Top 12 NJ Arts Events of the Week: Montclair Film, Dodge Poetry, Exit Zero festivals, more

DIEGO ARAYA CORVALAN/SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

John Malkovich, left, and Sam Rockwell co-star in “Wild Horse Nine.”

Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Oct. 22.

FESTIVALS

• This year’s edition of New Jersey’s leading film festival, The Montclair Film Festival, will take place at various locations from Oct. 16 to Oct. 23, with Rachel Maddow, Paul Giamatti, Julianne Moore, Jesse Eisenberg and Stephen Colbert among those making appearances.

The opening night film, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at The Wellmont Theater, will be “Wild Horse Nine,” black comedy action thriller about a 1973 CIA mission in Chile that co-stars John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey. (See trailer below)

Maddow, the producer of “Kill. Bury. Print,” and Ben Klein, the film’s director, will receive the festival’s David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking and participate in a question-and-answer session after a screening of the film at The Wellmont Theater, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. The film explores a 2023 conflict between a small newspaper and county officials in a sparsely populated area of Oklahoma. (See trailer below)

For complete listings, visit festival.montclairfilm.org.

PATTI SMITH

• This year’s edition of the biennial Dodge Poetry Festival — North America’s largest poetry festival — will take place at NJPAC and other Newark venues, Oct. 15-17.

The legendary poet and rock musician Patti Smith will appear in an event titled “Patti Smith: Songs and Stories,” Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. at NJPAC’s Prudential Hall. And a “Def Poetry Reunion,” featuring poets who appeared on the 2002-2007 HBO series “Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry” (better known as “Def Poetry Jam”), will honor Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poet with performances and tributes by Antoinette Ellis-Williams, D. Cross (Derick Cross), Kraal “Kayo” Charles, Bonafide Rojas, Chris “Flowmentalz” Cook and Liza Jessie Peterson.

Other festival participants will include U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess, Elizabeth Acevedo, Kimberly M. Blaeser, Stephanie Burt, Anthony Cody, Meg Day, Terrance Hayes and Adrian Matejka. And NJPAC will host a free Family Fun Day, Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with dance classes and performances and a Latino Heritage Celebration in addition to poetry readings.

KENNY GARRETT

• This fall’s edition of the biannual Exit Zero Jazz Festival takes place on six stages in Cape May, from Oct. 22 to Oct. 25, with Kenny Garrett, Marcus Miller, Chucho Valdés (in an 85th birthday celebration, with special guest Etienne Charles), The Danilo Pérez Trio, Michael Mayo, The Eddie Palmieri Experience (playing the music of the Latin-jazz giant, who died last year), The Marel Hidalgo Sextet, The Brian Betz-Behn Gillece Quartet, and others.

The festival will begin Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Convention Hall, with a gala featuring singer Kurt Elling and pianist Orrin Evans and benefiting the Cape May Jazz Festival Foundation. Pianist Kyle Roussel will open.

• The South Jersey Jazz Society‘s Jazz@ThePoint Festival will begin, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. at Gregory’s Restaurant in Somers Point, with a “Red, White & Louis” tribute to Louis Armstrong featuring a presentation by Ricky Riccardi — an Armstrong expert who is director of research collections at The Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, New York — with live music by The Bob Ferguson All-Stars (trumpeter Ferguson along with pianist Dean Schneider, bassist Jack Hegyi and drummer Lew Leabman).

Other shows at Gregory’s will include singer Paula Johns, presenting a tribute to Armstrong’s frequent collaborator Ella Fitzgerald, Oct. 16 at 9:30 p.m.; and trumpeter Terell Stafford, Oct. 17 at 9:30 p.m.

There will also be shows at Somers Point’s Gateway Playhouse, by trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.; and trumpeter Jon Faddis, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. (In 2011, Gordon released an album, Hello Pops! (A Tribute to Louis Armstrong), with his versions of songs associated with Armstrong, as well as some original tribute songs.)

