ART

WONDER AS SHE WANDERS Israeli artist Leora Laor displays stills from digital video shot in a Jerusalem public park and the Orthodox neighborhood Mea Shearim. The exhibit, “Wanderland,” includes pictures of children, couples, and friends, along with several haunting photographs of lone figures. Ms. Laor often films from long distances, then enlarges the pixels and intensifies the color of selected stills until they resemble blurry paintings. Through Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Andrea Meislin Gallery, 526 W. 26th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, no. 214, 212-627-2552, free.

SEEING THE CITY The Precisionist artist Louis Lozowick (1892-1973) immigrated to America from Russia in 1906 and was inspired by his adopted country’s developing industrial landscape. The paintings and lithographs in the exhibit “Building a City,” which closes this weekend, date from the 1920s and 1930s. Included is a series on the Brooklyn, Queensboro, and Williamsburg bridges. Through Saturday, January 22, Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Mary Ryan Gallery, 24 W. 57th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-397-0669, free.

BENEFITS

ICE, ICE, BABY An after-hours ice-skating party in Brooklyn benefits the Prospect Park Alliance’s Junior Committee. A DJ from the Park Slope bar Southpaw spins tunes, the hot chocolate is spiked, and supporters of the park can skate at the borough’s only outdoor rink. Mayor Bloomberg’s daughter, Emma, and a Vogue editor, Sally Singer, are the chairwomen of “Skating Under the Stars.” Friday, 9:30 p.m.-midnight, Prospect Park, Kate Wollman Rink, near the Parkside Avenue/Ocean Avenue park entrance, 718-965-8988, $35-$100 general, $25 members.

MEDICINE MEN AND WOMEN The New York Academy of Medicine honors “Today Show” host Katie Couric; a Harvard professor of medical anthropology, Dr. Paul Farmer; the chairman of Essence Communications, Edward Lewis, and the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, John Whitehead. The gala next week, which features a black-tie dinner, is the academy’s major fundraising event of the year. Wednesday, January 26, 6:30 p.m. cocktails, 7:15 p.m. dinner, Cipriani 42nd Street, 110 42nd St., between Park and Lexingon avenues, 212-822-7285, $1,000.

BOOKS

FINANCIAL TIMES Journalist Charles Gasparino reads from his book “Blood on the Street: The Sensational Inside Story of How Wall Street Analysts Duped a Generation of Investors” (Free Press), at a bookstore on Wall Street, the center of Mr. Gasparino’s expose. Today, 1 p.m., Borders Books Wall Street, 100 S. Broadway at Wall Street, 212-964-1988, free.

ETHICAL EDICTS The co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Ingrid Newkirk, reads from “Making Kind Choices” (St. Martins Griffin), her latest book about living an animal-friendly lifestyle. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble Chelsea, 675 Sixth Ave. at 21st Street, 212-727-1227, free.

DANCE

SWEET DREAMS Actor John Lithgow performs the narration he wrote for Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet “Carnival of the Animals.” The dance tells the story of a young boy, accidentally locked in the American Museum of Natural History, who has dreams in which people in his life appear as animals. New York City Ballet dancers perform to a score by Camille Saint-Saens. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, January 19, 8 p.m., New York City Ballet, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street, 212-870-5570, $30-$73.

FAMILY

SOUNDS OF INDIA Tasneem Shazad introduces children to Indian instruments such as the tabia and the sitar in a morning of music in Queens. Children in kindergarten to sixth grade can dance to tunes from India and neighboring countries – and everyone gets a turn on the drums. Saturday, 10 a.m., Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Boulevard at Linden Place, Flushing, Queens, 718-463-7700 ext. 222, $8.

ROCK PUPPETS 1980s puppet rock group the Fraggles star in “The Bells of Fraggle Rock” (1984). The film is shown this weekend with the Peabody Award-winning animated program “The Bear” (1998), about a friendship between a young girl and a polar bear. The screenings are intended for children ages 9 to 12 and their parents. Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m., Museum of Television & Ra dio, 25 W. 52nd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-621-6600, $10 general, $8 seniors and students, $5 children under 14.

FILM

FIRST LOOK The ImaginAsian theater hosts advance screenings of new Asian films to benefit tsunami relief efforts by Unicef, Oxfam, and the Red Cross. Films include “Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities” (tonight, 7 p.m.); “Beautiful Boxer,” about a Thai transvestite kickboxer (tomorrow, 7 p.m.); and “Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior,” a muay Thai film featuring martial arts star Tony Jaa (Thursday, 7 p.m.). All screenings: ImaginAsian, 239 E. 59th St., between Second and Third avenues, 212-371-6682, $10 minimum donation.

