Shorefront YM-YWHA 5th Summer Nights Festival

The Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton-Manhattan Beach will begin their annual Summer Nights Festival on July 8, which will include entertaining nights of movies, concerts, and theater productions.

First in line to launch the 5th Annual Summer Nights Festival is the movie Bel Ami, starring Robert Pattinson, set to be screened on July 8 at 6 p.m. On the following Sunday, July 15, Something’s Gotta Give, starring Jack Nicholson will be shown. Both movies will be played in Russian, and preceded by a presentation from the film critic and journalist Oleg Sulkin.

Highlights of this year’s festival include the play In the Mirrors, presented by the Dialogue Literary Theater, to be staged on July 22, as well as Ljova Zhurbin and the Kontraband who will play on August 5. Both performances are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

In the Mirrors is a poetry performance that will feature music and songs, in addition to poets and actors of the Silver Age of Russian poetry. The Silver Age was a period in the 1900s when Russia experienced an artistic and inventive era. The script of the play is based on pieces of poetry, memoirs, letters, musical improvisations, documentary film clips, and romances of central figures of Russia’s Silver Age.

The second of the highlights will be different from, yet no less exciting than, the first. Zhurbin and the Kontraband have gained popularity, and performed at renowned sites including New York’s Lincoln Center, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. This musical group has gained a reputation for surprising their audience with their unique performances. We can only wonder what they have in store for their performance next month!

For the full 5th Annual Summer Nights Festival calendar, tickets, or more information, please visit the Shorefront Y Cultural Arts website at www.shorefronty.org/arts.