Adia Victoria in Concert

Blues singer-songwriter and performer Adia Victoria dropped into Provincetown for a stripped-down performance as she toured the world to promote her new, critically acclaimed album, Silences, which she recorded with Aaron Dessner of The National. Throughout the album's twelve tracks, which are making “the blues dangerous again” (New York Times), Victoria addresses the topics of mental illness, drug addiction, sexism, and other challenges that consume the day-to-day lives of women attempting to make a world of their own.

Jeremy O. Harris and Emily Bobrow in Conversation

"Meet Jeremy O. Harris: The Queer Black Savior the Theater World Needs." So read a recent headline in Out magazine; Vogue anointed him “one of the most promising playwrights of his generation." The hype is understandable. Though still in his final semester at Yale Drama School while this conversation was filmed, Harris has had two plays in production Off Broadway before runaway Broadway success with SlavePlay. Daddy, the second, stars Alan Cumming and Ronald Peet. Joining him on our very own stage to discuss his work and career was cultural critic Emily Bobrow, who observed in the Economist that Harris writes about race and sexuality "with humour, intellectual rigour, nods to pop culture and an engaging sense of spectacle," asking audiences to confront their own complicity in prejudice.

Eric Kandel and Emily Braun in Conversation

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum hosted an afternoon conversation that brought together Nobel Prize–winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel with Emily Braun, Distinguished Professor of 20th Century European and American Art at Hunter College. The two experts discussed Kandel’s most recent books, Reductionism in Art and Brain Science and The Age of Insight, in which he examines how science can inform the way we experience a work of art and seek to understand its meaning.

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Jodi Kantor and Andrew Sullivan in Conversation (Full)

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Investigative reporter Jodi Kantor and provocative political commentator Andrew Sullivan united for a tête-à-tête on the rapidly changing cultural landscape in the wake of Kantor’s momentous, Pulitzer Prize-winning 2017 New York Times story exposing Harvey Weinstein’s decades of alleged abuse toward women. That story set off a worldwide reckoning that empowered victims to come forward with the truth about men who had been abusing their power in a wide range of fields for years. Sullivan, whom we are honored to welcome for a third appearance on the Barn stage, has spoken out fearlessly as well, at times challenging the most far-reaching effects of the #MeToo movement on privacy and sexuality. We anticipate a timely and riveting conversation.

Sponsored by Sharon Fay, Maxine Schaffer, Arthur Cohen and Daryl Otte

J Mascis in Concert

Best known as the frontman of the influential indie rock trio Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis has also been a solo artist, producer, and film composer. Dinosaur Jr. was founded in 1984 and became one of the most highly regarded groups in alternative rock. By reintroducing volume and attack in his songs, Mascis shed the strict limitations of early 1980s hardcore, becoming an influence on the burgeoning grunge movement. He continues to inspire a generation of guitar players and songwriters today. He treated us to an intimate solo acoustic performance, sharing tunes from his widely acclaimed 2018 solo album Elastic Days.

Luluc in Concert

Luluc comprises multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer Steve Hassett and songwriter and vocalist Zoe Randall. The New York–based Australian duo recently released their third album, Sculptor. While masterful in its minimalism, the album is anything but quiet in impact. Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney says, “It's music that once you hear it, you can't live without it." In naming their 2014 album, Passerby, his album of the year, NPR's Bob Boilen wrote, "I've listened to this record... more than any other this year. These songs feel like they've always been."

Mountain Man in Concert

We were delighted to present the intimate harmonies of Mountain Man, which comprises three devoted friends—Amelia Meath, Molly Erin Sarlé and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig—who in 2018 released their highly anticipated second album, Magic Ship, a magnetic fourteen-song reflection on the joys, follies, and oddities of existence. In the eight years since Mountain Man’s debut Made the Harbor, the trio took an unintentional hiatus. Amelia Meath created the electro-pop band Sylvan Esso with Nick Sanborn. Molly Sarlé headed for a Zen center along the California coast. And Sauser-Monnig returned to Minnesota, then decamped to a farm in the North Carolina mountains.

William Tyler in Concert

William Tyler has been hailed as one of Nashville’s greatest electric guitarists, but on his brand-new album, Goes West, he returns to the purity of acoustic guitar, backed by a band that includes guitarists Meg Duffy and Bill Frisell, bassist and producer Brad Cook, keyboardist James Wallace, drummer Griffin Goldsmith, and engineer Tucker Martine.

Rebecca Makkai and Christopher Castellani in Conversation

Authors Rebecca Makkai and Christopher Castellani discussed their latest novels, both capturing pivotal historical moments in gay history. Makkai’s The Great Believers, listed by the New York Times as one of the Best 10 Books of 2018, is about friendship and redemption in 1980s Chicago, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and in contemporary Paris. Castellani’s Leading Men, a historical novel inspired by the romance between Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo, is set in 1950s Italy and modern-day New York and Provincetown. Dwight Garner of the New York Times declared it a “blazing” success, “an alert, serious, sweeping novel. To hold it in your hands is like holding . . . a front-row opera ticket.”

