Friday, Nov. 10

West German Short Films Program with Director Zelimir Zilnik in person at 7 p.m. at Harvard Film Archive at The Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15. Zilnik discusses seven short films of his from 1974–1975. Information is here.

Autumn Hollow performs at 7:30 p.m. in the performance hall at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. The second installment of the Rooted Music Series, which continues Dec. 1, features a band that music magazine “The Big Takeover” describes as “triangulated somewhere between Bruce Springsteen’s bedroom records and Fleet Foxes’ rootsy rock and roll.” Converse Outlet opens. Information is here.

Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical at 7:30 p.m. at Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge (and continuing tomorrow). $15. A modern rock score updates this Victorian London tale about the chilling consequences of unleashing one’s inner demons. Produced by the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club. Information is here.

Union Comedy Weekend Show at 7:30 p.m. at Union Comedy, 593 Somerville Ave., Somerville (repeating Fridays and Saturdays). $15. This character-driven, narrative-style of improv features rotating teams of local performers. Tonight’s teams: Milkshake and $h!tty Fu€k!ng Neighbors. Information is here.

“Web of Murder” performance at 8 p.m. at Theatre@First, Unity Somerville, 6 William St., Somerville (and continuing most days through Nov. 18). $20 and $25. Agatha Christie meets “Arsenic & Old Lace” in this murder mystery play by Jonathan Troy. When the cruel Minerva Osterman invites her nieces to her remote, crumbling mansion for the weekend, who will survive? Information is here.

The Cambridge Jazz Foundation presents “Divas Live!” at 8 p.m. at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $35. Come early for the reception with cash bar, then be immersed into the music of Thelonious Monk, Nina Simone and Roberta Flack performed by top Boston vocalists Dominique Eade, Grammy-nominated Farayi Malek and Gabrielle Goodman. The Ron Savage Trio accompanies. Information is here.

Detention: Stand-Up in a Speakeasy at 8 and 10 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside (and every Friday and Saturday). $20 to $24. Head to the basement, grab a $4 beer or seltzer and enjoy this comedy show. Information is here.

Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra performs “A Musical Feast” from 8 to 10 p.m. at Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Free. Winner of the prestigious Erwin Bodky Award for excellence in early music, the orchestra performs brilliant baroque works by Telemann, Biber, Schein and Rameau from collections of courtly “table music” written for feasts real or imagined. Information is here.

---

Saturday, Nov. 11

Boston Anarchist Book Fair 2023 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside (continues Sunday). Free. More than 30 groups offer literature, artwork and workshops on diverse ideas of contemporary anarchism, aiming to challenge conventional media and create community. Information is here.

Introduction to plant and wildlife monitoring for conservation from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at The Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave., near Union Square, Somerville. Free, but register. Earthwise Aware co-founder Claire O’Neill teaches how to observe and record the plants, insects and animals of the Somerville Growing Center. No expertise required, but prepare for the event by creating a free account on the iNaturalist app. Information is here.

Rethinking Addiction: A Drama Therapy Workshop from 2 to 4 p.m. at Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15 materials fee. In conjunction with the exhibit “Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire and the Chinese Art Trade,” running through Jan. 14, drama therapists Ana Bess Moyer Bell and Amy Lazier of the artist collective 2nd Act lead a workshop designed to challenge ideas about addiction. Information is here.

The Danish National Chamber Choir performs from 4 to 6 p.m. at Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Free. Marcus Creed conducts this concert of music for Armistice Day encompassing themes of remembrance, commemoration memory and loss. Information is here.

West Coast Swing Rising Star Night from 7 p.m. to midnight at the Masonic Lodge, 1950 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. $45.50. Two intermediate workshops, one beginner workshop and social dancing with a break to see the routines the Northeast Rising Stars will take to the U.S. Open. Confirmed performers include New York-based Jes Ann Nail and Edem Attikese and Boston-based Jessie Rosenberg and Leo Cook. Sponsored by Dirty Water West Coast Swing. Information is here.

Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical (continued) at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15. Information is here.

Blindfold Jam from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at St. Mary Orthodox Church, 8 Inman St., near Central Square, Cambridge. $15 to $30. Dance safely while blindfolded to develop and heighten your other senses and to expand beyond your patterns to a broader range of movement. Vocal-electronic music by Moti Zemelman. Information is here.

Union Comedy weekend show (continued) at 7:30 p.m. at Union Comedy, 593 Somerville Ave., Somerville (repeating Fridays and Saturdays). $15. Tonight’s teams: Big Allowance and Medusa. Information is here.

