Brew at the Zoo, Arts in the Park, and more events this week

(Photo credit: The Lawn on D artist’s rendering / lawnond.com)

Coming up this week in Boston: A hip reading series marks its first birthday, a Harvard Square institution celebrates its 60th, and you have multiple opportunities to play ping pong outdoors in the name of art. What’s that? You want to get drunk at the zoo? Sure, we can make that happen, too.

* The Mills Gallery at the Boston Center for the Arts takes its semi-monthly Gertrude’s Artist’s Salon outside to Liz Nofziger’s “Bounce” public installation. The artist will lead a conversation around the the issues raised by the creative consideration of topics such as rules and play that will evolve into actual play on, oh yeah, I forgot to mention the installation is just three conjoined, custom-engineered ping pong tables. Show off your skills on the uniquely configured table, but don’t try to get a uniquely configured game of beer pong going because one general rule at art galleries is “Don’t set your drink on the art.” 8.14. 7p. FREE 

* A music festival to raise money for another, larger music festival is something we can always get behind. Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge hosts the three-day Atweeds Fest to benefit the Tweed River Music Festival. Local and national acts playing Friday night and two sessions Saturdayand Sunday include Bow Thayer, Marc Pinansky, The Curtis Mayflower, and Sarah Borges. 8.15 to 8.17. Various times. $5-12

* The Frequently Asked Questions Circus mixes acrobatics, dance, and theater in “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” a courageous journey of shedding away our alter egos to unveil our fragility and vulnerability as human beings, and not a message to Hollywood to maybe chill on the superhero movies for a while, guys. The troupe took its name from the section of its website that was created to answer the question “Where are the elephants?” (It’s not that kind of circus.) 8.15-8.16 (7:30p). 8.17 (4p). $15

* Franklin Park Zoo’s fifth annual Brew at the Zoo tasting event is taking over the entire park for the first time, with stations hosted by local brewers and restaurants serving a giddy, childlike crowd that’s secretly more excited about animals than alcohol: Pymy hippos. Ring-tailed lemurs. Giraffes. Ocelots. What even is an ocelot? You’ll find out! Just don’t set your drink on one because a general rule at zoos is “Don’t set your drink on the animals.” 8.16. 3:30p. $50

* Brew at the Zoo, Arts in the Park, let’s hear it for events that bring together two cool things that rhyme and will probably end better than your “Bar in the Car” night. ATP welcomes Boston artists to Malcolm X. Park in Roxbury to create live art in a public space, turning the studio inside out, except not really because then all the expensive art supplies would be outside and the inside would look like an abandoned factory strewn with cigarette butts. Besides live music and a dance competition, ATP will feature panel discussions, face painting, a mobile farmers’ market, and more. 8.16. 1p. FREE

* If Donald Vincent’s monthly Mr. Hip Presents poetry and music night wasn’t the city’s most engaging and interactive reading series, it probably wouldn’t have lasted for full year or at least might have changed its name to Mr. OK, I Guess Presents. But the series celebrates its first anniversary with a special reading at the Gold Gallery featuring a lineup of local poets, spoken word artists, and musical guests. 8.16. 6p. $8

* The city’s experimental new outdoor event space The Lawn on D (as in, a grassy area on D Street in South Boston, not a hilarious euphemism for male pubic hair) marks its official opening with a day of festivities including live music, MMMMaven DJ sets, massmouth storytelling, interactive art projects, bocce, and ping pong. They’ll also have beer and wine available for purchase to make all that other stuff sound even better. 8.16. 12p. FREE

* Speaking of alcohol making things seem better: The Hong Kong Restaurant in Harvard Square celebrates its 60th birthday with a street festival featuring a beer garden, DJ, food, and dragon and lion dances. Sixty years is a pretty long time for a restaurant to stick around in this giant scorpion bowl race we call life. Think of all the sweat-soaked undergrads and almost-dads that have passed through those doors in search of that one magical piece of crab tucked away in the dance floor’s cream cheese filling. Couples who met at Hong Kong back in the day could have kids whose kids are too old to go to Hong Kong. 8.17. 6p. FREE

* In light of Robin Williams’s passing, The Boston Calendar and @OnlyInBOS have organized a free screening of “Good Will Hunting” at Workbar Cambridge on Monday night. Free Downeast Cider, free snacks, and we’ll be collecting cash donations for the Massachusetts National Alliance on Mental Illness. The only excuse for not going is if you went to go see about a girl. 8.18. 6:30p. FREE

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