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TODAY

The Golden Door International Film festival launched last night with a gala opening and screenings of Rohit Gupta’s Another Day Another Life and Sam Borowski’s Night Club at the Loews Jersey Theatre, and films and Q&As continue all weekend. More films screen tonight at the Loews and Art House Productions (starting at 5 pm), with an after party scheduled at Skinner’s Loft. On Saturday, films screen at Studio III VII I, Art House and Bar Majestic (1 to 7 pm), with an after party at Bar Majestic; films include Lily of the Feast, a mafia-themed short starring Paul Sorvino and Federico Castelluccio that was shot in Jersey City. Films screen Sunday at previously mentioned venues and LITM (noon to 5 pm); Sorvino and Academy Award-winning producer-director Leon Gast will be honored at an awards ceremony Sunday (6:30 pm).

It’s a good weekend to be a beer lover. Bar Majestic’s annual Oktoberfest brings a block party to Grove Street outside the bar-restaurant and features brews by Hudson County’s own New Jersey Beer Co. (4 pm to midnight). Zeppelin Hall’s Oktoberfest offers live music by Breidenbach (9 pm to 1 am) and eight Oktoberfest beers on tap. Oktoberfest continues at Zeppelin Hall on Saturday with Breidenbach playing again (5 to 9 pm) and Alpine Squeeze (9 pm to 1 am), plus eight different Oktoberfest beers.

J CITY Theater’s production of Race by David Mamet continues (8 pm tonight and Saturday).

TOMORROW

If you don’t mind getting up early, head to Iris Records to comb through 20-plus boxes of records of all genres that the store is giving away to make room for new inventory. The record free-for-all starts at 7 am and new stock goes on sale at noon.

Check out the closing reception for the inaugural exhibition at WOOLPUNKstudios, which includes artists Caroline Burton, Lisa Dahl, Margaret Murphy, Jon Rappleye, Allison Green, Stephanie Romano and Carol Westfall (2 pm).

Don’t miss Insurgo Stage Projects and Downtown Live’s presentation Art in Motion: This Body, featuring an art installation by Ceallaigh Pender, video by Eugene Yu, and performances by M. Hille Refakis, Elena Callahan, Avianna Perez, Magda Polkowska, Susan Quinn and Kathy Stout. $10 at the door (8 pm).

J CITY’s art exhibition space, Gallery 9, hosts a reception for photographer Noa Griffel (2 pm).

SUNDAY

It feels more fall-like than last weekend, that’s for sure, and Stevens Cooperative School’s 13th annual Harvest Festival celebrates the season with food, arts and crafts, games and activities for kids of all ages. The event is free but ticket sales for food, games and activities benefit the school (11 am to 4 pm).

Curious Matter is showing “Dividing Light Measuring Darkness,” with work by 23 artists (Noon to 3 pm).

Attention DJs: Check out Downtown Live’s monthly forum for DJs to meet, make music and network. DJ Pastiche is your host (4 to 7 pm).

A week before the show my director came to me and said, “Don’t freak out or anything, but there is going to be a BIG wedding until 8 pm in the same venue where we are doing the show at 8:30 pm on the same night.”

Me: “Um … OK well, there’s no going back; we have already put out show cards and publicity, started a Facebook page and created a whole art installation with multiple artists around this show.” So “the show must go on”! Wedding- schmedding, we have got a whole half an hour to take over the space, set the stage, clear out the wedding and … sure, we can do this, no problem.

We quickly down scaled the show. Our set became just one moveable dollhouse, a chair and an end table (it was going to be a desk but desks take up space and are hard to move). I planned on getting into costume, doing hair and makeup at home, having someone at the door to greet any early comers and we are a go.

My director and I both work and have families, so we only scheduled four rehearsals of the show in the actual space. We saved most of the sound, lighting and even a bit of the staging for the final dress rehearsal. But when we got to the church the night before the show we found that the BIG, BIG wedding had already taken over the space.

So we wing it.

I get to the church at 7:45 pm opening night and surprise, surprise the BIG, BIG, BIG wedding is still very much “IN” the space. Photos are being taken; gifts are in piles from one end of the church to the other. The church is in full lavender and white bloom complete with arbors, flowers and massive tufts tulle. The radiant bride and the dapper groom along with their arbors and tulle do not appear to be in a great hurry to depart. And … whole walls of art have disappeared from the show, artists are on their way and their $800 pieces are gone!?! And oh yeah, I have a show to put on.

