Pencil This In

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! It's slim pickings around town tonight, but if you're desperate for something to do, here are a few worthwhile suggestions...

THEATER: Most theaters are dark tonight, but if you've got the afternoon off and want a stiff antidote to saccharine holiday cheer, hustle over to Edward Bond's Chair, which is set in a dystopian police state of 2077. The story centers on the kindly Alice, who makes the big mistake of bringing a chair to a soldier waiting for a bus, a good deed that does not go unpunished. Pete Boisvert at nytheatre.com writes: "The horror of Chair doesn't come in spurts of blood or passionate emotion. Rather, the dread imbued in the audience is a barren and empty one. In a play where kindness is a capital offense, our connection to humanity is the first casualty." Ho, ho ho!— John Del Signore

2 p.m. // Duke on 42nd Street [229 42nd Street] // $75

MUSIC: Tonight JDub presents Jewltide VI. Enjoy performances by Spanish indie rockers DeLeon, "gender-bending yids" The Shondes, and DJ Joro Boro plus special guests. There will also be drink specials and donuts!

8 p.m. // Southpaw [125 5th Ave, Park Slope] // $15

MOVIE: Tonight the IFC Center begins screening the French box office hit The Secret of the Grain, "a vibrant, heartfelt tale of a family of North African immigrants living in a small French port town. Set in the rustic seaside town of Sète, this intimate saga follows Slimane (Habib Boufares), whose growing dissatisfaction with the shipyard job he's had for the last 35 years prompts him to try to open his own couscous restaurant." But if you're feeling in the Christmas mood, maybe check out a It's a Wonderful Life instead, also playing at IFC.

Various times // IFC Center [323 6th Ave]// $12