FILM
The Monster Squad in 35mm – 11 AM, September 12: Sean Crenshaw (Andre Gower) is the leader of his school’s monster club, a group of monster- and horror film-loving pre-teens who get the thrill of their lives when their favorite on-screen creatures show up in their own backyard. As Dracula, Wolf-Man, Gill-Man, and the Mummy join forces to steal a… magical amulet and take over the world, it is up to these plucky kids to use their knowledge of horror tropes to stop them. The movie struggled to find an audience, thanks in part to its newly created PG-13 rating, but it has achieved cult status among horror fans, with many citing it as the film that sparked their love for genre as children. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles.
Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown-ups – 9 PM, September 8: Set in a bygone era, this gripping tale unfolds in the coastal paradise of Goa, where a powerful drug cartel pulls the strings behind a facade of sun-soaked beaches and vibrant culture. Gardena Cinema, 14948 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 35mm – 7:30 PM, September 9: Two drag queens and a transgender woman drive across the Australian outback in a tour bus named Priscilla, in this wild road comedy that earned Lizzy Gardiner and Tim Chappell Oscars for their imaginative costume designs. Terence Stamp gives an impressive change-of-pace performance as the world-weary Bernadette, and he’s matched… by Hugo Weaving as the trio’s conflicted leader. Guy Pearce delivers a breakout performance as the youngest of the group. Deftly mixing campy humor and genuine emotion amidst stunning locations, Priscilla was an international success and spawned a hit stage musical. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles.
Friday – 7:30 PM, September 10: Two homies, Smokey and Craig, smoke a dope dealer’s weed and try to figure a way to get the $200 they owe to the dealer by 10 p.m. that same night. Gardena Cinema, 14948 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena.
Howard the Duck – 9:45 PM, September 11: Get your brain ready for maximum meltage with this bizarro cult classic and one of the strangest superhero movies of all time. When a laser beam zaps a wise-cracking duck from Duckworld to Cleveland, he’s got to make the best on Earth and he makes friends with a rocker chick with enormous hair, and picks up a cigar habit. Can Howard make it back to his home planet? Will evil scientists blast something even more evil through their laserbeams? Does the plot even matter when you’ve got a smoking superhero duck made by human hands in a time before CGI? Do your Friday night a favor and lose your mind over Howard the Duck! Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
The Traveler – 4:30 PM, September 12: Join us for Abbas Kiarostami’s remarkable feature debut with this simple, intimate, and haunting tale of childish obsessions and the means we’ll use to fulfill them. Hassan Darabi, a troublesome, amoral 10-year-old boy in a small Iranian town wishes to see the Iran national football team play an important match in Tehran. In order to achieve that, he scams his friends and neighbors. A quest film that’s also a study of youthful obsession, it’s filmed in edgy black and white with a quiet energy that matches its hero’s. The Traveler has an acridly ironic ending and one of the best performances by a child in Kiarostami’s early work. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
Clue screening in honor of Tim Curry – 7 PM, September 12: Dynasty Typewriter, 2511 W. Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
COMEDY
Small Minded – 9:30 PM, September 7: When Tyler was a little boy, he wanted to grow to be a clown. Come to find out, for a person with dwarfism, it was a lot harder to achieve the former than the latter. Small Minded is a solo show that explores the intersection of clowning and disability. Tyler was born with achondroplasia. When he began his clown journey, he wore a nose and lots of makeup, but this othered him even more than his dwarfism alone. While other clowns have a mask they can take off, Tyler cannot. Can we separate the laughter on stage from laughter in everyday life? What does it mean to be a dwarf in today’s entertainment landscape? This show features juggling, magic, Shakespeare, storytelling, and some “Ha-Ha’s” from the heart. Dynasty Typewriter, 2511 W. Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
LGBTuesday: Queer Improv with QT’s & Rita Repulsa – 7 PM, September 8:
A Double Dose of Queer Improv! Rita Repulsa: Much like our namesake, Rita Repulsa is pure wicked bitch chaos. This is not a normal improv show, it’s WORSE! This is a queer calamity of fast-paced nonsense, off-the-rails character “choices,” and aggressive stupidity. Come watch Rita perform fast, loose and fabulously Cast: Mano Agapion, Oscar Montoya, Ryan Barton, Chad Westbrook & QT’s: Your favorite trans/gnc/non binary improvisers perform a set inspired by your tales of joy! Cast: Alex Song-Xia (they/them), Charlie James (he/him), Chris Renfro (they/them), D.J. Mausner (they/them), E.R. Fightmaster (they/them), Jiavani (she/him), Jordan Myrick (they/she), Krys Tabujara (they/them), Laser Webber (he/they), Lyndsey Frank (they/them), Nick Tiffany (they/any pronouns), Ruha Taslimi (they/them)… and more! Upright Citizens Brigade, 5919 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles.
