Carrboro
Suspense!
The ArtsCenterThe Chapel Hill-based Transactors Improv sports the motto, “If you laugh, we are doing comedy; if you don’t, we are doing drama.” Despite the name, the group’s shows are more like scripted playsaptly called “long-form improvisation.” With the help of Killer Filler, an all-instrumental quintet from Hillsborough specializing in 1960s Memphis soul and California surf music, the Transactors perform a special Halloween long-form improv titled Suspense!, an homage to such film genres as horror, noir and mystery. Come ready with suggestions because this company loves to incorporate them into its performances. The chilling suspense begins at 8 p.m., and tickets are $14 or $7 for students. Visit www.artscenterlive.org or call 929-2787 for tickets and info. Belem Destefani
Durham
Gal Costa & Romero Lubambo
Reynolds Industries Theater, Duke CampusThe Brazilian singer Gal Costa, most famous for her role in the ’60s and into the ’70s with the Tropicália movement, and Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, an exquisite and tasteful player who’s recorded with American soul and South American singers alike, share a history of slavish devotion to their instruments. Appropriately, both move through music with a tone that’s perfectly cultivated and altogether singular: His is sprightly and busy; hers is aged and wise. Hearing those exquisite forces meet should be a marvel. Tickets for this rare engagement are $5-$38; it starts at 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.dukeperformances.duke.edu. Grayson Currin
Chapel Hill
The Wild Party
Graham Student Union Cabaret, UNC Campus“Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still/ And she danced twice a day in vaudeville.” Joseph Moncure March, the first managing editor of The New Yorker, wrote his scandalous poem The Wild Party in 1926; it was judged too hot to publish until 1928, only to be banned in Boston. Still, it made an impression on those who read it; William S. Burroughs cited it as the book that made him want to be a writer. This tale of a sex-and-booze-fueled party is hilarious, grim, sexyall the things you don’t expect a poem to be. At UNC, you can catch the Pauper Players’ production of a 1999 stage adaptation of the poem by Andrew Lippa that received both Drama Desk and Obie awards in 2000. The Wild Party features stage direction by Nick Culp and music direction by Jessica Dean (Urinetown). The show runs tonight (8 p.m.) through Nov. 3. For ticket pricing and show times, go to the Carolina Union Box Office or call 962-1449; rush tickets can be purchased at the door. See www.unc.edu/pauper for more info. Zack Smith
Raleigh
Max Indian, Schooner
Harris Field, NCSU CampusThe latest from WKNC 88.1 FM’s great-ideas-for-local-music department, Fridays on the Lawn pairs a few of the area’s best with a grassy plot normally reserved for Ultimate Frisbee and free food lines. Location is everything, too: Harris Field sits just in front of WKNC, true, but it also sits between the campus’ two biggest enclaves of freshmen, who are likely unaware of the thriving music scene all around their adopted home. Given the most recent spate of Beatlemania, the swagger that Carrboro quintet Max Indian adds to its Fab Four love might pull at least one into the fold. Schooner, whose keyboard-bejeweled guitar pop shines with old-soul warmth, shares the bill. They’re the perfect afterglow to Max Indian’s combustible little numbers. The free show begins at 6 p.m. For more, see www.wknc.org/blog. Grayson Currin