OK, I can do this.

But then my director’s wife calls. “Gabby, I don’t want you to worry but we might not make the show.” WHAT?!? (My director is also in charge of sound, lighting, the backdrop photos and movie that were in the show, yep basically everything.) It turns out that they were in an accident (not their fault) on the way to the performance and someone had quite literally BROKEN A LEG. They were being held for police questioning when she made the call. Really!

And it’s now 8 pm.

A few friends arrive; one agrees to do the sound, another lighting. We all send out good vibes to my director and his wife and pray that everything is going to be OK for them. The rest we can just do without and once again we are back on track. The artwork has been located, the walls are back up and the BIG, BIG, BIG wedding is magically wrapping up and they have even agreed to let us keep the chairs that are set up for the show.

8:15 pm: My Director and his saintly wife arrive. OK, yes, there is a god!

8:30 pm: We have an audience seated in the lovely (and comfy) borrowed wedding chairs and it’s better than anything we ever hoped for. A full house! We are a go with show! By this time all of us are thinking ahead to the after-party and really looking forward to a few beverages after the show. But then … my mother calls me.

“Uh mom, I’m about to start the show, aren’t you here?” I ask. Mom: “My car just got towed from the BJ’s parking lot … with the wine for the after-party in it.” Well, of course it did.

And I went on … as in on stage … from there. The show got a standing ovation, my mom and the friends that helped her get her car out hock made it back for the show and even the wine came through in the end. The really big wedding sent over the left over really big wedding cake and we all survived. Heck we did more than survive; it was an amazing evening.

For the past week or so, I have been reading about and watching Occupy Wall Street, and our own local Occupy JC and I have really, really wanted to get involved and help out in some way. But I keep making excuses, like I have to pick the kids up from school and get them to their various activities. Homework, dinner and high school entrance exams are my priorities right now and so on.

But as I reflect back on the play I am beginning to realize that these really are just excuses. I could have given up at any time during the course of that crazy evening and no one would have faulted me for it.

Homework, dinner and high school exams are all things that I am doing for my kids. They are important and they really do have to get done. But I know I can do both. And becoming active in all of this may mean more to them and their future than any of the other stuff.

In the end, “the show must go on” and this is a BIG, BIG, BIG show. This is “show” Wall Street, “show” corporate America, “show” the politicians and — yes — “show” us that we have a voice and we will be heard.

This has been a long, painful journey for me and I realized quite some time back that all of this is not “their” fault. It’s my fault. I bought into whatever it was they were selling lock, stock and barrel and I made one hell of a mess out of my life and my family’s life in the process.

But this isn’t about placing blame (at least not for me). It’s about addressing the white elephant in the middle of the room and “calling a spade a spade.” If I don’t speak out then I run the risk of leading my kids down the same path that has derailed my life and led me astray.

I definitely do not want this for them.

So obstacles or not, the show will go on. I’m part of the 99% and I am ready to be heard. How about you?

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TODAY

58 Gallery hosts an opening reception for its annual group exhibition tonight; the show features work by a few handfuls of talented artists: Beau Stanton, Dylan Egon, Fefe Talavera, Isaac Fortoul, Joe Russo, John Besante, Kai Margarida-Ramirez de Arellano, Lenny ‘lny’ Correa, Melissa Cody, Nyugen Smith, Scott Albrecht and Sean’ 9′ Lugo (7 pm).

J CITY Theater kicks off its New Jersey premier of David Mamet’s Race this weekend (8 pm tonight and Saturday), while Hudson Pride Connections Center hosts A Night at the Paradise Burlesque as it gears up for Sunday’s Pride Festival (8:30 pm tonight; 8 pm and 10:30 pm Saturday).

And speaking of Pride, there are a few other worthy Pride-related events tonight. Chillfest hosts a free screening of the documentary Outrage at City Hall (7 pm), while Gayborhood Jersey City and Pint team up for an Oktoberfest event at the latter (9 pm).

SATURDAY

Boxing fans and history buffs will want to check out the free afternoon talk at the New Jersey Room by Jim Waltzer, the author of The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of Modern Promotion (2 pm). Later on, the Pershing Field Babe Ruth League hosts a tricky tray auction and dinner fundraiser for the little baseballers (6 pm). And the Lamp Post hosts a great bill of intense rock, with No Pasaran!, They Had Faces Then and Polyabuse (10 pm).

