QUACK Book Club reads Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of Universe ! A novel by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Tag: Fiction
Literary Fiction Book Talk: Out Clause by Ernest Thompson
Academy Award winner Ernest Thompson presents his new novel in conversation with filmmaker Robert Greenwald.
Join us for a conversation with Ernest Thompson, author of the new novel Out Clause!
Ernest will be joined by filmmaker Robert Greenwald to discuss this powerful thriller about second chances and the courage required to live one’s better life. Especially when there are consequences for failing to do so.
About the participants:
Ernest Thompson’s work has won an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, Writers Guild and Broadway Drama Guild Awards and been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and a British Academy Award. His plays have been seen in theatres around the world, his most enduring, On Golden Pond, translated into 30 languages and presented in more than 40 countries. Current projects include an On Golden Pond Broadway revival, directed by and starring the author, true also of his new one-man play, Archie Parish’s Parting Words, now on tour in the Northeast, the short film The Constituent, and the long-awaited sequel, Home On Golden Pond. His novel Out Clause arrives on May 5, 2026. With his writer wife Kerrin Thompson, he established Rescind Recidivism, a prison writing program giving inmates a chance to feel creative as well as human, capable and worthy.
Robert Greenwald is the founder and president of Brave New Films, a nonprofit production company that creates and distributes investigative political and social justice documentaries.
About the book:
What if you could leave your life? Oxton Paris, the ultimate misfit, disfigured and ostracized, years ago left his and repurposed his angst into helping others escape their own entrapments, bad marriages, poor choices, compromising positions. He created Out Clause, providing thousands of Travelers a new life, a second chance, a smoother fit.
The compact, though, comes with caveats: one, a commitment to discontinue all contact with what’s been left behind, no texting, no coded messaging on social media, no burner phone calls, no keepsakes tucked in backpacks. And, two, a promise to live a better life, predicated on honesty and kindness, not only to others but to oneself. Could you do that, become the better angel you perhaps have always longed to be?
If Travelers fail in their mission, their bodies will be discovered where they went missing, near a bridge, on a Caribbean beach, stumbled over by hikers or exposed when a glacier recedes, a house torn down, a subway tunnel reactivated. There’s a vast network of spirit guides ensuring that Travelers reach their destinations. And stay true to the Out Clause ethic.
Enter a New York detective obsessed with suicides, especially those he calls No Bodies, and determined to find out where they’ve gone, setting up a human chess game with Oxton Paris and putting the entire sweet construct of Out Clause in jeopardy.
L.A. Book Launch & Theatrical Reading: The Sun Has Fallen by Tyler Neufeld
Told entirely in rhyme, an ensemble of 10 actors will bring 24 characters to life in this staged reading
The Sun Has Fallen is an epic poem and Tyler Neufeld’s authorial debut. It follows a fateful tale of magic, ghosts, children, second chances, and a battle between good and evil across an abstracted chessboard fantasy map. Told entirely in rhyme, an ensemble of 10 actors will bring 24 characters to life in this staged reading accompanied by props, costumes, and animated background visual graphics.
Content advisory: This piece contains gun violence and suicide.
Prologue Excerpt
Heaven and hell are no longer.
They’ve left their stations and come to Earth,
the winters colder, the summers stronger,
the sun so hot that it melted the needle
atop the pointed cross on the highest steeple
of the church. The metal drip dropped down.
The young ones watch from the bottom ground.
It looked as though the needle ripped a hole in the sky.
The sun melted things now that it hung so nigh.
Off in the distance the ghosts sang and laughed.
It was heaven that made them laugh like that.
But the living, no, they were still facing the sun,
disease, and rot, and the devil’s gun,
and they knew there was only one escape –
off to the graveyard where ghosts await…
Join us on June 26th for this theatrical reading and book launch celebration!
Doors Open: 7:30 PM I Staged Reading: 8:00 PM
About the cast and creative team:
(Playwright / Director) – Tyler Neufeld (he/him) is a professional scenic artist, playwright, & immersive experience designer. He is a 2025 graduate of the UCLA School of Theater. His work often revolves around his queer identity, climate justice, science fiction, & fantasy. Tyler currently works in the escape room and theater industries wearing many hats. The Sun Has Fallen is his first book, and he is so excited to present this work with an amazing cast!
(The Mother) – Amanda Kang is an LA based actor working in theatre and film. Additional theater credits include Into the Woods (The Moonlight Stage), The Chinese Lady (Chance Theater), and The Addams Family (Berkeley Playhouse). Film Credits include Ladke (VC Film Fest, UK Asian Film Fest, San Diego Film Fest) and Call Earl (Overlook Film Fest, Grimm Fest, Final Girls Berlin). Amanda is a graduate of UCLA’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program. Keep up with her at amandakangofficial.com or follow her on Instagram @amandakang_.