Damsels out of Distress – 6 PM, September 13: In a storybook world, these princesses don’t need to be rescued. Join this all female/non binary cast as they battle monsters, conquer kingdoms, and discover the magic within themselves. These are improvised fairytales where the audience gets to inspire the heroine of the story and come along for the journey. Cast includes: Jill Marie Hoffman, Rachel McDowell, June Neely, Darica Louie, and Michi Fu. Outside In, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.
Happy Hour Saturdays with Jenny Yang, 6 PM, Saturdays: Work-in-progress stand-up comedy shows at a reasonable hour. Comedian Jenny Yang will work out new material about her Chinese medicine fertility experiences in Taiwan, the necessity for women to be single, childless and moisturized, and what it means to be more gay, Mexican and immigrant every single day in 2026. These work-in-progress standup comedy shows feature a pay-what-you-can suggested ticket price of around twenty bucks, a 5PM pre-show happy hour, 6PM comedy show AND you can be on your way home or to dinner by 7:30PM. Outside In, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.
BOOKS
Melissa Dalton-Bradford, How to Save Democracy: The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook – 7 PM, September 8: Dive deeper into the authoritarian leaders of yesterday and take practical steps today toward a better democratic society tomorrow, with past and present examples from around the world. How do democracies die? We’re watching it happen in real time. Elected domestic and international leaders are undermining democratic institutions, weaponizing government agencies, and fueling dangerous polarization. Turn on the news–or scroll social media–and the result is everywhere: fear, anger, and a growing sense of helplessness as citizens wonder, I’m just one person–what can I possibly do? Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood.
COMMUNITY
WTC View: 25th Anniversary Reading – 7:30 PM, September 11: This isn’t a play about September 11th — it’s about the strange, tender weeks after, when a gay photographer in Lower Manhattan places a roommate ad the night before the towers fall. Queer survival, chosen family, and the strangers who become lifelines when the world cracks open – Experience this anniversary evening of remembrance and reflection. Written by Brian Sloan and first staged at the 2003 New York Fringe Festival, WTC View became one of the American Theatre’s earliest, most intimate responses to 9/11 — later adapted into a film starring its original cast, including a young Michael Urie in his stage and screen debut. Now, on the 25th anniversary of that day, Michael Urie returns to direct the material a quarter-century later. The Village at Ed Gould Plaza (Renberg Theatre), 1125 N. McCadden Pl. Los Angeles.
All My Dads Were Gay: A Workshop Presentation, September 11: It’s the dawn of the 2000s digital era. An ambitious young Black man leaves the South in pursuit of the American Dream. Facing one institution after another on the East and West Coast, he soon realizes the rules of the game are not designed for him. In a battle of public perception versus private desire, he straddles the truth in an attempt to maintain the mask of masculinity. As the facade grows, will he lose himself in a web of deceit or come face-to-face with the freak inside? All My Dads Were Gay is the sequel to Jon Gentry’s award-winning hit, Black Bastard. It is a baptism by blood and fire, a millennial retelling of The Prodigal Son (1927) meets The Wizard of Oz (1939) in a genre-bending descent into the collective void. The Village at Ed Gould Plaza (Renberg Theatre), 1125 N. McCadden Pl., Los Angeles.
Queen Sugar: 10-Year Anniversary Celebration – 12 PM, September 12: Join ARRAY and fellow Queen Sugar fans for a daylong celebration of the TV series which debuted in 2016 and aired for seven seasons! Inspired by Natalie Baszile’s acclaimed novel Queen Sugar, the television series created by Ava DuVernay for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) brought the Bordelon family, the land and the legacy of Louisiana to life, and created a steadfast community of viewers who saw themselves, their families and their experiences reflected on screen. We’re opening our Creative Campus in Los Angeles for the fans who watched, shared (#GimmeSugar) and carried the spirit of QUEEN SUGAR long after each episode ended. Spend the day reconnecting and revisiting the moments and the storylines that brought us together. ARRAY HQ, Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles.