HEIMAT HEIGHTS Anthology Film Archives presents a series of 1950s German Heimatfilms – a genre that set movie stars in cheerful Alpine scenery in a break from dour, postwar black-and-white films. Tonight’s screenings are “Echo of the Mountains,” Alfons Stummer’s tale about a conflicted forester (7 p.m.), and Harald Reinl’s “The Fisher Girl of Lake Constance,” about a poor orphaned fisherwoman whose rich neighbors keep scaring away the fish with their motorboat (9:15 p.m.). All screenings: Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave. at 2nd Street, 212-505-5181, $8 general, $5 seniors and students, $5 members.

MAYSLES AT HERMES As New York prepares for Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s site-specific work “The Gates,” which will be installed in Central Park on February 12, the gallery at Hermes screens excerpts from an unfinished documentary about the artists. The film is the latest in a decades-long collaboration between filmmaker Albert Maysles and the duo that began with “Christo’s Valley Curtain” (1974). Mr. Maysles has followed “The Gates” since the early 1980s, when Christo and Jeanne-Claude first tried to convince New York City officials to let them hang 7,500 saffron yellow fabric panels in the park. The store also hosts discussions with the artists (tomorrow, 6:30 p.m.) and Mr. Maysles (Tuesday, January 25, 6:30 p.m.), for which reservations are strongly suggested. (Hermes has also designed a commemorative scarf named “The Gates.”) Screenings: Thursday through Sunday, February 27, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., until 7 p.m. on Thursdays, the gallery at Hermes, 691 Madison Ave. at 62nd Street, fourth floor, 212-751-3181, free.

MUSIC

RUSSIAN POETRY The New York Festival of Song presents a musical tribute to 20th-century Russian poets Alexander Blok and Anna Akhmatova. The program features Shostakovich’s “Seven Songs on Poems by Alexander Blok (op. 127),” Prokofiev’s “Five Poems by Anna Akhmatova,” and songs by Rachmaninoff, Sergey Slonimsky, Tchaikovsky, and Cesar Cui. Up next in the series is a selection of songs by opera composers including Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner (March 23). Tomorrow, 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, 212-501-3330, $45 general, $35 seniors, $22.50 for students a half-hour before showtime.

FIVE CENTURIES OF TALLIS Though the exact birth-date of 16th-century composer Thomas Tallis is not known, Vox Vocal Ensemble celebrates a close estimation of his 500th birthday with a series that begins on Saturday. The all-Tallis program showcases songs from a career that spanned the reigns of four English monarchs. George Steel conducts the ensemble. Saturday, 8 p.m., Columbia University, Low Library Rotunda, 535 W. 116th Street at Broadway, 212-854-7799, $35 general, $21 students, reservations strongly suggested.

PRINTS

DUTCH TREAT Amsterdam’s Rembrandt House Museum commissioned five etchings by French printmaker Erik Desmazieres to mark a solo exhibit that the museum mounted last fall. The etchings are now on display in New Amsterdam, at Manhattan’s Fitch-Febvrel Gallery, which has represented Mr. Desmazieres from the beginning of his career. The etchings in “Vues d’Amsterdam” are detailed panoramas based on sketches Mr. Desmazieres made while visiting Amsterdam to study the work of Dutch graphic artist Willem Witsen. Above, “Herengracht” (2004); and at right,” ‘s Lands Zeemagazijn” (2004). Through Monday, January 31, Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Fitch-Febvrel Gallery, 5 E. 57th St., between Madison and Fifth avenues, 212-688-8522, free.

PUPPETS

BULGARIAN RHAPSODY The puppetry-and-dance piece “Lyubo” tells the story of Philip Lloyd Sweetbriar, an American engineer and naturalist living in 1920s Bulgaria, who was suspected of being a spy. He was later presumed killed by gangsters, yet Sweetbriar’s daughter in Arkansas continued to receive packages from her father filled with letters, songs, prayers, and stories. In “Lyubo,” director and creator Chris Green uses cinematic zooms, framing devices, and shifts in perspective to tell Sweetbriar’s story. It includes original songs for piano and tuba accompaniment, and a Balkan vocal duet. The title is based on the Bulgarian word for “the love of words.” The performances are a production of HERE’s Dream Music Puppetry program under the artistic direction of puppeteer Basil Twist. Thursday through Sunday, January 30, Tuesday-Saturday, 8:30 p.m., Sunday, 4 and 8:30 p.m., HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., between Spring and Broome streets, 212-647-0202 for information, 212-868-4444 for tickets, $15.

