Edward Albee’s 1958 play The Zoo Story was a watershed moment in American theater, despite being ignored for two years by New York producers. Though the riveting two character play marked the arrival of a significant new American voice, it first premiered in Germany; not until 1960 was The Zoo Story performed in the U.S, and then not even in New York, where it’s set. Albee’s breakthrough one-act concerns a random, ultimately violent encounter between......

EVENT: Tonight Duncan Sheik (ah, we still remember when he sang "Barely Breathing" at the Peach Pit After Dark) and Steven Sater pair up for a Spring Awakening book signing. They will be joined from 5–5:30pm by Spring Awakening cast members Jennifer Damiano and John Gallagher, Jr., who will perform acoustic versions of two song selections from the show at the signing. 5 to 7pm // Drama Book Shop [250 W 40th St] // Free......

MUSIC: If you haven't checked out the Summer of Love exhibit at the Whitney, head over there after work and get a double dose of rock while you're at it. Tonight Dirty Projectors and Lucky Dragons take the stage at Whitney Live. Get there early to get in. Check out this "Take Away Show" in New York featuring the Dirty Projectors. Friday // 6pm // The Whitney [945 Madison Ave at 75th St] // Free......

The Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is the quintessential tale of love lost, nearly regained and then agonizingly lost again. When Eurydice dies on their wedding day, her musician lover Orpheus, "father of song", journeys down to Hades to rescue her. The man shreds so hard on the lyre they let him escort Eurydice back to the land of the living, with the caveat that she walk behind him the whole way – if......

EVENT: What do Bob Dylan and the Brooklyn Bridge have in common? They both get a year older today! Bob turns 66 and the Bridge turns 124. To help celebrate the latter, there's a bike ride across the structure. There will also be cake and historical stories to keep you physically and mentally satiated. Related: There's also a walking tour of the Bridge on Saturday. 7 to 9pm // City Reliquary [370 Metropolitan Ave,......

Wallace Shawn has long enjoyed a fruitful career as a character actor in mainstream movies (Clueless, Princess Bride, Chicken Little). He also happens to be one of the world’s most significant dissident writers. His plays The Designated Mourner, Aunt Dan and Lemon and The Fever – to name just a few – have garnered much praise (and controversy) for their unflinching examinations of brutality. Shawn’s plays are political but not polemical; through his writing he......

THEATER: The Scene, a black comedy by Theresa Rebeck that premiered at this year’s Humana Festival in Louisville, is now in previews at Second Stage. The satire is about an out-of-work New York actor (Spenser: For Hire’s Tony Shalhoub) — married to a news producer (Alien Nation veteran Patricia Heaton) — who has an affair with a fresh-faced Ohioan ingénue. Rebeck’s stated intent with The Scene is to skewer America’s “cultural collapse into narcissism”. -......

MOVIE: Netflix Rolling Roadshow presents The Warriors. Watch the local turf wars play out on a big screen in Coney Island. Tickets are on a first come, first serve basis. And for some reason, Lisa Loeb is hosting this and there will be a Q&A following the movie. 8:30pm // Asser Levy Park Amphitheater [Coney Island between Sea Breeze and Ocean at 2nd St, Brooklyn] // Free Meanwhile, over at another free outdoor movie, catch......

It had been awhile since Gothamist was at Second Stage, so we were glad to find it in the excellent form we remembered with its latest show, a revival of Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play. Fuller won the 1982 Pulitzer in drama for it, and was nominated for an Academy Award when it was turned into a movie (A Soldier’s Story), so we went in with high expectations, and fortunately those didn’t jinx anything.......

With the massive arts listings in last Sunday’s Times, the new season officially got underway, although theatre fans have for some time been able to get at least some idea about the next year on stage, and not only the brand-name productions, via the estimable nytheatre.com. Still, poring over those inky pages and getting overwhelmed by the sheer bulk of what’s about to come our way has no real substitute, and we’re now particularly......

Most theatres are busy prepping their new season�s premieres, and smart and cost conscious theatre fans are already booking shows they want to see for nothing � by ushering. Scads of off-Broadway and off-off Broadway houses use volunteer ushers who in exchange for working for an hour or so (usually before curtain time), get to see the show for free. Most Broadway theatres have to use ushers from a union, but New York theatregoers have......