News From The Queens Tourism Council
Enjoy the warm weather and have fun outdoors this week. Queens hosts a giant street festival, fishing, kayaking and Memorial Day parades.
If it rains, don’t worry. The borough has live music, art exhibits, theater, films, lectures, clowns and performance art at indoor venues. Have it both ways! Check out a circus under a big tent in one of our beautiful parks.
Here’s the rundown.
– Today (Thursday), May 23, “Big Apple Circus: Legendarium,” times vary (show runs until June 16). Enter the intimate “Big Top” circus, where the artists perform spectacular feats and no one sits more than 50 feet from the ring. See hilarious clowns, magnificent horses, playful pooches, soaring aerialists, flawless jugglers, astounding acrobats and a contortionist with a backbone as flexible as an archer’s bow. Cunningham Park, vicinity of Union Turnpike, 193rd Street, Francis Lewis Boulevard and Hollis Hills Terrace, Fresh Meadows, www.bigapplecircus.org.
– Thursday, May 23, Romeo and Juliet, 8 p.m. (nightly through Sunday, May 26 with additional 3 p.m. show on Sunday). Country reels and iambic pentameter come together in a new twist on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. This production places the famed feuding families in rural America in the 1930s and focuses on the ability (or inability) to express love. This R&J also highlights the youth of our tragic lovers and their cohorts, as the younger Capulets and Montagues run around like rival, hormonal Little Rascals gangs. The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., LIC, www.secrettheatre.com.
– Thursday, May 23, The Cinema of Immigration, 2 p.m. Part of a 10- week series exploring the immigrant experience in the U.S., the Queens Museum of Art presents I Remember Mama, a 1948 film based on a memoir by Kathryn Forbes about growing up in a Norwegian immigrant family in San Francisco. Mark Ethan, an Actors Studio member who has been presenting this series since 1998, introduces the movie and leads a discussion afterwards. Free. QMA, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, www.queensmuseum.org, 1-718-592-9700.
– Thursday, May 23, Armenia, Kenya and New York, 1 to 4 p.m. One gallery details the four sub-disciplines of anthropology-biology, archaeology, linguistics and culture studies-and includes case studies of Kenya and New York City. The other gallery traces the history of the Armenian people from ancient times to the 1915 Armenian genocide through
–CONTINUED FROM PG. 22- paths of immigration. Anthropology Museum of the People of New York, Queens College’s Kissena Hall, 64-19 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.nyc-arts.org, 1-718-428-5650.
– Thursday, May 23, The Big Read, 6 p.m. A screening and discussion on the dystopian 1960 film The Time Machine. Free. Queens Central Library, 89-11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica, www.queenslibrary.org.
– Saturday, May 25, Fiesta Mojo, 8 p.m. The Queens Jazz Orchestra celebrates the musical genius of Nat Adderly, Illinois Jacquet, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, jazz legends who lived in the borough. Fiesta Mojo is a rare Gillespie piece arranged by Jimmy Heath for Queens Jazz Orchestra. $40-$20. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing, www.flushingtownhall.org, 1-718-463-7700.
– Saturday, May 25, Design Zone Exhibit, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Create a video game, practice your DJ skills, or build a roller coaster while exploring how each uses math and science. Find out how videogame developers, music producers, roller coaster designers and other creative problem solvers use math and science to meet their design challenges. Free with admission ($8-$11). New York Hall of Science, Flushing Meadows- Corona Park, www.nysci.org, 1-718-699-0005.
– Saturday, May 25, Oye Corona, 1 to 7 p.m. First edition of a festival that will happen every third Sunday of the month for the summer. Live music by Ay Mayo: Música del Pacífico Colombiano, outdoor Zumba classes, social services booths and resources. Free. Corona Plaza, 103rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Corona, www.queensmuseum.org, 1-347-927-7895.
– Saturday, May 25, 1975, noon to 4 p.m. A group exhibition featuring three Cambodian women: Anida Yoeu Ali’s photographs and video installation recall life in a refugee camp following the Khmer Rouge’s fall; Amy Lee Sanford’s video and photographs depict the process of uncovering the turmoil of the late 1960s and 1970s; and LinDa Saphan’s elevation view drawings depict apartment buildings and architectural monuments in current-day Phnom Penh. Topaz Arts, 55-03 39th Ave., Woodside, www.topazarts.org.
– Saturday, May 25, Bayside Marina. Open until Oct. 1, check out fishing rod, boating, dock, mooring and kayak rentals, a bait shop and a snack bar. Vicinity of Cross Island Parkway between Northern and Bell boulevards, www.baysidemarinany.com, 1-718-229-0097.
