Ben Katchor, Todd Haynes, Frances McDormand, et al. Set for New School’s Noir Festival

The New School has announced the lineup and participating artists for it’s first arts festival, entitled Noir, which will explore the relevance of the classic genre of Noir and evaluate its meaning today. Events will run April 2-7.

On April 2, Ben Katchor and Mark Mulcahy, who previously collaborated on the musical The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (Or, The Friends of Dr. Rushower), will present A Checkbook Romance, featuring a libretto, drawings and direction by Katchor and music by Mulcahy. This tragicomedy brings to life one man’s obsession with the architecture and culture of the cloakroom.

Another highlight is an April 4 screening of the 1984 classic American neo-Noir Blood Simple, the first feature film by the Coen brothers, preceded by a conversation with one of its stars, Academy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand — currently starring on Broadway in Good People — in her screen debut.

On April 7, filmmaker Todd Haynes and writer Jon Raymond will discuss their reimagining of the 1941 novel Mildred Pierce with critic Greil Marcus. Their miniseries, which stars Kate Winslet, will be premiering on HBO during the festival run.

Also on April 7, Pulitzer-prize winning composer Paul Moravec and Wall Street Journal Drama Critic and writer Terry Teachout will present live arias and video excerpts of their recent opera, The Letter, based on a play by W. Somerset Maugham. The piece brings together opera’s classic ingredients of lust, adultery and revenge, dished up Noir style.

Additional artists who will be participating in the festival include Marc Ribot, Guy Maddin, Mary Gaitskill, Robert Pinsky, Luc Sante, Frank Bidart, Molly Haskell.

For a full list of events and participants, click here.