A week of events in Cambridge, Somerville: Sundae feast, post-punk covers, ‘Mr. Burns’
Monday
Live Open Mic Night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Cambridge Community Television, 438 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Stage time for musicians, poets, comedians and more – enthusiastic audience members are also welcome – that gets broadcasts on Cambridge cable channel 8. (Sign up for eight-minute slots at tinyurl.com/y7llnx3g.) Information is here.
“Blowin’ Up” screening at 7 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square. General admission is $12. Stephanie Wang-Breal’s film takes viewers inside a human trafficking intervention courtroom in Queens, New York, where activists try to change the way women are prosecuted for prostitution. Boston-based Chief Justice Paula Carey appears in the film. Wang-Breal will be on hand to discuss. The film is part of the DocYard series in residence at the Brattle. (Contributed by Tom Meek.) More information is here.
Tuesday
Jonathan Franzen reads at 7 p.m. at First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church St./1446 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Tickets are $8 (with fees, $9.39) or $28 with book (with fees, $30.39), though each includes a $5 coupon for Harvard Book Store use. The author of “The Corrections” and “Freedom” discusses his latest collection of essays, “The End of the End of the Earth,” about climate change and related topics. Information is here.
Resistance Mic’s midterms edition at 8 p.m. at Oberon, 2 Arrow St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $10 or $25 with a copy of “The Resistance Issue” of the Pangyrus literary magazine. Intimate performances on the theme of “Resistance” continue with spoken-word poet Regie Gibson, memoirist Sarah Sweeney, poet Jennifer Jean and activist Timothy Patrick McCarthy, with music by Afro-Mediterranean funk and jazz combo Atlas Soul. Then comes the launch of “The Resistance Issue,” with readings by Grace Talusan, Sonya Larson, Fred Marchant, Anne Champion and more. Information is here.
Wednesday
All-You-Can-Eat Sundae Bar from 6 to 9 p.m. at Gracie’s Ice Cream, 22 Union Square, Somerville. A sundae is $7, and the all-you-can-eat option is $10. Gracie’s turns 4 and throws a party, and each guest can have all the ice cream, toppings and next-day regret they want. Expect to find the shop’s six “always” flavors, five flavors for the day and a non-dairy sorbet. Information is here.
James Geary presents “Wit’s End” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. The author of “Wit’s End: What Wit Is, How It Works and Why We Need It” brings film clips, folktales, literary anecdotes, jokes and juggling – of ideas, words and balls – to the reading format. Information is here.
“Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play” from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Loeb Experimental Theater, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Free. It’s after a nuclear apocalypse, and survivors remember the past by retelling an old episode of “The Simpsons” that morphs as the decades pass in an Anne Washburn play that speaks to how culture evolves over time. Two of the five stagings of this clever and thoughtful piece are already sold out – fortunately this Wednesday open dress rehearsal is not, and there are also seats available Friday and Sunday. Information is here.
Political Cartoonist Brian McFadden from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free, with a suggested $5 donation. AniMAtic Boston brings in McFadden, whose work has been published by The New York Times, The Nib and many others, to talk about being part of a wave of artists taking political cartooning to new levels. Information is here.
Comedy: 8 O’Clock at 730 Vol. 48: Kathe Farris from 8 to 10 p.m. at 730 Tavern, 730 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. This suburban housewife and mother of two teens tears it up long-form after appearances at the Boston Comedy (where she was a finalist), on NBC and at the Women in Comedy Festival. Information is here.
Thursday
“The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Big Foot” from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. Tickets are $15 for a screening and Q&A, or $75 with an added reception with the filmmakers. If “Overlord” didn’t sate your WWII-gone-gonzo needs, catch the New England premiere of this locally shot film starring Sam Elliot (also on Somerville screens in “A Star Is Born.”) The title says all you need to know, but you can learn plenty more from writer/director/producer Robert D. Krzykowski, executive producer Douglas Trumbull (“2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Blade Runner”), visual effects supervisor Richard Yuricich (“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and “Blade Runner”) and composer Joe Kraemer (“Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation”). Information is here.
