Pencil This In

THEATER: The annual Soho Think Tank Ice Factory, arguably New York’s most impeccably curated theater festival, has been hosting an exhilarating array of new shows every weekend since July 4th . Starting tonight you can sink your teeth into Vampire University, in which “a struggling vampire family descends on an evangelical college in the Midwest, the dad’s mid-life crisis of immortality triggers a desire to come back to life and the gulf between first and second generations vampires has never seemed greater.” Scored to live Theremin! John Del Signore

Friday // 8pm // Ohio Theater [66 Wooster St] // Tickets cost $15

EVENT: Shawn Barber's tattoo-centric art show is called The New York Experience. The portrait series is "an analysis, documentation and celebration of artists with tattoos, tattoo artists, tattooed art, and tattooist's materials. The artists portrayed in the series are pioneers in contemporary art history."

Friday // 7pm // Invisible NYC [148 Orchard St] // Free

MUSIC: Celebrate New Orleans this Saturday with Galactic, The Golden Eagle Mardi Gras Indians and Soul Rebel Brass Band. Jazz, hip hop, reggae, big band (and just about everything else you can think of) all come together for an afternoon of eclectic tunes.

Saturday // 3pm // Summerstage, Central Park // Free

EVENT: The HOWL Festival will be in Tompkins Square Park this September, but first it takes a trip uptown this Saturday. The carnival of creativity will include the Hungry March Band, the East Village Dance Project and the Drumsong African Ballet Theatre.

Saturday // 3pm // Josie Robertson Plaza [Columbus Ave between 62nd and 65th Streets] // Free

MUSIC: Shebang Productions and We Be Illin' presents Brooklyn Day: Party for Your Health. With four bands, three DJs, dancing and snow cones to spike...it sounds like an exhaustive and not totally healthy way to promote health! But having fun is ALWAYS good for you, so head over there to support PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Program).

You'll catch live sets by The Deathset, Peelander-Z, The Boggs and The Teeth, and Nick Catchdubs will be on the ones and twos. Also: Free daytime PBR, Free Vodka drinks by Sonnema VodkaHERB and Brooklyn's Brown will be parked out front from 5pm to 2am "for your coffee and panini health!"

Saturday // 3pm to 4am // The Hook [18 Commerce St, Red Hook] // $20

THEATER: Reviewer Martin Denton declares Tings Dey Happen, a solo show about Dan Hoyle's year in Nigeria as a Fullbright Scholar, “extraordinary and uncompromising.” Hoyle portrays a wide variety of rogues and unfortunates – media-savvy warlords, pacifist militants, Africanized Texas oilmen, and prostitutes turned anti-Chevron activists – to tell the shocking story of Nigeria's rebirth as the "new Middle East" of oil security. Welcome to the party, pals! With “militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta are blowing up pipelines, warlords are threatening rebellion, and oil company employees are being kidnapped with alarming frequency,” Hoyle’s subject matter is as timely as it gets. - John Del Signore

Saturday // 3pm & 8pm // The Culture Project [55 Mercer St.] // Ticket prices vary.

MUSIC: Ted Leo (pictured) and The Thermals fill up McCarren Pool with jams this Sunday. Head over for the party - there's only one more left after this! And maybe Ted will finally get some good weather for an outdoor show...

Sunday // 2pm // McCarren Park Pool, Greenpoint // Free

MOVIE: As part of the MoMA Laffs series, this Sunday the museum will be screening It Should Happen to You. The 1954 film stars Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon, and the "sophisticated comedy wryly comments on the fascination with celebrity and fame for its own sake."

Sunday // 4:30pm // MoMA, The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1, T1