READINGS

YEAR OF MIRTH The Edith Wharton Restoration in Lenox, Mass., begins its centennial celebration of “The House of Mirth” with a reading of the beginning of the novel in New York City. The reading is the first in a monthly series, with selections based on the original serialization in Scribner’s Magazine. Actress Emily Carr Altman reads each segment, and a different Wharton aficionado will give the introduction each month. Louis Auchincloss will introduce the first reading, “Lily’s Misstep,” with upcoming participants to include Tom Wolfe, Richard Holbrooke, and Charles Scribner. Thursday, 6 p.m., the Colony Club, 564 Park Ave. at 62nd Street, 888-637-1902, $100 includes cocktails, $200 includes dinner.

FIRST BOOKS Actors including Cynthia Nixon, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kristen Johnston, Justin Theroux, Sam Rockwell, Bob Balaban, Martha Plimpton, and Parker Posey read from classic works of children’s literature by authors such as Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss, and Roald Dahl at a benefit for the Brooklyn writing lab 826NYC. Eric Bogosian hosts the evening, which also includes readings of works by “grown-up” authors Jonathan Safran Foer, Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, and George Saunders. Monday, 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk St., between Delancey and Rivington streets, 718-499-9884, $50 general, $100 tickets include priority seating, drinks, and a signed book including copies of the works to be read.

TALKS

WHERE NO MAN HAD GONE BEFORE Science writer Carol Grant Gould discusses the life of explorer and naturalist William Beebe (1877-1962), a best-selling author in his day. Beebe straddled the past and present of the environmental movement: He was a protege of Theodore Roosevelt and a mentor to Rachel Carson. Ms. Gould is the author of the new biography “The Remarkable Life of William Beebe” (Shearwater). Tonight, 6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. lecture, 8:15 p.m. signing, Explorers Club, 46 E. 70th St., between Park and Madison avenues, 212-628-8383, $15 general, $5 students.

IMPORTANCE OF PAINE Christopher Hitchens celebrates the 267th anniversary of Thomas Paine’s birthday by giving a talk titled “Why the Rights of Man Require an Age of Reason.” The talk is sponsored by the Center for Inquiry-Metro New York. Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., General Society, 20 W. 44th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-265-2877, $10.

BALANCHINE’S MEN A founder of the Miami City Ballet, Edward Villella, discusses the influences of George Balanchine with dance critic Robert Gottlieb. Mr. Villella is a former principal of the New York City Ballet, and was the inspiration for many of Balanchine’s roles for men. Sunday and Monday, 8 p.m., Guggenheim Museum, 1079 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street, 212-423-3500, $20 general, $15 seniors, students, and members.

THEATER

‘PELLEAS’ ON PIANO Debussy’s opera “Pelleas et Melisande” is performed in its original piano version. Kevin Greenlaw and Patricia Petibon play the title characters in the show, with Yves Abel serving as musical director. The opera is performed in French with English supertitles. Tomorrow and Friday, 7:30 p.m., Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th St., between Park and Madison avenues, 212-355-6189, $40 general, $32 members.

DIRECT HIT In Bonnie Culver’s drama “Sniper,” a teenager in upstate New York goes on a killing spree. Based on Regents scholar Anthony Barbaro’s 1974 multiple-murder rampage, in which he shot dead three people and wounded nine others from a third-floor window of his high school, the play follows the aftermath of the murders from family members’ grief to the killer’s trial. Adam Hill directs. Previews begin: Tomorrow, 8 p.m. Opens: Friday, 8 p.m. Runs: Through Saturday, February 12, Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Center Stage, 48 W. 21st St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, fourth floor, 212-352-3101, $15.

WORKSHOPS

POWER POINTS Asian Women in Business sponsor an evening workshop on public speaking for business owners. Tuesday, January 25, 6-9 p.m., Asian Women In Business, 358 Fifth Ave. at 34th Street, suite 504, 212-868-1368, $45 general, $20 members, registration with payment required by Friday. See www.awib.org for registration form.

SOCK HOP The “Sox and Lox” workshop at Knit New York promises, “Yes, YOU will make a sock in this class!” The group meets on a Sunday morning over brunch (with mimosas). Each member receives two balls of yarn and doublepointed needles.The first sock is knitted in class, and attendees take with them the skills to make the other one. Sundays, January 23, February 6 and 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Knit New York, 307 E. 14th St., between First and Second avenues, 212-387-0707, $125.

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