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Brian Slattery |
Dec 12, 2022 9:07 am
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New Haven-based ska band The Simulators had finished the second song of its skank-filled set at College Street Music Hall on Saturday afternoon when bassist Zachary Yost had a question: “Who’s enjoying spending all their money on all these lovely local vendors?” He meant the dozens of artists and artisans who had jammed into the place for the College Street Punk Rock Holiday Flea, which, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., changed the College Street performance space into a bazaar for original art, thrift clothing, instruments, records, and much more.
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 9, 2022 8:54 am
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As A Soldier’s Play — running now at the Shubert Theatre through Dec. 11 — opens, a group of faceless and as yet nameless soldiers join in a song. Their performance is full of strength, energy, even joy. But the song is a work song, captured at Parchman Farm, the notorious maximum-security Mississippi State Penitentiary, in which inmates were made to work in conditions all too reminiscent of slavery. The parallel is clear: these Black soldiers in the U.S. Army, at (the fictional) Fort Neal in Louisiana, deep in the Jim Crow South, are in some sense prisoners, trapped and laboring under a crushing system of racist oppression that they are in no position to be able to change. Though this being the Army, they do have the chance to be promoted in it, if they follow the rules and don’t make too much trouble. So what happens when one of them, Sgt. Vernon C. Waters, is shot to death under mysterious circumstances?
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 8, 2022 9:12 am
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On Wednesday evening, dozens gathered in KNOWN, the co-work space in the Palladium Building at 139 Orange St. It was part of KNOWN’s Wind-Down Wednesdays, a chance for people to exchange ideas and just relax. But the art on the walls — like Daniel Ramos’s Monk at the Ojo de Agua — wasn’t there as a coincidence; this particular Wednesday evening was a chance to celebrate the opening of “Assemblage,” a show put together by Kim Weston of Wábi Gallery. As it turned out, the gathering of humans at KNOWN was mirrored by the exhibition itself, which Weston conceived of as its own gathering of artists, and the ideas and spirit they share.
Gail Lerner set out to write a book about a brave 10-year-old girl who climbs trees in New Haven’s Edgerton Park — and summoned bravery of her own to complete it.
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 7, 2022 8:44 am
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Ferrer.
Early in his set, Fernandito Ferrer issued a humble apology; he believed he was a little out of practice. “I haven’t had too many gigs lately, and it’s cold,” he said. There was no need to apologize, no evidence that he was out of practice, as his hands nimbly worked the fingerboard and strings of his guitar and his voice wafted through a room full of people at Cafe Nine on Tuesday night.
The following writeup about a recent performance of The Nutcracker ballet at the Q House was submitted to the Independent by the nonprofit Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership (LEAP).
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 6, 2022 8:47 am
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Dexter Singleton.
As Collective Consciousness Theatre in Erector Square prepares to roll out its plans for 2023, artistic director Dexter Singleton thought back to 2021, when he first walked back into the theater after the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, which interrupted the company’s run of Dominique Morrisseau’s play Skeleton Crew. “We came back into CCT and we still had the Skeleton Crew set in there,” Singleton said. “Jenny” — Nelson, who directs many CCT productions — “said it was like walking into a time warp.”
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Karen Ponzio |
Dec 5, 2022 1:49 pm
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Karen Ponzio Photos.
Sarah Dunn and Kelly Kancyr.
On Saturday evening, four singer-songwriters — Sarah Dunn, Kelly Kancyr, Lisa Roberts, and Lys Guillorn — made Gather, the cozy coffee shop on State Street where just about anything and everything can happen, even cozier. They filled the eclectic space with their songs, stories, and a heavy dose of camaraderie and joy, each bringing their own unique sound and occasionally getting a little help from a friend.
Models walk the runway at 42nd annual Arts Awards.
The red carpet rolled out. An endless stream of apizza flew in the door straight from Big Green Truck’s ovens. DJ Cookie filled the room with tunes to get everyone on their feet.
And New Haven’s artists, designers, and fashionistas — some professional, some amateur, and a few still in strollers — gathered for an only-in-the-Elm-City celebration.
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Donald Brown |
Dec 5, 2022 9:02 am
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Joan Marcus Photos
Michele Selene Ang and Katherine Romans.
Set in Lexington, Kentucky (home of the University of), Leah Nananko Winkler’s The Brightest Thing in the World is a rom-com, a sitcom, and a story of addiction and recovery, of the bond between sisters, of goofy romance between a nerdy woman and a more worldly one. It has babbling drunks and maudlin drunks, tough honesty and an almost slapstick emergency, with enticing baked goods, cutesy Christmas paraphernalia, a random dance number, and a final scene of intense, visceral truth. The play, receiving its world premiere, is running now at Yale Repertory Theatre through Dec. 17, directed by Margot Bordelon.
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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 29, 2022 10:30 am
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Joey Batts.
“Year nine, can you believe it?” said Joey Batts, creator and organizer of Hip Hop for The Homeless, expressing his excitement about the annual live event, which begins on Thursday this week at The State House. It will go on to include seven shows at seven different venues throughout Connecticut, spanning the next two weeks. The event will focus on its yearly goal of raising money and collecting food, clothing, and personal hygiene items for specific organizations in each city where it is held, but it’s also focused on the local hip hop community.
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Kimberly Wipfler |
Nov 28, 2022 3:30 pm
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Kimberly Wipfler photo
The Connecticut Yuletide Carolers.
