Sunday

The MIT Swapfest returns from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Albany Street Garage, Albany Street between Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street, near Central Square. Admission is $6. The legendary monthly high-tech, computer, electronics and ham radio flea market where you can “buy, sell or swap all things nerdly” is back “from the before times.” These take place on the third Sunday of each month. Information is here.

Poetry reading from 3 to 4 p.m. at Longfellow House and the Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, 105 Brattle St., West Cambridge. Free. Open-air performances at a historic location from poets Chen Chen, whose “Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency” is due next month, and Natalie Shapero, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and The Paris Review. Information is here.

Floor Lords Breakdancing Anniversary Show from 3 to 9 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Tickets are $20. There’s a $3,000 cash prize for the best performers in this 41st year of three-vs.-three competition of groups from near and far. Information is here.

“Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl from 4 to 6 p.m. at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville (and resuming Thursday through Aug. 27). General admission is $20. The classic Greek myth, directed by Margaret French, about Eurydice’s decision to return to life with her new husband, Orpheus, or stay in the underworld with the father she has missed for so long. Information is here.

Clem Snide performs at 7 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $20. Eef Barzelay’s alt-country band, a three-piece founded in Boston though now based in Nashville, Tennessee, is back for redemption with songs from the album “Forever Just Beyond.” Barzelay said the 10 years leading to it have been rough: “The band bottomed out, I lost my house and I had to declare bankruptcy. The only way to survive was to try to transcend myself, to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life. Once I committed to that, all these little miracles started happening.” Proof of vaccination is required. Information is here.

“Come to Pass” theater performance from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. General admission is $30. A hip-hop musical looking at how the country’s founders failed women of color – and continue to – starring Brandie Blaze and Tashawn Taylor with appearances from Dutch ReBelle, Amanda Shea, Moe Pope, Axestrumentals, Trap Beat Tranny and B Dolan. Masks are required. Information is here.

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Monday

Boss Roots Party from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Jungle, 6 Sanborn Court, Union Square, Somerville. International artists in residence perform every Monday; the current performer is Mali’s Boubacar Diabate & Sambalolo, winner of World Music Album of the Year from the Independent Music Awards. Information is here.

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Tuesday

The Moth Story Slam from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Tickets are $15. This open-mic storytelling competition on the fourth Tuesday of each month is open to anyone who can share a five-minute story on the night’s theme – this time, “enemies,” about “the Backstreet Boy to your N’Sync, the Killmonger to your T’Challa, the Brutus to your Caesar. Yankees to Red Sox, cats to dogs, Coke to Pepsi. Tell of enemies, ‘frenemies,’ rivals and foes.” Information is here.

Emily Hall reads from “The Longcut” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square. Free. This debut novel is described as “an extraordinary feat of syntactical dexterity and comic ingenuity” that explores the place of art and the artist in the world. Masks are required. Information is here.

Moiya McTier reads from “The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. The history and future of the universe is presented in accessible but scientific detail – as an autobiography. “After all this time, the Milky Way finally feels that it’s amassed enough experience for the juicy tell-all we’ve all been waiting for,” the bookstore blurbs for a book called “a fun and unique way to learn about astrophysics” by author Kelly Weinersmith. Well-fitting masks are required. Information is here.

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Wednesday

Literary Trivia Night from 6:30 to 8:30 PM Wednesday at Cambridge Library Valente Branch, 826 Cambridge St., Wellington-Harrington. Free, but registration is required. Teams of up to six people or individuals can compete in book-minded trivia. Light snacks are provided. Information is here.

The Second Annual Ifeanyi Menkiti Memorial Reading at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 113 Brattle St., Harvard Square. The Grolier Poetry Book Shop brings together Sandra Lim, Romeo Oriogun and poet Laureate of Somerville Lloyd Schwartz, introduced by Partridge Boswell, in honor of the Nigerian poet who died in 2019. Information is here.

Drag Night at 8 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $10 at this 21-plus show. Queens Coleslaw, Severity Stone, and Harlow Havoc perform. Masks are required when not actively eating or drinking. Information is here.

Singer-Songwriter Night XXXXI from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. at ZuZu, 474 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Admission is $7 for this 21-plus show. Tidy sets from Stoney Banks, Daniel Davidson and host Ben Parinello, performing as leisure. Information is here.

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Thursday

Harvard Art Museums at Night from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square. Free. Celebrate the launch of the book “Madame de Pompadour: Painted Pink” at an evening with pink-themed activities (including giveaways to those wearing their best pink outfit) and pink-inspired food and drink available for purchase. DJ C-Zone supplies the soundtrack for wandering the galleries, mingling in the Calderwood Courtyard, chatting over a snack or drink and browsing the shop. Information is here.

Forty for the Culture from 6 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Bring your game face and your best friend to Starlight for 40 for the Culture, a community game night for all ages. Chess, jenga, dominoes – it’s all on the table. Information is here.

Sinner’s Paradise Pole Dance Show at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. Admission to this 21-plus event is $25. Athletic raunch gets a night in town. Information is here.

“Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl from 8 to 10 p.m. at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing through Saturday). General admission is $20. The classic Greek myth, directed by Margaret French, about Eurydice’s decision to return to life with her new husband, Orpheus, or stay in the underworld with the father she has missed for so long. Information is here.

Tongue & Cheek storytelling from 8 to 11 p.m. at ZuZu, 474 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Tickets are $5. A “one-night stand” for an event asking for original tales of where sex meets art, history and science. “Stories will skirt the line of smut without being too lowbrow,” organizers say. Information is here.

