Gain a new perspective on climate change with puppets and absurdity
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Shay Latukolan’s choreography in Jungle’s music video for “Candle Flame,” featuring Erick the Architect. The duo never misses when it comes to its music videos. This time, Latukolan’s movement is emotive and fluid — a staple of Jungle’s own image. Hands glide and frame the face from moment to moment, allowing the dancers’ personalities to shine. And when they are centered around the dinner table, there are so many playful images created. Take a look and see what stories you can catch unfolding at the dinner table. I’m Steven Vargas, your L.A. Goes Out host, and here are the top events for this upcoming weekend recommended by the crew (sign up here for the newsletter):
Weekly Countdown
1. ‘Dimanche’
Get lost between worlds with a fantastical portrait of climate change. The Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Company Focus and Company Chaliwaté’s “Dimanche,” a play that incorporates puppetry, clowning, physical theater, video and absurdity to display the great lengths a family will go to uphold its daily life in the midst of climate change chaos. As the growing wind trembles the walls of their home and an unexpected storm intensifies, the family will do anything to keep up their routines. Meanwhile, a traveling group of animal reporters is documenting the last living species on Earth. Amid the fight for normalcy, a call to address climate change rings. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $40 to $60 and can be found on Broad Stage’s website.
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2. Seeking Zohn
Alejandro Zohn is a Mexican Austrian architect and engineer who may be an unfamiliar name to some, but a new exhibition with the Mak Center for Art and Architecture is introducing him to L.A. His work ranges from civic to commercial projects built between the 1950s and ‘90s and often incorporates angular rooflines and innovative use of brick. The exhibition is at the small, intimate space of the Schindler House in West Hollywood and juxtaposes Zohn’s large, urban building projects. The exhibition, recommended by The Times’ Carolina A. Miranda, is filled with ephemera of Zohn’s work, plus artistic commissions by Adam Wiseman, Lake Verea, Onnis Luque, Sonia Madrigal and Zara Pfeifer. The exhibition runs until July 23. Tickets to the Schindler House are $10 and can be purchased on Mak Center’s website.
3. Hear Now Music Festival
Fill your weekend with nonstop music at the Hear Now Music Festival. In its 12th year, the festival — running from Thursday through Sunday — explores the diversity of music being created in L.A. These upcoming performances — filled with plenty of world and West Coast premieres — are separated into three categories: an electroacoustic concert in collaboration with People Inside Electronics and Brightwork Ensemble, a multidisciplinary concert and chamber concerts. This recommendation by The Times’ Mark Swed takes place at the 2220 Arts + Archives in Westlake and tickets range from $15 to $25 for individual concerts and $51 to $85 for all four concerts. The lineup and more details can be found on the festival’s website.
4. ‘Sherrill Roland: Do Without, Do Within’
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery’s new exhibition by Sherrill Roland investigates the American criminal justice system through sculpture. Roland was wrongfully incarcerated for 10 months and later exonerated, and the experience influenced his new art at the gallery. His work incorporates the aesthetics and constraints of prison to help communicate the trauma of incarceration. The exhibition, recommended by The Times’ Deborah Vankin, features five new works that offer moments of self-reflection to understand the invisible costs and impacts of incarceration. The gallery in Hollywood is free and open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Details can be found on the gallery’s website.
5. ‘The Pilot Who Crashed the Party’
Tony Award-winning actor and Second City alum Paul Sand is debuting a new play. “The Pilot Who Crashed the Party” takes place in a mansion in the Santa Monica Mountains, where Sally’s (Jacqueline Wright) 50th birthday celebration is interrupted by the pilot (Sol Mason) of a small engine plane who crashed nearby. The surprise guest has everyone on edge and slowly, secrets and suspicions unravel. The show runs until May 7 at the Broadwater in Hollywood and tickets range from $20 to $35. Details can be found online.
Bonus round: ‘Symbiosis: Living Island’
Japan House Los Angeles has a new exhibition that focuses on the symbiosis of art, architecture, community and ecology. “Symbiosis: Living Island” explores the Inujima “Art House Project” used to revitalize the depopulated Japanese island. The project in Japan was developed in collaboration with Kazuyo Sejima to create art galleries and pavilions that focused on sharing sustainable art made from recycled materials, transparent acrylic and aluminum. The exhibition in SoCal is curated by Yuko Hasegawa and designed by Kazuyo Sejima, providing viewers with an experiential diorama of the island with architectural models, documentary videos and testimonies from residents on the impact of the “Art House Project.” The exhibition at the Hollywood gallery is free and open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Details can be found on Japan House’s website.
Your L.A. weekend, all mapped out
For a more comprehensive roundup of exhibitions, concerts, screenings, festivals and other events, check out Matt Cooper’s Culture Guide. The mapped list is a go-to for those who make plans based on the commute, and it also can be filtered by event type and price.
On my mind
Wednesday afternoon, I went to a Netflix event for “Beef,” a new A24 series created by Lee Sung Jin and starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong. The show, now streaming, follows a prolonged dispute between two people that began with a simple — yet outrageous — road rage incident. While the stars weren’t at the event in Hollywood, there were a variety of activities to unwind. And boy, did I need it after a prolonged apartment move. Activities included therapeutic painting, mindful planting and sage smudge stick making. To top it all off, fashion stylist Law Roach was there to dissect a few clips from the series.
