Computers Writing Poetry, Eugene O’Neill + A Light Meal, and More Performances To Gaze Upon

WEDNESDAY

Mourning Becomes Electra
April 26-May 20 at Abrons Arts Center, various times: $45-75

If short n’ sweet shows are your preferred method of entertainment, this could be quite the change of pace. The Obie-winning company Target Margin Theater will be commemorating their 25th anniversary of making work by taking on Eugene O’Neill’s 1931 work Mourning Becomes Electra, and they’re doing it in a big, big way. Or rather, a long, long way. The production runs around six hours long, but don’t expect to sit for that entire time. Mourning Becomes Electra is technically a play cycle, consisting of three plays that serve as a modern retelling of Greek tragedy The Oresteia, turned into a Freudian family melodrama set at the end of the Civil War. So, the company is dividing Abrons’s Playhouse into different sections, guiding audiences between different portions of the performance space as the play cycle progresses.

If you’re still hesitant about committing to this behemoth endeavor, know that it also includes two intermissions and “a light meal.” Everyone loves a nice meal.

THURSDAY

Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn
Thursday, April 27 at Joe’s Pub, 9 pm: $20

Imagine waking up and realizing your skin has all these weird bumps on them and something bad might’ve happened last night but you can’t quite remember the details. It’s an experience that you might be able to relate to. Then, imagine these bumps are a sign that your physical form is slowly turning into salt. This is the premise of Katie Looney’s Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn, presented as part of The 2017 Downtown Urban Arts Festival.

It’s a play with indie rock music centering around a genderqueer college student who wakes up one day and realizes they are slowly turning into salt. Yes, this is partially based on the Biblical story of Lot’s Wife, who looked back at the “sinful” city of Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt. Not behavior worthy of Salt Bae.

FRIDAY

People Reading Poems Written By Computers
Friday, April 28 at NYU ITP, 7 pm: FREE

The internet has been abuzz lately with articles chronicling the absurd and often humorous missteps made by neural networks and algorithms in their attempts to perform tasks usually done by humans. Take, for example, the stunning array of recipes generated by a neural network on GitHub that included such delicacies as “Completely Meat Circle” and “Export Bean Spoons in Pie-Shell.”

If that sort of thing tickles your fancy, you may want to take a gander at what students from NYU’s ITP program are cooking up. They will be reading poems that were written by computer programs they designed to churn out poetry of all sorts. Will they be so bad they’re good? Or will they pose a threat to the poets of the future?

SATURDAY

Tarheel Comedy: My Birthday Special
Saturday, April 29 at A Bed-Stuy Basement, 9:30 pm: donation-based

Why go see jokes being told in a big theater when you can descend into a basement and do the same thing? You can do just that at Tarheel Comedy’s latest endeavor, which also serves as a birthday celebration for the show’s host Caroline Yost, who is temporarily taking over for Lily Fender and Albert Kirchner, the creators of Tarheel Comedy. I’m sure like a thousand people have made jokes about her actually being the “Yost” of the show, so I’ll spare you.

The show’s lineup is hearty, and includes Harris Mayersohn, Owen Straw, Katie Rose Leon, Joel Kim Booster, David Agyekum, Sophie Zucker, and Bougie Improv, in additions to tunes by Woody Thomas and visuals by Tom Wall and Taimur Shah. The OG Tarheel duo will be performing as well. Plus, all proceeds from the show will be going to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a group working to protect the environment and its resources.

SUNDAY

SalON! Alter Ego Maniac
Sunday, April 30 at Vital Joint, 8 pm: $7-10 sliding scale

Title:Point’s monthly art salon has been going strong for a while now, even as they’ve traversed the changing of venues and seasons. Lately, they’ve been doing their thing at Title:Point’s new home base Vital Joint. As it turns out, April 30 is Honesty Day. So there will be no lying whatsoever. Not even lying on the ground. Well, maybe a little of that, I don’t know. I know that I’m telling the truth when I say you’ll be served a good helping of songs, poetry, stories, games, and more by Kevin Chen, Deepali Gupta, Peter Mills Weiss, Walter Wlodarczyk, and several others.