TUESDAY
What: Raw cooking class
Where: Funky Buddha, 2621 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
When: 6:30 p.m.
Cost: $75-$130
Contact: 828/505-6203, crurawfood.com
Those raw foodie types can be buzzkills: Not only are we not supposed to eat meat and dairy, but now we shouldn’t even be cooking our vegetable- and bean-driven dishes? Through events like this one, the national raw food provider Cru is hoping to rewire our brains (not to mention our stomachs) around the idea the raw food is not only the healthiest, most nutritious way to eat, but that it can be delicious, too. In what Cru is calling an “UNcooking class,” this special event at Boca’s favorite hookah lounge and brewery will spotlight novel ways to employ raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and spices in inventive combinations. Attendees will make and then eat a three-course meal, included in the class admission.
What: Luther Campbell
Where: Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $24.99 book purchase provides two tickets
Contact: 305/442-4408, booksandbooks.com
It was just a couple of decades ago that Luther Campbell, as the frontman of the rap group 2 Live Crew, found himself in the crosshairs of a conservative culture war over his group’s offensive, misogynistic and—this is the part the moralists missed—satirically comic lyrics. But this Miami native and onetime leader of hip-hop’s most notorious crew has come a long way from shouting unprintable obscenities to packed arenas. He has become an unexpected advocate for social justice, raging against the issues reflecting poor black life today, from insufficient funding for housing and education to police brutality and racially motivated violence. He writes a column about these issues forMiami New Times, and he even ran for mayor of Miami. These days he coaches football to inner-city kids. His powerful life story is shared in his new memoirThe Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and Liberty City, which he will sign and discuss at this hometown appearance.
FRIDAY
What: The SYMPHONIA, Boca Raton
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/376-3848, thesymphonia.org
The Mizner Park Amphitheater has been hosting tribute bands for free on Friday nights all summer, but its series will shift gears at this season-capping performance by the SYMPHONIA Boca Raton. The theme of Friday’s program is “from Bach to Bernstein,” and it’s a horn-heavy coproduction between the Symphonia and the Orchid City Brass Band, our region’s top translators of the British brass band tradition. As always, bring blankets and chairs for comfort. The evening also includes one of the Symphonia’s popular “instrument petting zoos”—and you don’t even have to feed the tubas.
What: Opening night of “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”
Where: Living Room Theaters at FAU, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
When: Show times pending
Cost: $6.50-$9.50
Contact: 561/549-2600, fau.livingroomtheaters.com
Set in 1970s San Francisco (the wallpaper on the poster art can tell you that much), this debut feature from cowriter/director Marielle Heller stars the button-cute British actress Bel Powley in what promises to be her breakthrough role in American cinema, as a teenage artist discovering her sexuality until it becomes a point of obsession. Inconveniently enough, the man to whom she acquiesces her virginity is none other than her mother’s charismatically mustachioed boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgaard). Kristen Wiig and Christopher Meloni bring extra star wattage to this indie hit, which screened at Sundance this past January, was featured as part of MoMa’s New Directors/New Films series, and which boasts a Certified Fresh 86 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
SATURDAY
What: Opening night of “Lazy Fair”
Where: Mad Cat Theatre Company at Miami Theater Center, 9816 N.E. Second Ave., Miami Shores
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $25
Contact: 305/751-9550, madcattheatre.org
Theo Reyna, a playwright and member of Mad Cat Theatre’s tight-knit company, penned this brand-new play, which is taglined “a world premiere about greed.” Reyna displayed a deft comic aptitude for geopolitics with his 2014 short “The Scottish Play,” and I expect “Lazy Fair”—its name, of course, derives from laissez-faire economics—to deliver clever observations about economics in a time of growing inequality and amid the ascendancy of a certain wealth-flaunting presidential candidate. The show centers specifically on a simple heist gone awry and mythic, but in (un)conventional Mad Cat fashion, the plot description is cryptic and mysterious, leaving much to the imagination—and to the experience of seeing it performed. Reyna directs Ken Clement, Meredith Barton and Andy Quiroga in a production that runs through Sept. 6.
What: Opening night of “Vincent River”
Where: Artistic Vibes, 12986 S.W. 89th Ave., Miami
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: Free to $20
Contact: groundupandrising.org
There’s something about the inescapability of run-down interiors that tends to produce great theater. Many a playwright has set his or her drama in the cramped confines of a small depressing room, waiting for the magic or the madness or the repressed traumas to resound from the closed doors and windows. Philip Ridley’s “Vincent River” is a superlative addition to the one-room, one-act genre. It’s set in a run-down flat in England, where a 53-year-old mother and a teenage boy connect over the death of the mother’s son Vincent, who fell victim to a homophobic attack. Beverly Blanchette and Bobby Johnston star in this intimate two-hander from Ground Up and Rising, the Miami company known for its minimalist work. It runs through Sept. 13.
SUNDAY
What: Beres Hammond
Where: Broward Center, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $30-$110
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Judging by some of his hits—“Tempted to Touch,” “No Disturb Sign,” “Keep Me Warm”—reggae star Beres Hammond knows his way around a bedroom. For more than four decades, the velvety-voiced Jamaican singer has been one of the most prominent purveyors of lovers rock, the romantic reggae subgenre he helped pioneer, as well as an occasional social-justice lyricist. He’s released 20 albums of original music, building a dedicated fanbase in his native country and abroad, managing to do to so mostly without major-label support and radio play. His current world tour is still supporting his 2012 smash “One Love, One Light,” a Grammy-nominated double album whose first disc of love songs and second disc of socially conscious tunes offers an exemplary introduction to his oeuvre.