Alex Kotlowitz and Adam Moss in Conversation

In his most recent book, An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago, acclaimed journalist Alex Kotlowitz once again takes up the subject of youth, poverty, and gun violence in urban America that he explored so powerfully in There Are No Children Here. Joining him at the Hawthorne barn discuss his work and the issues it tackles was Adam Moss, whose fifteen years of innovative work as editor-in-chief of New York Magazine made it the must-read that it is today.

Stonewall 50: Matthew Riemer, Leighton Brown, and Garrard Conley in Conversation

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, we hosted a conversation featuring Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown, creators of Instagram’s @lgbt_history, and acclaimed author Garrard Conley (Boy Erased). The three authors and activists discussed Riemer and Brown’s wildly popular @lgbt_history page and their debut book, We Are Everywhere, a rich and sweeping photographic history of the Queer Liberation Movement, along with Garrard Conley’s best-selling memoir. Boy Erased was adapted for the 2018 film of the same name, as well as the podcast UnErased: The History of Conversion Therapy in America. Their shared experience casts a powerful light on the LGBTQ+ community’s hardships in the past, its challenges for the future, and what Stonewall means to us today.

Mirah in Concert

Veteran independent singer-songwriter Mirah joins us for a duo set in which she and a fellow musician share work from her vast collection of songs. Her 2018 album Understanding, her sixth full-length solo record and third release through her Absolute Magnitude Recordings, marks a return to her early, unconventional recording process, celebrating a spirited imperfection that embraces rough first takes, natural room sounds, and a fair amount of broken equipment.

Darlingside in Concert

Boston-based indie folk quartet Darlingside brought their signature superpower harmonies to Provincetown. Darlingside draws frequent comparisons to late-sixties groups like Crosby, Stills & Nash, Simon & Garfunkel, and The Byrds, yet their penchant for science fiction and speculative futurism shows their aesthetic to be anything but "retro." NPR Music describes the four friends’ collaborative work as "exquisitely arranged, literary-minded baroque folk-pop" and pronounces their album Extralife "perfectly crafted."

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Monica Lewinsky and Ari Melber in conversation

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Social activist, public figure, and author Monica Lewinsky will join us for an intimate conversation in the Hawthorne Barn with Emmy Award–winning journalist and NBC host Ari Melber. Together, they will reflect on matters both public and private related to the culture of bullying and how public perspective on women’s stories has evolved in the #MeToo era. And as a one time key witness in the Ken Starr investigation of President Clinton, Lewinsky will share her unique (and very timely) insights on how an independent counsel probe of the White House works.

Monica Lewinsky Monica Lewinsky is a social activist, a global public speaker, a consultant and contributing editor to Vanity Fair. She advocates for a safer social media environment and addresses such topics as digital resilience, privacy, cultivating compassion, overcoming shame, and equality for women. Her 2015 TED talk, “The Price of Shame,” has been viewed nearly 14 million times. She has also spoken at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit and given the Ogilvy + Inspire Lecture at Cannes Lions. In her national work against bullying, Lewinsky created the campaigns #ClickWithCompassion and #DefyTheName. She is a founding board member of the Childhood Resilience Foundation, an advisory board member of Project Rockit, and an ambassador for The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Program and Bystander Revolution.

Ari Melber, an attorney and writer, is the host of “The Beat with Ari Melber,” which airs nightly on MSNBC at 6:00 p.m. EST. He also serves as MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent and an NBC News legal analyst. Melber received a 2016 Emmy Award for his reporting on the Supreme Court.

*Note: This event was completely off-record meaning no video or audio recording devices were permitted.

Sponsored by: Mass Cultural Council

Season Five Trailer

Watch the teaser for Twenty Summers' event videos from its 2018 season of concerts and conversations. Season Five features concerts with Kevin Morby, Dar Williams, Bedouine, Martha Wainwright, John Gorka, Marissa Nadler, and Overcoats; conversations with fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi with actor Alan Cumming, journalists Jodi Kantor and Andrew Sullivan, authors Michael Cunningham and Daniel Mendelsohn, poets Robert Pinsky and Monica Youn, and playwright J.T. Rogers with journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran; plus a theatrical reading of the play POLLOCK.

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Isaac Mizrahi and Alan Cumming in Conversation (full)

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We were delighted to host award-winning performer and author Alan Cumming interviewing the outrageously versatile Isaac Mizrahi, fashion legend turned actor-director-TV host on Saturday, May 19, 2018 in Provincetown's Hawthorne Barn. Their conversation featured tales from the upbringing and prolific careers of both men, each a unique persona in his field, focusing on Mizrahi's second-act success in the entertainment industry.

About Twenty Summers

Twenty Summers is a nonprofit arts organization (EIN 27-1255685) that produces distinctive programs in the spirit of Provincetown's Hawthorne Barn, engaging with leading and emerging artists and cultural figures, while fostering the creation of new work.