With leftovers from Thanksgiving still chilling in the fridge, how appropriate that this week’s listings are a veritable cornucopia of theatrical goodness! In fact, they represent a little bit of virtually every kind of theater offered throughout the year—with enough variety to make Bacchus proud.

Big holiday musicals, Shakespeare, university theater, staged readings, student-produced theater, youth theater, storefront theater, and even a fundraiser for a community theater—this week is a great cross-section of happenings year-round in Washtenaw County.

Since the holiday season is often cram-packed with parties, shopping, trips and other events, it’s good to remember that most theater tickets can be purchased quickly and securely online. Check out the links in the “tickets and information” portion of each listing for more info and online ticketing portals.

Show: “Timon of Athens” by William Shakespeare, one-time event, Nov. 28 at 7 .p.m
Company: University Musical Society
Type of Company: High-definition broadcast from National Theatre, London
Venue/location: Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16-plus
Description:.Wealthy friend to the rich and powerful, patron of the arts, ostentatious host, Timon of Athens is surrounded by free-loaders and sycophants. He vastly outspends his resources but, finding his coffers empty, reassures his loyal steward that all will be well. When he calls upon his associates, instead of offering help, they hang him out to dry. After a final, vengeful banquet, Timon withdraws to a literal and emotional wasteland, living off roots and pouring curses on a morally bankrupt Athens.
Fun fact: Simon Russell Beale takes on the title role in Shakespeare’s strange fable of consumption, debt and ruin, written in collaboration with Thomas Middleton.
For tickets and information: 734-764-2538, www.ums.org

Show: "From Such Great Heights" by Tyler Dean, through Dec. 1
Company: Basement Arts
Type of Company: Student-produced
Venue/location: Studio 1 in the Walgreen Drama Center, 1226 Murfin, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Jamie is just trying to be a normal teenager. The problem is, he's a god living in human form, and he doesn’t know how to control his powers. Complications ensue when Jamie falls in love with Kymmie, a street performer and (unfortunately for Jaime) an atheist.
Fun fact: This play is by the same playwright who wrote the musical "Zombie Farm" for Basement Arts last year.
For tickets and information: Tickets are free and are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the door 15 minutes before opening.

Show: "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl, through Dec. 2
Company: Chelsea Area Players
Type of Company: Community
Venue/location: George Prinzing Auditorium, 500 Washington Street, Chelsea
Recommended ages: All
Description: An orphaned boy named James lives oppressed by two nasty, self-centered aunts. After coming across some magical beans and spilling them, James escapes his miserable life and becomes a hero in the beloved Roald Dahl children’s fantasy. Join James and his new family of magically overgrown insects — a ladybug, a spider, a grasshopper, a glowworm, a silkworm, and the chronic complainer, a centipede with a hundred shoes. Their adventures aboard a giant, luscious peach as large as a house take them across the Atlantic Ocean, through waters infested with peach-eating sharks, and skies filled with seagulls.
Fun fact: Originally titled "James and the Giant Cherry," Dahl changed it to "James and the Giant Peach" because a peach is "prettier, bigger and squishier" than a cherry.
For tickets and information: www.chelseaareaplayers.org

Show: “Civic Open '12” by various artists, one-time event, Dec. 1 at 7:30 pm
Company: Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
Type of Company: Community
Venue/location: The Last Word, 301 West Huron St, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 18+
Description: Civic Open '12 is the final event in a vocal competition for musical theater performers. Based on the wildly successful first Civic Open in 2008, Civic Open ’12 will again showcase the area’s most talented vocalists who advanced to the final competition. First and second-place winners will receive cash prizes plus the opportunity to perform their winning songs on The Lucy Ann Lance Show. Civic Open '12 is a fundraiser for A2CT.
Fun fact: Local celebrity judges include Russ Collins of The Michigan Theatre, Deb Polich of Artrain, Michigan Radio's Cynthia Canty, and Broadway composer Neil Bartram.
For tickets and information: 734-971-2228, a2ct.org.

