Normally we spend Wednesdays daydreaming ways to spend the weekend (like the Farm Aid benefit at The Yard, say), but there are just too many amazing things coming up next month. Mark your calendars:

Local longshoremen will double as extras in Il Tabarro, a Puccini opera about a stormy relationship between a captain and his wayward wife. Set on the banks of the Seine River, it’s been adapted by the Vertical Player Repertory to take place in 1950s Brooklyn aboard the real-life, retired oil tanker, the Mary A. Whalen, docked at the Red Hook Marine Terminal. The boat is owned by PortSide NewYork, who is converting the tanker into a museum. You can help them along by coming to the artisinal food & wine reception, from 5-7pm, before each sunset performance Sept. 7, 9, 14, 16. Tickets $25. vpropera.org

On yet another barge docked in Long Island City, the 37-year-old experimental theater troupe Mabou Mines is premiering Song for New York: What Women Do While Men Sit Knitting. “It’s bigger than anything I’ve done. And it’s much harder,” said Ruth Maleczech, who directed the work, comprised of five musical acts to celebrate each of the city’s boroughs. Originally she wanted the entire cycle, composed by Klezmatic Lisa Gutkin and written by local poets, to be performed on the waterfront of every borough, but there will be plenty of local pride to go around. Set up at 6:45pm before each 8 o’clock performance will be an interactive pinhole photo booth. “We will give you a positive of the photograph if you leave your stories about where you live,” Maleczech said.

The free performances open with the act dedicated to Brooklyn on August 31, and run Sept. 4 (Staten Island), Sept. 6 (Bronx), Sept. 7 (Queens) and Sept. 9 (Manhattan) at the waterfront at Gantry Plaza State Park (directions here). maboumines.org

Paso Doble, or “two step,” in Spanish, brings new meaning to work in progress: two artists, one a Catalan sculptor/painter, the other a French choreographer/dancer, emerge from a clay wall onto a stage made of the same and axe, sling and shape it together, at times burying themselves in the process. It’s the kind of thing you wish you could have done with Play-Doh. Sept 14-16 at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Tickets (on sale in September) are $35. stannswarehouse.org

Sufjan Stevens, the avant folk artist who has set out to make full-length albums about every state (Michigan and Illinois down, 48 to go) was commissioned by BAM to focus on the artery that connects Brooklyn and Queens–and not always in the wisest way (Red Hook, Exhibit A). Called The BQE, it will feature a 16mm road trip film scored live with new songs and orchestrations from Stevens’ previous albums. Nov. 1-3 at BAM. Tickets (on sale Sept. 4) are $20-$50. bam.org

Sent by Sara and Nicole.