THEATER

CONQUERING SHAW Every month, the theatrical group Project Shaw presents a work by George Bernard Shaw, who died in 1950. The goal is to stage every sketch, one-act, and full-length piece by the playwright over the course of four years, giving New York audiences a chance to revisit Shaw’s work. This month, the program includes two plays: “The Fascinating Foundling” and “Farfetched Fables,” produced and directed by David Staller. In “The Fascinating Foundling,” written in 1909, a man and a woman are unwavering about what they will and won’t tolerate in a mate. A lawyer unwittingly helps the picky pair find one another. “Farfetched Fables,” from 1949, takes audiences on six separate journeys, beginning in 1949 and spanning several decades into the future. The play highlights life’s absurdities and how little people change over time. Tonight, 7 p.m., the Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, East 20th Street, between Irving Place and Park Avenue South, 212-352-3101, $20.

COMEDY

GIRL BEHAVING BADLY The acerbic host of the E! network’s nightly chat-fest “Chelsea Lately,” Chelsea Handler, dips her feet back in the stand-up pool with a show at Caroline’s. Ms. Handler’s merciless skewering of Hollywood “celebutantes” and ne’er-do-wells is offset by the fact that she often says exactly what audience members are thinking but are reluctant to say in polite company. Ms. Handler’s breakthrough came as an ensemble member of the prank show “Girls Behaving Badly” on Oxygen. Tonight and tomorrow, 9:30 p.m., Caroline’s, 1626 Broadway, between 49th and 50th streets, 212-757-4100, $27.25.

FILM

CINEMATIC CACHE The French Institute Alliance Française spotlights the work of a post-New Wave filmmaker in its series, Jean Eustache’s Circle. A double screening of shorts features “Les Photos d’Alix” (1980), in which the titular character discusses a number of her personal photographs with a young man. Moviegoers gradually realize that the images Alix describes are not the manipulated ones displayed onscreen. In “Le Cochon” (1970), the process of slaughtering a pig — to make sausage — is documented. It proposes an appreciation of farmers’ work and simple way of life. Tomorrow, 4 and 9 p.m., French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th St., between Madison and Park avenues, 212-307-4100, $10 general, $7 students, free for members.

POSTWAR PULP During the Adolf Eichmann trials of the 1960s, Israelis heard the horrific details of abuse and killing in concentration and death camps. As Holocaust survivors were giving chilling testimony, a curious literary trend began: Pocket books of torture pornography began appearing on the shelves of Israeli news vendors. Director Ari Libsker’s documentary, “Stalags” (2007), explores the history of these stories, which often contained graphic depictions of female SS officers torturing Allied soldiers.

Tonight and tomorrow, 1:15, 3, 4:45, 6:30, 8:15, and 10 p.m., Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-727-8110, $10.50 general, $5.50 seniors and members.

GALLERY-GOING

CUTTING IT UP John Tremblay is known for straying from the traditional use of a four-cornered canvas: He slices his canvases, creating circular or polygonic shapes, sometimes poking holes in the center. Some works are made from two canvases joined together to create a painting that takes on a sculptural quality. Through Thursday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 W. 21st St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-255-1105, free.

FIT TO REPRINT The news of the day takes on a different gloss in Suzanne Treister’s latest exhibit, “Alchemy.” Ms. Treister reorganizes carefully selected articles, text, and photographs culled from international newspapers, including the British tabloid the Sun, and transforms them into alchemically inspired drawings. The fantastical images subtly highlight the chosen subject matter. Through Saturday, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., P.P.O.W. Gallery, 555 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-647-1044, free.

GHOST WORLD Finnish artist Kim Simonsson drew from pop art, Japanese anime, and manga in creating his almost-life-size sculptures of children and wide-eyed animals. His latest exhibit, “Invisible World,” includes characters that express compassion for others or act fearlessly on their own. Through Saturday, May 24, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Nancy Margolis Gallery, 523 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-242-3013, free.

HEARTBREAKING WORKS Novelist Dave Eggers is the curator of “Lots of Things Like This,” an exhibit at apexart featuring works by graphic artist R. Crumb and authors Shel Silverstein and Kurt Vonnegut, among many others. The pieces on view are a combination of one-panel cartoons and text-based art, what Mr. Eggers describes as “somewhat crude, usually irreverent, and always funny.” The exhibit is made up of about 100 pieces, and explores how humor can be applied to fine art and in what forms. Through Saturday, May 10, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., apexart, 291 Church St., between Walker and White streets, 212-431-5270, free.

WATER EVERYWHERE In the exhibit “Water and Dreams,” Jeong Julia Lee uses resin and dried flowers to create a shining effect on her canvases, evoking associations with dreams and the subconscious. The paintings are meditations on the artist’s childhood in South Korea. Through Saturday, Thursday–Saturday, noon–6 p.m., New York Studio Gallery, 511 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-627-3276, free.

GATHERINGS

TALKING HEADS The Minds That Move the World is a timely new series focused on the plurality of perspectives driving the current American political discourse. Over the course of three months, top political bloggers, pundits, campaign operatives, and national leaders, including President Clinton, will gather to debate and deliver insights about the November elections, the war in Iraq, and other pressing issues. The first of four talks kicks off tonight with MSNBC political correspondent Tucker Carlson, a Hillary Clinton campaign consultant, James Carville, and the creator of the popular Huffington Post Web log, Arianna Huffington. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper moderates the event, which is presented by Madison Square Garden Entertainment. Tonight, 8 p.m., Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., between 50th and 51st streets, 212-247-4777, $30–$250.

