Pencil This In

MUSIC: Extra Life (pictured) is back from a tour and celebrating their return with a hometown show. Come check them out at Silent Barn with Mi Ami and Mirror Mirror. Learn more about frontman Charlie Looker from our interview with him last Fall.

9 p.m. // Silent Barn [915 Wyckoff Ave, Ridgewood/Bushwick] // $7

EVENT: Writer and producer of the L Word, A.M Homes, will be at BAMcafe tonight for the Eat, Drink & Be Literary series. Homes will read from her most recent book, titled This Book Will Save Your Life, and there will also be some Q&A action, as well as some music courtesy of Carl Riehl. Ticket price includes dinner, wine, tax and tip (tonight Irish cuisine is from chef Tim Sullivan). More details here.

6:30 p.m. // BAM [30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn] // $50

THEATER: "Documentary theater" troupe The Civilians are adept at turning street-level observations into propulsive entertainment. For their new musical This Beautiful City, they spent time in Colorado Springs interviewing people involved with or affected by the evangelical mega-church movement; the script consists entirely of actual conversations with their subjects. As luck would have it, during their time there a scandal broke out surrounding Pastor Ted Haggard, leader of the huge New Life Church. The exposure of Haggard's secret life doing drugs with gay prostitutes gave The Civilians ample fodder for their show, which, oddly enough, Pastor Ted himself attended Tuesday night! Adam Feldman at Time Out says, "this enlightening and often moving collage draws a Venn diagram of religious faith and homosexuality, with special attention to where they overlap." — John Del Signore

8 p.m. // Vineyard Theatre [108 East 15th Street] // $60

NERD NITE: Remember that whole thing where some New Yorkers were detained in Beijing during the Olympics? Well tonight they are coming to Nerd Nite at Galapagos to school you in "How to F--- with the Chinese Government and Beijing Police in the Middle of the Olympics." Join Michael Liss and Nathan Freitas (Students for a Free Tibet) as they give you a behind-the-scenes look and day-by-day breakdown of what they did when "attempting to organize the action with James [Powderly], from scouting locations and building the equipment, to organizing all of the players involved, through testing the system and our ultimate arrest."

9 p.m. // Galapagos [16 Main St, DUMBO] // $7