Open Doors, Short Runs: The Weekend Brooklyn Lets You Walk Into the Studio

This is the weekend the city lets you in the back door. Open House New York has hundreds of buildings unlocked across the five boroughs, and in Gowanus the artists are doing the same with their own studios. Meanwhile the two-for-one theater fortnight is in its last days, the film festival has packed up, and the loud, expensive nights are all next week’s problem. It’s a good Saturday to walk somewhere on purpose.

Theater

Off-Broadway Week wraps tomorrow, Oct. 18, so today is the last practical chance to use the two-for-one tickets on something you can’t pronounce yet. New York Theatre Guide In Bushwick, the Bushwick Starr’s season opener i’m not even half, created and performed by Layla Khoshnoudi, continues at 419 Eldert Street through Oct. 24. The Bushwick Starr We flagged it last week and still haven’t found a published review, so the recommendation rests on the premise and the room, not a verdict.

Next week brings the bigger names: Billy Crystal’s solo 860 opens on Broadway Oct. 21, and previews begin the same week for 2:22: A Ghost Story at the Lucille Lortel, which opens Nov. 5. New York Theatre Guide

Independent Film

The 64th New York Film Festival ran Sept. 25 through Oct. 12, with Ava DuVernay’s 14th, a documentary about the Fourteenth Amendment and a sequel of sorts to 13th, slated as the Oct. 9 closing-night world premiere at Alice Tully Hall. Film at Lincoln Center, IONCINEMA

The week was quiet on short-run indie releases I could confirm with a source; rather than pad, I’d point you to Metrograph’s and BAM’s own calendars for this weekend’s repertory slots.

Music

The week’s headline shows are a few days off. The Avalanches play Terminal 5 on Thursday, Oct. 22, their first New York show in years, with Erick the Architect and Jessy Lanza (DJ set) listed in support. Eventworld The same night, The Damned play Brooklyn Steel in Greenpoint. Tickpick Pick your Thursday: plunderphonic dream or British punk lifers.

I couldn’t verify a Brooklyn show for this specific Saturday night from a venue or artist source, so I’ll leave it to you to scan the listings at Union Pool, Elsewhere, and Public Records.

Visual Arts & Other

The story is Gowanus Open Studios, listed for Oct. 17–18 with hundreds of artists, businesses, and venues opening their doors along the canal. Arts Gowanus

Open House New York Weekend overlaps, Oct. 16–18, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard holds its annual open house today, Oct. 17, with a free drop-in garden festival at the Naval Cemetery Landscape. Open House New York Indoors, Petra Bibeau’s show runs through Nov. 1, Stump Gallery’s Errant Grammars through Oct. 31, and the Williamsburg Biannual to Jan. 30, 2027. Art Rabbit At the Brooklyn Museum, Donald Moffett’s IMPEACH stays up into 2027. Art Rabbit

Coming Up

• Off-Broadway Week ends — last day for two-for-one tickets is Oct. 18. New York Theatre Guide
• 860 — Billy Crystal’s Broadway solo show opens Oct. 21. New York Theatre Guide
• The Avalanches — Terminal 5, Oct. 22. Eventworld
• The Damned — Brooklyn Steel, Oct. 22. Tickpick
• i’m not even half — last week at the Bushwick Starr, through Oct. 24. The Bushwick Starr
• Petra Bibeau — Brooklyn gallery show closes Nov. 1. Art Rabbit

Takeaway