SUNDAY

Forget resting, Sunday is jam-packed with stuff to do around Jersey City.

First up, there’s the massive 2011 Hudson Pride Festival & Parade. Forced to move from its original August date to October due to Hurricane Irene, the festival features tons of live music, vendors, food and more at Exchange Place (11 am to 7 pm). Once that’s done, there’s also the Official After-Pride Block Party at and outside of Hard Grove Cafe (7 pm).

On a related front, Chillfest presents a screening at LITM today of We Were Here, the acclaimed documentary that explores how San Francisco’s gay and lesbian community came together with compassion and determination in response to the AIDS epidemic (4 pm).

Elsewhere, there is the annual Columbus Day Parade, ending at City Hall; a “From Broadway to Hollywood” organ concert at the Loew’s (3 pm); and the one-year anniversary party for Madame Claude Wine (7 pm).

But that’s just what happened to J CITY Theater, which this week will produce the New Jersey premier of David Mamet’s Race — a show that was wowing audiences on Broadway just last year.

“When we learned that David Mamet had agreed to let our company be the New Jersey premier of Race, we were at first over the moon with excitement — then scared to death,” says J CITY executive producer Clay Cockrell. “I think this opportunity is a real testament to the grow and quality of our company. In the end, it’s the same with every script we approach: tell the story and tell it well.”

J CITY will stage 10 performances of the show, a legal drama/detective story that follows three lawyers who find themselves defending a rich, white businessman accused of a crime against a young African-American woman.

“As one of America’s leading playwrights, Mamet is doing what he does best: choosing an incendiary topic and then asking more questions than he answers,” J CITY says in promotional materials. “Race has the quick banter of Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, the gloves-off approach of his Speed The Plow and provocative subject matter of Oleanna.”

The cast for Race will feature a number of Jersey City residents: Ron Nummi as Charles Strickland, Dianna Lauren Jones as Susan, and Sandy Cockrell as Jack Lawson. (NYC’s Brian Richardson rounds out the cast as Henry Brown.)

Cockrell, who also serves as J CITY’s artistic director, says Mamet’s script fits in well with the overall mission of the troupe.

“When we started J CITY Theater, our goal was to present cutting edge scripts that would challenge us and our audiences,” she says. “Race asks more questions than it answers, and for me as a director and an actress, that’s very attractive.”

As it usually does, J CITY has teamed up with local restaurants to offer Dinner and a Show deals. The Embankment will offer a $30 prix fixe menu on performance nights, while the Hamilton Inn will offer 10 percent of the entire bill for theater-goers.

In addition, J CITY’s exhibition space, Gallery 9, will feature photography by Noa Griffel in a show curated by Hernando Rico Sanchez (a special artist reception is scheduled for Saturday, October 15, from 2 to 4 pm).

THE DETAILS

J CITY Theater presents Race; at The Underground Theater at St. Michael’s Church, 252 9th Street. Show opens Friday, October 7 and runs on Wednesdays through Saturdays, until Saturday, October 22. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance via Brown Paper Tickets.

OPENING NIGHT PARTY AT MANA CONTEMPORARY:

SATURDAY:

SUNDAY:

CLOSING PARTY AT PARLAY STUDIOS:

All photos by Jennifer Weiss

“I thought it would be a nice, easy way of giving back to the community,” D’Allegro explains. “I have decent taste in comedy so it was something I could do. I can’t curate an art show or choreograph a dance routine, so this is something where I could give back.”

In addition to Shut Up & Laugh, which occurs at 9 pm on the second Tuesday of every month, D’Allegro also produces Comedy in Hell at Hell’s Kitchen Lounge in Newark on the third Sunday of every month at 8 pm. And this Saturday, D’Allegro is organizing the Banana Bird Comedy Club for the 4th Street Art & Music Festival. It’s the first time that the festival, which is in its eighth year, will have a comedy stage.

“Joe’s idea to bring the intimate experience of Shut Up & Laugh to the 4th Street Festival was an incredible idea,” says Mike McNamara, 4th Street’s founder and organizer. “Comedy is a shared art form between the comic and the audience and the Banana Bird Comedy Club will offer a space where the experience can fully take form.”

