‘Nowhere to Wear It’ party in Northampton
The Sphere, a nonprofit for female and nonbinary entrepreneurs, will host a “Nowhere to Wear It” party at its headquarters in Northampton (82 Maple St.) on Sunday, Aug. 24, from 4 to 6 p.m.
The event is for guests to wear outfits they don’t have the opportunity to otherwise – very fancy dresses, perhaps, or shirts with raunchy slogans – something that might otherwise be sitting in a closet.
“Just arrive in any outfit you want,” the event description said. “We’re hoping this will spark some fun and engaging conversation. In fact, we’re sure it will! This is about real connections in a comfortable, welcoming space.”
The party will also have music, a photo booth, and charcuterie snacks. Guests are also allowed to bring their own drinks.
Tickets are $12.51 via Eventbrite.
Photography show by local young moms
AIRSpace Gallery in Amherst will host “Listen to My Photographs,” an exhibition showing work by local young moms, through Friday, Aug. 22.
The exhibiting artists are clients at The Care Center in Holyoke, a social services organization for young mothers, and created their work at a photography workshop in July, where they learned about DSLR and film photography, cyanotype printing, and digital photo editing.
The artists include Kaylei Heng, Iris Damaris Lopez, Erianys Menendez, Saray Ortiz Diaz, Azariya Fernandez Cage, Nayelis Aviles, Aaliyah Carrion, Aysha Pereira, Sairenys Perez Serrano, Gricelides Saex, Kristina Scott, Je’Nye Williams, and Geleydie Santiago.
The exhibition is free and open to the public, and it’s open Tuesday through Friday from 12 to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m.
‘Memory as protest’ at A.P.E.
A.P.E. will host “Records: Memory as Protest” at 33 Hawley from Wednesday, Sept. 3, through Sunday, Sept. 28, with an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. The show is the first group exhibition produced by the gallery’s Emerging Curator Program.
The show includes photography, sculpture, visual diaries, textiles, mixed media, and more. According to the event description, it “presents memory not as a static archive but as living, breathing resistance — raw, personal, and deeply political. Across the exhibition, memory is stitched, drawn, layered, painted and re-embodied through sites of personal and ancestral pain, survival, and transformation.”
The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 12 to 7 p.m.
Reading and book signing for novel about grief
Author Darryl McGrath will give a talk, reading, and signing for her book “The Message Catcher” at Forbes Library in Northampton on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 1 to 2 p.m.
The novel, based on McGrath’s own experiences, is about a woman whose husband dies unexpectedly on a trip to Cape Cod.
“Having run head-on into the unrealistic views of grief in American culture and bewildered as her life unravels, Davie finds a path through trauma to recovery when a friend invites her into the world of long-distance backpacking on the Appalachian Trail,” the book’s publicity materials said. “It’s a story of learning that the greatest joy comes in the most fleeting moments.”
Admission is free, and the book will be available for purchase for $20 at the event.
Audition for play about singer Teddy Pendergrass
A new play about singer Teddy Pendergrass is looking for actors and crew members.
The show is “an intimate reimagining” of the night in March 1982 that R&B/soul singer Teddy Pendergrass and his friend Tenika Watson, a transgender nightclub performer, got into a car accident that left Pendergrass paralyzed from the chest down. In the show, according to the casting call, “While on the way home from a nightclub in Philly, Teddy and Tenika talk about politics, fantasy and what life means for both of them.”
The production requires five actors and four crew members (a lighting tech, a sound tech, a stage manager, and a set designer).
Playwright Mercedes Loving-Manley, an alum of Hampshire College, is part of the 2025 Pay It Forward cohort, a group of local artists in residence at CitySpace in Easthampton.
The show will run Thursday, Nov. 20, through Sunday, Nov. 23.
For more information, visit havemerci.net/tnwr.
Astrology-themed drag show
Drag performer Stanley Coochie will host “What’s Your Sign? A Zodiac and Astrology Themed Drag Show” at The Quarters in Hadley on Tuesday, Aug. 26, from 9 to 10:30 p.m.
The show will feature performers Angel, Juana B OnTop, Damela Cuca Deville, and Glossina Reign.
In a statement to the Gazette, Coochie said he originally wanted the show to celebrate Leos (his own star sign), but the show date fell during Virgo season, so he decided to make it a celebration of all zodiac signs instead.
“I think zodiacs are such a fun thing to talk about, and the ‘What’s your sign?’ is such an opener for queer people to even express their love (or disdain!) for their star-based identities,” he said.
Tickets are $5 to $25, sliding scale, via Eventbrite.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at Amherst Cinema
Amherst Cinema will present a screening of the National Theatre’s 2014 production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Monday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m.
The classic Tennessee Williams play is about a woman named Blanche Dubois who moves in with her sister Stella in New Orleans while coping with financial ruin. While there, Blanche also has to contend with her sister’s brutish husband, Stanley Kowalski.
This production stars Gillian Anderson (from “The X-Files”) as Blanche, Vanessa Kirby (from “The Crown”) as Stella, and Ben Foster (from the movie “Hell or High Water”) as Stanley.
The show is 198 minutes and features one intermission.
Tickets are $26 at amherstcinema.org.