Gay Ass Trivia at Precinct – 7 PM, Thursdays: Queen Sheeba hosts this weekly trivia night with prizes including bar tabs, shots, and bar apparel. Maximum team sizes of six people. No cover! Precinct, 357 S Broadway, Los Angeles.
May the Balls be with You: Drag Queen Bingo 7 PM, Tuesdays and Wednesdays: Legendary Bingo is LA’s most popular Drag Queen Bingo & charity event! Come play at Hamburger Mary’s every Tuesday and Wednesday! Hamburger Mary’s, 8288 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
MUSEUMS AND ART
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures ASL Interpreted Tours: American Sign Language (ASL) tours of select galleries are always offered at noon on the same day as the museum’s monthly Calm Morning program and accommodative Family Matinee film screening. Join a museum educator and ASL interpreter to experience cinema’s wide-ranging contributions to the world. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles.
A New Song: Langston Hughes in the West – through September 13: One of the world’s most famous Black poets, Langston Hughes (1902–1967) is often associated with the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance in New York. But starting in the 1930s, though the upheavals of the Great Depression, World War II, and McCarthyism in America, Hughes spent significant time in the West where he maintained deep connections and produced important work, including lectures, film scripts, plays, and his first book of short stories. Through recorded interviews, lyrical texts, archival photographs, and historic posters and prints, A New Song: Langston Hughes in the West reveals little-known aspects of Hughes’s work as a champion for justice and the special relationships he cultivated during his many sojourns in California, Nevada, and Mexico. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind – through October 11: Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind traces more than seven decades of Yoko Ono’s groundbreaking career, from her early text-based works in the 1950s and ’60s to recent large-scale installations informed by her ongoing campaigns for world peace. Organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, the exhibition—Ono’s first solo museum exhibition in Southern California—explores her radical approach to art, language, and participation, challenging conventional ideas about the roles of artist and audience. The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.
Willie Birch: Stories to Tell – through October 21: The first-ever career retrospective of renowned artist Willie Birch, this exhibition brings together groundbreaking works from 1968 to the present that chronicle his unique vision of Black American life and the interconnected nature of global art forms. Born and raised in New Orleans and trained in Europe, Baltimore, and New York, Birch often speaks about “retentions,” a term he uses to describe evidence of one culture’s narratives and traditions within another. Throughout his career, Birch has explored particularly how African traditions have been retained in music, art, and culture in America as part of the Black experience and beyond. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.
Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation – through February 28, 2027: Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation presents California as a pioneering site of sustained, Black-led struggles for LGBTQ equality, civil rights, and recognition. The exhibition recovers histories largely excluded from existing narratives and exposes powerful ways that print culture, artistic practice, and performance styles shaped, advanced, and interpreted Black queer social movements alongside political and legal activism. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.
Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon – through February 28, 2027: Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon celebrates Marilyn Monroe—born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926—as a visionary actor and image-maker, examining how she created and shaped her public image in the context of the classical Hollywood studio system. Presenting hundreds of original objects, including posters, portraits, photographs, production documents, letters,… and rarely seen personal materials—many on display for the first time—the exhibition offers unique insight into her agency in becoming a Hollywood icon. The exhibition also features an extensive array of Monroe’s screen-worn costumes, ranging from a dress featured in Love Happy (1949) to items from her final and unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give (1962). Major highlights include two costumes by Orry-Kelly from Some Like it Hot (1959), as well as the rarely exhibited famous pink dress by William Travilla from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles.
THEATRE
Clue – September 8 – 12: A mansion. A murder. A mystery. Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench? Based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue is the ultimate whodunit that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist. The Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.
The Visit – September 9 – October 4: A DESPERATE TOWN. A DETERMINED WOMAN. AN IMPOSSIBLE OFFER. When the richest woman in the world returns to her struggling hometown, she’s ready and willing to rescue it from ruin… on one condition. In this haunting, twisted, and truly grotesque comedy, an entire community is forced to confront an unthinkable question: how far are you willing to go for a billion dollars? Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena.
2026 LA Writers’ Workshop Reading Series – through September 27: Since 2005, CTG has invited a cohort of local playwrights to spend a year researching and writing new works with feedback from the artistic staff and their fellow writers. The program is designed to foster important voices, inspire playwrights to create their best work, encourage bold writing, and build relationships among local playwrights, CTG, and the Los Angeles theatre community. CTG’s growing list of LA Writers’ Workshop alumni is currently comprised of more than 100 playwrights. Various locations.
