In Samuel Beckett’s 1961 play Happy Days, a decidedly upbeat woman named Winnie spends Act One striving valiantly to make the best of her sticky situation: she’s irrevocably buried up to her waist in a “low mound.” True, Winnie has her reticent companion Willie for company, but she cheerily defies the barren void by holding forth for a seemingly nonexistent gathering of spectators. And Act Two finds Winnie still determined to make a go of......

Scotland’s Black Watch is an elite military regiment whose history stretches back almost three centuries. The regiment most recently saw action as part of the British Army’s deployment in Iraq, where seven members lost their lives – five of the men in the space of 11 days in 2004. The National Theatre of Scotland tracked down some of the Black Watch soldiers upon their return to Scotland and, over the course of several months......

MUSIC: Frequenter of the Hotel Chelsea, Country Joe McDonald (pictured at Woodstock) will be taking the Joe's Pub stage tonight to perform a tribute to Woody Guthrie where he "deftly conveys all the charm, talent, and social and political consciousness of the legendary folksinger from Oklahoma." 7pm // Joe’s Pub [425 Lafayette St] // $30 EVENT: Move over spelling bee...The Define-a-Thon Word Challenge hits Brooklyn tonight. The competitive word challenge is good for the spelling-impaired,......

A look at some noteworthy (and mainly regifted) programs this week: Yule Log (WPIX 11, Monday, 9:00 a.m.) The classic Yule log returns another year on WPIX. This being the 40th Anniversary of the log, channel 11 offers up a one hour special on history at noon, right after this year's showing. If you don't want to wait, they even offer a portable Yule Log for your iPod and The Yule Log.com fan site has......

Appropriately in this sticky heat, it’s kind of a slow week for theater, at least openings-wise. So for a change of pace, instead of a show roundup, here are a few recent theater-world tidbits that struck Gothamist as interesting. The Times reported last week that the Signature Theatre is going to offer $15 tickets to its next season (its fifteenth). Every seat. This is thrilling news, and everyone should flock there to see three plays......

There are two words Gothamist has in our mind and they are "road trip" - what with the upcoming May 10th unveiling of the Washington D.C. public arts program, Panda Mania. Readers Eugene, Matt and corie let us know that the Washington Post glimpsed inside the artists' studios where many of the pandas are being painted, complete with slideshow of panda painting. Plus, one of the artists, Victoria Palley, gave us some more details......