Schuyler Bailar reads from “He/She/They” from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Connexion, 149 Broadway, Somerville. Free, or $31.88 with book. The author/transgender athlete and community organizer Kimm Topping talk about Bailer’s new book, which addresses the fundamentals of being transgender and more complex issues such as how all kids benefit when trans youth play sports. Information is here.

“Tiempo Flamenco” at 8 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (and continuing Sunday). $35 to $100. Omayra Amaya (choreographer, dancer and director) and Roberto Castellon (flamenco guitarist and composer) bring together flamenco dancers and musicians. Information is here.

DakhaBrakha performs at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. $40 to $58. This Ukrainian folk-punk quartet creates an edgy global sound with Indian, Arabic, African, Russian  and Australian instrumentation. The towering black lamb’s-wool hats celebrate Ukrainian village culture roots, but their “ethno-chaos” sound is urban avant-garde. Information is here.

“Web of Murder” performance (continued) at 8 p.m. at Theatre@First, Unity Somerville, 6 William St., Somerville. $20 and $25. Information is here.

Detention: Stand-Up in a Speakeasy (continued) at 8 and 10 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside. $20 to $24. Information is here.

Fav45s Party from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Vera’s, 70 Union Square, Somerville. Free and 21-plus. DJ Sumj spins all vinyl 45s all night, with funk, boogie, disco, Afrobeat, reggae, hip-hop and more. Information is here.

---

Sunday, Nov. 12

Materials Lab Workshop: Dissecting Portrait Colors from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15 materials fee. To understand how the representation of skin colors has influenced art and medicine through history, second-year med student and portrait artist William Shen will show how artists recapitulate the biological origin of skin color by dissecting complex hues and re-creating them in paint. You’ll paint a miniature replica of Annette Lemieux’s “Available Portrait Colors” and mix your own skin colors. Information is here.

Boston Anarchist Book Fair 2023 (continued) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside. Free. Information is here.

Women in Music Gathering fifth annual showcase at noon at The Burren, 247 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $20 and $25. This year, seven members of the artist-alliance group perform originals and covers during brunch to raise funds for Casa Myrna, supporting their work with abuse survivors and their children. Information is here.

Hip-Hop Experience Workshop: The Art of 16 Bars from 1 to 3 p.m. at Harvard Art Museums, Menschel Hall, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, artist and singer Jazzmyn RED discusses MC writing techniques, instrumental visualization and how to find your flow. Participants will write their own 16 bars (16 counts of four) to perform for the group. Information is here.

Silents, Please! presents a screening of “The Big Parade” at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. $12 to $17. An MGM blockbuster in salute to Veterans Day, this 1925 film starring John Gilbert about U.S. doughboys signing up and shipping off to France in 1917 is part of the theater’s series of vintage silent classics (usually 35mm prints) shown on the big screen with live music. Information is here.

Concert of Scottish Music and Dance at 3 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $15 to $30. Hanneke Cassel brings her innovative fiddle stylings to a family-friendly program with Dave Wiesler (piano) and Stephen Thomforde (pipes) as well as Highland Dance Boston and the Boston Scottish Country Dancers. Information is here.

“Web of Murder” performance (continued) at 3 p.m. at Theatre@First, Unity Somerville, 6 William St., Somerville. $20 and $25. Information is here.

Boston Singers’ Resource presents “An Emerald Necklace of Song” from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Somerville Music Spaces, 1060 Broadway, Suite C101B, Somerville. $15. Composer and singer James Dargan curated this cozy recital of songs inspired by New England’s natural beauty and performed by eight singers and executive director Brendon Shapiro at the piano. Information is here.

Peter F. Crowley reads from “That Night and Other Stories” and “Empire’s End” from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Café at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. The launch of Crowley’s book of stories and collection of poems brings musician Dan Morse and poets Elizabeth McKim, Gloria Mindock and Linda Werbner to perform and read their own works, too, as part of the fun. Information is here.

Poets Chloe Garcia Roberts and Antonio Ochoa read at 4 p.m. at The Press Room at 90 Oxford St., in the Spring Hill neighborhood, Somerville. $5 suggested donation. Garcia Roberts is a local poet, essayist and award-winning translator, and Ochoa is a poet, editor and host of the podcast “Texts for Nothing: Conversations with Poets.” Part of Michael Franco’s Xit the Bear Readings series. Information is here.