(The Queen) – Noite is an actor, full‑time artist, and stilt‑walking beam of chaos who believes creativity should shake the world awake. Whether towering above crowds or creating from the ground up, she aims to spark imagination and reminds people that change begins with the brave, the curious, and the delightfully unhinged dreamers. She builds stories, characters, and vibrant worlds with one mission: to inspire others to believe they can transform their own. If you’re into big art, big energy, and someone who literally refuses to stay small, Noite is exactly who you’re looking for.
(The King) – Tristian Kinney, born in Cleveland, Ohio, cultivated his passion for the arts within a musical family. His journey reached a milestone during his senior year of high school, propelling him to pursue a career in the arts. This dedication guided him to UCLA, where he majored in Theater, Film, and Television, showcasing his commitment to mastering the diverse realms of storytelling and visual expression.
(Kam / The Advisor) – Ari Villalon (they/he) is a silly actor and a few other colors outside the lines. Although their background had primarily been in theatre, they’ve explored film, scaring, and voiceover in indie animation + games. On occasion, they enjoy sketching the world around them and within, and developing plays. He was last seen as Mary Shelley’s trans son Florence Percy Shelley, in the staged reading of Miss Godwin & The Monster Within, written by E.M. Lark / directed by Bi Muse Lee. They’d like to thank Tyler, everyone for having them onboard, and their friends and family.
(Cory / Torin) – Zayas Lanier is an Afro-Puerto Rican actor with a background in theatre, film, music, and graphic design. A classically trained tenor, Zayas has performed chorally at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall. Prior to focusing on theatre and film, Zayas spent six years working in live entertainment before pursuing further training and mentorship with industry professionals. Alongside performance, Zayas works as a graphic designer and business consultant, collaborating with artists and creatives throughout the entertainment industry. Outside of performing, Zayas enjoys video games, anime, yoga, and baking, and looks forward to continued growth through new creative collaborations.
(Amilie / Vareyr) – Haven Schneider, a 2020 USC Theater Arts graduate, moved to LA from NYC. They began their professional acting career at 14 in the television show Most Likely To and never looked back. Some of their most exciting roles have been Nikko in Disney’s Miraculous Ladybug: Stellar Force and Alice Worthington in Stardust. They enjoy long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners. Additional acting credits include a few roles in the Trails and Yakuza video game series, Ferrah/Evil Gabby in She Kills Monsters, Chris Parton in Signals, Vulcara in Reforged, and more. They are excited to be a part of the show, and you can follow their journey on instagram @haven.g.schneider.
(Renny / Mora) – Envy! (they/them) is an actor, writer, and clowning enthusiast from San Diego, California. In 2023, they graduated with their B.F.A in acting from AMDA. Since graduating they have been in a lot of fun projects. Including, starring in Last Call Theatre’s Reforged and voice acting for an upcoming project from Sandglass Studios. While not acting you can find Envy! crocheting with a ball of yarn and falling down while learning to ice skate! They are so grateful for this opportunity to work with such a fantastic team to bring to life Tyler’s amazing work!
L.A. Book Launch: Rogue Astronaut by Mitchell Jacobs
Book Launch for “Rogue Astronaut” (University of Arizona Press) featuring Mitchell Jacobs and featured guests
Join us for the book launch of Rogue Astronaut by Mitchell Jacobs. The author will be joined by Darren Donate, Maxwell Suzuki, and Jorrell Watkins for a poetry reading in The Wanda Coleman Theater. Reception & book signings to follow.
Finalist for the 2026 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, at the core of Rogue Astronaut, Mitchell Jacobs’s debut poetry collection, is a mystery: Was the poet’s father abducted by aliens as a teenager? From this uncanny family lore spins a gravitational field of theory, grief, and imagination, spurring speculations about the extraterrestrial as well as the terrestrial question of familial bonds: What are the limits of understanding between two alien anatomies, between two unlike minds? Are we, after all, finally alone?
In poems that continually veer from play to reverence, from body horror to bodily delight, encounters with bed bugs and cuttlefish appear side by side with retro gaming and phantom light. A brother living with delusions turns toward the sky. The poet also peers skyward in search of connection—across family lines, across the body’s borders, across galaxies. Outer space becomes a metaphorical terrain where queer desire and spiritual longing collide. Just as Agent Mulder’s iconic X-Files poster declares “I WANT TO BELIEVE,” so do these poems ache to trust in something more—extraterrestrial life, divine presence, intimacy.
