THEATRE | SummerWorks Festival 2011 Opening Party
SummerWorks Theatre Festival opens its 2011 season today and to commemorate the festival's 21st year, there will be an opening reception party at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) and Edward Day Gallery's new courtyard Art Bar. The festival celebrates independent theatre and arts over the course of 10 days with a special emphasis on Canadian produced works. Over 40 plays will be performed at 8 theatres across the city while musicians will play nightly at The Lower Ossington Theatre (100A Ossington) as part of the music series. Tonight's party will showcase some of the bands that are participating in the music series, such as Choir! Choir! Choir!, Light Fires and Raoul And The Big Time. The party will go all night with food from The Lakeview and cheap booze so come help kick off the festival and check out the brand spanking new Art Bar!
MOCCA/Edward Day Gallery Courtyard Art Bar (952 Queen Street West) 4PM Free

PHILOSOPHY | Top Ten Event
10 Canadians think there is something you need to know before you die. This is the premise of the Top Ten Event, a speaking forum that happens tonight at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Ten successful Canadians will speak for ten minutes each, giving one piece of advice that has changed their lives and they believe everyone should know. The speakers include entrepreneur Brett Wilson from Dragon's Den, War Child Canada founder Samantha Nutt and ballet dancer Rex Harrington from So You Think You Can Dance. This witty and engaging event, arranged by entrepreneur Stuart Knight, will cover several topics, from food to music to adventure.
Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West) 7PM $40-$60

HISTORY | 2011 Toronto History Lecture
The Toronto History Lecture is a presentation by the City of Toronto Archives and the Ontario Genealogical Society that brings together history buffs with a special annual lecture. Tonight's lecture topic is Rebel Remembered: The Legacy of William Lyon Mackenzie, 150 Years After His Death given by historian Chris Raible, who has written A Colonial Advocate and Muddy York Mud, two books about Toronto's first (but definitely not last) controversial mayor. Raible will lecture on the political life of Mayor Mackenzie and why he was considered so rebellious when in office. The doors open at 6:30PM for refreshments and an opportunity to browse the City of Toronto Archives collection of over 1.2 million photographs, 3000 maps and various letters and diaries of locals.
City of Toronto Archives (255 Spadina Road) 6:30PM Free

FILM | History of Oil Comedic Film Screening
Zeitgeist Toronto presents a free screening of the 2006 British television documentary Robert Newman's History of Oil. The Sean Grundy-directed documentary covers the current oil crisis according to British stand-up comedian Robert Newman, a political activist who mocks the use of war for financial gain. Newman, who has appeared in films and on television to speak about the peak oil dilemma as well as the military industrial complex in the past, both wrote and stars in this film where he examines the last century in history by ridiculing the world's reliance on oil. The comedic yet informative doc will be followed by a presentation about peak oil with Jeff Berg. While the event is free, donations to the Zeitgeist Media and Arts Festival are encouraged.
OISE Auditorium (252 Bloor Street) 7PM Free

DRINK | The Queer Beer Festival with Ace of Base
If you like beer and you're queer (and even if you're not), get over here! The Queer Beer Festival happens today at Exhibition Place and this event is packed with activities, tastings, tours and performances catering to beer lovers in the LGBTQ community. 120 international beer brands will be present at the festival and there will be food vendors from 15 Toronto restaurants. For this one-day-only party, '90s pop band Ace of Base will be performing along with Hunter Valentine and Lucas Silveira from the Cliks. Under the grilling tent, professionals will teach event goers how to cook food with beer as a main ingredient and each participating beer brand will have independent tents set up for the full tasting experience. Special features include the 1st Annual Girls Guided Beer Tour with beer expert Mirella Amato, who will lead a guided tasting while discussing the history of women and beer. The ticket price includes 5 sample tokens for use at any of the beer tents.
Band Shell Park, Exhibition Place (200 Princes' Boulevard) 4PM $38.50 online, $50 at the door

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR:

• Settling in the City Walking Tour
• Nowhere Boy at Open Roof Festival
• Carnival

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Photo by Katrin Ray in the blogTO Flickr pool