The After Party. Brandon Cutrell and Alysha Umphress host this weekly open-mike musical theatre schmoozefest. Laurie Beechman Theater, West Bank Café, 407 W. 42nd St., Manhattan. 10:30 p.m. www. westbankcafe.com.
Big Apple Film Festival. Had enough with bloated, star-studded New York film fests? Here's an unpretentious little festival "dedicated to showcasing and promoting the highest-quality films" from local independent filmmakers. See
www.bigapplefilmfestival.com for a schedule.
Flu Shots. Equity members, arm yourselves for flu season, courtesy of Physician Volunteers for the Arts. Council Room, Actors' Equity Association, 165 W. 46th St., 14th floor, Manhattan. 10:30 a.m.–3 p.m. www.actorsequity.org.
ID America Festival. "American psyche," "American culture," and "American dreams" are the themes of this festival of short plays about American identity. Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk St., Manhattan. See www.idafestival.org for a schedule.
John Lithgow. The actor reads from and signs his new anthology, The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family. Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway (at West 66th Street), Manhattan. 7 p.m. (212) 595-6859.
New Works Reading Series. In Cherry Smoke by Jim McManus, a professional brawler and a homeless runaway try to create the stable family that neither has ever experienced. Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 W. 22nd St., Manhattan. 3 p.m. RSVP required: (212) 727-2737. www.irishrep.org.
New York Butoh Festival. The dance form butoh emerged in Japan in the 1950s and, according to Cave Art Space, "fuses the traditional with the avant-garde, complex choreography with improvisation, and wild physicality with meditative stillness." See nybf.caveartspace.org for a schedule.
SAG Conservatory Friday Seminar Series. Actor and acting coach Prudence Wright Holmes offers tips on finding or crafting a custom monologue to help nail auditions. SAG Conservatory members only. Screen Actors Guild, 360 Madison Ave., 14th floor (enter on East 45th Street), Manhattan. 10 a.m. You must sign up in person.
Big Apple Film Festival. See Nov. 16.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Steven Spielberg's 1977 sci-fi classic gets the hi-def treatment. Sony Wonder Technology Lab, 550 Madison Ave. (at East 56th Street), Manhattan. 2 p.m. RSVP: (212) 833-7858. www.sonywondertechlab.com.
Did Jesus Ever Smile? The new play by Michael Raskin gets a staged reading. 13th Street Repertory Company, 50 W. 13th St., Manhattan. 3:30 p.m.
ID America Festival. See Nov. 16.
Live at Lincoln: A Tribute to August Wilson. Actors Stephen Henderson, John Earl Jelks, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Michele Shay, and Leslie Uggams present excerpts from Wilson's cycle of plays on the African-American experience. Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway (at West 66th Street), Manhattan. 3 p.m.
(212) 595-6859.
New York Butoh Festival. See Nov. 16.
1001. Jason Grote's new play "hyperlinks Scheherazade's tales to contemporary Manhattan" using Borgesian wordplay and Pythonesque slapstick. It's getting good reviews and it closes today. Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave., Manhattan. 3 and 8 p.m. $25–$35. (646) 312-4085 or www.1001nyc.com.
Asssscat 3000. The Upright Citizens Brigade feeds your long-form-improv jones. UCB Theatre, 307 W. 26th St., Manhattan. $8 at 7:30 p.m.; free at 9:30 p.m. (tickets distributed outside the theatre at 8:15 p.m.). www.ucbtheatre.com.
ID America Festival. See Nov. 16.
Moviehouse. The Big Lebowski (1998), plus shorts by local filmmakers James Monohan and Poykpak, an after-party, and free popcorn. Galapagos, 70 N. Sixth St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 8 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com
/reellifemoviehouse.
New York Butoh Festival. See Nov. 16.
RoS Indexical. Experimental choreographer Yvonne Rainer makes a rare appearance in this work that re-envisions the controversial 1913 premiere of Stravinsky and Nijinsky's The Rite of Spring. Hudson Theatre, Millennium Broadway Hotel, 145 W. 44th St., Manhattan. 7 p.m. $10–$18. http://07.performa-arts.org.
Sundays at Six. At this weekly series, a new or revised play is read and discussed. WorkShop Theater Company, 312 W. 36th St., 4th floor, Manhattan. 6 p.m. (212) 695-4173 or www.workshoptheater.org.
BAM Remembers Ingmar Bergman. Actors affiliated with the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden—including Bibi Andersson, Lena Olin, and Peter Stormare—read from the late director's diaries, and an excerpt from the documentary Bergman Island is screened. BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St., Brooklyn. 7 p.m. (ticket distribution starts at 6 p.m.). www.bam.org.