Craig Mahoney, of Boca Grande’s weekly Don’t You Know I’m Loco? comedy show, will host. It’s an ambitious idea for a show — it will be eight straight hours of comedy. The first seven hours will be a family-friendly stand-up marathon, while I’m putting on a variety show at 7 pm called SHUT THAT F*)#($&(KING BABY UP.

Though D’Allegro doesn’t have a background in comedy, his best known work around town are the witty sayings on Newark Avenue’s Synergy Fitness blackboard promoting the bare bones gym. The signs say things like, “The voluptuous look isn’t working for you, Sir,” and, “Does your chin have a twin?” Sometimes people pose next to the signs and take pictures. Several of the signs — which frequently lampoon celebrities — have gone viral on sites like Gawker and Consumerist.

D’Allegro clearly has a sharp eye for comedy and a keen joke-writing sense — but he says he’s not so interested in doing stand-up himself.

“I’ve tried improv, and thought about stand-up,” he says. “I’m a huge fan of the medium, but I have a crippling amount of stage fright, and the reality of grinding through material night after night isn’t so appealing.”

He wrote a comic strip for nearly a decade, but he stopped because he felt it was too much work and not enough recognition or money. Out of boredom, he started making signs for Synergy, where he worked a few days a week.

“I started writing humorous comments on the chalkboard to pass the time,” he says. “The best part of the job was seeing people laugh at what I wrote, or stop to take a photo. Making people laugh is just awesome,” he said.

One of the most difficult aspects of producing a comedy show is getting people — both comedians and audience members — in the door. For the talent, D’Allegro bribes comedians with candy, or lets them use his car sometimes in exchange for performing. Most will perform for $10 or a PBR. He usually books a mix of comedians of different ages, races and genders so “it’s not all 30-something white guys and their dating woes.” D’Allegro believes that a good, attentive audience makes a show (hence the “Shut Up” part of Shut Up & Laugh). Sometimes he bribes friends with drinks to come, or he’ll ask an attractive female friend to stand at the front to encourage audience members to move up, “to serve the purpose of chum for the sharks to get in the front,” as he puts it.

Next up for D’Allegro is a Comedy Fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity of Hudson County on October 20 at Michael Anthony’s. The next Shut Up & Laugh is scheduled for October 11 at the Lamp Post.

Photos: Calise Hawkins performing at Shut Up & Laugh (top), and one of D’Allegro’s Synergy signs (bottom)

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR COMEDY AT SATURDAY’S FESTIVAL (subject to change)

• 1 pm: Jessie Geller, Hilary Schwartz, Ryan Rummel, Calise Hawkins, Craig Mahoney (Host)
• 2 pm: Brian Havig, Hilary Schwartz, Josh Potter, Calise Hawkins, Craig Mahoney (Host)
• 3 pm: Danny Palmer, Josh Potter, Calise Hawkins, Zach McGovern, Anton Shuford, Brian Havig (Host)
• 4 pm: Chris Cal, Aaron Schachter, Edward Scott Willoughby, Zach McGovern, Anton Shuford, Craig Mahoney (Host)
• 5 pm: Chris Cal, Ray DeVito, Ryan Rummel, Pat Stango, Aaron Schachter, Chrissie Mayr, Rachael Parenta, Craig Mahoney (Host)
• 6 p.m. Ray DeVito, Carrie Gravenson, Chrissie Mayr, Rachael Parenta, Off-Center, Chris Cal (Host)
• 7 pm: Shut That F@#9$8CKING BABY UP — Matt Kelly (host), Mindy Raf/Leibya Rogers, Melissa Surach, Rosie Rebel, Quanrudes (sketch)

As we have since 2009, JCI has once again created Jersey City’s only digital map for this weekend’s Artists Studio Tour. It’s a Google-based map that also is accessible on some smartphones (more on that below). Group exhibitions (three or more artists) are marked with Red Pins, while one-time events are marked with Yellow Pins and solo shows are marked with blue dots.

Our data is a combination of updated listings received from the city’s Cultural Affairs division and our own on-the-ground reporting, but there is undoubtedly some incomplete or missing information. However, the good news is that — unlike the printed version of the map — we can update this one on the fly, so please email info (at) jerseycityindependent.com with any updates to your listing, or email us if your listing isn’t on the map.

While our map is far from a perfect digital solution, it remains the only one available, and it does enable many smartphone users to access the nearest Studio Tour locations to them, wherever they are.

