Weekend Guide: Jerrod Carmichael, Brooklyn Americana Music Fest and more

By Joshua Encinias

The fall cultural season is underway (even though it’s technically not fall for another two weeks) and this weekend brings with it a deluge of festivals, concerts, street fairs and more.

The 3rd Annual Adult Film and Theatre Festival (not an erotic film fest, so don’t get your hopes up) comes to Bushwick on Friday with movies by local filmmakers and performances of two one-act theatre pieces. Meanwhile, the play “The Voices in Your Head” returns to St. Lydia’s after a sold-out debut in January, and the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival keeps the beat through Sunday.

It’s also St. Paddy’s in September: On Saturday, the 43rd Annual Great Irish Fair of New York returns to mark the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day. Not your jig? Come hungry to the Block Party Bake Sale ‘24 where Chefs for Impact are aiming to raise $10,000 to support their youth programs on Saturday afternoon. And on Saturday night, get groovy with STS9 at Brooklyn Steel.

The 14th Annual NY Pizza Run comes to Fort Green Park on Sunday morning to raise money for (ironically?) the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Then jog over to the Back to School Party in Brooklyn Heights on Sunday afternoon to celebrate your kids’ impossibly packed schedule.

Somehow we’re only two weeks away from October so enjoy the fall vibes before Spooky Season arrives!

Friday, September 13

3rd Annual Adult Film and Theatre Festival
Friday through Sunday and the weekends of September 20 to 22 and 27 to 29
Adult Film is an actor’s collective in Bushwick focused on the relationships between actors, writers and directors (and it is not,  you know, “adult” film). Members live and work on three floors of their Bushwick brownstone where they produce our more intimate plays, hold acting classes, screenings, and more. AF’s third Film and Theatre Festival takes place this weekend and next where you can expect six days of short film and feature film screenings from local NYC filmmakers, including the new short “Summer’s End” by Brooklyn filmmakers Grant and Adam Conversano. Two one-act theatre pieces will also be performed, “This is the Rill Speaking” by Lanford Wilson, and “Savage/Love” by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin. 350 Cornelia Street. Tickets are $33.85.

Brooklyn Americana Music Festival
Through September 16. Venues and times vary.
Bands, musicians, and performers from Brooklyn, Austin, Knoxville, Louisville, New Orleans, Switzerland and the U.K. all converge in the borough for four days of folk, Americana, and country. Participating venues include Jalopy Theatre, Dumbo Archway, 68 Jay St. Bar, Sunny’s, Superfine and, new this year, Cafe Wha? Highlights include Jolie Holland, Smokey’s Roundup, Wilson & Walsh, and more. Check the festival’s sites for the full calendar. Yeehaw!

Smith Street Stage’s ‘Richard II’
Ongoing until September 28, various showtimes
Smith Street Stage’s upcoming production of “Richard II” taps into timely political themes, compellingly exploring the transfer of power and its consequences. “Richard II” provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the fragility of leadership and the forces that drive change. Smith Street Stage is committed to demystifying and making Shakespeare’s work relatable and accessible, inviting audiences to see the contemporary world reflected in these very old stories. 291 President Street. Tickets begin at $25.

Post-apocalyptic opera, ‘mɔɹnɪŋ [morning/mourning]’
Performances continue through Saturday
Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary composer, performer, and sound artist Gelsey Bell’s post-apocalyptic opera entitled “mɔɹnɪŋ” (the phonetic spelling of both “morning” and “mourning”), continues on Friday and Saturday in the Catacombs of Green-Wood Cemetery, presented by Death of Classical. Bell’s work, for five singers and instrumentalists, was inspired by Alan Weisman’s book “The World Without Us.” “mɔɹnɪŋ [morning//mourning]” begins just after humanity has disappeared from the Earth and traces the weeks, months, years and millennia that follow. With its sold-out Prototype Festival performance regarded as “sly and sweet, wistful and winsome and altogether lovable” (according to The New York Times), the opera is a simultaneously whimsical and profound tale about the transience and timelessness of life. 500 25th Street. Tickets are $65.

‘The Voices in Your Head’ at St. Lydia’s
Ongoing until October 6
Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective will remount the hit dark comedy “The Voices in Your Head,” produced in association with Billy McEntee and Those Guilty Creatures and returning to St. Lydia’s from September 9 to October 6 following its celebrated, sold-out world premiere in January. “The Voices in Your Head” follows eight New Yorkers as they exchange stories, escape the ridicule of the outside world, and build an oasis, even as individual needs test the group’s stability. Staged for an audience of 20 each night at a cozy, storefront church, The New Yorker’s theater critic Helen Shaw said of the show, “If you need a morsel of sweet weirdness, acted by top-shelf Off-Off megastars, try The Voices in Your Head — warm, witty, bonkers.” 304 Bond Street. Tickets are $39.72.

The Billie Holiday Theatre Presents Sky’s The Limit: Style As Resistance
Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Billie Holiday Theatre will present a new exhibition with “Style as Resistance,” a unique visual art exhibition experience exploring the concept of Black resistance through fashion and style. “Sky’s The Limit: Style as Resistance” takes a look at how style has played an integral role in the journey, survival and advancement of the African diaspora. This exhibition explores style through sculpture, painting, and photography as a form of resistance. All pieces are available for sale. 1368 Fulton Street.

Saturday, September 14

The 43rd Annual Great Irish Fair of New York
Celebrate the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day on September 14 at the 43rd Annual Great Irish Fair of New York. Taking place at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Prospect Park, the fair hosts musicians, dancers and all things Irish, including a presentation on the Good Friday Agreement and its lasting impact on the Northern Ireland peace process. Plus, there’s a bounce house for the kids. 245 Prospect Park West.