Heart of the Sea: Ocean Music from Five Centuries concert at 4 p.m. at First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church St./1446 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $20 suggested donation. Nine performers flow through two ocean-themed cantatas by Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre and swirl around music by Telemann, Martin Codax and Jobim. For this performance by Eudaimonia, A Purposeful Period Band, donations will go to The Ocean River Institute in Cambridge. Information is here.

Ben Miller: Stand-Up Science from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $15 to $20 and 18-plus. A show that sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022 by a New York comedian – as backup, he has a degree in materials science and engineering from Columbia University – who’s been serving this year as artist-in-residence at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. (The first stand-up comedian selected by the National Parks Arts Foundation.) Information is here.

“Tiempo Flamenco” continued at 7 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. $35 to $100. Information is here.

Comedian Steph Tolev performs at 7:30 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $27. The rising stand-up described as a “Canadian loudmouthed treasure” comes to town with Toronto-born Alex Pavone, now a New York comic. Information is here.

---

Monday, Nov. 13

Patrick Weil reads from “The Madman in the White House: Sigmund Freud, Ambassador Bullitt and the Lost Psychobiography of Woodrow Wilson” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Adolphus Busch Hall, Goldman Room, 27 Kirkland St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The Yale visiting law professor and University of Paris research fellow discusses his discovery of a hitherto unknown manuscript by Freud and Bullitt deeming Wilson a neurotic obsessed with his father and projected his image onto others – first his friends, later his enemies. In conversation with Elizabeth Lunbeck, chair of Harvard’s Department of the History of Science, and Arthur Goldhammer, writer and translator for Harvard’s Center for European Studies. Information is here.

Boston Queer Fiber Arts Night at 6 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Work on your own project, sip some beer and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow queer crafters. Information is here.

“Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook” with Sohla El-Waylly at 6 p.m. at First Parish in Cambridge Meeting House, 3 Church St./1446 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. $15, or $50 with book. During this Harvard Book Store event, the star of HBO Max’s “The Big Brunch” and The History Channel’s “Ancient Recipes with Sohla” talks about her new cookbook with chef-owner Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery + Café and Myers + Chang. Information is here.

“Rethinking Reproduction in Climate Crisis” lecture from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Harvard University’s Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., Harvard Square. Free. Author and University of Texas (Austin) professor Heather Houser, with a book in progress called “Our Bodies, Our Climate,” says the climate crisis requires a rethinking of fertility and family from perspectives including “childfree for climate” advocates, reproductive justice feminists, entrepreneurial pro-birthers and family abolitionists. Harvard’s Sarah Dimick moderates. Information is here.

A/V Comedy Club from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. $5. Drop in to watch members of the local comedy community perform projector and musical comedy or other complicated material uncommon at most open-mic spaces around town. Information is here.

Ahmed Naji reads from “Rotten Evidence: Reading and Writing in an Egyptian Prison” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The novelist and documentary filmmaker discusses authoritarian censorship and his memoir chronicling 10 months spent in Cairo’s Tora Prison for “violating public modesty” after an excerpt of his novel “Using Life” reportedly caused a reader to experience heart palpitations. Alexandra Chreiteh, author of “Always Coca-Cola” and “Ali and His Russian Mother” joins the conversation. Information is here.

Screening of “The Little Girl’s Wrong” (1922) with live musical accompaniment at 7 p.m. at Harvard Film Archive at The Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10. This recently restored silent-era film wraps up a series devoted to prolific female Italian filmmaker Elvira Notari and is shown with musical accompaniment by Robert Humphreville. Also featured: Notari’s shorts “Italy Has Risen” and “Naples, Singing Mermaid.” Information is here.

Music Speaks: Under a Tree, We Wander from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library East Branch, 115 Broadway. Free, but register. Violinist Joshua Peckins plays classics and contemporary pieces, introducing the composers and their music with spoken word. Information is here.

Geoff Brock reads from “Allegria: Translations of Giuseppe Ungaretti” from 8 to 9 p.m. at Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St., Harvard Square. $5. The author of three books of poetry, including the forthcoming “After,” is joined in conversation with Elisa Gonzalez, an essayist and fiction writer whose debut collection of poems is “Grand Tour.” Sponsored by the Blacksmith House Poetry Series. Information is here.

Daydream performs from 10 p.m. to midnight at The Jungle, 6 Sanborn Court, Union Square, Somerville. $5 suggested donation and 21-plus. This latest project from local musician Dave Rubin is a roots jam band that blends Americana, soulful songwriting and hard-driving rock ’n’ roll with the improvisation of groups such as the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. Information is here.

