’t get out from under their skin. Paul LaFarge, author of “Haussmann, or the Distinction” has intimated that he will choose both of his selections from his own work: an intriguing possibility. T Cooper is the author of “Some of the Parts” and most recently, “Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes.” Writer Emily Barton’s latest book is “Brookland.” Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028 7 p.m. Free
WED.MAY 10
Marx In Soho
Marx is back! In this witty and insightful “play on history,” Karl Marx has agitated with the authorities of the afterlife for a chance to clear his name. Through a bureaucratic error, though, Marx is sent to Soho, rather than his old stomping ground in London, to make his case. Written by renowned author Howard Zinn, “Marx in Soho” is a brilliant introduction to Marx’s life, his analysis of society, and his passion for radical change. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028 7 p.m. $5-7 suggested.
THU.MAY 11
Screening: Reel Venus Film Festival Showcase
Launched in 2003, the Reel Venus Film Festival is a three-day event that showcases an eclectic body of film and video shorts, directed by emerging and established women filmmakers and video artists from the U.S. and abroad. Their work pushes traditional boundaries through storytelling methods that inspire, entertain, inform and provoke audiences with challenging topics, themes and images. Tonight’s screening includes an hour’s worth of selected shorts from previous Reel Venus Film Festivals. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028 7 p.m. $5-10 suggested.
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