The map seems to be fully compatible with the Android platform, opening nicely into Google Maps (you can use this shortcut link: http://bit.ly/2011tourmap).

On the iPhone, it is a little different — that shortcut link will open the map in your web browser. While it will have all of the pertinent information, it will not include data on your current location. If you want to open the map into the Maps application on your iPhone, you can click this shortcut link — http://bit.ly/iphone2011tourmap — it will take you into the browser first, but prompt you to open another link, which will open the map in your Maps application. You will lose some of the details about the listings, but it will enable you to use your current location when looking for the closest spots to peep some art.

We are not web developers, so there may be bugs or other problems. If you notice any, or have suggestions, email us at info (at) jerseycityindependent.com.

View 2011 Jersey City Artists Studio Tour in a larger map

Want your event listed on our calendar? You can submit it yourself — just click here and follow the simple instructions.

TODAY

The City Love Project, an interactive public art show, comes to Jersey City today, stopping in McGinley Square (9 am), Journal Square (1 pm) and the Creative Grove Artist Market downtown today (5 pm). Participants will paint “what their city loves,” transforming a canvas “into a living portrait of the city through the eyes of the people,” according to the project’s website.

You can attend a gospel concert or just practice your line dancing at the annual festival at St. Aedan’s Parish, which offers live music, dancing, karaoke and entertainment all weekend.

The fundraiser for the upcoming production of Your Move, Jersey City’s second annual modern dance series, includes live music by Sylvana Joyce and The Moment, PHWG and DJ Purple Stuff, as well as innovative movement performances by Insurgo Stage Project, raffles, treats, and more (8 pm at Art House Productions).

At Grace Church, Con Vivo opens its new season with a free concert featuring three pieces of classical music — Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg, Stories from my Grandmother by Lembit Beecher and Four Nocturnes from The Oblivion Ha-Ha by Carl Schimmel (8 pm).

On stage, the Attic Ensemble’s comedy Fully Committed continues through the weekend (8 pm tonight and Saturday; 3 pm Sunday); while Puccini’s opera La Boheme is at NJCU’s West Side Theatre all weekend as well (7:30 pm tonight and Saturday; 3 pm Sunday).

SATURDAY

There are festivals galore this weekend. The Irish Festival kicks off at 11 am at Exchange Place, with music by Black 47, Celtic Thunder and the Eamon Ryan Band, plus food and drink (11 am to 10 pm). The Jersey City Greek Festival begins at noon at the Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church on Montgomery Street, with Greek and American music, homemade Greek pastries and other food and drink; Saturday night will turn into Taverna Night, complete with an indoor bar, DJ and food stands (noon to midnight, also Sunday from noon to 8 pm).

The Hamilton Park BBQ Festival offers a not-to-be-missed lineup of bands and BBQ, and funds raised will benefit the Hamilton Park Conservancy. Most of the vendors at this year’s festival will be familiar to the hundreds who turned out last year; Jimmy’s BBQ (Pennsylvania), Joey’s BBQ (Hoboken) and Legal Beans (Jersey City) will all be returning to fire up their grills, and Made with Love and Tamworth Supper Club, both of Jersey City, will both return to offer desserts. The Hamilton Inn will make a reprise appearance at the festival, but it will have food in addition to the drinks it served last year; it will be joined by Bar Majestic, which will also serve both food and drinks this year. New Jersey Beer Company will also be on site, serving beer on tap, and Fizzy Lizzy will be there with its natural sodas (12 to 8 pm).

Double-feature: The Loew’s Jersey Theatre tonight presents Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run (6:15 pm), part of the “For Money, Love or Laughs” — Capers in the Movies — Weekend at the Loew’s. Stick around to watch Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting at 8:15 pm.

SUNDAY

Enjoy a classical piano concert by Yukiko Tanaka, who will play a number of classical selections on the piano — including the Bach-Busoni Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, and Chopin’s Polonaise in F# Minor — at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (12:30 pm).

Jersey City Art School founder Thomas John Carlson celebrates the official “Going into Business Sale” of his Jersey City Art School Workshop, located just a few blocks from the school’s home base. Today’s grand opening for the 1,800 square foot facility features art (on display and for sale) by Ana Benaroya, Kiva Ford, Matt Caputo, Norm Kirby and Thomas John Carlson; refreshments; and live music by Michaal Tarlazzi and Gabe Perry (2 to 8 pm).