– Sunday, May 26, Theo Metz, 2 p.m. World famous percussionist and composer Theo Metz marks the culmination of his 2012-2013 Exploring the Metropolis Con Edison Composers’ Residency at Flushing Town Hall. Event includes a lecture/performance of original electroacoustic pieces for electronics and vibraphone. Metz will discuss his techniques and how he came to write these pieces during the residency. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org, 1-718-463-7700.
– Sunday, May 26, Screening: Neil Young in Greendale, 5 p.m. As part of the ongoing Play This Movie Loud! series, the Museum of the Moving Image (MMI) shows this 2003 movie directed by rock star Neil Young. Shot over three weeks on a Super-8 underwater camera, the flick is between home movie and music video. Set in a seaside California town, the film follows the Green family as they try to navigate the troubled waters of contemporary American life by holding fast to a brand of political activism largely fallen to the wayside. The movie contains no dialogue-Young’s quietly insistent voice sets the pace and tone, speaking for the characters and narrating. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., LIC, www.movingimage.us.
– Sunday, May 26, Bolo & Claus, 1 p.m. (English), 3 p.m. (Spanish). Hilarious bilingual clowns Bolo and Claus travel around the universe in search of the Green Dragon, who they think is the guardian of a treasure of candies, chocolates, ice cream, lollipops and cookies. The dragon is very shy which makes him difficult to reach. (Some people say he lives inside an egg.) To find him, the audience checks out the planet, sails the oceans and crosses the continents until arriving on a mysterious island, where creatures such as elves, monsters, fairies and even a witch live. $14. Queens Theatre, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, www.queenstheatre.org.
– Sunday, May 26, Little Makers: Batter Up! Pancakes, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Explore kitchen chemistry and stir up pancake mix for the whole family to enjoy in this drop-in workshop. Recommended for ages 18 months and older. $8 per family, plus museum admission ($5 per family for members). New York Hall of Science, Flushing Meadows- Corona Park, www.nysci.org, 1-718-699-0005.
– Sunday, May 26, Make It: Woodworking, 2 to 5 p.m. Use creative skills to design and build wooden creations. Start by drawing a design or get inspired by the various shapes and sizes of the pieces of wood, then use sandpaper, a hammer and nails to put it all together. Recommended for ages 5 and older. $10 per adult/child pair, plus museum admission ($8 members). New York Hall of Science, Flushing Meadows- Corona Park, www.nysci.org, 1-718-699-0005.
– Sunday, May 26, Growing and Aging Talk/Tea/Reading, 1 p.m. The Voelker Orth Museum is currently offering a weekly reading-anddiscussion series in partnership with the New York Council for the Humanities. The museum provides the tea, the setting, reading materials and an engaging facilitator. Participants contribute to the discussion. The texts include poetry, essays and a novel exploring questions about entering middle age, growing older, caring for aged loved ones, and finding satisfaction in later stages of life. $5 suggested donation. Voelker Orth Museum,, 149-19 38th Ave., Flushing, www.vomuseum.org, 1-718-359-6227.
– Tuesday, May 28, Classical Music Concert, 11 a.m. The Tuesday Morning Music Club of Douglaston will present a concert followed by a sandwich lunch. Dorian Schwartz will play the oboe in Concerto in B flat by G. Handel. Ronald Meixsell, bass baritone, will sing four R. Strauss songs with Aglaia Messina on piano. Gene Keyes, clarinetist, will render compositions by H. Busser and J. Williams as well as music from Cinema Paradiso by E. and A. Morricone and Nightclub 1960 from Histoire Du Tango by A. Piazzola along with pianist Messina. Douglaston Community Church, 39-15 Douglaston Pkwy., Douglaston, 1-516-466-4034.
– Wednesday, May 29, Natalie Green: I’m building a shrine, 8 p.m. (repeats nightly until Saturday, June 1). The Chocolate Factory concludes its spring 2013 season with a new performance by Natalie Green. Her first evening length dance is personal and expressionistic. It is meant to be experienced as a dream, though it is grounded by earthly motivations. $15. The Chocolate Factory, 05-49 49th Ave, LIC, www.chocolatefactorytheater.org, 1-718-482-7069.
– Wednesday, May 29, National Senior Health & Fitness Day, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Cross Island YMCA celebrates Older Americans Month. Light refreshments, and consider the following: Aqua Exercise; The Joys of Yoga at Every Age; Queens Village Walgreens; Zumba; Active Older Adults Aerobics. Free. Cross Island YMCA, 238-10 Hillside Ave., Bellerose, www.ymcanyc.org/ crossisland.
The “It’s In Queens” column is produced by the Queens Tourism Council with the hope that readers will enjoy the borough’s attractions.
