Friday/ May 18

One of the centerpieces of FOTA week is a collaborative UT/FOTA project appropriately titled Heads You Lose. A joint product of the efforts of fourth-years is yet another FOTA puppet show event, featuring the perspective of decapitated puppet heads. It’s one of UT’s more offbeat shows of the year, but also one of its most highly anticipated. (Reynolds Club First Floor Theater, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., $6)

If you want another approach to theater, check out wander/standing. UT put on the show last fall, and now FOTA is working on a mixed-media collaborative project. This is your chance to see the student-written work if you missed it last fall. The staged reading features photography as well as sound from UT sound guru Matthias Jamison-Koenig. (Rosenwald 405, 6 p.m., free)

Or, if you want something a little more dance-oriented, Mandell Hall is the place to be for one of the biggest campus dance events of the year. Rhythmic Bodies in Motion presents their annual show, Change is Gonna Come, in a night that features everything from hip- hop to jazz, bellydance to Carribbean dance. It’s the culmination of a year’s worth of efforts in the campus dance scene. (Mandell Hall, 7 p.m., $10)

With all the arts options provided today on campus, it’s important not to forget one of the biggest events of the year for student film. Fire Escape Films presents its Single Script Festival, a culmination of multiple efforts by students across the campus film scene. While past Fire Escape festivals have focused on silent and Chicago themes, this year each director worked off an identical script, taking it in whatever weird direction he could imagine. (Max Palevsky Cinema, 3 p.m., free)

Saturday/ May 19

One of the highlights of the year occurs this weekend as Summer Breeze hits Chicago. The day begins with a carnival that features a moonwalk, a pie-eating contest, a mechanical bull, and countless other fun events. For the nightcap, the Summer Breeze concert lineup is one the best in recent memory. Headlining are the Roots, one of the most critically and commercially beloved acts in alternative rap. The other act is Spoon, an indie rock band that has quietly become one of the most consistent bands of the decade for the Pitchfork-reading crowd. (carnival: Main Quads, 12 p.m., free. concert: Hutchinson Commons, 7 p.m., $20 for students)

If you’re an architecture fan looking to get away from the madness on campus Saturday afternoon, your best bet is the Museum of Contemporary Art. You’ll get a chance to meet one of the hottest names in world architecture, Japanese architect Nanako Umemoto, who is getting a lot of hype for her (pardon the pun) groundbreaking design of the O-14 building in Dubai. (Museum of Contemporary Art, 2 p.m., free)

If you’re more into classical and want some alternative to the Roots, you can hear some excellent choir music at Rockefeller Chapel in a concert called Mass Appeal. The event features three choruses from around Chicago, including Rockefeller Chapel’s own choir. The event will feature a variety of pieces, with Vierne and Finzi at the center. (Rockefeller Chapel, 8 p.m., $10 for students)

Sunday/ May 20

The CheckerJazz series continues with Ray Silkman, a highly sought-after saxophonist and one of the biggest names in the Midwestern jazz scene. His most famous song, “So Saxual,” is a favorite of Chicago Jazz Radio. Moreover, it’s another Chicago native performing a hometown concert right in the heart of Hyde Park. (Checkerboard Lounge, 7:30 p.m., $5 for students)

Tonight marks the final night of a three-night stint for The Arcade Fire at the Auditorium Theater. Despite their humble indie-rock origins, The Arcade Fire, one of the biggest bands in the world right now, sold out each night rather quickly. If you can get a ticket, it may be your best chance to hear songs off their 2004 classic Funeral and their latest release, Neon Bible. While they will probably lack the organ music featured on Neon Bible, they should play all their essentials at the Chicago Theatre tonight (Chicago Theatre, 7:30 p.m., $27.50)

Monday/ May 21

This week is Sweeps Week, and you’re gonna need a screen and a crowd to catch the finales of your favorite shows. If you don’t have a crowd for the finale of Heroes and 24, you can head to Hallowed Grounds, which is showing the finales on a giant screen. Dancing With the Stars, Boston Legal, and the two-hour finale of Lost will also be on display this week. (Hallowed Grounds, 7 p.m., free)

Tuesday/ May 22

If you’re more interested in the big screen than the small one, Tuesday brings us the screenings of the Cinema and Media Studies students who decided to make films for their B.A.s. This year, it’s a field of one. My Sister the Beauty Queen, a documentary about Kentucky beauty pageants by Fire Escape veteran Claire Gilbert, will be an exciting night of student filmmaking by one of the campus’s most prominent auteurs. (Max Palevsky Cinema, 9:30 p.m., free)

You’ve probably seen the work of Geoff McFetridge, but you probably don’t know it. He’s one of the most prominent graphic designers in the country, and has worked on everything from ESPN and Nike to HP and Orbitz. McFetridge comes to Chicago today to give words of wisdom to aspiring graphic artists. (Museum of Contemporary Art, 6:30 p.m., free)

Wednesday/ May 23

The Film Studies Center in Cobb hosts the acclaimed director Andrew Davis Wednesday. While Davis may be most remembered for directing films such as Holes and The Fugitive, you may not know he got his big break right here in Hyde Park. Davis will be screening his first film, Stony Island, a legendary documentary about the South Side’s underground music scene. The event will include a necessary Q & A with the director. (Film Studies Center, 7 p.m., free)

Thursday/ May 24

If you can’t get enough events with indie filmmakers, Thursday brings you one of the best as part of the festivities for Doc75. Doc hosts Charles Burnett, the director of Killer of Sheep, one of the all-time great independent films, which has recently been rereleased in an excellent new print. That film was shot in the bowells of the Watt distict of Los Angeles, and Burnett has since made excellent, if poorly distributed, subtle political films. He’ll bring his words of wisdom to campus tonight. (Max Palevsky Cinema, 7 p.m., free)