Southern Rep's recent rep for encouraging and developing original works was never more evident than at the 17th annual Big Easy Entertainment Awards, where the company was honored for newer works such as Bat Boy: The Musical, In Walks Ed and even better, New Orleanian Jim Fitzmorris' latest, The House of Plunder. This week, the theater company hopes to continue its momentum with the SOUTHERN NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL, which runs this week at Southern Rep (The Shops at Canal Place, 333 Canal St., third floor, 522-6545). This year's festival features the world premiere of one of last year's highlights. The previous staged reading of J. Daniel Stanley's Cloning Judson gives way to the full production treatment this time around. Stanley's work impressed Southern Rep artistic director Ryan Rilette so much that he asked Stanley to join the theater as a resident artist. In that role, Stanley worked on all of Southern Rep's productions this season as well as on his own work. Cloning Judson has evolved as Stanley fine-tuned his script through numerous readings. The play delves into the controversial debate over human cloning, as a young man's unexpected death forces his girlfriend, mother and twin brother to face their grief and find answers. A possible solution comes from an eccentric, cult-like science-sect in South Korea, the Raelians, that specializes in human cloning. Stanley is also the director, leading a cast that includes Ann Mahoney and Aaron Blakely (pictured), Beverly Trask, Bob Edes, Henry Hoffman and Yvette Sirker. Cloning Judson will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sundays, through May 30. Previews will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday this week. Preview tickets are $19, Saturday opening night tickets $30, and all others $23. (Note: Cloning Judson was originally scheduled for June, but was moved up to May when Edward Albee's The Goat was rescheduled for this fall as Southern Rep's season opener.) This year's Southern New Plays Festival features staged readings of nine new plays by Southern playwrights and takes place at 7 p.m. May 10-12, 17-19 and 24-26. For tickets or more information, visit www.southernrep.com. -- Frank Etheridge

Buckwheat Zydeco 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 5 Lafayette Square, St. Charles Avenue across from Gallier Hall, 561-8927 Buckwheat Zydeco makes a rare New Orleans appearance at the Wednesday at the Square series. The Wednesday after Jazz Fest, this happy hour free show should be one last blast for fest-goers. The shows in Lafayette Square are more intimate than you might expect outdoor shows to be, and for those who saw Buckwheat Zydeco on the Acura Stage, it'll seem like a backyard party -- and Buckwheat Zydeco is all about the party. This is old-school entertainment, where performers don't just play; they put on a show. In that sense, he's as traditional as they come, putting on a funky soul revue led by a piano accordion. He is enough of a traditionalist to do old favorites, but he's got good sense for choosing interesting, unlikely covers. Dave Alvin of the Blasters still gets royalties checks from Buckwheat's 'Marie Marie,' and 2001's Down Home Live features versions of the Rolling Stones' 'Beast of Burden' as well as songs by King Curtis and Fats Domino. No cover. -- Alex Rawls

Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Friday-Sunday, May 7-9 O'Flaherty's Irish Channel Pub, 514 Toulouse St., 529-1317; House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-2624 Billed as a weekend of 'Books, Booze and Beads,' the second annual Saints and Sinners literary festival, benefiting the NO/AIDS Task Force, just might be selling itself a bit short. It's very much a wide-ranging books event, though one might suppose throwing in booze and beads helps make it a sexier sell. But the roster of authors is intriguing enough, starting with Val McDermid, whose novel A Place of Execution was a New York Times Notable Book and earned a Los Angeles Times Book Prize and other awards. There's also Michelle Tea, who's making her third New Orleans appearance in as many months, and local faves Poppy Z. Brite, Greg Herren and Christopher Rice. There will be a slew of book-related events such as panel discussions and workshops (including one on erotica) as well as publishers and agents to assault with your book pitch. For a complete schedule and registration info call 821-2601, ext. 2601, or visit www.sasfest.com. -- David Lee Simmons

WWE Raw 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 7 Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena, 6801 Franklin Ave., 280-7222/522-5555 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has built a cable-television dynasty with the weekly Monday night Raw broadcasts. It's a ratings windfall perhaps explained by the event's slick combination of sport and soap opera, a visceral showcase of high-flying hard-bodies along with love triangles, back-stabbing friends and long-simmering feuds. This Friday, WWE brings some of its biggest stars to the Lakefront. Chris Benoit still reigned as World Heavyweight Champion at press time, though that might have changed with the result of his much-anticipated bout in Phoenix last week with Shawn Michaels, who's also on the card. Recently dethroned tag-team champions Ric Flair ('Whooooh!') and Batista Kane, who lost the title and a rematch to Benoit and Edge, are also slated to take to the mat, along with women's champion Victoria, Christian, The Hurricane, Edge (signature finishing move: the Edgecution) and Rhyno. Tickets range from $20-$40 and are available through Ticketmaster. -- Etheridge

Zoo-To-Do 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, May 7 Audubon Zoo, 6500 Magazine St., 861-6160 The stately canopy of live oaks that mark the Magazine Street entrance to Audubon Zoo is transformed every year on the first Friday in May, courtesy of thousands of lights and radiant decor, into a gorgeous, twinkling twilight. Such is the setting for the annual Zoo-To-Do gala, a fundraiser for the Audubon Zoo. This year's theme, 'Learning Adventures That Last a Lifetime,' highlights the event's goal to expand the zoo's educational facilities and programs. For the past several years, Zoo-To-Do has raised more than $1 million each year, making it one of the most successful fundraisers of its type in the country. Now in its 32nd year, Zoo-To-Do continues to add new attractions, such as a cigar bar, a signature cocktail and parking lot shuttles. Motown legends the Temptations headline the entertainment, which also includes a raffle for a new car, catered food and drinks. Tickets are $155 for Audubon Institute members, $195 nonmembers; patron party tickets start at $550. -- Etheridge

