A Week in New York City

In the middle of the semester, an opportunity fell into my lap.

This trip was completely and utterly unplanned. I had applied for accreditation for work for the NYFF not expecting to actually go, but to instead cover it virtually, but then ended up coming all the way up on the train to catch in-person screenings.

I don’t want to go into the logistics of the NYFF and what goes into actually being a member of the press trying to see the shows, but it was a slightly stressful experience that consisted of me chugging a lot of coffee and staying up late in order to get the job done.

I like to keep these little travel diaries as pockets of memories for myself, when I’m old and the Internet is still here I can go back and see what I thought and felt at the time. So if this post feels a little more sporadic, it’s because I’m still probably reeling at the fact I did this.

But, all in all, it was very worth it. This is what I did during that week.

Broadway Cares Flea Market

Every year, all the Broadway production companies, shows, and theaters run a massive charity flea market where they sell excess goods in order to raise money for a cause. I ended up arriving in New York the day of the Flea Market, and while it started at 10 AM, a lot of the good stuff had already been picked over by the time I had arrived.

The only thing I desperately wanted was a Company poster, because that was one of my favorite shows I had ever seen, and by the time I got there they were all gone. I saw people carrying signed posters, set pieces, and so many more random goodies they picked out from the fair.

I wandered around for about two hours. As it gets closer to closing time, the tables start slashing their prices. I ended up picking a Anastasia signed poster for $1, an Angels in America playbill (yes, the one featuring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane) for $1, and because the person I was staying with works at Second Stage, they let me grab an opening night Take Me Out playbill for free and a couple other random small goodies. It started raining halfway through 3 PM, so a lot of the stands ended up closing early.

Others, like A Strange Loop and Kite Runner, got no business in the afternoon so they packed up even before that.

All in all, the lesson of this story is to go to the flea market early.

The New York Film Festival

This was why I came into New York City, and I started out my film week by heading to a private screening of Till. I had been invited by the team to go see the movie ahead of its NYFF premiere because I requested a second screening, as I knew this was a subject I wanted to write the review and get all the facts perfect due to its subject matter.

I ventured all the way up to upper Midtown East from Brooklyn to catch this 9:30 AM screening, then headed out the Drama Bookshop and lunch. The focus of this day was getting ahead of my work before it kicked me, and I failed to do that.

Anyways, the rest of the festival was spent running up to Lincoln Center throughout the week and trying to get into the screenings I wanted. It’s first come first serve for the press, and if you’ve ever been to the Walter Reade Theatre, you know it’s not that big.

During college I came to this theater sporadically for movie screenings and knew this in advance, so if I wanted to see something, I came way in advance. I ended up seeing Showing Up, The Novelist’s Film, Decision to Leave, and Till (with the press conference). The other films I wanted to cover at the festival I got screeners for, so I didn’t really need to go to the screening.

All in all, this was an immense experience for me and I am grateful for the opportunity. Writing reviews about upcoming films was such an honor, and I ended up interviewing Chinonye Chukwu and Whoopi Goldberg because of it. I also got a t-shirt at the very end to commemorate my first big film festival experience.

Four Theatre and Broadway Shows

Having already lived in New York and spent quite a bit of time here, I have a tendency to not care to do anything except eat and see Broadway shows. So I did that in my free time! I bought tickets in advance for Death of a Salesman, Beetlejuice, and Topdog/Underdog through my TDF subscription.

I called the Public Theatre’s hotline in order to get a student ticket for A Raisin in the Sun. All in all, I ended up paying about $180 for all three shows, which is a massive steal when you realize that I got insanely good orchestra seats for all of them. I literally was front row for Topdog/Underdog, the one show I was desperate to see this trip, and I was ready to cry at how close I was.

My ranking of these shows are: Topdog > Death of a Salesman = A Raisin in the Sun > Beetlejuice. I wrote reviews for each of these shows, so you can dig deeper into those through my theater reviews, but I found these Black-led casts and shows to be absolutely knocking it out of the park. I truly hope this encourages Broadway to diversify more, although I hear the profits are majorly down for these kinds of shows.

And of course, food.

I splurged a little on this trip. Here were my favorite spots.

• Pasta Louise in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I bought their classic pasta with red sauce with a side of meatballs. This was very much a treat yourself kind of meal and I wanted an excuse to procrastinate on my work, so I walked all the way down to the restaurant to pick it up. They make their own pasta and my god, it tasted like love. Currently on the top of my list for places to eat in Park Slope now.

• Shingara L on Kesington Avenue, Brooklyn. Lots of Bangladeshi restaurants around here. I came for the fuchkas and they hit my cravings, although I do prefer the ones you can find in Queens.

• Istanbul Bay Express in Midtown Manhattan. I work a couple of blocks from here and always passed this place, but never actually went. This time I went out of curiosity, and I had time to burn, and got a chicken doner platter in small. The amount of food they gave me was insane. It was packed with meat, rice, and salad, then the guy gave me a huge chunk of bread to take home with me. For $15, this was easily two meals and halal. I told myself I would be back.

And that’s a wrap on this trip!

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