VirtVual
LINDSEY WALTERS
Out On The Town
AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER’S STREAMING OFFERINGS
The Grapes of Wrath
Through a special agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the professional theater troupe devoted to Shakespeare is one of the few able to stream full, filmed recordings of past productions. The current offerings are of two stagings from the past season of the center’s National Tour company, including a version of the Bard’s classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A timelier, bolder, and more unexpected offering is Frank Galati’s stage adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath. José Zayas directs a spare interpretation of the John Steinbeck Depression-era classic that relies on the 11-member ensemble for versatile storytelling enhanced with music, capped by “We Go On,” an original anthem from company member Madeline Calais that helps close out the show. Both productions are available through at least May 31 on the company’s streaming service BlkFrsTV, praised by the Wall Street Journal for its “webcasts [that] effortlessly convey the joyous experience of watching Shakespeare in Blackfriars Playhouse” — the center’s main, in-the-round theater space modeled after the original Globe Theatre and located in the historic Shenandoah Valley town of Staunton, Va. Tickets start at $10 per show in a “pay the price that works for you” scale that goes up to $100. Visit www.americanshakespearecenter.com. Compiled by Doug Rule
FILM AFI SILVER VIRTUAL SCREENING ROOM
The AFI Silver Theatre has never been closer to home as it is right now, virtually speaking. While its physical venue in Silver Spring remains closed, the AFI offers a rotating crop of titles available for streaming. Highlights among the lineup of films starting up on Friday, May 15: Up From The Streets, a celebration of the music of New Orleans directed by Michael Murphy, hosted by acclaimed jazz musician Terence Blanchard (who also serves as executive producer and music director), and featuring personal reflections or performance footage from homegrown musical giants, from the legends — Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, the Neville Brothers — to contemporary stars including Harry Connick, Jr. and Wynton Marsalis (a live
virtual Q&A with Murphy and Blanchard is Sat, May 16, at 7 p.m.); The Wolf House, a gonzo fairytale from directors Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León, performed in Spanish and German with English subtitles, and described as “David Lynch’s Eraserhead reimagined by stop-motion, avant-garde filmmakers the Brothers Quay”; and Band of Outsiders, the 1964 French New Wave classic by Jean-Luc Godard about a trio of would-be gangsters who spend more time with romantic antics and leisurely endeavors than committing crimes. Other highlights among the full slate of streaming selections presented through the AFI Silver are Rififi, an existential thriller from blacklisted Hollywood exile Jules Dassin, which was released in 1955 and would go on to set the standard for screen robberies for decades to come; Thousand Pieces of Gold, Nany Kelly’s rediscovered 1991 feminist Western, about a real-life young Chinese woman
sold into slavery by her poor parents and trafficked to America, a film that resonates powerfully in the #MeToo era; Spaceship Earth, Matt Wolf’s documentary about the bizarre, true, stranger-than-fiction story about the group of “unconventional visionaries” who spent two years quarantined inside the self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called Biosphere 2; and On A Magical Night, a playful romantic fantasy by acclaimed writer-director Christophe Honoré about a woman (Chiara Mastroianni) who confronts all of her past lovers over the course of an evening to play the psychological mind games “what if” and “stay or stray.” Ticket purchases benefit the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, with additional support to independent filmmaking and distribution. Visit www.afi.com/Silver.
ALAMO ON DEMAND: CURATED LIBRARY OF INCREDIBLE ENTERTAINMENT
Launched shortly after COVID-19
forced the closure of its cinemas, including the two in Northern Virginia, this national arthouse film chain’s Alamo-At-Home series was such a success, the company has decided to expand its eccentric virtual streaming offerings — with a focus on “challenging, provocative, and occasionally batsh*t insane films.” And the Alamo’s new video-on-demand platform has launched with plenty of films that fit that outlandish bill, including: Butt Boy, Tyler Cornack’s comedy/ thriller about a detective who is out to prove his wild theory about a mentor of his, one he suspects “uses his butt to make people disappear”; The American Scream, Michael Stephenson’s documentary about “home haunters,” or individuals obsessed with turning their properties into elaborate and horrifying spectacles, scaring the pants off their friends and neighbors every Halloween; Extra Ordinary, Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman’s indie horror-comedy starring Maeve
MAY 14, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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