Pencil This In

EVENT: The only thing better than a tag sale is a swap sale. It's pretty much like going through a friends closet and taking what you fancy. Tonight, free up some of your own closet space and bring down all the clothes you want to get rid of to Thrift On! Others will do the same, and you'll likely go home with some goodies to fill up all that newly found closet space of yours.

9pm to 1am // Botanica Bar [47 Eest Houston St] // Free

THEATER: In May at HERE, Americans got a little taste of German theater with Stadttheater New York. Roland Schimmelpfennig, a major contemporary German playwright who is all too little known here, wrote one of the two plays that ran on the mainstage during that festival ("The Woman Before". Now Schimmelpfennig is getting more deserved exposure here with Arabian Night, produced by The Play Company http://www.playco.org/. Opening tonight, it's a hybrid fairytale-thriller about what happens when five residents of an apartment complex, who are trying to find out what's happened to the building's water supply, are led to the room of a mysterious sleeping beauty, where...well, you'll just have to go to find out! If you saw and liked The Woman Before, you'll definitely want to catch this, and if you didn't make it to the Stadttheater performance then you shouldn't miss out on Schimmelpfennig's dark fireworks now. - Mallory Jensen

East 13th St. Theater [136 E. 13th St.] // Through July 1, Mon.-Sat. 8pm, Sat. also 2pm // Tickets at Ticket Central

ART (non-profit): NUTUREart's Annual Spring Gala, Benefit Art Exhibit & Sale offers up an array of small works from emerging artists for a mere $150 each. Drinks and hors d'heurves will be served, with all proceeds benefiting NURTUREart programming. You can visit their website to reserve tickets or make a donation. - Jason Laning

5:30 – 6:00 pm: VIP Exhibition Preview, 6:00 – 9:00 pm: Gala & Benefit Sale // Cue Art Foundation [511 West 25th Street] // $75 Gala Entry, $150 VIP Gala Entry

READING: Catch Gary Shteyngart at the Astor Place Barnes & Noble, reading from his new novel Absurdistan Following on the success of The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan is the parodic tale of Mischa Vainberg, the Russian in love with the American Dream and stuck in the newly-created nation of Absurdistan. Playing on the new relationships between Russia, America, and their shared love of shiny new consumerism, Shteyngart's wicked eye extends even to himself - there's a character in the book named Jerry Shteynfarb, author of The Russian Arriviste's Hand Job. Shteyngart is certainly one of the city's great crop of up-and-coming writers, and the reading should be wicked fun. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras

7pm // Barnes & Noble [4 Astor Place near Broadway] // Free

MUSIC: Lately the blog buzz has been circling around Beirut. If you missed them at Knitting Factory last month, come check out what all the fuss is about tonight...for FREE!

8pm // Other Music [15 East 4th St] // Free