V-Day Northeastern 2004 Benefit will present Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monolgues” in Blackman Auditorium. The two performances, are Monday, February 23 at 8 p.m. and Tuesday, February 24 at 6 p.m. Admission is $12 and tickets can be purchased at the box office on the first floor of Ell Hall. For more information, call (617) 373- 2247.
February 20 Friday For a taste of Mardi Gras on the East Coast, the Big Easy is hosting an extravaganza featuring an open bar, king cakes and a raffle for ski lift tickets and a one-year membership to Boston Ski and Sports Club. The Hurr-icane Bar at the Big Easy will be free from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Cover is $20 in advance and $25 at the door for this 21+ event. The Big Easy is located at 1 Boylston Place. For more information, call (617) 351-7000.
February 21 Saturday Sick of the same old routine in aerobics class? Try Punk Rock Aerobics, every Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Middle East, 472-480 Massachusetts Ave., Cam-bridge. Hilken Mancini, of the local band, Fuzzy fame, and video artist Maura Jasper have combined forces to revamp a traditional work-out once and for all. Jasper and Mancini compiled a repertoire of unembarrassing routines inspired by a new type of music — the punk rock anthems of bygone bands like the Sex Pistols, Joy Division, X-Ray Spex, Blondie and the Damned. For more information, call (617) 492- 9187.
February 23 Monday AfterHOURS will be holding an acoustic showcase, featuring Chris Abrami, who’ll go on at 9 p.m., and Next Movement, who’ll perform at 11 p.m. Admission is free with a NU ID. For details, call ext. 8880.
February 24 Tuesday NU ‘ Improv’d, North-eastern’s own improv troupe, will be performing at afterHOURS. The show starts at 9 p.m. and admission is free with a NU ID. For more information, call ext. 8880.
Ongoing The Museum of Fine Arts will be holding an African Film Festival, featuring a series of surprising films from emerging African directors. Among the highlights of the two-week festival are screenings of four shorts, Zola Maseko’s “”A Drink in the Passage,” Benny Malapa’s “”Rapbizz,” Jean-Marie Te-no’s “”Alex’s Wedding” and Alain Gomis’ “”Petite Lumiere” and the local debut of Yamina Bachir-Chouikh’s “”Rachida,” a feature hailed as one of the strongest ever produced in Northern Africa. Tickets range from $8 to $15. For more information, call (617) 267-9300.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a whimsical Shakespearean comedy, will be running through Feb. 29 at the American Repertory Theatre/Loeb Drama Center on 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. Tickets to this show range from $30 to $64. For showtimes and more information, call (617) 495-2668.
Upcoming “Comix as Art” will have its opening reception Feb. 28 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at The Zeitgeist Gallery at 1353 Cam-bridge St., Cambridge. “Comix as Art” commemorates 1960’s gag cartoons and other comic legends. Meet Rick Altergott (Raisin Pie, Doofus), Ariel Bor-deaux (Raisin Pie, Deep Girl), Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma, Opposable Thu-mbs, American Splendor), Josh Neufeld (The Vaga-bonds, Keyhole, American Splendor.) For more information, check out www.dj bc.net/comicart.
Celebrity Birthdays February 18 Molly Ringwald, 1968 John Travolta, 1954 Yoko Ono, 1933
February 19 Seal, 1963 Jeff Daniels, 1955 Smokey Robinson, 1940
February 20 Kurt Cobain, 1967 French Stewart, 1964
February 21 Jennifer Love Hewitt, 1979 Kelsey Grammer, 1955
February 22 George Washington, 1732 Drew Barrymore, 1975
February 23 W.E.B. DuBois, 1868 Peter Fonda, 1939
