Virtual, With a Twist
The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center has launched “Watch With WHBPAC,” a virtual film series with a twist. A new title will be available every other Tuesday, beginning on Feb. 2 with “Fast Color,” a science fiction thriller about a young woman with supernatural abilities who must go on the run when her powers are discovered.
The twist is that each film can be accessed by computer from the WHBPAC Watch Party on Amazon.com. While the film is streaming, viewers can comment on the action. Allison Frost of the performing arts center compared it to a book club, “only we get to discuss the media as we go along.”
In order to participate, viewers will need to have an Amazon Prime account, and the technology limits the number of participants for each film to 100. Most of the titles are free with Prime membership, and there is no charge for the Watch Party. An email to [email protected] will secure a link to WHBPAC’s Watch Party on Amazon. People can R.S.V.P. for one title or all of them.
Subsequent programs will feature “Stuffed” (Feb. 16), “Generation Wealth” (March 2), “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present” (March 16), and “A Suitable Girl” (March 30).
The center also has a virtual cinema program that includes six of the official submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Comedy Online
Bay Street Theater has announced the return of Joseph Vecsey and “All Star Stand-Up Comedy,” with a virtual showcase set for Thursday night at 8.
The series was founded in 2010 by Mr. Vecsey, a New York-based comedian who has toured with Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Rob Schneider and is a co-producer and star of the Netflix series “The Wrong Missy.”
Mr. Vecsey’s guests tonight will be Chris Clarke, Brendan Sagalow, and Aiko Tanaka. Mr. Clarke has a YouTube channel, Csnacks, which has attracted over 40 million viewers, and an hour special on the Cooking Channel. Mr. Sagalow, the winner of the 2015 New York Comedy Club competition, has a weekly podcast, “Garbage Days,” and a Patreon show. Ms. Tanaka travels the stand-up circuit and has appeared in “Malcolm & Eddie,” “My Wife and Kids,” and on ”The Howard Stern Show.”
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased on the theater’s website.
Perlman Program
The Perlman Music Program is taking some of the sting out of winter and quarantine with two virtual series of classical concerts. The Virtual Works in Progress series, presented in partnership with the Neue Galerie in Manhattan, features performances by students and alumni of the music program. It begins Friday at 5 p.m. and continues at the same time on Feb. 26, March 19, and April 23.
The Stires-Stark Alumni Recital Series will kick off on Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. with a performance by the Ariel String Quartet. Subsequent programs will feature Stella Chen, a violinist (March 14), Michelle Cann, a pianist (April 11) and Ilya Gringolts, a violinist (May 2).
Both series can be accessed from the Perlman program’s website.
