The Ticket: What’s happening in the local arts world

COUNTRY 102.5 STREET PARTY 2 Maren Morris, whose anything-goes attitude toward country music has led her to pop stardom (last year’s buoyant “The Middle”) and supergroup strutting (this year’s album with the Highwomen), headlines the Lansdowne Street bash. Arrive early for Lindsay Ell, whose crisp songwriting is matched by her top-notch guitar skills. Sept. 22, 12:30 p.m. doors. $35. House of Blues. 888-693-2583, www.houseofblues.com/boston

DUSTIN WONG AND TAKAKO MINEKAWA Wong, a giddily experimental guitarist, and Minekawa, whose songs bubble over with hooks, goad each other to thrilling new heights on their joint releases, capturing the playfulness that lurks in the best avant-garde pieces and pop gems and launching that feeling into space. They open for slacker-pop hero Mac Demarco. Sept. 22, 8 p.m. doors. $29.50 and up. Orpheum Theatre. 617-482-0106, www.crossroadspresents.com

SIR BABYGIRL Basement-show vet Kelsie Hogue makes conversational pop with an intimate feel that belies its bedroom-studio roots. Sept. 26, 8 p.m. doors. $15, $13 advance. ONCE Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.oncesomerville.com MAURA JOHNSTON

JEALOUS OF THE BIRDS Naomi Hamilton hails from Northern Ireland and performs her indie pop ’n’ rock ’n’ folk under the moniker Jealous of the Birds. Her music has garnered comparisons to the likes of Cat Power and Karen Dalton, so she must be doing something right. This is the first show of a monthlong Wednesday residency. Sept. 25, 9:15 p.m. $10. Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge. 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com

SHAKE A LEG! A swell afternoon into evening of rockabilly, western swing, and classic rock ’n’ roll courtesy of Swelltune Records, including sets from Jittery Jack and Miss Amy and the duo of Sean Mencher and Shaun Young, former members of legendary rockabilly revival outfit High Noon. Sept. 28, 4 p.m. $30. The Porch, Medford. 781-874-9357, www.theporchsouthern.com

WYNONNA Wynonna is the latest left-field addition to the eclectic roster of Anti- Records, where she expects she’ll have the freedom to explore her musical instincts. The first recorded fruits of that is “The Child,” a new single she co-wrote with labelmate Cass McCombs. She plays Saturday with her band the Big Noise. Sept. 28, 8 p.m. $29-$59. Chevalier Theatre, Medford. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

STUART MUNRO

BEN MONDER TRIO & SOLO The multi-faceted guitarist has played with everyone from soul jazz organist “Brother” Jack McDuff to rock legend David Bowie. For two evenings, Monder will celebrate the release of his recent double CD, “Day After Day,” which includes one solo guitar disc and one with a trio. Opening solo, he’ll perform a second set with versatile New York-based tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Luther Gray, a Boston stalwart. S ept. 26-27, 7:30 p.m. $15-$18; $30 both nights. Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. www.lilypadinman.com

PETER PARCEK BAND TRIBUTE TO HOWLIN’ WOLF The pyrotechnic blues plectrist pays homage to the legendary blues titan and his barbed-wire guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Sept. 28, 4 p.m. $10. Atwood’s Tavern, 877 Cambridge St., Cambridge. 617-864-2792, www.atwoodstavern.com

THE MAKANDA PROJECT WITH CRAIG HARRIS Pianist John Kordalewski’s Boston-based big band, formed to celebrate late, great Bostonian multi-instrumentalist and composer Makanda Ken McIntyre, kicks off its fall concert series with a rare area appearance by magnificent trombonist/composer Harris. Sept. 28, 7 p.m. Free. Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building (2nd floor), 2300 Washington St., Roxbury. www.makandaproject.com

KEVIN LOWENTHAL

CALLITHUMPIAN CONSORT What does “Callithumpian” even mean? Answer: of or relating to a noisy, boisterous band or parade. This particular Callithumpian concert is more meditative, including John Luther Adams’s “Three High Places” for solo cello and Lukas Foss’s “Time Cycle.” Free concert, tickets required. Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.Jordan Hall. www.necmusic.edu/events

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BSO music director Andris Nelsons conducts Grammy-winning violin soloist Augustin Hadelich in Beethoven’s beloved Violin Concerto in D, then leads the orchestra in Strauss’s idyllic “Symphonia Domestica.” Sept. 26-Oct. 1. Symphony Hall. 888-266-1200, www.bso.org

