NYC summer calendar

JUNE

Highline Park

June 15-21

Kate Christensen, Trouble
The author of The Great Man returns with another swift and smart novel about two flawed but deeply compelling women. June 16

Hawthorne
Another day, another nurse. Jada Pinkett Smith steps into the orthopedic shoes over on TNT, a network that has gradually become an original-programming powerhouse. Expect to see plenty of ads for season 2 of Leverage, another solidly fun original from the network, premiering July 15, along with the Dylan McDermott–starring Dark Blue. June 16 at 9pm on TNT

Be in the Gray with Me
Pam Tanowitz continues her quest to bring choreography back to dance in her first full-evening work for DTW. Dance Theater Workshop (212-924-0077, dancetheaterworkshop.org). June 18–20; $15, advance online $10.

Maria Bamford and Andy Kindler
Two of L.A.’s most sublime stand-ups share the bill this weekend. Kindler marries borscht-belt yuks and scathingly self-deprecating inner monologues. Bamford is a master of vocal mimicry, and takes the audience inside her bizarre world via impressions of the various characters in her life. Comix (212-524-2500, comixny.com). June 19, 20 at 8, 10:30pm. $30, advance $25; plus two-drink minimum.

Ragtime
FREE New York’s most popular sightseeing cruise company introduces its new borough boats, Circle Line Brooklyn and Circle Line Queens, with a 1940s-style carnival at the pier, featuring stilt walkers, jugglers and other circus acts. Patrons receive free rides to the Statue of Liberty. Pier 81 (circleline.com). June 20.

Broadway Bares 19.0: Click It!
This is not a hard sell: Nearly naked Broadway chorus boys and girls strut their stuff in burlesque routines to raise cash for Broadway CARES/Equity Fights AIDS. Sexiness and charity: How well they go together. Roseland Ballroom (broadwaybares.com). June 21, $55.

June 22-30

Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin
This Irish transplant in New York has a gift for immersing himself in fringe characters. He speaks for many in his latest, about a collection of New Yorkers on the day of Philippe Petit’s famous World Trade Center wire walk. June 23

Robert Walser, The Tanners
Sontag, Kafka, Sebald—these are just some of the many admirers of this Swiss master of short fiction and off-kilter novels. Now, The Tanners, his last book to be translated into English, hits American bookshelves—a hundred years late, and worth the wait. June 23

“No Soul for Sale”FREE Forty nonprofits, collectives and alternative arts institutions from all over the world present their programs to the public in this new yearlong experimental venue hosted by gallerist Elizabeth Dee. X Initiative (917-697-4886, x-initiative.org). June 24–28.

Dan Graham
The first American retrospective of this major artist explores a major theme—the use of public space—which weaves through all his work, including collaborations with bands like Sonic Youth and Japanther. Whitney Museum of American Art (212-570-3676, whitney.org). Opens June 25.

Joan Rivers
If there’s ever been a time to see the legendary stand-up—she got her start on The Tonight Show…the one with Jack Paar—it’s at this special Gay Pride performance. Members of the LGBT community are among her most loyal and vocal fans. It promises to be a night to remember. The Gramercy Theater (212-777-6800). June 25 at 7:30pm, $25–$125.

Floating Pool
FREE Stay cool all summer long in this gigantic portable pool (it measures 80 feet long, and can fit up to 170 people at any given time), which returns to NYC for its third year, this time in the Bronx. Barretto Point Park, Bronx (nycgovparks.org). Opening Late June.