Jacobs’s electrifying collection offers readers a singular voice attuned to the strangeness of living now—where science fiction and memory, tenderness and dissociation, belief and doubt pulse in tangled orbit. With wit, vision, and formal inventiveness, Rogue Astronaut charts a course through the mysterious and the intimate, inviting us to imagine new ways of connecting across distance, time, and the alien terrain of self.
Doors Open: 7:00 PM I Readings: 7:30 PM
About the authors
Mitchell Jacobs is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California, where he served as managing editor of Ricochet Editions. His poems have won the Iowa Review Prize and the Prufer Prize from Pleiades. His debut book of poems, Rogue Astronaut (University of Arkansas Press, 2026), was selected by Patricia Smith as a finalist in the Miller Williams Poetry Series.
Darren Donate is a PhD candidate in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California. His poetry is forthcoming in The Penn Review and has been recently published in Hunger Mountain Review, issue #33. He is currently working on a small chapbook of poems.
Maxwell Suzuki is a queer writer who lives in Los Angeles. He is on the staff of The Rumpus and Split Lip Press. Maxwell is the author of the fiction chapbook, Voyager 2, This is Voyager 1, Over (Gold Line Press, 2024), and the poetry chapbook, Bust of an Athlete (Iron Horse Literary Review, 2024). His work has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Craft Literary, Lunch Ticket, The Normal School, and South Dakota Review.
Jorrell Watkins is from Richmond, VA. His disability inclusive play Meet us at the Horizon was produced by Combined Efforts Theater Co. for its 2019 world premiere. His chapbook If Only the Sharks Would Bite won the inaugural Desert Pavilion Chapbook Series in Poetry (Black Rock Press, 2020). He is also the coauthor of Studies in Brotherly Love (Prompt Press, 2021), a poetry chapbook based on Malcolm Corley’s paintings, with Claretta Holsey, DJ Savarese, and Lateef McLeod. His debut full-length collection, Play|House was published by Northwestern University Press in 2024.
About Beyond Baroque
Beyond Baroque is one of the United States’ leading independent Literary | Arts Centers and public spaces dedicated to expanding the public’s knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Founded in 1968 as an experimental literary magazine, Beyond Baroque is based out of the original City Hall building in Venice, California. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming including readings and workshops. The building also houses a bookstore with a large collection of new poetry books for sale.
Livestream: If you can’t join us in person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. If you are tuning in this way, no ticket purchase is necessary.
If you are attending in person, ticket purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the Beyond Baroque bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Please arrive early.
Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, staff, fellow attendees, or performers.
Sikivu Hutchinson on Humanists in the Hood: Book Talk and Music
Book talk on Sikivu Hutchinson’s Humanist in the Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist and Heretical, centering Black secular humanism
On Sunday, May 31, Sikivu Hutchinson will give a book talk with guitar music on Humanists in the Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist and Heretical . The talk will address explorations of atheism and secular humanism amongst Black folks in the midst of white supremacist Christian nationalist backlash against Black civil and human rights and self-determination.
Over the past decade, greater numbers of African Americans have embraced secular and/or non-religious views and perspectives. In her talk, Hutchinson will examine some of the following questions: What is Black Feminist Humanism? Why and how is it relevant to Black women and Black people seeking alternatives to the dogmas, hierarchies, constraints and judgment of organized religion in an era of unrelenting white Christian nationalist attacks? What are the social and historical origins of Black secular humanism in the U.S.? Why are more young African Americans across gender and sexuality critiquing and rejecting organized religion, making Gen Z youth and young adults (especially queer young adults) the most secularized demographic in modern American history? How is Black secular humanism relevant to contemporary social, racial and gender justice movements? How is it relevant to K-12 education and gender-based violence prevention education?
Sikivu will explore these questions and more at a book talk and musical performance with friends at Lore Leimert Bookstore on Sunday, May 31st.
SIKIVU HUTCHINSON is based in South L.A. Her plays include White Nights, Black Paradise (based on her 2015 novel), Grinning Skull, Narcolepsy, Inc. and Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic, which is adapted from her 2021 novel Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic: The Life and Times of Rory Tharpe. Her books include Humanists in the Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist and Heretical; Imagining Transit, Race, Gender and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles; and Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars. She is the founder of Black Skeptics Los Angeles, and the Women’s Leadership Project, a Black feminist mentoring program for Black girls, girls of color and queer youth in South L.A. She is also a guitarist-singer-songwriter. Her folk/rock/cowpunk work can be found on Spotify. IG @sikivu and www.sikivuhutchinson.com
