Dying to challenge your cubicle mate to a duel? Relatively certain your boss is a demon? Or do you just like a ripping yarn told rippingly? Then hop over to the inaugural performance of D.C.’s newest reading series, “Stories on Stage,” presented by local literary magazine Barrelhouse. The literary performances, scheduled to be staged every other month, pluck two stories from the magazine’s short-story trove and pair them with a local actor. (Think the scrappy, gritty alternative to Lincoln Center’s super-polished staple, “Selected Shorts”—with a podcast, too.) Tonight, in a showcase called “All in a Day’s Work—Dispatches from the Office,” the theme is office drudgery. The lineup includes “Assistant to the Vampire,” written by Melissa Yancy and read by Mia Branco, about an HR employee who, in her capacity as suggestion-box overseer, realizes that someone is suggesting an unbelievable story about the boss, scrap by scrap. And with that, riveting storytelling seems to have made its home in the District for the foreseeable future. “

Stories on Stage” begins at 7:30 p.m. at the District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th St. NW. $3. barrelhousemag.com. (202) 262-9149.