Broadway Unplugged. Broadway stars, including Sarah Uriarte Berry, Marc Kudisch, Beth Leavel, and Emily Skinner, sing show tunes the way they were meant to be heard—without microphones. Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., Manhattan. 8 p.m. $25–$75. (212) 307-4100 or
www.ticketmaster.com.
ID America Festival. See Nov. 16.
Monday Night Macbeth. Each week of this open-rehearsal series features different actors working through a different act of Macbeth with a well-known director. Tonight: Actors Elizabeth Marvel and Ruben Santiago-Hudson and director Barry Edelstein tackle Act 2. Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13th St., Manhattan. 8 p.m. $30. (212) 352-3101 or
www.classicstage.org.
Movement Research at the Judson Church. This forum for dance experimentation and work in progress presents DD Dorvillier, Melanie Maar, Regina Rocke, and Pascale Wettstein. Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Manhattan. 8 p.m. www. movementresearch.org.
New York Butoh Festival. See Nov. 16.
PrimeTime Reading Series. Scattered Blossoms by Stephen Fife explores the six weeks in 1888 when Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gaughin shared a studio, while a few hundred miles away Jack the Ripper went on a killing spree. Primary Stages Studios, 307 W. 38th St., Suite 1510, Manhattan. 7:30 p.m. RSVP: (212) 840-9705. www.primarystages.com.
Project Shaw. The reading series continues its march through the Shaw canon with his first play, Widowers' Houses, starring Fritz Weaver. The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South, Manhattan. 7 p.m. $15. (212) 352-3101 or www.projectshaw.com.
RoS Indexical. See Nov. 18.
"A Rose by Any Other Name": Adaptations of Shakespeare. John Simon discusses French and German translations of Shakespeare. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan. 6 p.m. (212) 642-0142 or www.nypl.org/
lpaprograms.
Spotlight Japan. American director Jay Scheib presents a reading of excerpts from Japanese playwright Akio Miyazawa's At the Entrance of New Town. Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., Manhattan. 6:30 p.m. (212) 817-1863 or www.gc.cuny.edu.
Andrea Marcovicci. The cabaret star performs the work of Kurt Weill and Rodgers and Hart with guests Anna Bergman, Barbara Brussell, and Jeff Harnar. Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway (at West 66th Street), Manhattan. 5:30 p.m. (212) 595-6859.
Background. Science & the Arts and Break a Leg Productions present a reading of Lauren Gunderson's play, about a graduate student who helped provide evidence of the Big Bang theory, followed by a discussion. Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., Manhattan. 6:30 p.m. (212) 817-8215 or www.gc.cuny.edu.
BAM Remembers Ingmar Bergman. Actor Bibi Andersson introduces a screening of Persona (1966) at 6 p.m., and author Jonathan Lethem introduces Shame (1968) at 8:45 p.m. BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn. $11 ($7.50 for students 25 and under with I.D., seniors, and children under 12). (718) 777-FILM or www.bam.org.
Christine Vachon. The producer (Boys Don't Cry, Happiness, Far From Heaven, I'm Not There) signs and discusses her new book, A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond. Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway, 2nd floor, Manhattan. 7–8:30 p.m. www.strandbooks.com.
ID America Festival. See Nov. 16.
Movement Research Open Performance. Exit 12 Dance Company, Rastro, Richard Olson/J&R Live, and Shira Pelleg present experimentation and work in progress, followed by audience feedback. Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19th St., 3rd floor, Manhattan. 7 p.m. www.movementresearch.org.
New York Butoh Festival. See Nov. 16.
Tuesdays@9. Naked Angels' popular hot-off-the-presses cold reading series is back. Kraine Theater, 85 E. Fourth St., Manhattan. 9 p.m. www.nakedangels.com.
Any Wednesday. Actor-singer B.J. Crosby performs songs from her new CD, Beat of Your Heart. Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway (at West 66th Street), Manhattan. 6 p.m. (212) 595-6859.
BAM Remembers Ingmar Bergman. Actor Pernilla August introduces a screening of Fanny and Alexander (1982). 7 p.m. See Nov. 21 for location and prices.
New York Butoh Festival. See Nov. 16.
Super Free Wednesday. Ali Farahnakian hosts Ali's Hour at 7 p.m. and the PIT's house teams make long-form magic at 6, 8, 9:30, and 11 p.m. People's Improv Theatre, 154 W. 29th St., Manhattan.
www.thepit-nyc.com.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Nothing much happening in the acting world today, so why not go stare at some gigantic balloons? From West 77th Street, down Central Park West to Columbus Circle, down Broadway to 34th Street to Seventh Avenue. 9 a.m. (but diehards stake out their spots at 6). www.macys.com.