Ride the R32 ‘Brightliner’ to Coney Island
10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The stainless steel R-32 trains had an incredible six-decade run, from 1964 to 2022. Built by the Budd Company, the lighter steel construction made for a more efficient ride, while the shiny fluted exteriors inspired the car’s nickname, the Brightliner. On September 14, the Brightliner returns for one day, taking riders from the 96th Street-Second Avenue station in Manhattan through the Coney Island yard and back. The round-trip journey lasts around 90 to 120 minutes (with no option to hop off at Coney Island). Various prices.

Block Party Bake Sale ‘24
12 to 3 p.m
Chefs For Impact will host its inaugural Back to School Bake Sale Block Party on Saturday with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Nimbus Kitchen in Downtown Brooklyn. Chefs for Impact collaborates with Michelin Green Star chefs, local farmers and sustainable luxury brands to educate communities through youth programs, impact dinners and events that promote sustainable food choices. At the bake sale, a group of the city’s top bakers will come together to help raise $10,000 for their youth programs. 383 Bridge Street. Vouchers are $5 and include entry to the bake sale. Each participant must buy at least one voucher for entry.

Harvest Festival
3 to 4:30 p.m.
The first concert of Repast’s Feast Days season celebrates the harvest season with French baroque music glorifying rustic life. The performance includes musicians Aisslinn Nosky and Natalie Rose Kress, violins; Kevin Devine, hurdy-gurdy; Stephanie Corwin, bassoon; Sarah Stone, cello, and Gabe Shuford on harpsichord. They will be performing music written by brothers Nicolas, Pierre, and Esprit Phillippe Chedeville, who wrote music for the amusement of the French aristocracy. 116 Pierrepont Street. General admission tickets are $39.19.

Brasswick: An Urban Brass Band Festival
3 to 9 p.m.
Brasswick is an annual urban music fest showcasing the brass band scene in New York. This year’s festival comes to the Industry City Bandshell on Saturday. Brasswick originated in a Bushwick community garden six years ago and has sprouted in different neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn ever since. They’ll end the night with a NOLA-style jam session open to all musicians. Bring your horn, drum, or whatever else makes noise! 220 36th Street. Tickets are $17.42.

STS9 at Brooklyn Steel
8 p.m.
Sound Tribe Sector 9 is an instrumental band whose sound is based heavily on instrumental rock and electronic music, funk, jazz, drum and bass, psychedelia and hip-hop. They bring their extravagant show to Brooklyn Steel on Saturday night. 319 Frost Street. Tickets begin at $59.76.

Jerrod Carmichael at The Bell House
10:15 p.m.
The Emmy-winning comedian — who currently stars in HBO’s “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show,” which can be streamed on Max — brings his laconic, casual-yet-angsty stand-up to The Bell House. Tickets are going fast. 149 Seventh Street. $27.21.

Whorechata x Tótem Presents AROUND THE WHORELD: 1 Night in CDMX
11 p.m.
For the first part of a three-part residency at Market Hotel, AROUND THE WHORELD is bringing three different club scenes from three iconic cities to Brooklyn. For the first leg of their journey, you’re headed to Mexico City. Expect to be sonically teleported by four CDMX legends, some of whom have never played in NYC before, including El Nick DGO, DJ Guapis, Kebra and Juni, as well as resident Whorechata DJs Roman Sensation b2b Oyystersauce. 1140 Myrtle Ave #957. Early bird tickets are $20 and they go up to $30 later.

Sunday, September 15

14th Annual NYC Pizza Run
11 a.m.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to run a 5K but there just wasn’t enough pizza involved. Well, have we got a treat for you! The NYC Pizza Run is a challenge in which participants of all ages attempt to complete a 5K run while stopping to eat two slices of pizza along the route. What could go wrong? Registration fees include the following: race admission, an official NYC Pizza Run t-shirt, a custom race bib, two slices of pizza to be consumed during the race, a pizza gift bag, and a free drink at the NYC Pizza Run afterparty. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Fort Greene Park, 320 Myrtle Avenue. $76.54.

Back to School Party in Brooklyn Heights
12 to 4 p.m.
Brooklyn Bridge Parents x Mommy Poppins powered by Community Offshore Wind presents their bigger-than-ever annual Back to School Party during September 15’s edition of Open Streets on Montague. There will be 40 free activities for kids, performances, games, arts & crafts, soccer, bubble shows, face painting, kids fitness classes, obstacle course, a DJ and much more. Live performances will include a kids’ concert by Hoppalong Andrew and a dance party by Hype Dance. Montague Street. The rain date is Sunday, September 22. Free.

New York Caribbean Jazz Festival
4 to 10 p.m.
Get ready for a fusion of Caribbean rhythms and smooth jazz vibes at the New York Caribbean Jazz Festival. The day will be filled with music, food, and good vibes. Held at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, get ready to dance to the rhythm of Caribbean jazz music. 145 Brooklyn Avenue. Tickets are $81.88.

Liz Miele: ‘Space Camp’ Special Recording
7 and 9:30 p.m.
Comedian Liz Miele is back at The Bell House on Sunday to film her sixth stand-up hour, “Space Camp.” Miele regularly tours internationally and has five albums with a combined 6+ million views on YouTube. Her last special was listed on the New York Times, Paste Magazine, and Interrobang “Best Comedy Specials of 2022” lists. 149 7th Street (Between 2nd and 3rd Ave). Tickets are $30.55.