Show: “Miracles in the Fall” by Chuck O’Connor, one-time event, Dec. 2 at 7 pm
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity Staged Reading
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Clare Connelly, a Dominican Sister in 1968 Detroit, is the caretaker of her alcoholic father and keeper of her dead mother’s virtue. She embodies the contradictions of her hometown, where the self-hatred of race riots dusts the city’s baseball team championship hope. Clare’s desire for holiness is challenged by the indignity of her increasingly infirm father, the intimacy of a maverick priest’s confidence, and the crippling family secret revealed with the untimely return of her prodigal brother.
More information
Fun Fact: Presented in a staged-reading format as a part of the Fireside New Play Festival
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “Merit” by Lenelle Moise, one-time event, December 3 at 7 pm
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity Staged Reading
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Winner of the 2012 Ruby Prize, Merit is a two-act comedic drama about race, isolation, academia and sex. Set in a fictional but contemporary college town in Vermont, "Merit" follows Mona, a precocious and passionate fiction writer who is the only student of color (and southerner) in her prestigious graduate program. When she befriends distinguished professor Doctor Sive—a demanding divorcee with fatigued sex appeal—the two are called to strike a balance between curiosity and propriety, power and love, professionalism and desire.
More information
Fun Fact: Presented in a staged-reading format as a part of the Fireside New Play Festival
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “County Line” by David Wells, one-time event, Dec. 4 at 7 pm
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity Staged Reading
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: 17-year-old Lois’s mother left when she was six, leaving her in a trailer in rural Kansas in the care of her lovable but irresponsible father. When he gets 18 months in state prison on a misdemeanor, Lois is sent to live with a foster parent who also runs the County Line Truck Stop &Travel Center. What she sees and experiences there will change the course of her life forever. "County Line" is a comedic drama that taps into our collective sense of being unmoored, and the hardwired perseverance that keeps us from floating completely adrift.
More information
Fun Fact: Presented in a staged-reading format as a part of the Fireside New Play Festival
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “Road Through Heaven” by Ricky Martinez, one-time event, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity Staged Reading
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: How far will we go to be embraced by unconditional love, to bathe in its truth, live in its heaven? For an orphan coming-of-age, haunted by his past, this haven of love dwells in a humble home where he is bound by a lovers’ triangle. Yet, within the walls of paradise, the secret seed of a curse is growing. Set on an island in the Caribbean, this magical-realistic play explores the poetry of life and death, the responsibilities of friendship, and the determination of dreams to become realities.
More information
Fun Fact: Presented in a staged-reading format as a part of the Fireside New Play Festival
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “White as Snow, Red as Blood: The Story of Snow White” Adapted by V. Glasgow Koste, through Dec. 9
Company: Eastern Michigan University Theatre
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Quirk Theatre, EMU's Ypsilanti campus
Recommended ages: 8-plus
Description: Once upon a time, in a far away land there was a beautiful princess with skin as white as snow, hair as black as night, lips as red as blood, and a heart as pure as gold. Her name was Snow White. As good as Snow White was, her stepmother Evilun was equally as bad. Envious and vengeful, Evilun planned to bring an end to Snow White and attempt to threaten her “happily ever after.” In this richly warm and mysterious version of the tale, director Jenny Koppera encourages the magic and depth of Koste’s adaptation of the traditional story.
Fun fact: Arrive early to participate in fun activities in our theater lobby area. Activities begin 30 minutes prior to show time.
For tickets and information: 734-487-2282, www.emich.edu/emutheatre
Special ticket offer: Print this article and bring it to the Quirk Box Office to purchase $15 regular admission tickets for only $9. Opening weekend only, limit 2 per customer.

Show: “Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts, through Dec. 15
Company: Purple Rose Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park Street, Chelsea
Recommended ages: Contains Adult Language & Content
Description: Arthur Przybyszewski has just about given up on everything: a social life, the chance of romance and most of all his family’s long standing Chicago doughnut shop. But when idealistic dreamer, Franco Wicks walks through the door of his vandalized storefront, Arthur realizes through their unlikely friendship that life still has more to offer him. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts ("August: Osage County") the comedy-drama "Superior Donuts" will make you a believer too.
Review from Examiner.com
Fun fact: Randy Mantooth makes real coffee on stage during the performance.
For tickets and information: 734-433-7673 (ROSE), www.purplerosetheatre.org

Show: “Wolf Cry Wolf” by Kevin Kautzman, through December 16
Company: The New Theatre Project
Type of Company: Professional Non-Equity
Venue/location: Mix Performance Space, 130 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 18+
Description: “People make believe with each other. It’s how we get through the night.” When Steph returns home to North Dakota for the first time in years and surprises her estranged childhood friend Jane, they descend into their memories and relive the summer Jane told Steph her deepest secret: she knows how turn into a wolf. "Wolf Cry Wolf" looks at the fine line between memory and imagination and at the lies we tell to survive our shadows.
More information
Fun fact: Have dinner at Bona Sera Cafe across the street and receive $1 off your ticket price. Just bring over your receipt.
For tickets and information: 734-961-8704, thenewtheatreproject.org/

Show: “Forever Plaid presents: Plaid Tidings” through Dec. 23
Company: The Encore Musical Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity and Non-Equity
Venue/location: The Encore Musical Theatre Company, 3126 Broad Street, Dexter
Recommended ages: All
Description: The Plaids return to earth again, and with the help of a heavenly Rosemary Clooney, they instill the holiday spirit into the world.
Review from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: In addition to 1950s tunes, The Plaids sing tight 4-part harmony to tons of Christmas favorites including "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Let It Snow," "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and even "Carol of the Bells"... with handbells!
For tickets and information: www.theencoretheatre.org, 734-268-6200

Show: “A Little Night Music” music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, through Dec. 30
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Sondheim's rollicking tour-de-force of love, lies, and liaisons is the winner of six Tony awards and a Grammy, featuring an amazing musical score, including The Glamorous Life and Send in the Clowns. Desiree Armfeldt is an enchanting Swedish actress. While on tour in a country town, she runs into former lover Fredrik, who has brought his young wife to the theatre. Reminiscing in Desiree's dressing room, their passion rekindles. The two seek to continue their affair at a gathering for several guests at Fredrik's country home, setting in motion a hilarious and flirtatious weekend for all. Review from AnnArbor.com
Fun Fact: Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist known for his contributions to musical theater. He is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. He has been described by Frank Rich of the New York Times as "now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater.”
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681