OF NOTE- People In The News: Wednesday, November 13

OF NOTE
People In The News

“The Great Tamer” opens at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Nov. 14, directed and choreographed by artistic heavyweight of the Greek experimental theater DIMITRIS PAPIOANNOU, who’s also known for his work as a painter, comic book artist and for creating the opening ceremonies performances for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. “The Great Tamer” is a one-and-a-half-hour commentary on the darkly absurd aspects of the human experience, featuring 10 performers on a shape-shifting stage and set to variations of the “Blue Danube” waltz by Strauss. The performers move through interpretations of classical artwork and Greek mythology, including Michelangelo’s “David,” Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and the love affair between Narcissus and his own reflection. “It’s a kind of poetry that doesn’t take itself seriously,” Papioannou told Brooklyn Paper. “It sometimes deals with dark issues, but hopefully in a light way.” The show runs through Nov. 17 at BAM. 

YOKO SUETSUGU just celebrated the two-year anniversary of her Greenpoint gallery Haco, an interactive art space that features not only exhibitions but DJ performances, aroma therapy, rumba concerts, workshops, Pilates classes and more. Haco stands for “Human Art Core Odyssey,” and is also the word “box” in Japanese. The reason for the double meaning, Suetsugu told greenpointers.com, is that Haco was conceived as a “multi-dimensional cultural project space that serves as an empty box with unlimited capacity to hold inspiration and new experiences.” The gallery’s most recent show, “Drench,” was a group exhibition featuring work from Suetsugu along with artists BENNY BONTEMPO and JOSUÉ GUARIONEX, incorporating sculpture, paintings and projections. Despite its Williamsburg location, Suetsugu describes Haco as “a small, individualistic and definitely non-commercial gallery that is far from hip.”

Brooklyn opera group Regina Opera Company is celebrating its 50th season this month. The company has grown from a modest ensemble of amateurs to a full-fledged opera house within the OLPH Auditorium at Catholic Academy of Brooklyn, drawing increasingly large crowds and staging ambitious productions since its 1970 inception. This month, the company will stage four showings of “Carmen,” the story of a soldier and his love for a beguiling gypsy, featuring LARA MICHOLE TILLOTSON and CAROLINE TYE switching off in the opera’s title role. Conductor GREGORY ORTEGA is in the orchestra pit and LINDA LEHR is behind the production’s staging. The show opens Nov. 23 and runs through Dec. 1, with a preview performance Nov. 19. 

Caroline Tye — Photo via carolinetye.com; Dimitris Papioannou — Photo by Julian Mommert; Sabina Montinar — Photo via Facebook

In “Lady Liberty,” a new book from Fordham University Press, writer JOAN MARAN DIMS probes the Statue of Liberty’s promise for the generations of immigrants that have passed through New York Harbor, as well as the newcomers arriving today. With a foreword from journalist JOSEPH BERGER and cover art by artist ANTONIO MASI, “Lady Liberty” is an unvarnished history of the most celebrated statue in America. Dims, who has spent a 30-year career as a novelist, historian and PR strategist, is also the author of “New York’s Golden Age of Bridges,” which dives into the art and history of the city’s nine major large-scale bridges. She’ll be at the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library Nov. 16 for a “Lady Liberty” signing. 

SABINA MONTINAR, operations coordinator at Sunset Park-based business Fabscrap, is hoping to change the way the fashion industry recycles its offcasts. “We’re trying to address the problem of textile waste,” Montinar told the Brooklyn Eagle, adding that fashion is one of the top three most polluting industries worldwide. Fabscrap collects, sorts and recycles unwanted garments from designers and other fasion-related businesses in the city, recycling about 12,000 pounds of fabric per month. Small scraps get a second life as items like carpet padding and furniture lining, while larger pieces become available for purchase for artists and crafters. “It’s a treasure hunt,” quilter CHRISTINA MARNEY, who shops at Fabscrap’s Sunset Park warehouse, told the Brooklyn Eagle. “I have found the craziest things going through my bags.”

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