MUSIC

PARADISE OF SOUND The Hudson Valley Singers perform Robert Schumann’s oratorio “Das Paradies und die Peri,” under the direction of the assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Eugene Sirotkine. Experienced choral singers from around the city were invited to rehearse the piece with the group and they perform at this Saturday’s concert. Although the oratorio is rarely performed, it is considered one of Schumann’s most inspiring masterworks. Based on Thomas Moore’s poem “Lalla Rookh,” it recounts the tale of a Persian spirit, the Peri, who is expelled from Paradise and tries to regain admittance. The New York Metamorphoses Orchestra accompanies the Hudson Valley Singers. Saturday, 7 p.m., the New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St. at Central Park West, 914-674-2865, $35–$40 general, $5 students and seniors.

A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY Indie actress-turned-chanteuese Zooey Deschanel and her collaborator in the She & Him musical duo, singer-guitarist M. Ward, perform at the Hiro Ballroom of the Maritime Hotel. Ms. Deschanel’s raspy, at turns ethereal, vocals recall a young Linda Ronstadt and are showcased to great effect on She & Him’s alt-country-pop debut album, “Volume One.” The duo plays selections from the release. Tonight and tomorrow, 7 p.m., Maritime Hotel, Hiro Ballroom, 363 W. 16th St. at Ninth Avenue, 212-307-7171, $20.

READINGS

POETRY CENTRAL The Academy of American Poets celebrates the spring publication of American Poet, a quarterly journal published by the academy. Selected poets whose writing appears in the most recent issue read from and discuss their work. They include Joanna Klink, whose work has appeared in the Kenyon Review, the Denver Quarterly, and Boston Review; the author of “The Bird Catcher” and a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Marie Ponsot, and the poetry editor of Fence magazine, Christopher Stackhouse. Tonight, 7 p.m., Housing Works Used Book Café, 126 Crosby St. at Lafayette Street, 212-334-3324, free.

TALKS

IN PRAISE OF READING The 92nd Street Y hosts a conversation with first lady Laura Bush and her daughter, Jenna. Mother and daughter discuss the importance of literacy and reading, and present their collaboration, “Read All About It!” (HarperCollins), a children’s book that follows little Tyrone who rules the playground and the science lab, but is notably absent when it comes to reading hour. When a visitor drops by with an enchanting mystery, Tyrone finds he can’t resist a good book. Mrs. Bush is an honorary ambassador for the U.N. Literary Decade, and hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Global Literacy in 2006. A senior writer at Vogue magazine, Julia Reed, leads the talk. Tomorrow, 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-415-5500, $26 general.

BATTLE SCARS The author of “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict” (W.W. Norton), American economist Joseph Stiglitz, discusses his new book, which he co-wrote with Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes, an expert in public finance. Mr. Stiglitz, the recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, focuses on the financial toll the war has exacted on the American economy. The authors estimate that the ongoing conflict in Iraq has cost more than $3 trillion, a figure far higher than the figures estimated by White House officials. Friday, 7 p.m., Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway at 12th Street, 212-473-1452, free.

PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS “The Two Gustavs: Klimt, Mahler, and Vienna’s Golden Decade, 1897–1907,” a discussion of the lives of the Symbolist painter and the Romantic composer and conductor, is led by a professor of art history at Southern Methodist University, Alessandra Comini. The two men, both Austrian-born, became leading figures during the same period: Klimt for his erotic, gauzy depictions of women, and Mahler for his sweeping orchestral and operatic works and brilliant conducting (not to mention a consuming fascination with Beethoven). Ms. Comini explores their work and what the pair, working in different mediums, had in common. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Ave. at 85th Street, 212-628-6200, $8.

VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY Author Benjamin Feldman fed his obsession with a 19th-century murder mystery by digging up old newspapers, court records, and other primary sources in writing “Butchery on Bond Street: Sexual Politics and the Burdell-Cunningham Case in Ante-bellum New York” (New York Wanderer Press). The book is the story of widowed landlady Emma Cunningham, who stood trial after her paramour Harvey Burdell, a dentist with a taste for the lowbrow, was found violently stabbed to death in his Bond Street home. The salacious details of the case captivated the public, and Mr. Feldman shares his discoveries. Wednesday, 7 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library, 1 Grand Army Plaza at Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, 718-230-2100, free.

THEATER

SHAKESPEARE ABRIDGED The Sackett Group theater ensemble stages the parody “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. The play comically tackles Shakespeare’s prolificacy by cramming shortened version of his 37 plays and 154 sonnets into one theatrical performance. A longtime Sackett Group member, Corinne Slagle, directs the play, which ambitiously features only three actors. Friday through Sunday, May 11, Thursday–Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., Brooklyn Music School Playhouse, 126 Saint Felix St., between Lafayette Avenue and Hanson Place, Brooklyn, 718-638-7104, $20 general, $16 students and seniors.

WALTZED ALL NIGHT The Westchester-based dance company, Ajkun Ballet Theatre, performs “The Mansion Comes to Life” at the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum. Company dancers re-create the life of the Bartow family and its staff as they prepare for a party in the 1840s. Show-goers get a tour of the mansion as the show unfolds. The event ends with an invitation to waltz with members of the ballet company. Advance registration required, Saturdays in April, noon–4 p.m., Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, 895 Shore Rd., Pelham Bay Park, Bronx, 718-885-1461, $15 general, $10 students and seniors, free for children under 6; members: $12, $8 students and seniors.