SAT 9/10: Saturday Cheapness

And there's also Greek, Armenian, and Italian festivals today and tomorrow.

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SAT 9/10 (and SUN 9/11)

Noon to 6pm
9th Boston Arts (Ahts) Festival
at Christopher Columbus Park, about 225 Atlantic Ave, Boston (Waterfront/North End)
FREE

Today's schedule:

12:30pm -- Sam Cornish
1pm -- The Felix Peikli Quartet
1:45pm -- Orfeo Group
2:15pm -- Conservatory Lab Charter School
3pm -- Opera Boston
3:30pm -- Marcio Philomena
4:15pm -- Lisa Bello
4:45pm -- Boston Conservatory
5:45pm -- Mission Hill

When I went a few years ago, I saw some cool things and almost bought a print. I say go for walk by the water, catch a performance or two, and browse around the art.

Boston's Poet Laureate Sam Cornish kicks things offThere's a wide variety of music genres. The Orfeo Group is doing rapid Shakespeare later, so I assume they'll perform a section from "Compleat Works...(Abridged)".

SAT 9/10

Noon to 6pm
Cambridge Carnival Parade
from Central Sq to Kendall Sq, via Mass Ave to about 450 Main St, Cambridge
FREE

If you didn't get to last month's Carnival, it's your second chance.

The parade is fun to watch, and there's loads of food options -- and live music -- at the end. The trucks stacked with speakers are loud, the costumes are loud, the bands at the end of the parade are loud. Get ready for island volume.

I was quite happy to start in Central Square and to stop occasionally along the route then grab some food.

SAT 9/10 (and SUN 9/11)

Various Times
3rd Annual Boston Improv Festival
at ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect St, Cambridge (Central Sq)
at YMCA Theater, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 for most shows

Today's schedule:

3pm -- Film - David Shepherd: A Lifetime of Improvisational Theatre
at ImprovBoston Main Theater

6pm -- The ImprovBoston Family Show
at ImprovBoston Main Theater

6:30pm -- Book, Weekend of Regret, The Bennets
at ImprovBoston Studio

7pm -- Chet Watkins, The Cascade, Bos Angeles
at ImprovBoston Main Theater

7pm -- Matt Kona, Tari Fanderclai, My X - Featuring Joe Bill, VEAL
at YMCA Theater

8pm -- Stand-up Showcase (Saturday), Big Bennessy, Adrift
at ImprovBoston Studio

8:30pm -- Froduce, Nobody's Token, Dumpster Tequila
at ImprovBoston Main Theater

8:30pm -- Junior Varsity, ImprovBoston Mainstage, Festival All-Stars
at YMCA Theater

10pm -- Pound For Pound, The New Deal
at ImprovBoston Main Theater

10pm -- Camp Woods, Get Paid, Two Weird Ladies
at ImprovBoston Studio

Performers from Boston and beyond gather together to make you laugh without knowing what they're going to say.

Sure, they practice... What would be the fun of an improv festival if they had pre-written material?

There's no one can guarantee that an improv show is going to be hilarious, but many of these performers work hard at being prepared. Take a chance and laugh.

SAT 9/10

3pm to 7pm
Brasileiro Festival
at Union Sq Plaza, Somerville (nexus of Somerville Ave, Washington St, Bow St)
FREE

Feat: Samba No Pe, Marcus Santos' Grooversity

It was Brazilian Independence Day last week, and there's enough Brazilian flavor to make this look promising for some time around Union Square.

There's going to be food, samba & drum music, dancing, and maybe a bunch of Brazilian/Portuguese folks.

If you've got the skills, there's soccer juggling/dribbling contest at 3:45pm.

SAT 9/10

6pm
Orfeo Group, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)"
at Shipyard Park, Charlestown Navy Yard
FREE

It started about 20 years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it's been done by thousands of different trios.

Three guys take a romp through all 37 of Shakespeare plays in slightly more than 90 minutes, and the Orfeo Group are Boston's experts at this hilarious exercise.

SAT 9/10

7:30pm to 11pm
Tango By Moonlight
at Weeks Memorial Footbridge, Memorial Dr & DeWolfe St, Harvard Sq
FREE

As usual, they'll start with brief period of tango instruction, then you can try for as long as you like until you feel like dancing any way you like.

It's a fun time with and without a partner, since you can usually find a partner or two. Perhaps the spirit will move you. And if the tango stymies you, it's fine to sway and turn however you like...

This is the pentultimate tango session of the year, and the weather may not be better next month.