BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  Family Furniture” is playwright A.R. Gurney’s eighth world premiere at The Flea. Thomas Kail, a 2008 Tony nominee for “In The Heights,” directs a cast whose familiar ranks include Peter Scolari (“Girls” and “Newhart” on TV, and recently seen on Broadway in “Lucky Guy”). The play is described by the Flea read more here »

WASHINGTON SQUARE TREE LIGHTING  AND CAROLING It’s been standing tall and looking good since arriving at 4am on Monday — but you’ll have to wait until 6pm on December 11 to see the Washington Square Park Christmas Tree in all its spruced up glory. That’s when the lights on this 45-foot-tall Vermonter will first begin read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  Second only to Shakespeare when it comes to inspiring liberal (often horrendous) adaptations, there really is no excuse for going rogue on Charles Dickens’ beautifully structured tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s overnight conversion from stingy misanthrope to kind and generous soul. Mr. Magoo and Alastair Sim did very well by the source read more here »

BY SCOTT STIfFLER  |  A JOHN WATERS CHRISTMAS  From having doggie doo for dinner to fending off the unwanted advances of a giant lobster, John Waters has a knack for making bad taste feel good. Of course, in Waters’ capable hands, there’s a big difference between celebrating bad taste and elevating what’s just plain distasteful. read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER   |   West coast comic Betsy Salkind cut her choppers in 80s-era Boston — when stand-up was still an insular (mostly white) boy’s club. During a rare turn at the mic, she staged her own infamous tea party. “The Emperor’s Getting F***ed,” a confrontational screed about toxic misogyny and racism in local read more here »

BY TRAV S.D.  |  Over the course of her long career, Mink Stole has been associated with many shocking projects. But the big shock about her new CD, “Do Re Mink,” is how tasteful it is. After all, her frequent collaborator John Waters wrote the book on bad taste — literally (it’s called “Shock Value: read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  Currently living in Manila, Filipino photographer Niccolo Cosme says that although his city was spared from the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan, “We started to feel its impact day by day. We have never seen anything of this magnitude, where communities, towns and provinces were washed out. We found ourselves in volunteer read more here »

BY REV. JEN (rev-jen.com)  |  This month’s column is all about leaving one’s comfort zone, trying new things — and, of course, utilizing funemployment until the inevitable, tragic day when one becomes reemployed. Herein, as usual, I will share tips on how to have fun in the “city that never sleeps” even when said city is read more here »

Self-portrait sale will benefit charity BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  Is it possible that our favorite good time gal in green has entered her Blue Period? If so, there’s no need for mood-stabilizing meds, dispensed by a shirtless bartender pouring from a spoutless bottle. Not, at least, during the early evening hours of the first Friday read more here »