Progressive Book Clubbing

-- Susan Quinn's new book Furious Improvisations examines the Federal Theatre Project, a New Deal program that brought federal funding to unemployed actors. The result, Quinn argues, was a uniquely American theatre: a mixing pot of languages and politics, high art and low. Quinn reads tonight with an introduction by Howard Zinn. Presented by Brookline Booksmith. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline, 7:00pm. $5/$3.

-- Drinking Liberally, the group devoted to "promoting democracy one pint at a time," now has a book club auxiliary. Tonight marks the first meeting, and the group will discuss Free Ride: John McCain and the Media by David Brock and Paul Waldman. Clear Conscience Cafe, 581 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 7:00pm. Free.

Dancing Hipsters, Free Bowling

-- Local Daft Punk enthusiasts Digital Love go head-to-head against Portland, Maine crew Neon Garden in a battle of the drum machines. Expect nonstop electro of the French and contemporary hipster varieties. Free bowling if you forgot your dancing shoes. Milky Way Lounge, 403 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 9:00pm. Free.

Movies

-- Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) is a beguiling pre-Code flick that falls somewhere between film noir and comedy. Screening as a double-feature with Three on a Match as the Brattle's Bette Davis retrospective continues. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge. Tickets and showtimes.