NOV 2009: McCarter's Emily Man; Arts/Crafts Fair; Still Tickin' (Clockwork doc); Postively Main Street; Travel Writer Rolf Potts; O' Lucky Men;

8 PM, Fri. Nov 6
EMILY MANN
Playwright/Artistic Director of the McCarter Theater
Reading/Signing
MRS. PACKARD & TESTIMONIES
Recently selected as one of the 101 most influential people in the Garden State by New Jersey Monthly, Emily Mann, now in her nineteenth season as the artistic director and playwright in residence at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, has brought fame and notoriety (and even a Tony Award) to the university theater program. Mann, 56, has overseen 90 productions at McCarter—including shows from playwrights such as Edward Albee, Joyce Carol Oates, and Nilo Cruz. She has directed Jimmy Smitts in Anna of the Tropics, Amanda Plumber in Uncle Vanya (which she also adapted), Avery Brooks in The Cherry Orchard (also adapted), Frances McDormand and Linda Hunt in Three Sisters, Dylan McDermott in The Glass Menagerie, and Rosemary Harris in All Over (for which she received an Obie). In addition to several other acclaimed Broadway plays, Ms. Mann wrote/directed Having our Say, from the book by Sarah and Elizabeth Delaney, which had its premiere at McCarter prior to a successful Tony-nominated run on Broadway and a national tour. Her new play, Mrs. Packard, premiered at McCarter in May 2008. A recipient of the prestigious Hull-Warriner Award, the Edward Albee Last Frontier Directing Award, and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Princeton University, Ms. Mann is a member of the Dramatists Guild and serves on its Council. Both Ms. Packard and Testimonies, a collection of four plays, will be on sale at the event. Click HERE for more info regarding the McCarter Theater. FREE! Complimentary wine

8 PM, Sat. Nov. 7
STILL TICKIN’: The Return of Clockwork Orange
Documentary Film Screening
A Clockwork Orange drew record audiences for nearly a year before Warner Brothers and Stanley Kubrick (who was troubled by the extreme, nation-wide reaction to the movie) abruptly withdrew it from British distribution. Popular belief was that several vicious copycat attacks led Kubrick to rescind the film, but, in this rarely seen BBC documentary on the ban-and-return (27 years later) of the cult classic, his widow, Christine, confirmed rumors that Kubrick withdrew A Clockwork Orange on police advice, after violent threats were made against him and his family. FREE! (Natch)

Got Clocked? Orange you glad you did? We'd love to hear your feedback. Send us your review of The Raconteur/MCC co-production of A Clockwork Orange!

8 PM, Sat. Nov 14 (that's this Sat.)
POSITIVELY MAIN STREET
Hosted by JIM TESTA
Live Music w/John Raido and Jonathan Andrew. Plus picking prodigy, 15 year old Kaitlyn Raido (the best uke picker since George Harrison)! Musicians from all over New Jersey jam locally. Hosted by celebrated music zinester/Jersey Beat editor Jim Testa. Testa published the first issue of his Jersey Beat in 1982. It covers a wide cross section of the Garden State music scene, but most particularly Punk and its many off-shoots, including Hardcore, Old-Skool, Pop Punk, Synth Punk, Anti-Folk, etc. Several well-known zine writers have contributed to Jersey Beat over the years, including Donny The Punk, Jim DeRogatis, Ben Weasel, and Tris McCall. FREE! Click HERE for JERSEY BEAT.

8 PM, Tues. Nov 17
Peripatetic raconteur ROLF POTTS
Reading/Signing
VAGABONDING and MARCO POLO DIDN'T GO THERE
As some of you know, I'm getting my MFA in creative writing and literature at Bennington College in Vermont. A local byproduct of this is my inviting professors to Metuchen to read and perform at the shop. Many of you turned out to hear Pulitzer Prize finalist David Gates sing Shel Silverstein, and South African author Sheila Kohler read from her feverish novel-cum-film Cracks. Rolf Potts, despite his acclaim, is actually a fellow student. Rolf and I, both first termers, became good friends during the June residency, sharing a love for travel lit (Paul Theroux) and getting lit (Woodford Reserve). When Rolf is stateside (which is rare), he bunks at his 30 acre farm in Kansas, but a recent trip to Italy, where he scooped up the prestigious Bruce Chatwin award (becoming the first American author to receive this honor), has him returning by way of New York and he suggested a stop at The Rac.

A veteran travel columnist, Rolf Potts has reported from more than fifty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, the New York Times Magazine, Slate.com, Conde Nast Traveler, Outside, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), National Public Radio, Salon.com, World Hum, and the Travel Channel, . His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitching across Eastern Europe, hiking Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, and driving a Land Rover from Sunnyvale, California to Ushuaia, Argentina. Rolf's essays have appeared in over twenty literary anthologies, and sixteen of his stories have been short-listed for The Best American Travel Writing, including "Storming The Beach,'" which Bill Bryson chose as a main selection in 2000, and "Tantric Sex for Dilettantes," which Tim Cahill selected in 2006. Each July Rolf can be found in France, where he is the summer writer-in-residence at the Paris American Academy. Click HERE to read yourself some ROLF. FREE! Comp Wine. Books on sale at the event."Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age" —USA Today; "Potts is the kind of guy you wish the pubs had more of: well traveled, generous with funny stories, eager to listen to yours." —Washington Post

8 PM, Fri. Nov 20
O LUCKY MEN & IT ENDS IN G
Live Music
Like the sound of drunken pirates setting fire to their ship? Or a bottle of flaming poteen being hurled through a dead man's window? Then this night is for you. FREE!

8 PM, Fri. Nov 27
THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE...
Film Screening
Introduced by Ophuls scholar Laurence Mintz
To celebrate our recent influx of Criterions, we're screening this sumptuously restored print of French master Max Ophul's most cherished work. The Earrings of Madame De...is an emotionally profound, cinematographically adventurous tale of false opulence and tragic romance. When the aristocratic woman know only as Madame de (the extraordinary Danielle Darrieux) sells her earrings, unbeknownst to her husband (Charles Boyer), in order to pay personal debts, she sets of a chain reaction, the financial and carnal consequences of which can only end in despair. Ophuls adapts Louise de Vilmorin's incisive fin de siecle novel with virtuosic camera work so elegant and precise it's been called the equal of that of Orson Welles. Followed by a discussion. FREE!

8 PM, Sat. Nov 28
ACROSS THE STREET
Live Music
Blue Grass