A week of events in Cambridge, Somerville: ‘Black Panther’ with Q&A, lots of dance, more
Monday
The Drunk Spelling Bee at 8 p.m. at The Middle East Corner, 480 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. This comedy event is, as you might guess, for those 21 and older. The winner gets tickets to any Middle East show they want. Information is here.
Tuesday
Free screening of “Black Panther” and Q&A with director Ryan Coogler at 7 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square. On Giving Tuesday, the Brattle hosts the local edition of a nationwide event presented by Film Comment and the Art House Convergence – not a bad way to jump into the Marvel films for no cost, and with one of the hottest directors in Hollywood chatting with you afterward. Leading up to the screening and during the Q&A with Coogler (“Fruitvale Station” and “Creed”), who’ll be in California, attendees are invited to submit questions via Twitter with the hashtag #AskBlackPanther. Information is here. (Contributed by Tom Meek.)
Armory Pub Sing from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. This event is based on a traditional English pub sing and encourages chorus-based songs that are easy to learn and fun to do as a group. Information is here.
Wednesday
Poet Kevin McLellan reads from noon to 1 p.m. at the MIT Chapel, 50 Massachusetts Ave., Area II. Free. McLellan, who has appeared in journals including the Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, Kenyon Review, West Branch, the Western Humanities Review and Witness, will read from“Ornitheology,”his latest, as well as share a few of his newest, not yet published works. Information is here.
Horrors d’oeuvres: Scary shorts from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. Ten horror films as short as two minutes (“Paul’s Bad Day”) and as long as 13 minutes (“Companion”) are presented by the Boston Underground Film Festival. Information is here. Information is here.
Comedy: 8 O’Clock at 730 Vol. 48: Appalachian Laugh Lines from 8 to 10 p.m. at 730 Tavern, 730 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. Comedians from throughout New England appear, including Nick Lavallee, Drew Dunn, Kendra Dawsey, Caitlin Reese, Dennis Mello, Nicole Auclair and Pat Oates. Information is here.
Thursday
“All By Myself” quiet dances from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. (and repeating Friday and Saturday) at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. General admission is $15 (with fees, $17.55). Ruckus Dance and “anti-choreographer” Michael Figueroa present intentionally exhausting and perplexing dances aiming to bewilder the viewer and provoke conversation – a kind of choose-your-own-adventure experience in which audience members are encouraged to bring headphones or earplugs and curate their own musical selections for the evening (though suggestions for each piece will be included in the program). Information is here.
Beethoven No. 6 by the Tufts Chamber Orchestra from 8 to 9 p.m. at the Granoff Music Center at Tufts University, 20 Talbot Ave., Somerville. Free. Beethoven’s vibrant and descriptive Symphony No. 6 is made new in a small-scale, intimate performance led by conductor John Page. The program also includes “Mother and Child,” a piece for string orchestra by William Grant Still, the first published African-American composer. Information is here.
“Interrogation” reading from 8 to 10 p.m. at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville. Free. Iranian playwright Mohammad Rahmanian writes about Algerians dealing with horror and derangement after a victorious anti-colonial revolution. Nikta Sabouri directs Lou Lim and Alyson Fainbarg in a one-night-only, bare-bones reading. Information is here.
Friday
Fifth Friday Celebration from 5 to 8 p.m. on the lawn at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., and throughout Central Square. Free. Events include everything from a petting zoo and ugly sweater contest to art shows, a beer garden, board games and holiday shopping from local vendors. Information is here.
Fourth annual Prism Concert Spectacular from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave. General admission is $5. Works for full wind ensemble and for brass, percussion, and woodwind chamber ensembles are featured on this unique amalgam of music and special lighting from the MIT Wind Ensemble. Information is here.
Trashion Show from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Building 50, also known as Morss Hall, at 142 Memorial Drive, Area II. General admission is $7. More than 20 outfits by student designers and models are shown off in an annual event combining fashion, design and sustainable innovations, drawing awareness to waste produced by the fashion industry and the promotion of better solutions. Every piece of donated gently worn, unwanted, clean clothing is worth another entry in the night’s raffle. Information is here.
Graffiti Alley Cypher from 8 to 10 p.m. in Graffiti Alley, across from Pearl Street on Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square. Free. Local hip-hop artists perform for the public in Central Square’s most colorful and iconic location. Information is here.
“All By Myself” quiet dances from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. (and repeating Friday and Saturday) at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. General admission is $15 (with fees, $17.55). Information is here.
Saturday
Cookie FUNraiser and Extravaganza from 1 to 4 p.m. at The Democracy Center, 45 Mount Auburn St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $10 for adults, or $5 for children. Decorate provided cookies with the Boston Dyke March Committee. Vegan and gluten-free options are available. Information is here.
Fiftieth Anniversary Panel of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. Bandmates of Van Morrison join Ryan Walsh, author of “Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968,” to discuss the legacy of the “Astral Weeks” album, parts of which were recorded in Cambridge, on a panel moderated by Rob Hochschild of the Berklee School of Music. Information is here.
Win Win Situation from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Green Street Studios, 185 Green St., Central Square. An out-of-the-ordinary concert of freshly created music for vibraphone, violins, bass and viola done with some audience participation. Tickets are $15 (with fees, $17.55). The pieces use projections, household objects, choreography and shifting set pieces to layer the theme of games and rules onto music in a nonstop, interactive concert conceptualized and co-written by the Thread Ensemble: Abigale Reisman, Andria Nicodemou and Rachel Panitch. Information is here.
Nutcracker Twist from 7:45 to 10:45 p.m. at Third Life Studio, 33 Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $15, with proceeds donated to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. A night of dance, music, song, comedy and storytelling to raise money for a good cause. Information is here.
Comedy Party from 8 to 10 p.m. at 730 Tavern, 730 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Tickets are $10 (with fees, $11.26). Comedians Sam Ike, Connor McGrath (Maine’s Funniest Person), Zach Brazao (finalist for Funniest Person in Massachusetts), Ali Simpson (of the Portland Comedy Co-Op) and Liam McGurk (Rogue Island Comedy Festival) perform. Information is here.
“All By Myself” quiet dances from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. (and repeating Friday and Saturday) at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. General admission is $15 (with fees, $17.55). Information is here.
Sunday
Viola Meets Poetry from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at 82 Dana St., Mid-Cambridge. There is a suggested donation of $40, but “any amount of contribution is appreciated.” An afternoon of poetry by Charles Coe and viola duets by Michelle LaCourse and Hye Min Choi of “Prelude” by Scott Slapin; “Lament” by Frank Bridge; and “Selections from 44 Duos” by Béla Bartók. Information is here.
“The Onion Patch” reading from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the community room of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. A peek at a new full-length play by Playwrights Platform member Kate Gray. Information is here.
Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 9” and more from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Granoff Music Center at Tufts University, 20 Talbot Ave., Somerville. Free. The Tufts Symphony Orchestra performs Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 9,” which melds his love for the music of his adopted home in the United States with the folk songs of his Czech homeland; Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville Overture”; and Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1.” Information is here.
Pindrop Sessions 11: “Made in Boston” from 7 to 10 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. General admission is $20. Phoenix, the Aeronaut orchestra-in-residence for the year, performs music composed by area composers – some of whom will be in attendance – during the reading of texts that embody Boston by reporters from WGBH and WCRB. Information is here.