BOSTON LYRIC OPERA David Lefkowich’s immersive production of Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” places audiences at the center of the dramatic tragedy, with a cast of rising stars including Rafael Rojas and Lauren Michelle performing in a fairgrounds installation designed by Julia Noulin-Mérat. Audiences can watch sideshow performers and local choruses, munch carnival food, and play games at the pre-show. Sept. 27-Oct. 6. DCR Steriti Memorial Rink. 617-542-6772, www.blo.org ZOË MADONNA

ARTS

THE PURISTS A rapper, a DJ, and a musical-theater purist banter, bicker, and sometimes bond outside an apartment building in Queens, joined by two ambitious young women who have their own ideas about what music should strive to be. This world premiere of Dan McCabe’s first-rate play, directed by the multitalented Billy Porter, artfully juggles issues of race, gender, sexuality, craftsmanship, connoisseurship, cultural appropriation, generational conflict, the comparative virtues of hip-hop and show tunes, and the depredations of the recording industry. Through Oct. 6. Huntington Theatre Company. At Wimberly Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.org

CHOIR BOY Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Tony-nominated drama-with-music powerfully if sometimes choppily explores the complexities that arise when young men try to forge individual identities within the charged atmosphere of a group. Isaiah Reynolds brings a blend of insouciance and vulnerability to his portrayal of Pharus, a gay prep school student dealing with questions about his sexuality as he assumes the leadership of a highly competitive choir. With superb choreography by Yewande Odetoyinbo and Ruka White, razor-sharp music direction by David Freeman Coleman, and excellent vocals by the cast. Through Oct. 19. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com

THE AMERICA PLAYS Part two of a series of short, site-specific works by Patrick Gabridge, Mount Auburn Cemetery’s artist-in-residence. Staged outdoors, the plays draw inspiration from the cemetery’s surroundings, history, and notable inhabitants. This installment focuses on, among others, the sculptors Edmonia Lewis and Martin Milmore, and features an immigrant tale connected to the Armenian community of Watertown. Directed by Courtney O’Connor, with a cast that includes Karen MacDonald, Amanda Collins, Ken Baltin, Cheryl Singleton, and Sarah Newhouse. Through Sept. 22. Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge. 617-607-1980, www.mountauburn.org

DON AUCOIN

BU DANCE SHOWCASE 2019 For this annual concert, seasoned professionals as well as enthusiastic students perform works by Boston University faculty choreographers and guest artists, many offering eye-popping aerial skills, from silks and bungee to trapeze. Artists include Wendy O’Byrne, Margot Parsons, Lynda Rieman, Colleen Roddy, Liz Roncka, Marin Orlosky Randow, Paul Jackson, Ernesto Lea Place, and Caitlin Quinn. Sept. 27, $10-$20. Boston University Dance Theater. 617-358-2500, www.bu.edu/fitrec/dance

WE TRY TO LIVE TOGETHER In this Next Steps for Boston Dance presentation, choreographers Callie Chapman, Michael Figueroa, Meghan McLyman and Kristen Duffy Young, Marsha Parrilla, Catherine Siller, and J. Michael Winward offer personal and political works that explore the issues that drive us apart, from gender and identity to migration. Sept. 26-28, $20-$30. Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.bcaonline.org

MATERIAL DEVIANCE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CULTURE The Dance Complex in association with New Movement Collaborative presents this performance by Italian-born choreographer/hybrid performance artist Alice Gosti. As the title might suggest, the work explores our penchant for “stuff” and our often conflicted relationship to the objects that clutter the landscape of our lives. Sept. 27-29, $10-$100. Dance Complex, Cambridge. 617-547-9363, www.dancecomplex.org

KAREN CAMPBELL

BERNARD CHAET: AWAKENING SKY: A SURVEY OF WATERCOLORS What better medium to capture the ethereal bloom of daybreak? The painter and longtime professor at Yale (who died in 2012) is best known for depictions of his summers in Rockport, where he woke to paint the dawn. These improvisatory and increasingly abstract watercolors grapple with immanence and dissolution. Through Oct. 2. Alpha Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave. 617-536-4465, www.alphagallery.com

DOT CONFERENCE DIRECT FROM BROOKLYN Painters Georges Seurat and Roy Lichtenstein are among the artists who have capitalized on the dot, that most basic of marks. Curator Kirstin Lamb brings this show from Brooklyn’s The Yard, featuring 28 artists who consider the cumulative, the contemplative, and even the sociopolitical effects of drawing and painting with dots. Through Oct. 26. Room 83 Spring, 83 Spring St., Watertown. Room83spring@gmail.com, www.room83spring.com

