THEATER: Through a grant given to him by the San Francisco Arts Commission, Kirk Read's latest show This is the Thing has garnered much buzz. Read tells SFIst that his latest show is:

[A] 70 minute multimedia extravaganza. I work with Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney, who plays live music on a banjo, electric guitar and keyboard. I tell stories about being a hooker, the Brady Bunch, computer addiction and other stuff. I do evangelical lip synch. It's very homemade -- I made the props and costumes myself. There's some trippy, funny as shit video by Liz Singer. There's a lot of laughing and a lot of touching moments and a bit of "What the fuck is he doing?"

The multimedia spectacle about the apocalypse, the Brady Bunch, the South, sex work, and magic mushrooms shows tonight and August 14-16.

8 p.m. // Shotwell Studios (3252A 19th Street) // $12-20

READING: Shawn Taylor reads from Big Black Penis: Misadventures in Race and Masculinity. Chortle. Read more about it here.

7:30 p.m. // Booksmith (1644 Haight) // free

Image: Michael Rauner