Go play some artistic pin pong this weekend at “Bounce.”
Credit: Melissa Blackall
Chase those end of summer doldrums away by trying out a few of these options, some of which even keep you outside to enjoy our remaining good weather.
VARIETY
Calamity No. 7
Friday, 8:30 p.m.
Third Life Studio
33 Union Sq., Somerville
$10, calamitycodance@gmail.com
www.calamitycodance.com
Calamity Co. Dance presents another one of their “modern and pop Art variety shows,” with music, dance, comedy and visual art in a community-centered environment that seeks to loosen the performer-audience barrier. This month’s guests include Zayde Buti, Matt Chaves, Katie McGrail and Audrey MacLean and McKersin Previlus and Marissa Molinar. As always, there’s a discount if you bring a snack.
ART
‘Bounce’
Through October 15
Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont St., Boston
Free, 617-426-5000
www.bcaonline.org
This installation by Lynn Nofziger consists of a triple-sized ping pong table dubbed “The Community Ping Pong Court.” You can play as much as you want for free. As an added bonus, the table has microphones, so your shots will be amplified for maximum ping pong epicness. How does this constitute art, you ask? Who cares? It sounds fun!
MUSIC
Boston Urban Music Festival
Saturday, 2 p.m.
City Hall Plaza
1 City Hall Plaza, Boston
Free
www.bostonurbanmusicfestival.org
This free outdoor concert is now in its 5th year of showcasing the best hip hop/R&B Boston has to offer, plus a little imported talent. 2014’s roster includes Talib Kweli, Clinton Sparks, Shea Rose Dutch Rebelle, the Berklee J Dilla Ensemble, Latrell James and breakdance troupe the Floorlords — and there are plenty more where they came from.
FESTIVALS
Art Walk in the Park
Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
University Park
38 Sidney St., Cambridge
Free, 541-515-2654
www.artcitycambridge.com
This outdoor art festival features dozens of local artists and crafts-makers showing off their creations. There are also food vendors and interactive community projects including Brian Butler’s Ice Cream People (not sure what that is, but it sounds delicious) and sidewalk chalk “art battles.” There will also be performance from the Dazies, the solo project of Mean Creek’s M. Holland.
THEATER
‘Pygmalion’
Friday through August 30
Arsenal Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal St., Watertown
$10-$25, contact@flatearththeatre.com
flatearth.ticketleap.com
Flat Earth Theater presents George Bernard Shaw’s Victorian riff of an ancient Greek myth, in which a professor, Henry Higgins, attempts to “re-mold” a lower-class girl for high society. Devon Jones’ adaptation, intriguingly, adds a racial dimension to the original’s probing of social class barriers—here Higgins is a white man, and his “subject” a black woman.
