TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK
What happens when the family of William Shakespeare tries to perform his greatest hits? In its performance this weekend honoring the Bard’s birthday, the Santa Fe Shakespeare Society imagines a scenario in which the famed playwright’s family has to take over a show because Shakespeare’s actors are lost at sea. For Shakespeare’s 454th birthday — though his actual date of birth is unknown — the society and the New Mexico Museum of Art are teaming up for the eighth annual Shakespeare Birthday Bash. The onehour show, “Shakespeare’s Whirled,” will include excerpts from “Romeo and Juliet,” “King Lear” and more. The show is Saturday starting at 7 p.m. at St. Francis Auditorium, 107 W. Palace Ave, with a reception featuring birthday cake and games to follow at the adjacent museum. The Shakespeare Society will be collecting $10 donations at the door. Seats can be reserved at 505-490-6271 or via email at info@SFShakespeare.org.
NATIVE MUSIC: The Institute of American Indian Arts’ Music Festival returns for its fourth year with a lineup of Native artists whose styles range from country to hip-hop. The all-ages festival, an all-day event from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, features acts including New Mexico Music Award-winning folk duo Indigie Femme and Son Of Hwéeldi, an Albuquerque-based rock/ soul group that refers to its music as “Resistance Rock,” and touches on the hardships of frontman J.J. Otero’s Hopi and Navajo ancestors. “Hweeldi” is the Navajo name for the Bosque Redondo, where the Navajo people were forced to walk to during the Long Walk in 1864. The festival closes with Nataani Means, a Santa Fe-based indigenous hip-hop artist and activist whose 2013 debut album, “Two Worlds,” and January 2018 album, “Balance,” address the struggles of modern-day Native people. MusicFest is free and open to the public at IAIA’s Dance Circle, 83 Avan Nu Po Road.
ITALIA MEETS SANTA FE: Andiamo! Whether you like documentary, action or comedy, enjoy a weekend of foreign film screenings during Santa Fe’s fifth CineFesta Italia’s happening this weekend. Three days of Italian feature-length and short films (all with English subtitles) kick off at 11:30 a.m. today at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave. The festival’s opening reception will be held there today at 5 p.m. All the shows will take place at the Cocteau except for a 6 p.m. Sunday screening of “A Ciambra,” a 2017 coming-of-age drama produced by Martin Scorsese, that will be at Violet Crown Cinema in the Railyard. Aside from screenings, there will be a film industry panel at the Cocteau Saturday at 10:30 a.m. covering topics that include how movements like #MeToo and #MarchForOurLives affect filmmaking. There also will be an Italian cocktail-making class at Osteria d’Assisi, 58 S. Federal Place, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased through cinefestaitalia. org. Cinefesta Italia screenings include free shows — seating is first come, first served — as well as ticketed events. Go to cinefestaitalia.org to see the schedule and prices.