Speed-the-Plow By David Mamet Presented By Bad Habit Productions 8:00 pm tonight and Saturday, 2:00 pm Sunday Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont St., Boston. $12. Tickets and information They are the largely thankless theatrical roles, the parts that move a piece along but don't bring with them the promise of glory. Take Hamlet in Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guilderstern Are Dead" and Rose Maxson in August Wilson's "Fences" - both necessary characters, but parts designed as......

Manchildren Founder of K Records and former member of Beat Happening, Calvin Johnson mastered precious naivete decades before it became the default indie mode. His off-kilter baritone is what sold it, and he's bringing his voice and an acoustic guitar to Cambridge tonight. Teenbeat Records founder Mark Robinson also performs as Cotton Candy. Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, 7:00pm, $10. Men With Children Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers is returning to......

The heavily caffeinated Jonathan Katz will be at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $25 to $30. The hyper-intelligent, hyper-witty, and just plain old hyper comedian Jonathan Katz will be at Jimmy Tingle's Off-Broadway this weekend to perform some standup. Katz, who lives in Newton, just released his first comedy CD. Katz's standup style is goofy and chilled out. You might be surprised to learn that he is......