Cheap Chick Weekend Picks, April 10-12, 2009

Friday April 10th, 2009
Tango Lessons and Open Dancing
7:15 p.m. Introduction to Tango/Beginner
8:15 p.m. Intermediate level
Open dancing with DJ Lexa Rosean
Learn the dance of love (roses in mouth optional) with Leonardo Suarez Paz. Find out if you can channel the tango scene from Adams Family Values!
Cheap Chick Info: $9.99, $15 includes lesson
Location Info: Ukrainian East Village Restaurant, 140 2nd Ave (between 8th and 9th Streets)
Subway: 6 to Astor Place, N,R,W to 8th Street, F,V to Second Avenue

Alize Tasting
6 p.m.
Come and enjoy some free drinks with a few hundred of your friends (well they will be after you have a few drinks ;)
Cheap Chick Info: Free, but you need to RSVP here: http://www.eastvillagewineliquors.com/shop/custom.asp?recid=1
Location Info: East Village Wine and Liquors, 183 Stanton Street
Subway: F, V to Second Avenue

Saturday April 11th and Sunday April 12th, 2009
Ping Pong Tournament
Starts at 10:30 a.m.
I wonder if any of these players is as good as Forrest Gump...
Cheap Chick Info: Free!
Location Info: Columbia University Frances Levien Gymnasium, Dodge Fitness Center, Broadway and West 119th Street
Subway: 1 to 116th Street

Anarchist Book Fair
11 a.m.
Mmmm, subversive literature, fun times! Check out this book fair, which also includes panel discussions, movie screenings, and workshops.
Cheack Chick Info: Free!
Location Info: Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South
Subway: A,C,E,F,V to West Fourth, N, R to 8th Street, 1 to Christopher Street

Sunday April 12th, 2009
Easter Parade
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Grab that Easter bonnet and watch others parade down Fifth Avenue in the event made famous by the song. (or did the song become famous from the parade?) Who knows?
Cheap Chick Info: Free!
Location Info: Fifth Avenue from 49th Street to 57th Street
Subway: F to 47th-50th Street, F to 57th Street

Annual Easter Sunday Jewish Lower East Side Walking Tour
1 p.m.
Take a stroll with Big Onion Walking Tours and check out he founding site of the B’nai B’rith, the Jewish Daily Forward building, the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue, and sites associated with Rabbi Jacob Joseph, Abraham Cahan, and Lillian Wald.
Cheap Chick Info: $15, if a visit is made to the colonial cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel an extra $3 per person donation is required.
Location Info: Southeast corner of Delancey and Essex Streets, in front of the Olympic Diner
Subway: F to Delancey Street, J/M/Z to Essex Street

In the Red Room = a Play for the Right Price! Final Performance Feb. 26th, 2009

Gordon Farrell has taken the phrase "everyone has a story tell" literally in his new play "The Red Room/Every Woman Dances for Someone." The most shocking thing about the play is not, as one might think, the chosen setting of a strip club, but the slow realization that the character's tales of rape, abuse, and neglect were not the author's fictional creation, but true stories from real women; this is where the show finds its real power.

The rest of the production is deceptively simple; the set is marked in tape, the women's costumes are a study of black and red, with the only set adornment a set of wooden stools. While I was moved by the stories, which were delivered separately in monologue form, I found a few of the performances slightly exaggerated, the actresses putting on a show rather than actually connecting with the material.

Currently the production is playing on the second floor of a LES lounge. It's an intimate space, which fits the tone of the play, with most seating consisting of squashy couches sometimes cozily shared with one's neighbors. The only drawback of the space was the noise that sometimes filtered up from the first floor; I found its rowdiness an unfortunate contrast to the serious nature of the play.

Cheap Chick Info: $10 a ticket, Curtain rises at 8 p.m. sharp! Get there early because seating is limited.

Location Info: People Lounge, 163 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington, Take the stairs to the second floor.

Subway: F, V to Second Avenue