JOHN CAVANAUGH

STEVIE VAN ZANDT

MUSIC

• Stevie Van’s Zandt’s educational TeachRock organization will hold its first Teachers Hall of Fame event at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. The evening will benefit TeachRock, celebrate Van Zandt, be hosted by Pete Davidson, and end with a “full performance” by Kool & the Gang.

Also, Tom Morello will accept a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of his mother, the late Mary Morello, who was an educator. The E Street Choir (accompanied by E Street Band members Charlie Giordano, on keyboards, and Anthony Almonte, on percussion) will perform, and comedians Jeff Ross and Ricky “Rickonia” Smith will make appearances. And there will be an auction with items donated by Ringo Starr, John Mellencamp, Nicki Germaine, Ron Aniello and others.

At 4:30 p.m., Van Zandt will be inducted into the Basie Center’s Walk of Fame, with Jon Bon Jovi participating.

• Newark Symphony Hall will present “Fela! The Concert,” Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. Inspired by the life and funky, high-energy music of Nigeria’s Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì (1938-1997), “Fela!” was a jukebox musical that ran off-Broadway in 2008 and ran on Broadway from 2009 to 2011, winning three Tonys. This touring concert version features 10 musicians and six singer-dancers. (see video below)

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

• Grammy-winning Mexican guitarist virtuosos Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero, who perform under the name Rodrigo y Gabriela, will bring their OurHome Tour to The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. They recorded their recent OurHome album in Japan and have described it as “both a love letter to Japan and a meditation on what it means to find home within yourself.”

• The veteran gospel vocal group The Blind Boys of Alabama – whose first lineup came together all the way back in 1939, at The Alabama Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind in Talladega — will perform at The South Orange Performing Arts Center, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m., and the show will include a 50th anniversary tribute to Stevie Wonder’s legendary Songs in the Key of Life double album.

THEATER

• Shakespeare 70 will present “If You Speak Love: An Affair With Shakespeare,” Oct. 14-17 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. at The Don Evans Black Box Theater at The College of New Jersey Center for the Arts in Ewing. The production, which takes its title from a line from Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” (“Speak low, if you speak love”), features scenes and speeches from various plays by The Bard.

• NEXTstage Repertory Company will present “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson,” Oct. 15 and 22 at 7 p.m., Oct. 16-17 and 23-24 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. at The Kutz Theatre at The Lackland Performing Arts Center in Hackettstown. Written by Kate Hamill and set in the post-pandemic London of 2021, this is a modern, female, comedic reimagining of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective team Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (here, Ms. Sherlock Holmes and Ms. Joan Watson).

MOSAIC DANCE THEATER COMPANY

Dancers depict the evils of Pandora’s Box in “Cassandra: An Ongoing Tragedy.”

DANCE

• Mosaic Dance Theater Company will present the world premiere of Ruth Cantrell’s “Cassandra: An Ongoing Tragedy,” Oct, 16 at 7 p.m., Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. and Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. at The First Congregational Church in Montclair. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a prophetess whose pronouncements were not believed. According to the Mosaic website, “Comparing Greek myths to modern day horrors, this world premiere depicts the eternal existence of hate and the ongoing impact of the evils brought forth from Pandora’s Box.”

There will be no admission charge, though reservations are recommended.

FILM

• The classic 1984 film “Ghostbusters” will screen with an orchestra playing Elmer Bernstein’s score live, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown.

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REVIEWS

“Rent” at Art House Productions, Jersey City. (Through Oct. 18)

“Hold These Truths” at Luna Stage, West Orange. (Through Oct. 18)

“Scott Harbison: Recent Sightings” at Galerie Lucida, Red Bank. (Through Oct. 18)

“Nacho Ate Spiderman” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through Oct. 25)

“Hank Willis Thomas: LOVERULES — From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 20)

“Hank Willis Thomas Selects: NJ Arts Annual” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 20)

“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1)
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