Between clips, Roach reflected on his retirement from celebrity styling, making it clear that his own beef was directed at no one in particular.
“I figured out that I didn’t love myself,” he said. “All my rage was internal, and in that fit of rage, I was like, ‘You know what, get somebody else to do it.’”
While he’s secure in his decision, some of his clients aren’t. One of them “just won’t believe it,” he said. He recalled people reaching out for just one more look.
He said he left the business because he felt like he was suffering from his success and didn’t want his career highs to be linked with such negative energy. Roach said he felt like he had to suffer to prove himself, especially as a person of color. He recalled a time a boy in New York came up to him and said, “I know I can because you did.”
“Before me, I never existed in this world,” he said. “I became an example of what’s possible.”
While this event was invite-only, Netflix is hosting a public event in Koreatown at Love Hour from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. The event will include a hi striker with prizes, burgers and chicken sandwiches, plant giveaways and more.
I went to see “La Egoista” at Skylight Theatre in Los Feliz on Friday before it closed. The show follows Josefina (Lys Perez), a rising stand-up comic whose career is put on pause after her younger sister Betsaida (Chanel Castañeda) falls ill. The show combined stand-up comedy with live theater, switching from Josefina’s stand-up performances that interacted with the audience in the theater to scenes that rebuilt the fourth wall. While the performances were tear-jerkers, the transitions from stand-up to theater were often rocky. While Betsaida’s groans for normalcy were cemented in realism, Josefina’s quips were not. And the flow between the two got misconstrued from time to time. When audience members were invited to interact with the performers — at one point joining the duo on stage — it served as impactful comedic relief, but often distracted the audience from the story.
When the two worlds weren’t attempting to blend, the scenes and the central relationship between the sisters shined. Daphnie Sicre’s direction is sharp at these moments, continually reminding the audience of the mic awaiting Josefina’s grasp.
Go out speed round
Go out before it closes: Anish Kapoor’s solo exhibition at Regen Projects in Hollywood is coming to a close Saturday. The show focuses on Kapoor’s painting practice, displaying corporeal expressions on canvas that are both broad in color and texture — layering thick, blood-red impasto. The exhibition explores Kapoor’s interest in the juxtaposition of birth and death, being and nothingness. The gallery is free and open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Details can be found on Regen Projects’ website.
Go out for free: The Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center partnered with UCLA Beloved Community Initiative for the Beloved Community Awareness Week starting Saturday at Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown L.A. The celebration starts with August Wilson’s one-man show “How I Learned What I learned.” The presentation begins at 2 p.m. and is followed by a screening of “Bounce: The Don Barksdale Story” at 6 p.m. at UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. Programming runs until April 25. Check out the Inner City Cultural Center website for details on all the events and how to RSVP.
Go out and craft: The Getty is having a Nubian amulet-making workshop at the Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades, inspired by the “Nubia: Jewels of Ancient Sudan” exhibition. The drop-in workshop is free and allows families to create their own amulets using ancient techniques. The workshop is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and details can be found on the Getty’s website.
Go out with the kids: Ring in spring with a family-friendly event focused on wellness and community. Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Easy Mornings is a free event filled with performances, activities and workshops in downtown L.A. The event is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and details on all the fun can be found on Grand Park’s website.
Go out on a date: The Road Theatre Company’s play “Scintilla” is a family drama written by Alessandro Camon and directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky that’ll make your date night a bit more interesting, and possibly leave you questioning your in-laws’ family history. The show at NoHo Senior Arts Colony opens Friday and tickets range from $15 to $39. Details can be found on the Road Theatre Company’s website.
Go out all day: Skirball Puppet Festival is a day-long event, featuring puppet performances, a shadow lab and show-and-tell. The event at the Skirball Cultural Center in Brentwood is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and tickets cost up to $18. While advance tickets are sold out, walk-ups are welcome. Just be sure to get there early. To get a full rundown of activities, check out Skirball’s website.
Go out and wander: Time-travel back to the world of 1950s L.A. with “The Hotel Who: A Love Story.” The immersive experience at the Biltmore Hotel is a night full of riddles and eccentric characters. The overnight experience in downtown L.A. is the whole package: dinner, cocktails, love spells, a live band and brunch. While this event offers the opportunity to wander, also consider this a bonus date event. “The Hotel Who” opens Saturday and runs until July 15. Tickets range from $50 to $350 and can be found on Fever.
Go out all weekend: Couldn’t get a ticket to Coachella? Go to Day Club instead. The pool party series is returning to Palm Springs for a music festival that will get you in the mood for summer. The first of the two-weekend event starts this Saturday with performances by Vintage Culture, Dombresky and LP Giobbi and continues Sunday with Hot Since 82, Kyle Watson and Nora En Pure. Tickets range from $40 to $75, depending on the package, and details can be found on Day Club’s website.
Go out and dance: L.A. Dance Festival starts this weekend with back-to-back events running from Friday through Sunday, including dance classes, a documentary screening and a community town hall. Make sure to watch “Bella,” a documentary that explores the life and impact of California-based artist and activist Bella Lewitzky. The screening takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday at Brockus Project Studios in Lincoln Heights and costs $15. Details on all the events happening during the first weekend of the festival can be found online.
More from the crew here
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I’m all ears!
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Follow our feed of recommendations and itineraries on Instagram and Twitter, and if you have recs of your own, send them to steven.vargas@latimes.com.
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