---

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Navigating Solo: Planning Tools for Aging Well from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, but register. The library foundation and nonprofit Cambridge Neighbors sponsor the fifth of five talks and Q&As on aging solo. This week’s topic: “Bringing it all together: developing an organized solo aging plan,” facilitated by Ailene Gerhardt. Information is here.

AI and Education: Inclusive Innovation for Student Success discussion from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. Sal Khan of Khan Academy, Cynthia Breazeal, of MIT Open Learning and MIT Media Lab, and Bridget Terry Long, of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will consider opportunities for AI-enabled applications in education as well as the challenges faced, including mitigating bias and ensuring affordability. Sponsored by Axim Collaborative, Harvard and MIT’s new online education initiative. Information is here.

Writers Speak: Geoff Dyer in conversation with Maya Jasanoff from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Harvard University’s Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., Harvard Square. Free. The author of four novels and numerous nonfiction books (his latest is “The Last Days of Roger Federer”), talks with Harvard professor of arts and sciences and of history Maya Jasanoff, whose most recent book is “The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World.” Information is here.

Food Waste panel discussion from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. Free, but register. This installment of a Sustainable Development Goals series presented by the of the United Nations Association of Greater Boston focuses on “Responsible Consumption and Production” with an in-depth discussion on food waste with global, regional and local leaders. Information is here.

Kim McLarin reads from “Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed: Notes from Periracial America” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Emerson College’s McLarin addresses the joys and hardships of being an older Black woman in contemporary, “periracial” America – “a way to label life under that particular tooth in the zipper of interlocking systems of oppression bell hooks called ‘imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy.’” Author Michael P. Jeffries joins the conversation. Information is here.

Supper Club: “The New Native Kitchen” by Freddie Bitsoie from 7 to 9 p.m. at Remnant Brewing, 2 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville (and on the second Tuesday of every month). Free, but register. This time the potluck centers around a cookbook celebrating indigenous cuisine by the former executive chef at Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Information is here.

Karim Sulayman and Sean Shibe perform at 7:30 at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Lebanese-American tenor Sulayman, a 2019 Grammy Award winner, teams up with the innovative Scottish guitarist Shibe for a recital bringing together 16th- and 17th-century Italian and English works; traditional Sephardic and Arab-Andalusian songs; Benjamin Britten’s settings of translated poems “Songs from the Chinese”; 20th century and contemporary compositions; and more. Information is here.

Laugh Giraffe Comedy Show at 8 p.m. at Union Tavern, 345 Somerville Ave., Union Square, Somerville (and continues every Tuesday). $10. Stand-up comedy showcase. Information is here.

---

Wednesday, Nov. 15

Small Business Leasing 101 Workshop from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. Free, but register. This workshop sponsored by Cambridge Community Development and Graffito SP answers your questions about the retail leasing process, from planning to opening. Attendees get a printed copy of Graffito’s “Tenant Roadmap to Retail Leasing” Toolkit. Information is here.

Streetwise speaker series at 6 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville (and every third Wednesday). Free. Co-sponsored by the Somerville Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets, this series aims to share wisdom on the path to complete streets. This month’s speaker is Ari Belathar, new executive director of the Boston Cyclists Union. Information is here.

Psychedelics in Society and Culture: A Conversation with Michael Pollan from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Harvard University’s Boylston Hall, 5 Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Free. The leading author on nature, the food system and most recently altered states of consciousness joins in Harvard’s recently announced plan for a $16 million interdisciplinary program to transform the psychedelics research landscape. Information is here.

Poets Forest Gander and Jorie Graham read from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Houghton Library, at Quincy and Harvard streets in Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Free. The Pulitzer Prize-winners read from their latest books. Poet and critic Stephanie Burt introduces this Harvard Vocarium Reading Series event. Information is here.

“Caring for Navajo Culture: In Museums and Beyond” panel discussion from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Geological Lecture Hall, Harvard Geological Museum, 24 Oxford St., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. The Peabody Museum’s Stephanie Mach talks with Harvard Divinity School fellow Cynthia Wilson and Boston University historical archaeologist Wade Campbell about the ways they care for their Navajo cultural heritage. Information is here.

John Allison-Weiss “Say What You Mean” 10th Anniversary Tour at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $17 and $20. Future Teens are the backing band for the nonbinary emo-breakup songwriter and will also play their own set. Yet To Bloom performs too. Information is here.

