5 Things

Independence Day is next Wednesday. Do you lay low this weekend, preserving your energy for a 4th of July blowout? No, not at all!

June 28, 2012; 6:30 AM • by Susan Howson

5 things – 6/28

A hush falls over the city. Independence Day is midweek next week. Does one party it up all weekend? Or does one lay low, preserving one’s energy for a 4th of July blowout. Wait, before you decide to sit things out, read the below weekend happenings. Oh yeah, we think you’ll reconsider.

1. Festival of New American Plays

It’s like American Idol, only you vote for the play you like best. And you don’t text in your vote. And everyone is talented. The Festival of New American Plays (in its tenth year) is a Firehouse Theatre Project uh project that winnows down a list of over 200 scripts to two finalists. Each finalist’s play is given a staged reading (twice), and the audience votes for which one should stay on the island. I hope one of these plays is about how reality TV has really ruined the way we write things.

• Thurs. Jun. 28 – Sun. Jul. 1 • 7:30 PM
• Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad St.
• $5 for one play, $8 for both

2. Idina Menzel

You may know Idina Menzel best as “Elphaba, the Nobly Wicked Witch of the West,” but when she’s not running her fingers idly through her bags of gold coins earned from being one of the original Wicked castmembers and having a recurring guest spot on Glee, she’s touring the lands. And guess what, her mobile belt-a-thon brings her right to our fair city. So go here immediately to buy tickets (but don’t…look…directly…at…her. IS SHE STARING AT ME??)

• Fri. Jun. 29 • 8:00 PM
• Carpenter Theatre, 600 E. Grace St.
• $37.50 – $77.50

3. Epic Fest 2012

This is not your mother’s music festival. I mean, it is if your mother likes to be really sweaty and dance all night. Don’t…think about it. Epic Fest is like a festival for the restival, which of course means that it’s a bunch of really reputable local and not-so-local DJs and MCs. I’d list them here but their names make me feel funny (check out the full listing here). If you like to shake it ‘til the break of dawn/2:00 AM, buy tickets to this two-day fest and you can do it TWICE IN A ROW.

• Sat. Jun. 30 – Sun. Jul. 1 • 6:00 PM – 2:00 AM
• Kingdom, 10 Walnut Alley
• $10 for one night, $15 for two

4. Really, Really Free Market

Fellow planet-dwellers, let us not clutter the world with our cast-off Nintendo GameCubes and Naughty By Nature cassingles. Now is the time to bring our gently used Walkmen together with our Thighmasters and offer them up to the general public at Monroe Park this Saturday. Perhaps your old dog bed is just what a family with a new puppy needs. Perhaps your broken blender can be dismantled by some young genius who will rebuild it into a piece of steampunk wizardry. Perhaps you just need to get some crap out of the house. But as they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. No, really, they really say that!

• Sat. Jun. 30 • 12:00 PM
• Monroe Park, Belvidere between Franklin and Main
• Really, really free!

5. Picnic on the Huguenot Bridge

I had a friend in high school who used to drive at a minimum of 70 mph over the Huguenot Bridge because she was convinced it was about to crumble, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to be on it when it did. Her terrified teenage self would be delighted to drive across the new, sturdy, not-going-anywhere bridge, and her adult self would be delighted to picnic on the old one (in motion, as she runs across as fast as she can). Bring your chairs and coolers and set up camp on the ol’ bridge this Sunday. Just don’t try to sneak in alcohol. The Bridge will know.

• Sun. Jul 1 • 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
• Huguenot Bridge (old)
• Free!

Bonus Sixth Thing!

Do you have your July 4th plans all figured out? It’s only the best holiday around! Think of the cookouts and fireworks and berry desserts…ahh. We’ve compiled a little yet powerful guide for you in case you’re looking for the first place to grace with your USA! USA! USA! pride. Go read it. The Founding Fathers would have wanted you to.

June 28, 2012 6:30 AM 1