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Friday

Mike Howat Artist-in-Residence Showcase Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. Free. Howat, creator of cityscapes in acrylic, graphite drawings and occasionally monotype, shows his work from a six-week residency, including large-scale paintings and cardboard sculptures inspired by apartment buildings and other architecture in the area surrounding the gallery. Information is here.

Rumba y Timbal Dance Party from 6 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. A community salsa and bachata dance party with instructor Lili Jimenez and friends. Information is here.

“Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square (and continuing Saturday). Tickets are $24 (not including a $5 fee). An adaptation by Taiwanese playwright Stan Lai of a tale written in 421 A.D. by Tao Yuanming, about a man who travels to a utopia to search for his wife. The show, in Mandarin, English and Hakka with English subtitles, sold out shows in Connecticut and New York, according to the crew at the Yale Vermillion Theater. Information is here.

“Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl (continued) from 8 to 10 p.m. at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing through Saturday). General admission is $20. Information is here.

“[title of show]” play from 8 to 10 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville (and continuing Saturday). General admission is $12 (not including a $2.36 fee online). A musical about two people writing a musical about two people writing a musical – making this an accessible counterpart to “A Strange Loop,” now on Broadway (the one in New York, not the one in Somerville). The Queer Theatre Project says this version is revised and revamped to update the script and songs for a contemporary audience, “stripping it of the problematic trappings of the mid-2000s in which it was originally written.” Information is here.

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Saturday

The Sunflower Series’ Closing Party from noon to 3 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. at Centanni Park, Third and Otis streets, East Cambridge. Acknowledge the winding down of summer with artist vendors in the first part of the day, followed by music by Genie Santiago, Paul Willis, Maddie Lam and Neo Gcabo and a performative meditation by Micah Rose. Information is here.

Somergloom from noon to 10 p.m. at Boynton Yards, Zero Windsor Place, Somerville. Tickets are $18.03, or free for kids 13 and younger. Doom- and gloom-themed music to delight in from Consumer, Crone Visions, Dreamwell, Glacier, Heavy Hands, Junius and Queen Elephantine, as well as vendors selling art, clothes, records and more. Organizers at Once Somerville says lightweight folding chairs are allowed, but don’t get in the way of dancing. Information is here.(There’s a $15 show afterward for those 21-plus at The Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, with Dion Lunadon and Old Moon.)

Union Comedy Festival from noon to midnight at the Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. Tickets are $15 (for an afternoon pass), $20 (in prime time) or $30 (all day). Nonstop improv and comedy bits from local troupes such as Conspiracy and Somewhereville, nearby visitors such as Emerson College’s Stroopwafel and people really making an effort, such as TV’s Top Moms from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Not Like Other Girls from New York. Masks are required. Information is here. (A Friday kickoff show for $15 runs from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Union Comedy clubhouse, 593 Somerville Ave., Somerville.)

“[title of show]” (continued) play from 1 to 3 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. General admission is $12 (not including a $2.36 fee online). Information is here.

Bida “Spark in the Dark” contra dance from 7 to 10:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. There’s a $5 to $20 sliding scale, so participants can be pay what they’re able to. Live electronic-acoustic music from Kingfisher (Cecilia Vacanti and Jeff Kaufman) with club-style lighting – glow sticks will be provided. Masks and booster shots are required. Information is here.

“Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” (continued) from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Tickets are $24 (not including a $5 fee). Information is here.

Night School Comedy and Beer from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside. Tickets are $15. Stand-up comedy and some live music hosted by Raoul Biron. Information is here.

“Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl (continued) from 8 to 10 p.m. at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., just off College Avenue near Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing through Saturday). General admission is $20. Information is here.

“M: Refractions from an Evil Act” staged reading from 8 to 10:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Free, but 21-plus. A reading of a work-in-progress by James Wilkinson and directed by Joe Juknievich about a woman traveling in a foreign country who can’t shake a creeping feeling, a man wandering the halls who claims to have a memory of a terrible incident and a hotel staff that seems to be scheming behind the scenes. The audience is invited to a post-show discussion. Masks are required. Information is here.

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Sunday

Cambridge Youth Steel Orchestra, Tempo International and Dis N Dat Band from 1 to 3 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Young Cambridge musicians perform. Information is here.

Monarch butterfly release celebration from 2 to 3:30 p.m., at the Water Department facility at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, in West Cambridge at Fresh Pond. The city’s Fresh Pond Monarch Watch program has been raising monarch butterflies to help stem the species’ worldwide decline. This event wishes them luck on their migration to Mexico – first with storyteller Yumi Izuyama telling “A Monarch Finds her Home in Cambridge” in the traditional Japanese storytelling style called kamishibai, then with a walk to Kingsley Park for the 2:45 p.m. release. Information is here. (Jeanine Farley wrote about the local monarchs Aug. 7.)

Donut Villa Diner day party from 2 to 8 p.m. at 20 Prospect St., Central Square. Tickets are $15, but entry is free before 3 p.m. The diner – which specializes in doughnuts and food served on them – hosts a weekly party with music from DJ Huski, Dj FranQ and guest DJs. Information is here.

Hip-Hop at The Jungle 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Jungle, 6 Sanborn Court, Union Square, Somerville. Admission is free at this 21-plus show. The “Write Mind Wednesdays” podcast presents performances by J Faith, Mo’ Flow, Nim K, Freddrick HalleluYAH, L0ne, RedXLion and Timmy 2X. Information is here.