Best Things To Do In NYC This Weekend
Just because winter's finally here doesn't mean you should hibernate in your house all weekend. Instead, get out, be seen, and have fun. Our picks for the best in eating, drinking, and merrymaking on Saturday and Sunday include lots of avant garde art festivals. Read on for details. By Jessica Allen.
According to artistic director Vallejo Gantner, this year's COIL festival of art, dance, and theater "attacks the very concept of boundaries and of limits. The boundaries between ideologies, life and death, the contemporary and historic, human and machine, light and darkness, audience and performer. Limitations of time, identity, age and geography disappear. The work we will see this year deals with evolutionary transformation." Tuesday, Jan. 5, through Sunday, Jan. 17, see schedule for details, tickets required.
The Under the Radar Festival spotlights theater that has flown under the radar at almost 200 theater companies from 40 countries over the past 12 years. You'll see new work from around the world, a series of plays, performers, musicians, and others who haven't had their big break -- yet. It's a celebration of diversity and a great opportunity to stand on the cutting edge and see what's what, long before anyone else does. Wednesday, Jan. 6, through Sunday, Jan. 17, see schedule for details, tickets required.
Taking over the Abrons Art Center on the Lower East Side, American Realness is a festival of dance, music, performance, theater, and various combinations thereof. We're particularly jazzed up about Sorrow Swag, which seeks to understand the language of sadness while exploring both melancholy and race, and Mass, which focuses on the possibilities of the body, as its three female performers form an interdependent being of movement, singing, and dancing. Thursday, Jan. 7, through Sunday, Jan. 17, see schedule for details, tickets required.
The eighth annual Cassoulet Cook-Off at Jimmy's No. 43 gives you all the power -- the power to choose the winner, that is. Professionals and amateurs alike will submit their best version of the hearty, flavorful French stew, and you'll taste your way to a favorite (come hungry and dedicated, as you'll be gobbling around 10 versions). One American beer, wine, or cider is included with your ticket. A portion of the proceeds will go to GrowNYC Greenmarket programs. Sunday, Jan. 11, 12 to 3 p.m., $30, tickets required.
Take off your pants! No, we're not coming on to you. Instead, we're recommending that you take off your pants, put on your cutest pair of undies (some participants have been known to wear two pairs), and join the comedians, revelers, jokesters, and regular folks for the annual No Pants Subway Ride. Put on by Improv Everywhere, the 15th annual event promises to be as fun, and as freezing, as in past years. Sunday, Jan. 10, 3 p.m., check the website for meet-up details, $2.75 MetroCard.