Guide to what’s happening in Boston this week

Movies

‘Chaplains Under Fire’
Saturday, 6 p.m.
Mary Baker Eddy Library
200 Mass. Ave., Boston
Free, 888-222-3711
www.marybakereddylibrary.org
This film explores the courageous lives of military chaplains living and working in combat zones, where faith of any kind is both vital and hard to come by. The screening includes a discussion with co-director Lee Lawrence. Register ahead of time if you want to be sure to have a seat.

‘The Blank Generation’
Monday, 7 p.m.
Harvard Film Archive
24 Quincy St., Cambridge
$7-$9, 617-495-4700
hcl.harvard.edu/hfa
This film documents the mid-’70s New York City music scene that would eventually be seen as the smithy of punk and new wave, featuring early CBGB performances from bands like the Ra-
mones, Television and Talking Heads. Shot in 16 mm with the sound recorded separately, it’s an unpredictable, home movie-like patchwork — in other words, perfectly appropriate for its subject.

Theater

‘The Odyssey’
Wednesday through Sept. 25
Charlestown Working Theater
442 Bunker Hill St., Boston
$10-$20, 617-242-3285
www.charlestownworkingtheater.org
Homer’s epic poem, with its nearly endless list of characters, scrapes and settings, is condensed in this play adaptation for two actors, who play all the characters and find time for some sea shanties and fire-eating too. It alternates performances this month at the Theater with Euripides’ “The Bacchae.” See both for a full Greek myth fix.

‘How Much is Enough’
Tuesday through Sept. 25
Jackie Liebergott Black Box, Paramount Center
559 Washington St., Boston
$15-$49, 617-824-8400
www.artsemerson.org
New York’s Foundry Theatre presents a partially improvised play in which the actors ask the audience a series of questions; your respon-ses, placed like flesh and blood around the show’s unchanging skeleton, shape the per- formance. The theme is value: What do we value, both emotionally and materially — and why? Surely you have answers to those questions, right?

‘Mortal Terror’
Thursday through Oct. 2
Modern Theatre, Suffolk University
525 Washington St., Boston
$10-$40, 617-353-5443
www.bu.edu/bpt
This play takes place in the wake of the Gun-powder Plot of 1605, which was a foiled attempt to assassinate King James I of England with explosives. In the play, the frightened king coerces ace playwright Bill Shakes-peare into knocking out a propaganda piece  called “Macbeth.” Indeed, many scholars believe that “Macbeth” contains references to the plot.

Art

Another Side of In
Sunday through Dec. 23
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
154 Moody St., Waltham
Free-$7, 781-893-5410  
www.crmi.org
This installation of translucent plastic sculptures changes color and sound depending on how you move in relation to them. Artist Marjorie Minkin designed the sculptures, electronics designer Jamie Robertson provided the motion-sensing technology and Phish bassist Mike Gordon’s solo CD is the source of the sounds, which means Phish fans may be there trying to bootleg it — ignore them.

Disponible: A Kind of Mexican Show
Tuesday through Nov. 19
School of the
Museum of Fine Arts
230 the Fenway, Boston
Free, 617-267-6100
www.sfma.edu
This fall, the Museum School features the work of eight contemporary Mexican artists in a variety of media including film, video installation, sound installation and perfor-mance. It’s not con-fined to a single area of the venue, so check the schedule to find out when and where to see what.

Anthropocene Extinction
Through Dec. 30, 2012
Institute of Contemporary Art
100 Northern Ave., Boston
Free-$15, 617-478-3100
www.icaboston.org
Street artist/activist Swoon’s jaw-dropping turn with the ICA’s art wall extends beyond the wall itself like a painting come to life. Incredibly detailed paper animals flow to the wall from a temple hanging from the atrium ceiling, where they are received by a goddess of sorts. The piece’s title refers to the current human-influenced extinction of Earth species.

Talks

The Real Paper: Journalism Then and Now
Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
C. Walsh Theatre,
Suffolk University
55 Temple St., Boston
Free, 617-557-2007
www.forhallforum.org
The Real Paper was a free alt newsweekly published in Boston (1972 -81). Organized as a worker collective, it enjoyed a good run but went under due to internal strife. Many of its original writers reunite for a panel on what happened and the lessons it may hold for journalism today.

Comedy

The Third Annual Boston Improv Festival
Through Sunday
Improv Boston and
Central Square YMCA
Cambridge, all shows $10 617-575-1253
www.bostonimprovfest.com
This fest, which began earlier this week, includes more than 100 acts from all over North America, per-forming improv, sketch and stand-up. If you see all of the shows and laugh at least three times per act, that’s more than 300 laughs right there!

Medieval fun

King Richard’s Faire
Through Oct. 23
235 Main St., Carver
$15-$27, 508-866-5391
www.kingrichardsfaire.net
Fire-eaters, jousters and kings, oh my! The enchanted 80-acre site is filled with games and nonstop enter-tainment. You can also see a real live liger (part lion, part tiger and made famous as Napoleon Dynamite’s favorite animal).