Cerberus Shoal 10 p.m. Friday, May 7 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 514-4747 Cerberus Shoal is a musical entity constantly in flux. All the members except one share a house in Portland, Maine, and at any given time, inspiration could strike any one of those five roommates like a bolt from the cloudy northeast sky. The struck musician that day then grabs an instrument and a roommate and starts writing. What kind of music comes out? Some jazz, some blues, some rock, some bluegrass &138; it depends. One of the band's goals is not to let any one member's influences outweigh that of another, and any disparity between styles is worked out through artistic innovation. But always count on the avant-garde and always count on a dense feeling of coldness and isolation (kind of like how it might feel to live in Portland). The band's two most recent releases, Bastion of Itchy Preeves and Chaiming the Knobblesome (North East Indie) are the weirdest yet, moving constantly from cacophony to calm. The lyrics sound nonsensical, yet somehow poetic, and this impenetrable beauty only heightens the band's theme of isolation from the rest of the world. Call club for cover. -- Rob Bryant

The Throwback Jam 11 p.m. Friday, May 7 Tiptina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS In his 10-page paper on the history of New Orleans bounce rap, local bounce pioneer Joe Blakk wrote, 'As with any genre of music, once New Orleans sprinkles its seasoning, it'll spice up anything that crosses its path.' In the late 1980s and early '90s, while most of the hip-hop world focused on the East Coast/West Coast argument, New Orleans was brewing its own style. Eventually, bounce would rule the charts and change all hip-hop that came after it. With his Throwback Jam, Blakk showcases many of the region's seminal bounce artists together for the first time on the same stage. In formats ranging from street tapes to major label deals, featured artists such as Bust Down, Cheeky Blakk and Black Menace scored massive regional hits well before multi-platinum sellers such as Juvenile and the Hot Boyz dominated the charts. The event will also feature influential rap group U.N.L.V., hitmaker Dolemite, and female rapper Lil Slim. Admission $15. -- Cristina Diettinger

Founding Mothers: An Evening With Cokie Roberts and Lindy Boggs 7 p.m. Saturday, May 8 Renaissance Arts Hotel, 700 Tchoupitoulas St., 280-7000 Cokie Roberts isn't exactly the first to investigate the impact of women on the development of the United States. Even the title of her recently released work, Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (William Morrow), bears an amazing similarity to previous works such as Linda Grant Depauw's Founding Mothers: Women of American in the Revolutionary Era and Mary Beth Norton's Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society (to name but a few). Regardless, Roberts, analyst for National Public Radio and ABC News, brings her own insights to the work because of her family's deep political roots. She will discuss those roots with her famous mother: former congresswoman and ambassador Lindy Boggs. WWNO announcer and WGNO-TV news anchor Susan Roesgen will moderate the discussion, sponsored by WWNO. A book signing and reception will follow. Tickets $25. -- Simmons

Apolkalypse Now 4 p.m., Sunday, May 9 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 524-4747 Among German and Polish Americans in the Northeast and Midwest, polka is a cultural institution with Bohemian origins in the 19th century. For New Orleans hipsters in the new millennium, it's a rollicking good time at a Sunday afternoon flea market. Led by New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars' violinist Dave Rebeck, Apolkalypse Now provides the live soundtrack to the Mermaid Lounge's monthly Sunday flea market. Born of the Mermaid's 2002 Oktoberfest, the band carries on the brats-and-beer tradition of German-American half-step dance parties. With a motley collection of string and horn players from local jazz bands, Apolkalypse Now aims for the authentic ethnic polka sound -- with a few comic tweaks. In addition to traditional numbers such as 'Beer Barrel Polka' and 'Too Fat Polka,' the band is building a repertoire of contemporary rock songs, played in the oom-pah style. Members have been known to do the Scorpions' 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' in German, while wearing Lederhosen and matching caps. No cover. -- Diettinger

Ruben Studdard 7 p.m. Sunday, May 9 Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena, 6801 Franklin Ave., 280-7222 American Idol is durable because it's a train wreck on so many levels. Each week, the performances suggest the idols-in-waiting are unaware of what the words they're singing mean, and if they were belting out the Doors' 'The End,' they'd find a way to give it a perky, 'Up With People' vibe, complete with the diva-like vocalisms that have come to suggest 'soul.' The success of last year's final two -- Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard -- is understandable because Aiken has the sexless cuteness that pre-teen girls seem to go for and Studdard can actually sing. He didn't treat the songs like athletic events; he sang to get a thought across. Touring behind his first album, Soulful, it'll be interesting to see how well he wears over an hour or so. After all, the show cuts the performances down to under two minutes. The easy warmth in his voice and demeanor is promising. Tickets $35. -- Rawls

Mark Bercier: Wonder Through May Peligro, 305 Decatur St., 581-1706 What is wonder? Einstein said, "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." No fan of blurry vision himself, Mark Bercier expresses wonder as a childlike quality of seeing the world as if for the first time in his new faux-naive paintings and mysterious box constructions at Peligro. To be able to see the new in the familiar is what creativity is all about, and Bercier's good-humored works reflect the inner child in an exploration of the mysteries of life, creation and other cool stuff, in an unusually literal take on what it means to be young at heart. -- D. Eric Bookhardt