Dissonant noise and avant-garde pop music. Those best describe two works of live performance art that took center stage last Saturday afternoon at Long Island City’s P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.
   Featuring pieces by J. Patrick Walsh 3 and Sahra Motalebi, the event inaugurated the institution’s new “Saturday Sessions,” a program that highlights performance art every second Saturday of the month.

   Two life-sized wire figures sit at the entrance to the Queens College Art Center, their graceful bodies slightly hunched as if in melancholy thought. Perched atop white pedestals, they are lifelike yet abstract; with delicate curves and evocative features but also a free-form fluidity that more realistic sculptural renderings often lack.
   Closer examination reveals words interwoven into the figures — sometimes legible, sometimes not.

   Thanksgiving is all about traditional food, but every once in a while it’s nice to add different recipes to the holiday table. Give these a try, and you just might have new traditions for future Thanksgiving feasts.
    

   Don’t let the community theater-esque location fool you; the Queens Shakespeare production of “Much Ado About Nothing” is far from amateurish, with powerful acting and innovative conceptual choices.
   Staged as a reality TV show, the comedy is done in modern dress (ranging from sleek cocktail dresses to Hawaiian shirts to sexy Halloween costumes), and features a bright blue set with leopard print throws on the couch.

   Daniel Wolfe’s performance as Cyrano in the Queens Players’ production of the fabled 17th-century French play is a real tour de force.
   Wolfe plays the strong-willed, clever and notoriously large-nosed protagonist with remarkable skill and poise, masterfully capturing the nuances in Cyrano’s behavior as the haughty, impetuous swordsman swallows his pride for the woman he loves in a tale that will tug at the heartstrings of even the most stolid viewer.

   The Douglaston Community Theatre Group, which bills itself as the oldest in the borough, tickles some funny bones with its latest production of the British farce “Funny Money,” now playing at Zion Episcopal Church in Douglaston.
   For those seeking respite from the dismal economy, the play is a worthwhile investment.

   Now celebrating its 35th anniversary season, the Free Synagogue of Flushing Community Theatre Group has veered from its tradition of presenting Broadway musical classics in favor of a more recent musical attraction, “Curtains.”
   Though created by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote the music and lyrics for “Cabaret” and “Chicago,” the show had a modest run on the Great White Way.Its lack of tremendous popularity is understandable, as the piece is overly long, at times monotonous and only intermittently entertaining.

   The seventh annual Queens International Film Festival begins today in Astoria, showcasing more than 300 feature films, shorts, documentaries, music videos and animations from the borough and around the world.
   The festival, beginning Nov. 12 at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts with the Turkish film “Cars of the Revolution” and carrying on for four days in various nearby locations, will include workshops for screenwriters and filmmakers, a women in film symposium, a youth program and other events.

   If you thought European cinema was just Fellini, Catherine Deneuve and “Run, Lola, Run,” the third annual New York City Greek Film Festival in Forest Hills next week is sure to topple your expectations.
   The festival, organized by the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce, will present 11 films Nov. 13 through 21. As in its previous two years, the festival will also spend a week at the Cinema Village on East 12th Street in Manhattan.