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Family activities, face-painting, and backyard games, all set to the tune of live country & bluegrass music.

Molly Smith Metzler's new play provides an honest look at the absurdities of being home with a baby, the power of female friendship, the dilemma of going back to work, and the effect class has on parenthood in America. Directed by Lily Wolff for Theatre en Bloc, and featuring – wow, what a cast – Lee Eddy, Christin Davis, Jenny Lavery, and Ben Wolfe. And here's what our reviewer thought of the show.

This collaborative exhibition of sculpture, photography, and installation is created by Erin Cunningham and Alyssa Taylor Wendt. Taking inspiration from the Japanese philosophies behind wabi-sabi and kintsugi, the pair has joined mediums to investigate imperfection, longevity, hope, and revealing seams.

Austin Shakespeare transforms the Zilker Hillside Theater into the world of a classic Fifties sitcom to embody this production of the Bard's Falstaff-festooned comedy, featuring a fine cast directed by Ann Ciccolella and Gwendolyn Kelso. Pro tip: Bring you a blanket and pick-a-nick, citizen!

“Growing up, I was into hardcore,” admits Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan, 50, warming up to the subject of the three-decade-old North Carolina indie stalwarts’ viciously political new album, What a Time to Be Alive. “And a lot of that music was political. But in terms of writing my own songs when I was 21 or 22, a lot of those songs were about personal things. We would play a concert to get Harvey Gantt elected rather than Jesse Helms, but I never felt I was politically knowledgeable enough to write a song about politics that wouldn’t have been shallow or obvious.”: The events of Nov. 8, 2016, changed that for McCaughan. Watching in disgust as the electoral college handed the nation over to a maniac, songs began pouring out. It only made sense for McCaughan to convene with guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster – plus special guests including Austin’s Sabrina Ellis (A Giant Dog, Sweet Spirit) on single “Break the Glass” – to work out his frustrations in 32 minutes of explosive, melodic guitar rock:: “To see the rot in no disguise,” he hisses on the title track, “the scum, the shame, the fucking lies/ Oh, what a time to be alive.”: It’s Superchunk’s most stringent album since their third, 1993’s On the Mouth.: “Musically, it’s more stripped-down than a lot of our records we made between 1992 and now,” agrees McCaughan. “Subject matter-wise, it’s more influenced by current events. We’ve always had some songs that were, but never this explicitly for the whole record. Because compared to Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, this is a whole new level of fucked-uppedness.: “It definitely feels like a con job, and it feels like a whole lot of damage can be done before anyone else is held responsible.”

Afternoon Tea: Period piece about the love triangle between a young queen, her mentally ill husband, and the court physician, based on a true story.

Team building punks Big Bill gather a whopping, 13-fold gaggle of Austin music goodies. The wacky organizers front the whole shebang, which includes Why Bonnie’s bedroom pop, Très Oui’s determined dreamscapes, Leather Girls’ garage scuzz, the Reputations’ snarly soul, and Zoltars’ smartypants psych. Townies David Israel, Pataphysics, Semihelix, and more accompany. Benefits SAFE Austin, and formal attire is encouraged.

Maybe never mind whatever else is going on in Austin right now, citizen. Because tonight you can attend this sartorial fantasia from the Hyperreal Film Club and Co-Lab Projects, this event that's transforming the huge, raw warehouse space at the back of Austin School of Film into a high-fashion spectacle. The three-part runway showcase premieres new lines from Austin-based designers Melissa Taylor, Ida Béhjat, and Samantha Fabry. Listen: "DIPTYCH is an inclusive show, welcoming everybody from everywhere to celebrate fashion as a personal, self-expressive art form and its ability to delight, provoke, and inspire." Yeah, this is the stuff you want to see and wear, and tonight's gig is the best way to witness its entrance onto the world's stage – and not just because the joint turns into one big party immediately thereafter. But you know we're gonna like that part, too.

The Pups are celebrating the Year of the Dog with an Iron Pup contest with silent auction, vendors, rope demo, and roving sellers of Jell-O shots. All good boys and girls welcome as long as they're of legal age.

Austin promotions umbrella Scoremore launched JMBLYA to bring tomorrow’s hip-hop to Texans today. They succeeded: Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt (2013), Chance the Rapper (2014), Travis Scott, Vic Mensa (2015), Future, Rae Sremmurd (2016), and Chance, Gucci Mane, and Migos (2017). Carolina chart-topper J. Cole now headlines behind April’s No. 1 scan KOD with Georgia trio Migos, who promote new double album Culture II. Young Thug replaces Cardi B due to her pregnancy by Migos MC Offset, but Kevin Gates, Bun B, Trae tha Truth, and more make a day of it.

This is an all-day fest on the shores of Lake Travis. Enjoy live music, an artists' market, food trucks, and more. The headliner is Asleep at the Wheel. It's free, but tickets can be purchased for the VIP lounge.

The ninth annual New Fiction Confab features some of America’s most prominent authors leading writing workshops, reading from their latest work, and engaging in conversation: Ramona Ausubel, Rebecca Kauffman, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Thomas Pierce, Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, Owen Egerton, Jardine Libaire, and Natalia Sylvester. Bonus: A showcase of local literary publications and organizations, including American Short Fiction, AWST Press, Bat City Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Cider Spoon Stories, fields magazine, and HOST.

Forty-one acts on three stages – Red River, Trinity, Neches – over two days, noon-9pm, peak a post-SXSW avalanche in the live music capital. Saturday, the Sun Machine levitates, Lola Tried gets Norah Jones vulnerable, and Chronicle cover soul divas Mélat, Alesia Lani, and the Chulita Vinyl Club represent. Free! www.pecanstreetfestival.org/music.

"Some say the America of today is unexpected, surprising, and unforeseen; while others say they saw it coming long ago." In an effort to facilitate conversation on where America is today and where we're headed, Sixth Street Gallery has partnered with Artists 916 to present a show featuring art in a diverse range of styles and mediums, all exploring the theme.

The photographer Raymond Meeks, often inspired by collaboration with writers of poetry and short fiction and the merging of image and text, presents a collection of works that play with memory and place and the ways in which a landscape can shape an individual.

This Miller? Portland’s Funniest Comedian in Helium Comedy Club’s annual contest – and Portland’s Funniest 2013 and 2015, according to that Willamette Week alt-weekly up there in the specific Northwest. And she's gonna take the Velv stage to new fiery heights this weekend, is what we're hearing, after a sharp pack of Pat-Dean-curated locals gets it all warmed up for her and you.

Present Company offers this adults-only theatrical experience exploring the R-rated imagination of the eccentric storyteller, bringing to the stage his provocative short plays, mischievous music, and poetry for naughty children.

And here's another of those freewheelin' nights of live art, performances, and music in the gallery-styled warehouse setting of Cherry Cola Dog.