thursday/6
“Quiet Lightning: Neighborhood Heroes Edition.” Beat-style reading, in conjunction with Allen Ginsberg exhibit. Readers include Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley (“A Thousand Acres”), Susan Steinberg (“Hydroplane”), Michael David Lukas (“The Oracle of Stamboul”), Kevin Killian (“Impossible Princess”). At the Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., S.F. 6:30 p.m. Free with admission. www.thecjm.org.
saturday/8
“George Gershwin Alone.” Show on the music and life of George Gershwin that has toured on Broadway and London’s West End. At Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. 8 p.m. Through June 23. $29-$77. www.berkeleyrep.org. (See story, 24)