MOVIE: Tonight the Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series delivers two very different films. First up is The French Riviera, described as "a road documentary that follows a truck driver on a mission to earn enough money selling ice cream in the Icelandic countryside to go on a vacation on a French beach." more ›

EVENTS: Both Open House NY and The New Yorker Festival are upon us. You can check out more of OHNY's event here, and The New Yorker Festival here. Some picks: more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at the Washington Mutual on Sheepshead Bay Rd. in Brooklyn, a worker fell into the water off Pier 11 on Governor's Island, and a bank robbery on 57th St. and Broadway in Manhattan.
• Additional charges could be in store for the woman who allegedly shot a Staten Island commune leader before fleeing to Philadelphia.
• Maya Rudolph is not returning for the new season of Saturday Night Live
• New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is cruising Facebook.com for underage hookups, in order to file charges against the online social networking site.
• Is there a mad firebomber in Park Slope, endangering Subarus, garbage cans, small animals and Eve Ensler's privates? Brownstoner readers are worried.
• A 28-year-old woman was killed while crossing Houston St. this morning. A truck knocked the young woman out of her shoes and pinned her as she was crossing 6th and West Houston at 7:15 a.m.
• Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens was scratched from the series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, including tonight's start. Kei Igawa will start in place of the high-priced hurler with the hurt hamstring.
• Six New Yorkers were awarded MacArthur Genius Grants.

THEATER: The Impact Festival and fall at the Culture Project get started in a big way with the world premiere of The Treatment, which starts previews tonight. Add together playwright Eve Ensler (of Vagina Monologues fame), stars Dylan McDermott and Portia, director Leigh Silverman, and a sharply topical play about a traumatized soldier who saw and took part in too much for his psyche to handle when he was a military interrogator, and you've got all the makings of a must-see. - Mallory Jensen more ›

EVENT: “Solstice in Times Square” is a celebration of the Summer Solstice which began at 7am, but you still have time to partake. The dawn til dusk event includes a “Mind Over Madness” yoga-thon and live music. Doing yoga in Times Square seems like it might be the worst idea ever, but if you're up for a challenge, go for it. more ›

Failure hurts, so there are a lot of miserable producers right about now, given the abundant number of Broadway shows which have recently posted closing notices. Sunday was the last day for Eve Ensler's The Good Body - we liked it, but it just didn't catch on with the masses. We can see how it wasn't exactly great date night fodder, but couldn't the city's female contingency keep it going a hair longer? On January 2nd, it's a double whammy for both Dracula The Musical and Bombay Dreams, each closing that day. Frankly, it's a miracle they lasted this long. Then it was announced that the Marsha Norman play 'Night Mother would be closing on January 9th. That one really didn't surprise us. Gothamist thought the acting (by Brenda Blethyn and Edie Falco) was stellar, but the play seemed melodramatic and dated. Playbill via Yahoo reports here on these and a few other shows also biting the dust. more ›

Our friends at Broadway's The Good Body, the Eve Ensler one-woman show, have alerted us to an enticing series of talkbacks that started Wednesday night. An interesting and eclectic mix of talking heads, feminists, movie stars, and so forth have been booked to give their takes on the show. Gothamist really dug this show and wants to go back and hear Gloria Steinem's take on this piece on feminine body image and the challenge of confronting society's expectations, as well as our own. We're also curious to hear Isabella Rossellini's take on the show and the ideas it explores, since she is one of the 'characters' portrayed by Ensler in the show, and in the show has a lot to say on the subject at hand. Here's the list of talkbacks booked so far: (with more dates to be added): more ›

There’s no shortage of one-person shows on Broadway this season, and joining those ranks at the Booth Theatre is Eve Ensler, she of Vagina Monologues fame. We’re happy to report that Ensler’s Broadway debut is a must-see, especially for any woman who has ever looked at her figure with disdain (and c’mon, who hasn’t). more ›

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Eve Ensler, Playwright and Activist more ›

via Yahoo reports on the huge abundance of one-person shows opening before Christmas. more ›

Involver (media and entertainment activist community) and PEN (national organization of writers) present this Wednesday, August 4 at 7:00pm. An incredible lineup of literary legends convene to address contemporary political threats to freedom of expression. more ›