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Arts + Film
Editors' Picks
By Dig Staff
del.ico.us
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Inexpensive night of culture
Somerville Theatre Threefer
A movie ticket to the Somerville Theatre [55 Davis Sq., Somerville. 617.625.5700. somervilletheatreonline.com] allows you to watch a movie (obviously) at one of the only cinemas around that serves beer, AND it gets you free admission to the Museum of Bad Art [museumofbadart.org] in the basement. Not only does MOBA have an extensive, creepily amateur collection, the art history flunky analysis next to each piece is hilarious. PLUS, if you rent a movie at Hollywood Express [238 Elm St., Somerville. 617.625.4900. hollywoodexpressvideo.com] and show your ticket stub, you get a second rental free! If that doesn't impress your date, dump the motherfucker.
Cheap carbo-loading with a daub of culture
Pasta Night Thursdays
Economic volatility naturally gorges itself with cheesy doses of carbs. And together with life's best medicine, guffawing at improvisational skits conjured solely for extemporaneous absurdity, Improv Asylum delivers such therapy every week with its Pasta Night Thursdays. A free Italian buffet dished up by Lucca Restaurant hits your face an hour before showtime. Think twice on that third helping of lasagna. Thanks. [216 Hanover St., North End, Boston. 617.263.6887. 7pm/$20, $18 student/military. improvasylum.com]
Self-guided tour of schizophrenic contemporary architecture
MIT's campus
It's certainly no Champs-Élysées, and many sections admittedly sport that foreboding biohazard-bunker aesthetic, but a poke around MIT's Kendall Square campus unleashes a treasure trove of modern architecture: the good, the bad and the endearingly ugly. Frank Gehry's aluminum-foil-meets-half-eaten-gingerbread-house Stata Center [32 Vassar St., Cambridge] has received much attention, but it's worth wandering through the cool simplicity of Eero Saarinen's otherworldy Chapel [48 Mass. Ave., Cambridge], Steven Holl's pock-marked Simmons Hall [229 Vassar St., Cambridge] and I.M. Pei's bathroom tile-esque Wiesner Building [20 Ames St., Cambridge]. Style-wise, fucking scattered, yet spectacular. [mit.edu]
Music for the Independent Mind
Harpers Ferry
The music scene in Boston can be quite the pinwheel. Sometimes the wind blows hard and the wheel turns, filling the clubs with great local and national bands trying to make a name for themselves. Other times, the wind is nonexistent, and the music seems to want for more. Harpers Ferry in Allston has seen all kinds of gusts, yet it remains one of the most solid live music venues for all kinds of genres and generations, always independently forward-thinking in the idea that the next gust is just around the corner. [158 Brighton Ave., Allston. 617.254.9743. harpersferryboston.com]
Off-Broadway nowhere near Broadway (thank god)
American Repertory Theatre
For over 25 years, The American Repertory Theatre has thumbed its nose at the explorations of our theatrical neighbor to the south, and has recently made another stride. Stage versions of unusual films (Donnie Darko)? Done that. Socially conscious stageplays (Elections & Erections)? Big whoop. Reinterpreting the audience/stage relationship (Julius Ceasar)? Checkmate. It's no wonder the playhouse makes its home at Harvard's Loeb Drama Center—this is world-class stuff. They've won a Tony and a Pulitzer, too. And that is that. [64 Brattle St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 617.547.8300. amrep.org]
Newest hottest hotshot artistic director
Peter DuBois
When Peter DuBois took over the Huntington Theatre Company, dude made a YouTube to introduce himself. Think he has his finger on the pulse? Never mind he came from NYC's Public Theater, where he oversaw new plays starring the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, he's also thrown down in the Czech Republic and, ahem, Juneau, Alaska. He's seen it all. Now, with Rock 'N' Roll, he's setting the BU-founded company on a course for more acclaim. Theater never tasted so good. [264 Huntington Ave., Boston. 617.266.0800. huntingtontheatre.org]
