This weekend’s activities include Alvin Ailey alum Kyle Abraham’s new work and an Italian dance company’s spin on Gershwin at City Center’s fall dance festival. Plus, check out a book festival in Brooklyn and a free series of 10-minute plays.
Read
Brooklyn Book Festival
St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church — 157 Montague St., Brooklyn (Downtown)
Sun. Sept. 29, 3:30 p.m.
Best-selling author Mateo Askaripour is among the many book lovers descending on Planet Brooklyn for New York’s largest free literary festival, which wraps on Monday
With his latest novel, “This Great Hemisphere,” the 33-year-old Long Island native transports readers 500 years into the future for a dystopian fantasy where the world is divided into the Invisibles and Dominant Population.
Following the success of his 2021 breakthrough “Black Buck,” Askaripour will join fellow futuristic scribes Ed Park (“Same Bed Different Dreams”), Marie-Helene Bertino (“Beautyland”) for a conversation about alternate worlds, narrative and speculative writing. The event will be moderated by literary publishing executive Lisa Lucas.
Free.
Art
“Just Frame It: How Nike Turned Sports Stars into Superheroes”
Poster House—119 West 23rd St., Manhattan (Chelsea)
Through Feb. 2025. Various times.
This new exhibit at the only U.S. museum dedicated exclusively to posters chronicles how sportswear giant Nike dominated the modern sports advertising business with its attention-grabbing campaigns.
The collection is curated by “The New Yorker Radio Hour” producer and alternative movie poster illustrator Adam Howard,
Michael Jordan’s 1985 Jumpman is the centerpiece of the 60 larger-than-life posters, like the 1989 Charles Barkley: Iron Will image (pictured above). The exhibit showcases photography by Bill Sumner, Chuck Kuhn, Bob Peterson, Gary Nolton, Ancil Nance and John Terence Turner, among others.
Nike is not a sponsor and has no affiliation with the exhibit.
Free on Fridays. $12 general admission with discounts available to seniors, students and visitors with disabilities.
Dance
Fall for Dance Festival
New York City Center — 131 West 55th St.,Manhattan (Midtown)
Through Sept. 29. Various times.
After kicking off its 2024-2025 season, New York City Center’s two-week long dance festival wraps up with works by former Alvin Ailey star Kyle Abraham (“Motorover”), Gandini Juggling (“Smashed 2”) and the U.S. premiere of CCN/Aterballetto performing “Rhapsody in Blue.”
The Italian dance company’s appearance will mark its first time at the festival with choreography by Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich based on George Gershwin’s famous musical composition which is celebrating its centennial.
Tickets are $30.
Film
Erika Alexander Mid-Career Retrospective
BAM Rose Cinemas — 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn (Fort Greene)
Fri. Sept. 27 and Sat. Sept. 28, 7 p.m.
Actress, producer and writer Erika Alexander, known for roles in the 2024 Oscar winner “American Fiction” and TV series like “Living Single,” “Black Lightning” and “The Cosby Show,” is celebrating her 40th anniversary in Hollywood with a mid-career retrospective.
The “Get Out” actress will be present to offer live commentary for a series that includes the 1990 drama “The Long Walk Home” and “American Fiction” as well as select episodes of “Living Single.” The 1990s sitcom, which also starred Queen Latifah, Kim Fields and Kim Coles, centered a group of young Black professionals in New York City.
Tickets start at $16.
Comedy
Laurie Kilmartin
West Side Comedy Club—201 West 75th St., Manhattan (Upper West Side)
Fri. Sept. 27. 7 p.m and 9 p.m.
Laurie Kilmartin, an Emmy-nominated staff writer for “CONAN,” headlines two comedy sets this weekend at the intimate stand-up haunt.
Some of her brew of dark humor is based on being a single mother, riffing on reading the diary of Anne Frank to her 9-year-old son and going down a rabbit hole about her menstrual cycle — and later watching porn with him to help him separate fact from fiction. Her latest comedy special, “Cis Woke Grief Sl*t” — now on Amazon Prime — was praised as “the bravest set of her career.”
Tickets are $25 for general admission.
Theater
“Places in 10”
A.R.T/ New York — 138 South Oxford St., Brooklyn (Fort Greene)
Fri. Sept. 27 and Sat. Sept. 28, 7p.m.
Members of Script Club NYC, the script reading and development collective who meet weekly at Roots Cafe in South Slope, will present short works that were voted on last spring.
Jan Aguilos’ “Heart in a Blender” — described as “tragi-comedy meet cute about a blender and a banana” — and Jason Schuster’s “De-Escalation” — about two employees at a mental health facility who disagree about approaches to patient care — are highlights of the two-night program of diverse and experimental storytelling.
Works by Andre Wells (“I Hate Dedham Mall”), Kendra Jones (“A Test of Taste”) and Aguilo (“The Box”) will also be staged.
Free but tickets can be reserved here.
Outdoors
Annual Harvest Festival
Field 62 — Wards Meadow Loop, Manhattan (Randall’s Island)
Sun. Sept. 29, noon-3 p.m.
Now that autumn is officially here, the Randall’s Island Park Alliance is hosting their annual family-friendly celebration with activities including face painting, samplings of fresh farm food from the Urban Farm, live music, arts & crafts, educational activities and more.
There’s also a pumpkin patch where kids can grab a gourd to carve at home and free treats to enjoy.
Free.
If you have an upcoming weekend event you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming roundup, please email: [email protected] with the details. Consideration does not guarantee inclusion.
