A Queens woman has filed a suit against ConAgra, the makers of microwaveable Act II popcorn, claiming she came down with "popcorn lung" after inhaling the vapors from the buttery snack. Agnes Mercado says she consumed the popcorn twice a day for 16 years, and is just one of many consumers suing over exposure to the additive biacetyl (or diacetyl), which gives the popcorn a buttery taste. She told the Daily News, "I was eating two or three bags of popcorn a day. I didn't know it would destroy my lungs." more ›

THEATER: HERE Artistic Director Kristin Marting concludes the OBIE-winning art center’s season by directing performer/dancer Alexandra Beller in us, “a highly athletic, sensual and dynamic blend of movement with song, text and a layered soundscape. Beller created this deeply personal commentary on the state of the union from the perspective of a woman who is at a crisis point in a love relationship.” As we haven’t seen it, we’ll defer to The New Yorker on this one: “The former Bill T. Jones standout dresses herself in the American flag, uses it as a jump rope, breast-feeds it. A sound score assaults her with conservative rhetoric, circa 2004, and she enlists the audience in pointing out contradictions in Leviticus.” Just another reason why we love New York. ENDS SUNDAY! – John Del Signore more ›

If you’re anything like me, there sits somewhere on your bookshelf a neglected copy of Aristotle’s Poetics that hasn’t been opened in years. And if you’re even more like me, the odds of you wading through those dense waters again are about as slim as Kansas legalizing pederasty. Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t stimulating and, yes, immensely influential philosophical ideas set forth therein. The extant text of The Poetics was transcribed from Aristotle’s lectures on the nature of theatrical tragedy: why our species craves imitative narrative performance, what separates a well-made tragedy from cheap melodrama, and the alchemical power of catharsis – to name a few. more ›

Sam Shepard once declared that he didn't want to be a playwright, he wanted to be a rock and roll star. So the current rock and roll revival of his 1972 play, The Tooth of Crime, would seem to be a perfect match for his ambitions. more ›