Poetry reading with Bert Stern, Gloria Mindock and David Blair from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., in the Winter Hill neighborhood. Free. Stern is emeritus professor of English at Wabash College and founded off the Grid Press; Blair is author of “Ascension Days,” “Arsonville” and “Friends with Dogs” and has appeared in the Boston Review, Ploughshares, Slate and many other places; Mindock is poet laureate of Somerville through December, the founding editor of Cervena Barva Press and the author of five collections – most recently, “I wish Francisco Franco Would Love Me.” Information is here.
“She Kills Monsters” from 8 to 10 p.m. (and continuing Friday and Saturday) at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville. General admission is $20 (with fees, $21.69). Qui Nguyen’s play about Agnes and her quest to come to terms with the death of her younger sister, Tilly, by playing the D&D adventure she left behind is directed by Tom Russell for Theatre@First. Information is here.
Friday
“How to Get Rid of a President: History’s Guide to Removing Unpopular, Unable, or Unfit Chief Executives” from 7 to 8:15 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. Former CIA intelligence officer David Priess gives a tour of the political dark arts in action – election dramas, national tragedies and presidential departures mixed with party intrigue, political betrayal and backroom maneuvers – from his praised book. (“Getting rid of presidents was never as entertaining,” Max Boot said in The Washington Post.) Information is here.
Off-Mic comedy night from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. There is a suggested donation of $10 at the door, benefiting the Caspar Shelter through Bay Cove Human Services. This neighborhood art gallery is so intimate that amplification is often unnecessary – and without a microphone, a barrier between performer and audience is knocked down, helping give audience members a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of performing. Comics coming to the stage includeLiam McGurk; Jeff Smith; Rob Greene; Mike Thomas; Vally D; and Carl Sonnefeld. Beer and wine will be available. Information is here.
“Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play” from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Loeb Experimental Theater, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Free. The five stagings of this clever and thoughtful play are selling out fast. Information is here.
“She Kills Monsters” from 8 to 10 p.m. (and continuing Saturday) at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville. General admission is $20 (with fees, $21.69). Information is here.
Saturday
Artist Takeover from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Spaceus, 20 Brattle St., Harvard Square (and continuing Sunday). Free. A shifting set of artists get space to showcase their work weekly. Today it’s Adria Katz; Kezia Ofiesh; Theodore Sloane; Amanda Prather (her work is pictured); Tobi Klein; and Warfel Studios. Information is here.
“Royally Unseen” from 7:30 to 9 p.m. (and repeating Sunday) at The Green Room, 62 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $22 (with fees, $23.76). A solo play in which Alan White describes coming of age with high family expectations but also American prejudices. It’s a mostly true tale that explores the personas, masks and secrets families create to protect, but that often destroy instead. Information is here.
Post-Punk 1977-87 Cover Night from 8:30 p.m. to midnight at Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave., Union Square, Somerville. Cover is $10. Local super groups cover the greats of punk, new wave, synth pop and other musical styles of the time. The first group is Anthony Kaczynski with John Sheeran, Chris Ewen, Nathan Logus, Rik Rolski, John Powhida and Chris Wagner; the second is Chuck Ferreira, Josh Pickering and Allison Sigrist, Charles Membrino, Eric Brosius, Dan Kopko, David Santos, Chris Cote, Linda Bean Pardee, Chris Wagner, Lisa Mccolgan, Erica Mantone, Eric Edmonston, Sean Drinkwater and Sue Minichello; the third is Duncan Wilder Johnson and Michele Morgan, Linda Shore, Henry Ryan, Tony Savarino, Mike Allen, John Powhida, Kevin Grant and Keith Bennett. Information is here.
“She Kills Monsters” from 3 to 5 p.m. at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville. General admission is $20 (with fees, $21.69). Information is here.
Sunday
Artist Takeover from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Spaceus, 20 Brattle St., Harvard Square (and continuing Sunday). Free. A shifting set of artists get space to showcase their work weekly. Today it’s Adria Katz; Cecilia Lang; Amy Brecker (her work is pictured); Amanda Prather; Alison Vu; and Taylor Popek. Information is here.
“Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play” from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the Loeb Experimental Theater, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Free. The five stagings of this clever and thoughtful play are selling out fast. Information is here.
“Royally Unseen” from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at The Green Room, 62 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $22 (with fees, $23.76). A solo play in which Alan White describes coming of age with high expectations of family and prejudices of America – a mostly true tale of a fantasy kingdom that explores the personas, masks and secrets families create to protect that often destroy instead. Information is here.
