First Fridays @ MCA

At First Fridays at the Museum of Contemporary Art, visitors can unwind after work and enjoy an intriguing mix of culture, ranging from live music and performance art to experimental films and hands-on art stations. Not to mention see and be seen by all kinds of young, hip, arty singles looking for love.

First Fridays tickets, which include Museum admission, live entertainment, and complimentary Wolfgang Puck hors d’oeuvres, are $14. Doors are open 6–10 pm. A cash bar is available until 9:30 pm. Guests must be 21 or older to enter.

Rhino Theater Fest: A Dangerous Ornithology

A piece by James Owens, part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival. "The lives of seeming strangers become interwoven during the pressure of war in a one party state. Amidst the rising violence surrounding him, a prison camp worker is gripped by an irresistible urge to defy the laws. After a chance encounter on a train with an accountant who seems to share his thoughts, the prison worker discovers he is caught in a circle of murder, sex, and ritual. The cycle must be broken before all is lost. The problem is that, when neither history nor your own senses can be trusted, reality becomes the enemy." 9pm, Curious Theatre Branch, 7001 N Glenwood. $12 or pay what you can. Call 773-274-6660 for reservations.

Rhino Theater Fest: White Suit Science

A new piece written and directed by Shawn Reddy for the Rhinoceros Theatre Festival. "From the mind that brought you last year’s Rhino and PAC/Edge hit, My Name is Mudd, comes a super-scientific-y investigation into one of America’s great literary mysteries. Why did Mark Twain wear a white suit out of season? Complete with Mark Twain impersonators, Kentucky Fried Chicken conspiracies, dry cleaning techniques, God’s experiments on little animals, Silas Phelps’s penis, and much, much more in the way of irrelevant supporting material, White Suit Science finally reveals the greatest ancient Chinese secret this side of the Mississippi!" 7pm, Curious Theatre Branch, 7001 N Glenwood. $12 or pay what you can. Call 773-274-6660 for reservations.

Voter Registration Party @ Metropolis Coffee

Metropolis Coffee Co. proudly invites you to "Brewing Beginnings: Voter Registration Party & Art Opening" tonight 6–9 p.m. Featuring Chris Knight, photography, Josh Hight, Singer/Songwriter (Formerly of "Detachment Kit"), a video installation, spoken word performances, and Discussion on "Why Your Vote Matters" at Left of Center Bookstore (next door). Plus: the "Open Book Peace Project" - Add your own page to this traveling mile long mural promoting peace! Your kids will love this opportunity to be creative. And of course the reason for it all, Voter Registration. Metropolis Coffee Company is located at 1039 West Granville Avenue, Chicago, IL. 60660. You can contact them at 773-764-0400 or email tony@metropoliscoffee.com.

Krukowski & O'Leary Read @ Open End Gallery

The Danny's Reading Series + Open End Gallery present Damon Krukowski & Peter O'Leary at Open End Gallery at 2000 W. Fulton St. tonight at 7 p.m. Damon Krukowski's book The Memory Theater Burned is coming out from Turtle Point Press this fall. He is the editor of Exact Change, a publishing house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that specializes in the literature of Surrealism and other avant-garde art movements. Peter O'Leary is the author of a book of poetry, Watchfulness (Spyten Duyvil) as well as a book of criticism, Gnostic Contagion: Robert Duncan & the Poetry of Illness (Wesleyan). For more than a decade, he has edited, along with his brother Michael & Joel Felix, the literary magazine LVNG, which has the unusual distinction of being free. He lives in Chicago with his wife and son, and teaches at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Rhino Theater Fest: Cant

The Curious Theatre Branch's 16th annual Rhinoceros Theater Fest features Jenny Magnus's solo piece. "CANT is not not being able to. CANT is an edge, a brink that one can teeter on. Jenny Magnus returns to her familiar niche of solo performance with CANT, a new meditation on inclines and their slants when it comes to comfort, responsibility, and the terror of love. In her first new work in 2 years, Magnus uses her whining manner of speaking and vulgar slang to explore the relationship she creates with her doppelganger, a bag of rice the exact weight of her only child. When one’s concerns turn to having children, aging parents, and the inexorable passage of time, one must be careful of sudden movements which result in turning over or tilting up. Or so Magnus finds in her unique language, implying the pretended assumption of goodness. CANT is not not being able to. CANT is doing, in spite of whether one is able." 7pm. $12 or pay what you can. At the Curious Theatre Branch, 7001 N Glenwood. Call 773.274.6660 for reservations.

Pilsen East Artists' Open House

The 34th annual Pilsen East Artists' Open House takes place this weekend. The opening night and 3rd year anniversary party is tonight, October 1, 6 to 11 p.m. Open house hours are on Saturday & Sunday, October 2 & 3, from 12 to 7 p.m. For more information and a map (PDF) check out the Chicago Arts District website, or call Cynthia West at 312-738-8000, ex. 108, or email cwest@chicagoartsdistrict.org or info@chicagoartsdistrict.org.

The Fling Improv Team @ Playground Theater

Tonight marks a new run for improv comedy team The Fling which plays regularly at a small (but totally cool. Seriously. Totally. Cool.) theater in the city. (The Playground Theater, to be exact.) Shows always start at 8 p.m., always feature four of the best improvisiational comedy troupes in the city, and are always BYOB. Tonight's show features The Fling, Pastor of Puppets, Tribe Pride, and Inside Vladimir. Tickets are $10 (what a value!). The Playground theater is located at 3209 N. Halsted (a few doors north of Belmont).

Outspoken: Chicago's Free Speech Tradition Exhibit Opens

The Newberry Library presents: Outspoken: Chicago's Free Speech Tradition which runs today thru January 15, 2005. The exhibit is "designed to prompt reflection and provoke discussion about how freedom of speech has been and continues to be defined, impeded, championed, and exercised in Chicago. This exhibit about Chicago's vibrant history of free expression includes approximately 130 objects from the collections of the Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society. Objects on display include artifacts, photographs, letters, magazines, newspapers, and ephemera relating to: slavery, immigration, labor relations, women's suffrage, communism, women's liberation, 1960s counterculture, presidential elections, Indian rights, Black Power, gay rights, and anti-war protests." The Newberry Library is located at 60 W. Walton Street. Admission is free.

"The Week Without Rape" Rally @ Federal Plaza

Join the Chicago Chapter of NOW and Mujeres Latinas en Accion for the Chicago Coalition Against Sexual Assault's (C-CASA) "The Week Without Rape" Rally. The rally is the culminating event of a week-long dedication of actions and events centered on sexual assault awareness, healing and empowerment. The rally takes place today, from 12–1:30 p.m. in Federal Plaza (at Dearborn and Adams downtown). Chicago NOW Vice-President Veronica Arreola will be one of the featured speakers. The event will feature entertainment, various speakers and community groups. Come down to Federal Plaza to join the rally and show your support!! Interested in volunteering, they need people to come to the rally early (around 11:15 a.m.) to help set-up and pass out literature. If you're interested in volunteering, please email Jocelyn Sims at josims04@netscape.net. You can contact Chicago NOW at 312-578-9351 or via the website.