A quartet of carolers dressed in traditional Victorian holiday garb harmonized to “Silver Bells” as children laughed and passersby ambled along downtown’s busy sidewalks. Families gathered to listen outside of Union League Café, shopping bags and hot cider in hand.
Next door, children sat around tables to decorate ornaments with ribbons, bells, markers, and gems. Beyond the arts and crafts a professional ice sculptor worked his trade, using a chainsaw and chisel to carve out a holiday elf. And around the corner, Santa and Mrs. Claus posed for photos.
That was the scene on Saturday as downtown New Haven welcomed some winter holiday cheer in the form of the Town Green Special Services District’s annual “Hallmark Holiday,” which promised all-new events, special shopping promotions, and festive activities for locals and visitors alike.
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Laura Glesby |
Nov 28, 2022 3:00 pm
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On “Small Business Saturday,” a stack of Michelle Obama’s latest books made its way from the shelf of New Haven’s newest local bookstore to the former First Lady’s Facebook page.
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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 28, 2022 8:36 am
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Karen Ponzio Photos
The Lost Tribe with Tang Sauce and Ghazi Omair.
The Lost Tribe’s Jocelyn Pleasant greeted audience members as she made her way through the crowd at Best Video on Saturday night to gather up her bandmates and ready them for the evening ahead. Her love of community became the theme of the night, as the band convened with friends and fellow artists to celebrate connections and conversations through words, music, and film.
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Nora Grace-Flood |
Nov 23, 2022 1:30 pm
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The homemade spice rack Tsering Yangzom draws from while cooking.
Tibetan Kitchen partners in business and life: Yangzom and Sherab Gyaltsen.
Sherab Gyaltsen and Tsering Yangzom weren’t willing to spill the secret of their homemade magical mainstay chili spice-blend — but they did plump eight dumplings into a sizzling pan to reveal how to make momos you won’t forget.
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Brian Slattery |
Nov 23, 2022 9:09 am
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Njideka Akunyili Crosby
"The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born" Might Not Hold True For Much Longer.
We can’t read the expression on the subject of the painting, but that’s not where the eye goes anyway. Maybe we look first at the vibrant clothing she’s wearing. Or maybe we’ve already seen the element that makes the painting one to stop and linger at: that the carpet is in fact an elaborate collage of photographs. Whether we know the people in the pictures or not, we recognize them as people representing a place, a past, a culture. There’s commotion beneath the calm, questions beneath the assertiveness.
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Nora Grace-Flood |
Nov 22, 2022 12:20 pm
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Nora Grace-Flood photo
Bloom owner Alisha Crutchfield with a gift box she designed for the holidays.
Alisha Crutchfield gathered a blank journal, pens promising that “You Got This,” a homemade candle bathed in “blessings,” a chain necklace with the reminder that “Black Femmes Aren’t Your Playground” — and then labeled the overflowing arrangement the perfect present for “the person who loves self care and spending time alone after a long day of work.”
She did so to show how she busily assembles her top-selling products in personalized baskets for those seeking professional help upping their gift giving game — and as part of a broader effort to urge New Haveners to shop local this holiday season.
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Thomas Breen and Laura Glesby |
Nov 22, 2022 9:34 am
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Marc Massaro design
The approved new Wooster Square monument.
Thomas Breen photo
The Wooster Square Monument Committee at the site of the past and future statues on Tuesday.
(Updated) The group charged with coming up with an Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture to replace the long-gone Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square Park gathered at the site of the past and future monuments on Tuesday to celebrate a major milestone for the project — and to kick off a $300,000 fundraising drive.
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Brian Slattery |
Nov 22, 2022 8:43 am
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Sara Scranton’s “Spider Girl” partakes of old circus posters and underground comics from a generation past, but it has a modern twist that tweaks the formula. “Don’t get caught in her web,” the caption warns. It gives Spider Girl a little say in the matter.
That say is brought out in the poem by Karen Ponzio of the same title. “You speak of webs woven / Though your version of a trap is / My version of home. / Should I be punished for being hungry? / Is every ‘should’ a lure / Towards my demise? / Break my heart if it feeds / Your appetite or / Brings you joy. / I can rebuild anything / You attempt to destroy.” The poem, written in response to the painting, twists the painting even further, turning it inside out. Each piece amplifies the other.
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Lindsay Skedgell |
Nov 21, 2022 8:50 am
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Lindsay Skedgell Photos
Asher Kai.
Along the walls of Cafe Nine, two trans pride flags framed the stage as a crowd began to gather inside from the cold. The room quickly filled, with art vendors and band merch tables lined along the wall closest to the front door. Crowd members walked around in clear earrings with black lettering, the name ’T4T’ dangling from their ears. It was the beginning of New Haven’s Trans 4 Trans music festival, and performers had come from all over the Elm City, and as far away as Oregon, Philadelphia, and Boston, to be there.
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Brian Slattery |
Nov 21, 2022 8:35 am
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Marmol-Gagne.
Puppeteer and host Anatar Marmol-Gagne was trying to start the Pinned and Sewtered Puppet Cabaret at the State House on Sunday night. The problem: fellow puppeteer Madison J. Cripps, who attempted to hijack the audience’s interest with puppets, dance routine, and blazing harmonica. It seemed like chaos might reign for a moment, until he was dragged away by a giant red cane wielded by a silent stagehand. Marmol-Gagne smiled.
“Who invited you?” she said to Cripps, now offstage. “Oh, right. I did.”
Generations after he unleashed federal law enforcement to destroy the lives of people who disagreed with him, J. Edgar Hoover has finally met his match.