RE:CONSTRUCTING EVIDENCE Society’s shared reality still hinges on facts, despite increasing challenges from people in power who play fast and loose with them. This show examines the murky area between hard data and our agreed-upon reality: how physical and digital evidence is shaped to make an argument or fit a narrative. Through Oct. 27. Boston Cyberarts Gallery, 141 Green St., Jamaica Plain. 617-524-2109, www.bostoncyberarts.org CATE McQUAID

GORDON MATTA CLARK: ANARCHITECT Gordon Matta Clark sliced houses in two and bored bus-size holes in derelict apartment buildings several stories up, highlighting late-20th-century society’s wasteful ways regarding, well, everything, from gas guzzlers all the way up to building stock. Matta Clark’s inference — that everything is temporary, and disposable — first made in the ’70s, feels now like the proverbial canary in a coal mine, with a planet poised at the edge of ruin. Are we ready to listen yet? Through Jan. 5, 2020, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham. 781-736-3434, www.brandeis.edu/rose/

DANIELA RIVERA: LABORED LANDSCAPES (WHERE HAND MEETS GROUND) This year’s winner of the Rappaport Prize, a $25,000 honor given annually by the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Rivera has a coincident solo exhibition now open in Fitchburg. Rivera, who teaches at Wellesley College, examines the scars labor has left on the land, the body, and the psyche through her paintings of miners’ bodies and hands. Through Jan. 12, 2020. Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St., Fitchburg. 978-345-4207, fitchburgartmuseum.org

KIMSOOJA: ARCHIVE OF THE MIND A soothing summer’s pursuit slipping gracefully into autumn, this participatory project entreats mindfulness and produces organic, collaborative beauty. Viewers mold a lump of clay in a low-lit gallery space and add it to a collective table of works by others. It’s a show where you’re invited to leave a mark, and join the crowd. Through Jan. 19. Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org

Murray Whyte

EVENTS

DEMETRI MARTIN The comedian gets excited for Halloween. “It’s the only holiday you don’t have to celebrate with your family,” he says. “You never hear, ‘What are you doing for Halloween?’ ‘I gotta fly back east and go trick or treat with my parents.’ ” Sept. 22, 7 and 9:45 p.m. $39.50-$139.50. Wilbur Theatre. 866-448-7849, www.thewilbur.com

DAVE ROSS If you’ve listened to his new album, “The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex,” you know Ross comes off as a rambling storyteller but with some wonderfully sharp criticism of everything from his eating habits while stoned to PETA billboard strategies. He’s playing a couple of gigs around town this week, dropping in at the Comedy Studio Sunday and headlining CitySide Monday. Sept. 22, 8 p.m. $15. The Comedy Studio, 1 Bow Market Way #23, Somerville. 617-661-6507, www.thecomedystudio.com. Sept. 23, 8:30 p.m. Free. CitySide, 1960 Beacon St., Brighton. 617-566-1002, www.citysidebar.com

BEST NEW MUSICAL Every Thursday, a crew of melody-minded improvisors builds a new musical on the spot based on audience suggestions at ImprovBoston’s Studio theater. Sept. 26, 9 p.m. $15. ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect St., Cambridge. 617-576-1253, www.improvboston.com

NICK A. ZAINO III

BABY SLOTH CELEBRATION The Stone Zoo has welcomed a new furry friend and is inviting everyone to celebrate! Guests can learn about the zoo’s still-unnamed Linne’s two-toed sloth baby. Activities include sloth trivia and kid-friendly games. All guests will also have the opportunity to help select a name for the baby. Sept. 22, 11 a.m., $13-$20. Stone Zoo, 149 Pond St., Stoneham. zoonewengland.org

LET’S TALK ABOUT FOOD Families are invited to “hear, taste, and experience how we can work together to save the planet, one bite at a time.” Featuring forums, kid-friendly activities, and vendors, the event — back for its ninth year — is a collaborative effort between Harvard University Dining Services and Whole Foods Market. Sept. 28, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Free. The Plaza at Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge. letstalkaboutfood.com

FAIRE ON THE SQUARE Watertown city officials invite one and all to experience the annual Faire on the Square. Offering a variety of free activities for children and adults, musical entertainment, food, crafts, and dance performances, the event is sure to be fun for the whole family. Sept. 28, 11 a.m., Free. Watertown Square, Main Street, Watertown. watertown-ma.gov

CHRIS TRIUNFO

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Oct. 26 Oliver Tree at Royale royaleboston.com

Oct. 28 Fleetwood Mac at TD Garden tdgarden.com

Oct. 30 Alejandro Arana at Royale royaleboston.com

Nov. 14 Tool at TD Garden tdgarden.com

Nov. 15 Gus Dapperton at Royale royaleboston.com

Nov. 19 Angel Olsen at Royale royaleboston.com

CHRIS TRIUNFO