Pencil This In

THEATER: As Steve On Broadway notes, Chicago’s stellar Steppenwolf Theater Company, which launched the careers of Gary Sinise and Little Johnny Malkapee, is back on Broadway for the first time since 2001, when their production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest won the Tony for Best Revival. This time they’ve delivered playwright Tracy Letts’s August: Osage County, and after reading today’s rave reviews, you can count on more Tonys flying back to the Windy City. The Times’s Charles Isherwood, who has championed the dark family drama since it premiered in Chicago, calls it “flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years.” But The Central Arbiter isn’t the only one swooning; SOB has an index of the uniformly ecstatic acclaim for the criticism completist. – John Del Signore

2pm & 7:30pm // Imperial Theatre [249 West 45th Street] // Ticket prices vary.

PARTY: Happy Un-Holiday! There's one heck of a confusing event going on tonight to help you celebrate..."Concealed in a large basement theater in Noho, Shadyville and Glass Bead Collective present The Un-Holiday, a participatory spectacle of sensory engagement, theatrical Uroboros and disorganized assembly. Burrow through the black-lit spiral staircase into an evening of immersive audio-visual synergy, light-pulsating latex, rabbits and holes, madness and hatters. Somewhere between the bar and the dancefloor, stumble upon other members of the gin induced tea-party and abandon all reticence for a seat, a quick sip and a spin into the story. Mixing interactive theatre with the haphazard dynamic of an immersive visual party we are conducting an experiment in connecting the two genres. Join us in this experiment." Just don't take the brown acid.

6 to 10pm // Theater at 45 Bleeker // $10

READING: Alex Ross, music columnist for The New Yorker, has gone and written a book tracing the path of 20th century music and its impact on us. According to Björk: "Alex Ross's incredibly nourishing book will rekindle anyone's fire for music." Can't beat that review. Check out more details on his book here, and come hear him read from it tonight.

7pm // 192 Books [192 Tenth Ave] // Free

SCIENCE: Last week we interviewed the Secret Science Club founders, and tonight is their Evolve! event. AMNH Paleontologist Michael Novacek will be schooling the crowd on Evolution, Biodiversity, and Mass Extinction. He's "a world-renowned dinosaur hunter," an author and answerer of questions such as "Why are ecosystems essential to human survival?" Geeked-out guzzlers can enjoy the "Hungry Hyena" cocktail.

8pm // Union Hall [702 Union St] // Free

MUSIC: Ted Leo, Matisyahu and Yo La Tengo are all playing around town (and in Jerz) tonight. But if you want to check out a smaller affair, we suggest heading to the Knitting Factory for Islands (ex-Unicorns), Yacht, Tussle, Phil Elverum & Nick Krgovich, R Stevie Moore & Roger Ferguson, Christopher Francis. That's a whole lot of music for one night, so it should satiate your sonic thirst.

6pm // Knitting Factory [74 Leonard St] // $18