WENDESDAY: Triple Crossed
After glowing reviews, Fort Greene’s Irondale Center extended its run of “Passion Play,” by superstar playwright Sarah Ruhl, through June 5. A few familiar faces (like Dominic Fumusa from Nurse Jackie) perform in this triptych that traverses Elizabethan England, Nazi Germany and Reagan-era America (in 3 and a half hours!). Tickets on sale here>>

THURSDAY: Poetry Night
Since it opened last fall, Greenlight Bookstore has made a point of hosting more than just the standard author readings, incorporating series like comedy nights and blogger/author pairings into its event calendar. This month it continues that trend with its inaugural poetry slam night. On the last Thursday of every month this summer, the bookstore will give aspiring poets the chance to present their works in public–and to compete for prizes to boot. The night, which is sponsored by the Brooklyn-based Inside Out Tours, begins at 7:30pm. RSVP.

Dystopian Discussion
The sun has been shining, a holiday weekend is beginning, summer is coming. What better day to ponder the ways in which the world is getting worse? Thursday at powerHouse Arena, four writers/editors/intellectuals will be discussing this dystopic topic in an event with the uplifting title “Bleak Horizons: A Panel Discussion on Dark Visions of the Future.” Moderated by the New Yorker’s Ben Greenman, and including Gary Shteyngart (Absurdistan), Rivka Galchen (Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel), and Cory Doctorow (Boing Boing co-editor), this New York Book Week event should be illuminating, if not day-brightening.

Sneak Preview
It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years since Jonathan Franzen published his award-winning, 500-plus-page best-seller The Corrections, and it’s even harder to believe he hasn’t published a novel since. Franzen will finally return with his follow-up, another 500-plus-page opus titled Freedom, this fall, and he’s reading an excerpt Thursday at the Brooklyn Public Library’s central location at 7pm. Joining Franzen to read from his own work is the acclaimed short-story writer David Means, whose new collection of stories, The Spot, just hit stores on Tuesday.

Up on the Roof
Just as we’re getting a hint of the warm summer weather to come, Rooftop Films entices us outside with the New York premiere of Etienne!, a quirky buddy/road-trip flick in which the buddies are a college-age guy and his terminally ill hamster. The screening–part of the 2010 Summer Series, which kicked off last week–will be held on the roof of Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene; doors open at 8pm, movie starts at 9pm.

FRIDAY: Get Happy
The Bell House, never one to skimp on the dance parties, introduces another into its rotation with Happy House, at which you can shake your booty to a wide range of indie-pop- and electroclash-inspired tunes (think: New Order to LCD Soundsystem, the Talking Heads to Le Tigre). The free party, which will return the final Friday of every month, takes over the venue’s front room at 10pm.

African Amusement
Perhaps DanceAfrica is a misnomer for the now over-thirty-year-old annual BAM tradition; though incredible dance performances are the centerpiece of the Memorial Day weekend festivities, there’s much more involved. This year’s theme, “African Rhythms/American Echoes,” is carried out from an interestingly curated art exhibition, running through June 19th that allows the African artists to pair their pieces with American artwork from BAM’s collection, to a weekend-long bazaar in the surrounding streets featuring food, crafts, and clothes from Africa and the Diaspora. A number of related films will also be screened, with highlights including Movement (R)evolution Africa, about nine African choreographers, and Sex, Okra, and Salted Butter, a domestic comedy from Chad.

SUNDAY: BRAAAAAINS!
Spend the day of the Lord as one of the undead this week as part of the annual NYC Zombie Crawl. This year’s monster mash will take place in Williamsburg, beginning at the Charleston for “zombification” and pizza and groaning up Bedford to McCarren Park for games like zombie football, blood fights, and human tug of war. At 7pm, the all-ages Zombie Dance Party A Go Go will begin at the Knitting Factory with a wide variety of undead-themed entertainment, including a trailer screening of Play Dead, a movie that describes itself as Shawn of the Dead-meets-Friday Night Lights; zombie burlesque and a hot zombie contest; and the Raspberry Brothers’ mocking of old-school zombie films. For zombies who just want to dance, there will be a dance party, live music by the Undead (former Misfit Bobby Steele’s band), and, of course, a “Thriller” dance led by Thrill the World (get a head start on learning here!)

The New Coney
A summer holiday weekend, for those of us who can’t get out of the city, has traditionally meant a ride on the F train to Coney Island for Nathan’s hot dogs and rides on the Cyclone. This Saturday, the new Luna Park, the latest battleground in Coney’s gentrification war is due to open, and not without controversy. Get educated on the matter: Come to the Coney Island Museum on Sunday and hear Dick Zigun, the neighborhood’s Officially Unelected Mayor, talk about the amusement area’s future in his “State of Coney Island Address” at 4:30 (admission $5). Or check out UnionDoc’s benefit screening of Last Summer at Coney Island, a documentary by Brooklyn filmmaker JL Aronson focusing on the development fight in the area. The sliding scale donation will go towards paying for the archival imagery and music licensing in the film; it will also get you beer, hot dogs, candy apples, and what the organizers have only described as “merriment.”

PLAN AHEAD: Northside Fun
The L magazine presents the second annual Northside Festival, from June 24-27, with over 250 bands (including Real Estate, Twin Sister, Au Revoir Simone, the Fiery Furnaces, and more!) playing at venues large and small across Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Pencil in the the Brooklyn Based showcase, curated by Georgia Kral of Microphone Memory Emotion, at Matchless on June 25, featuring Bermuda Bonnie, Fluffy Lumbers, Coasting, and Family Portrait. More details to come, but there will be Southern Comfort drinks specials and a free Heineken happy hour! We’ll select two random readers who email us to win a pair of Northside badges.

Sent by Chrysanthe, Casey, Nina, and Nicole. Photos courtesy of Alicia Kachmar and workinpana.