Wow, it’s finally spring! But hey, guess what, spring is not the only good thing that happens in March. It’s also Women’s History Month, and there are so many amazing events highlighting women’s accomplishments and activism this week! From avant-guard theater standup to jazz to hiphop, this week has you covered for amazing events any woman (or man) can get behind.
Fri 25: Too Many Ladies Smash the Patriarchy
Kraine Theater, 85 E 4th St, 10:30 PM, $20 (advance)/$25 (door)
Have you been to see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind yet? If you haven’t, why are you wasting your precious New York City theater-going opportunities? If you have, you know that it’s a truly joyful, bizarre experience, as the audience and performers race to see if it is possible to perform 30 original plays in 60 minutes. There’s always a line out the door for tickets, but I’ve still managed to see it plenty of times. This week’s performance is special, with an all-female cast presenting feminist plays to benefit the nonprofit theater company Girls Be Heard.
Fri 25: Wine Drunk & Writing: The Pro Show!
Caffe Vivaldi, 32 Jones St, Midnight – 1:00 AM, Free
Women aren’t funny! Regrettably underwhelming documentary, or something that was insinuated at me during the years I did stand up in Seoul, South Korea? It’s both, but that’s something you’ll never say again after you check out Kaytlin Bailey’s free, all-female lineup at the charmingly intimate Caffe Vivaldi.
Sat 26: Art of Yoga
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM, Free with museum admission
Yoga at the Museum is back! No need to bring a mat with you to the museum; the event coordinators have you taken care of there. Just grab some water, enjoy some sun salutations with a friend or a date, and get ready for a late morning stroll of some of the best art in New York City! If you wish, you may choose to enjoy a guided art tour that explores the connections between art and yoga, following the session.
Sat 26: Pop-Up Coloring Bar
The Strand Rare Book Room, 828 Broadway, 3rd Flr, 11:00 AM- 5:00 PM, Free
We’ve all seen friends post their coloring pages on Facebook, and as more and more people jump on the coloring train it has become clear that as far as relaxation powers go, coloring books go much further than that zombie-fighting iPhone game you’ve been playing. The Real Art Therapists of New York want you to experience the therapeutic powers of coloring with pages from their art book, which features pages from over 50 art therapists working in New York.
Mon 28: Union Square Green Market
North and West side of Union Square, 8:00 AM- 6:00 PM, Free to sample
At a recent trip to the Union Square Market, a friend and I wondered if we could muster the confidence to return to a cheese vendor to sample all of his wares just one more time. Perhaps we would wear false mustaches; perhaps we could put on British accents. We ended up doing neither of these, but perhaps you can at this fantastic green market, which also features a lovely flower market where I bought the hyacinths that are currently making my apartment smell like a full-on funeral parlor (in a good way).
Mon 28: Women’s Jazz Festival: Bernice Reagon Johnson Compositions
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY Public Library, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, $25 (members) / $30 (non-members)
Sometimes jazz music can feel like a boy’s club, with a token women singing along to an all-male group of performers. This Monday, celebrate legendary composer and civil rights activist Bernice Reagon Johnson, whose contribution to composition, songwriting and performance has spanned half a century.
Weds 23: Movie Freak with Owen Gleiberman
Videology, 308 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, 7:00 PM, Free
Look, we get that you’re obsessed with movies. You make brackets for the Oscars every year and you write extremely long Facebook posts about movies that impact you. But are you movie-obsessed to the level that you founded movie writing for Entertainment Weekly, writing for them for twenty-four years? Probably not, but Owen Gleiberman is. Here’s your chance to hear him discuss his movie-watching memoir.
Stick around for Twin Peaks Trivia!
Thurs 31: Islam & HipHop
238 Thompson St, 4th Fl, 6:30 PM, Free
Hip hop, like jazz, is a genre of music that tends to feel distinctly male in nature, and its intersection with Muslims in the United States is a line that feels a lot less clear than, for example, the line that exists in France, where a great deal of hip hop comes from (mostly Muslim) Algerian-French. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer explores the subtle interplay between race, religion, gender and hip hop in her one woman show, Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life.