And break out your best “creative black tie” for the Attic Ensemble’s 40th Anniversary Gala, with cocktails, a buffet dinner, a silent auction and other surprises. Tickets are $100, and you can also purchase a $150 ticket, which includes a discounted subscription to the 2011-2012 season (6 pm).

This year’s gala is especially significant, as the Attic Ensemble celebrates its 40th year in existence. The group, which started in an attic in Bayonne (hence the name), has come to be a leader in Jersey City’s independent theater scene.

At the “Creative Black Tie” gala, the Attic Ensemble will honor retired JCPD detective/community activist/actor Calvin Hart; Robert P. Iezzi of Craft Signs, which donates signage to the ensemble; longtime supporter Robert M. Mason, Jr. of Provident Bank; St. John’s Lutheran Church’s Annemarie Oest, who donates cakes for intermissions in Attic’s productions; and Attic supporters/advisors/actors Nathan and Nancy Sambul. The honorees were all chosen “because of the outstanding leadership they display within our community,” the group notes.

Sunday’s gala features a cocktail hour, a buffet dinner, a silent auction and other surprises. Tickets are $100, and you can also purchase a $150 ticket, which includes a discounted subscription to the 2011-2012 season. Tickets can be purchased online via Brown Paper Tickets.

THE DETAILS

40th Anniversary Gala Fundraiser for The Attic Ensemble; Sunday, September 25 at 6 pm; at the HCCC Culinary Arts Institute/Conference Center, 161 Newkirk Street. For more information, call 201-413-9200.

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TODAY

Legendary folkie Tom Paxton gets the Brennan Coffee House’s fall lineup into gear with a performance tonight (7:30 pm), while The Alex Meixner Band plays a free show at Zeppelin Hall (9 pm) and the Don Carter Jazz Trio provides some tunes to the diners and drinkers at Casa Dante (7:30 pm).

The fall theater season also gets rolling tonight, as the Attic Ensemble opens a two-week run of the new comedy Fully Committed (8 pm tonight and Saturday; 3 pm Sunday).

Last, but not least, the weekend features several ongoing street festivals: The St. Paul of the Cross Heritage Festival in the Heights and the St. Joseph’s Parish Festival in the Hilltop neighborhood.

SATURDAY

The festival scene keeps rolling on Saturday, with two big additions. The first-ever All About Downtown festival is happening — you guessed it — Downtown, with plenty of food trucks, bands and vendors lined up (noon to 7 pm). And in the Heights, the Riverview Neighborhood Association hosts its 25th annual Park Fest and Flea Market, which features plenty of bargain shopping opportunities, as well as live music, food and children’s activities (10 am to 5 pm).

Also during the daytime hours: Project Greenville’s group exhibition, The Roommates Show (1 to 5 pm), and an open house meet & greet at Super Impact Fitness, a new facility on Montgomery Street near the Beacon (10 am to 6 pm).

In the evening, there are plenty of opportunities to be entertained, whether you’re looking for live music, comedy or radio theater.

Brownbird Rudy Relic, Mark Leonard, Mike Arsenault and Ariel Lask play at the Barracks (7 pm), while In Musth performs at Lucky 7′s (9 pm).

On the comedy front, Art House Productions and The Laugh Tour present another evening of live standup featuring Mike Lawrence, Rich Kiamco and other great comics (8 pm); and the Loew’s hosts a comedy night featuring Roz G, Jay, Amirah and Terry Hodges (8 pm).

And over at Another Man’s Treasure, the local group Abaton Radio Theater is having a release party for its first-ever CD of radio dramas, Provocative Dramas by Arch Oboler (7 pm); for more on Abaton, check out our preview here.

SUNDAY

The blockbuster exhibition Our Own Directions: Works From The Louis K. and Susan P. Meisel Collection officially opens today at the Mana Contemporary Art Center (1 pm). It’s all about the ladies at Art House, which hosts Ladies That Rock, a show featuring live music, spoken word and art from some very talented local females (3 pm). Elsewhere, the Loew’s hosts the New Jersey premiere of the Egyptian film 365 Days of Happiness, with screenings at 3:30 and 7:30 pm; and there’s a free screening of the documentary Paper Clips at St. Peter’s College (4 pm).