Pencil This In

THEATER: The Ohio Theater is the site of two of summer's best play festivals, and the first, Clubbed Thumb's eleventh Summerworks, started yesterday with Anne Washburn's I Have Loved Strangers, "in which true prophets, false prophets, and non-prophets battle for the salvation of ancient New York." On the company's website http://www.clubbedthumb.org/ you can do some "research" before going, via various eyebrow-raising links; or you can just rely on the winning trifecta of excellent track records: of the Ohio, of Clubbed Thumb, and of Washburn herself, whose play Apparition recently showed to well-deserved acclaim. Over the next weeks, two other plays will be in the festival -- Erin Courtney's Alice the Magnet, and Rachel Hoeffel's Quail -- but each is showing for only a few days, so get under the thumb while you can. - Mallory Jensen

Ohio Theater [66 Wooster St] // Festival through June 24 // See official website for schedule and tickets

READINGS: At the famous Strand bookstore, Chuck Palahniuk makes his only New York City stop on his book tour for his latest and twistedest book, Haunted. Palahniuk, the author of cult favorite Fight Club, brings his weird stylings to a tale of authors who retreat to an abandoned theatre to work. Although the book isn't being adoringly reviewed like Fight Club and Choke both were, it's worth stopping by if only because Strand is giving away a prize with every copy of the book purchased. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras

7 - 8:30 PM // Strand Bookstore [Broadway & W12th St.] // Free

ART OPENING: With Bare Exposures: Behind the Scenes on Broadway, Gallery 138 presents photographs by Rivka Shifman Katvan for a good cause: the exhibition benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. - Jason Laning

6 - 8 pm // Gallery 138 [138 W 17th, 5th floor] // Free

COMEDY: Andrew Lederer will be "taking a break from lying around naked, drinking Fresca" tonight to perform on the "Ed Sullivan on Acid" show at Freddy's Backroom in Brooklyn. (Of note: Freddy's was a speakeasy during prohibition and is likely to be torn down in favor of the Ratner/Gehry "arena" project.)

9pm // Freddy's Backroom [485 Dean St, Prospect Heights] // Free

There's also our favorite Monday night comedy show, Crash Test with Aziz Ansari. Tonight stop by and check out Mike Birbiglia, Todd Barry and co-host Rob Huebel.

11pm // UCB Theater [307 W 26th St] // Free

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