---

Thursday, Nov. 16

Building a Plant-Based Company with Food Hack Boston from 6 to 7 p.m. at Venture Café, CIC Cambridge, One Broadway, fifth floor, Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. The founders of High Time Foods and Shire’s (formerly Nuttin’ Ordinary) describe their journeys and reveal the keys to cultivating plant-based enterprises. After the talk and Q&A, all attendees are welcome to give a 30-second pitch to broadcast a business update, plea for investment or declare they’re “open to work” to an audience passionate about this growing sector. Information is here.

Our Artificial Nature: Perspectives on Design for an Era of Environmental Change discussion from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Gund Hall, 42 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Carson Chan, curator of the MoMA exhibition “Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism,” talks with Elizabeth Bowie Christoforetti, of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, about the cultural, social and technological design processes to respond to ecological needs. It’s in conjunction with the new exhibition “Our Artificial Nature” in the Druker Design Gallery (up through Dec. 21). Information is here.

Ganesh Sitaraman reads from “Why Flying Is Miserable: And How to Fix It” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The law and policy expert explains how cancellations, delays, lost baggage, tiny seats and poor service in air travel are because of unregulated capitalism in the name of more competition, leaving us with only four too-big-to-fail airlines that have received billions in taxpayer bailouts and still can’t offer reliable service. Sitaraman discusses ways to fix airlines – and many other sectors of industry – with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Information is here.

Union Comedy weekend show (continued) at 7:30 p.m. at Union Comedy, 593 Somerville Ave., Somerville (repeating Fridays and Saturdays). $15. Tonight’s teams: Babe and Milkshake. Information is here.

“Web of Murder” performance (continued) at 8 p.m. at Theatre@First, Unity Somerville, 6 William St., Somerville. $20 and $25. This is an understudy performance and masks-only. Information is here.

Ali McGuirk at 8 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $18. If McGuirk’s name is on your radar, it’s not just because she had a residency at Somerville’s Bull McCabe’s or because her dad was a recent candidate for Cambridge City Council. She’s racked up nominations and wins at the Boston Music Awards and New England Music Awards for her perceptive songwriting and soulful singing, which can sound intimate even when she’s belting it out. Her album “Til It’s Gone” makes smooth sonic stretches from introspection to wider meditations on oppression and justice. Also performing: Miranda Rae and Chrysalis. Information is here.

Duck Duck Goofs comedy showcase from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at The Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (and every Thursday). $15 and 21-plus. Live local music followed by four sets from often nationally recognized comics plus cheap beer, $15 scorpion bowls and free admission afterward to dance to live funk music by the Chicken Slacks. The hard-working host behind this speakeasy laugh fest is Ryan Howe, who also runs the Detention stand-up show on Fridays and Saturdays at the Cambridge Community Center. Information is here.

---

Friday, Nov. 17

The State of Housing Design 2023 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Gund Hall, 42 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. A book launch in which the book’s editors and authors join panels with practitioners, journalists, academics and others to ask “How are architects of new single- and multifamily housing responding to the warming climate, the affordability crisis, increasing regulations and construction costs, and the demand for new unit types that better reflect today’s demographic realities?” Information is here.

Gender-Expansive Ballroom Social at 6:30 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. $TBD. Anyone whether a novice or ballroom expert can experience this gender-expansive take on ballroom dance with interdisciplinary artists Holly (they/them) and Michael (he/they) teaching an intro lesson to American Foxtrot, followed by an open social dance featuring a variety of dance styles. No street shoes. Information is here.

Small Million, Gold Casio and Ruby Grove perform from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $15. Three bands – from Portland, Oregon; Boston; and New York – walk into a bar. This is Lilypad, so we’re talking synth pop, trip-hop and alien disco. Information is here.

Candlelight: Favorite Anime Themes concert at 7 p.m. at First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Harvard Square. $40 to $59 and 8-plus. The Rasa String Quartet, illuminated by glowing candles, plays selections from the themes of more than 15 anime series and closes with a Studio Ghibli medley. Information is here.

Poets Martine Bellen, Peter Gizzi and Cole Swensen read from 7 to 8 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop on 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10, but register. With an introduction by Marc Vincenz. Information is here.

“Web of Murder” performance (continued) at 8 p.m. at Theatre@First, Unity Somerville, 6 William St., Somerville (with a final show on Saturday). $20 and $25. Information is here.

“Something Strange,” a live music and dance tribute to “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square (and continuing Saturday). $18. The band Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys returns with their holiday theater experience – open to all ages with a warning that it comes with “partial nudity and suggestive situations.” Information is here.

Detention: Stand-Up in a Speakeasy (continued) at 8 and 10 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside. $20 to $24. Information is here.