Pencil This In

THEATER: The Scene, a black comedy by Theresa Rebeck that premiered at this year’s Humana Festival in Louisville, is now in previews at Second Stage. The satire is about an out-of-work New York actor (Spenser: For Hire’s Tony Shalhoub) — married to a news producer (Alien Nation veteran Patricia Heaton) — who has an affair with a fresh-faced Ohioan ingénue. Rebeck’s stated intent with The Scene is to skewer America’s “cultural collapse into narcissism”. - John Del Signore

Friday // 8pm // Second Stage Theatre [307 West 43rd St.] // Tickets cost just $70

EVENT: It's the most wonderful time of the year...SantaCON time! Get your best Santa lookin' gear on and wake up in time for the 10:10am kick off to SantaCON Saturday morning. Spend the day walking around the city and warming up with some drinks. And try not to scare the children, one of the four SantaCON rules:
"1. Don't fuck with kids.
2. Don't fuck with cops.
3. Don't fuck with security.
4. Don't fuck with Santa. (yeah, it's okay to fuck Santa)"

Saturday // 10:10am // TBA (check the stie) // Free

MUSIC: Remember the band We Are Scientists? We like them. They play at The Annex tonight as a part of the award winning party Ruff Club. If the acceptance speech by one of the Ruff Clubbers at the Paper Nightlife Awards a few weeks ago is any indication of what the party itself is like...it's sure to be a fun (absolutely effing wasted) night.

Inaction.mp3 - We Are Scientists

Friday // 10pm // The Annex [152 Orchard St]

EVENT: This weekend composer Phil Kline gets his orchestra of boomboxes together again. From Kline: "Every year since 1992 I've presented Unsilent Night, an outdoor ambient music piece for an infinite number of boom box tape players. It's like a Christmas carolling party except that we don't sing, but rather carry boom boxes, each playing a separate tape (or CD) which is a voice in the piece. In effect, we become a city block long stereo system."

Art? Noise? Whatever it is, it's worth checking out.

Saturday // 7pm // The Arch in Washington Square Park // Free

THEATER: Shel Silverstein’s The Devil and Billy Markham first appeared as a six-part epic poem in a 1979 issue of Playboy Magazine, which is an obscure literary journal renowned for its poetry. The poem is now a solo play with music about a man who journeys from Nashville's Music Row down into the pits of Hell and back again as he outsmarts God, the Devil, and everyone in between. Brit Herring stars in the production; he’s backed by a “smoking” blues duo. Closes tonight! - John Del Signore

Saturday // 7pm // The Huron Club at the Soho Playhouse [15 Vandam Street] // Tickets cost $20

MUSIC: Didn't get tickets to Rainer Maria's last show ever? Lou Reed's Berlin too expensive for ya? Well...you could go see Care Bears On Fire at The Hook. See what that whole kids indie rock (kindie rock?) scene is all about.

Sunday // 2pm // The Hook [18 Commerce St]