There’s no denying that fall is around the corner. With pre-season football speculation running rampant, and back-to-school specials popping up, there’s just one more piece of late-summer business you need to take care of—booking season tickets to your favorite theater!

With several local theaters announcing their 2011-2012 seasons, the year ahead is shaping up to be full of fun, music, Tony winners, thought-provoking drama, and world-class performances right here at home. With the talented actors, directors and theater designers of our very own mitten state, there’s plenty of talent to root for.

So, no matter your favorite theater “team”—remember to book your 50-yard-line seats to be close to the action all year long. Hail to the theaters valiant!

Theater listings for the week of August 8 - 14

Show: “Puppet” a film by David Soll, one-time event, Saturday, Aug. 13
Company: Dreamland Theater
Type of Company: Pre-professional
Venue/location: Dreamland Theater, 26 N. Washington St., Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Unlike almost everywhere else in the world—where puppets are embedded in religion, folk crafts, and high art—America has long thought of puppetry only as a children’s medium, relegated to sock-puppet shows and kids television. Since the 1990s, however, serious, adult puppetry has exploded in the United States. Why was puppetry first marginalized in America, and what does it mean that we’ve returned to this ancient form? Interviews with practicing artists, historians, theorists, theater professionals—including Eileen Blumenthal, Stephen Kaplin, Frank Episale and Victoria Nelson—cover a range of theoretical approaches to American puppetry.
Fun fact: At the center of the film is Dan Hurlin's “Disfarmer,” a complex puppet work that premiered in 2009 at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY. Beginning two years before the premiere, the documentary chronicles the entire development process: the early puppet construction, research, rehearsal residencies and finally, opening night.
For tickets and information: www.dreamlandtheater.com/

Show: “Goodnight, Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet)”, by Ann-Marie MacDonald, through Aug. 14
Company: The Penny Seats Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity (Special Appearance Contract)
Recommended ages: 12+
Venue/location: West Park Band Shell, Ann Arbor
Description: After a particularly heartbreaking day, a dejected English Lit grad student is catapulted into two of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, perhaps to prove her own doctoral thesis: that the plays were not always tragedies, but were instead pilfered comedies. And, that their heroines were far more cunning and interesting than Shakespeare lets on.
Article from Arborweb
Fun Fact: The playwright, Ann-Marie MacDonald, is Canadian, so the play contains a number of Canadian references. Bonus points to those who can spot mentions of foolscap (what we know as legal-sized paper), the infamous 401, and the famous Stratford Festival, to name a few.
For tickets and information: www.pennyseats.org/ or 1-800-838-3006.
Special ticket offers: Find the ad in the Ann Arbor Observer August issue and get a dollar off each pre-ordered ticket.

Show: “Posing” by Jason Sebacher, through Aug. 21
Company: The New Theatre Project
Type of Company: Professional Non-Equity
Venue/location: Mix Performance Space, 130 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 18 +, "Posing" contains strong language, simulated sex, drug use, and nudity. No one under the age of 18 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.
Description: Inspired by the life of Oscar Wilde, “Posing” is the story of two men: each running from his past, each escaping his present, and each keeping an impossible secret. They are bound together for days with the mutual goal of using each other for sex and drugs, until they must confront the consequences of trying to stay young forever.
Examiner article
Fun fact: On February 18, 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry left his calling card at Wilde's club, the Albermarle, inscribed: "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite" (sic). Wilde brought charges against Queensberry, on a charge of criminal libel, as sodomy was then a crime. The trial became a cause célèbre, as salacious details of Wilde's private life began to appear in the press. Wilde's association with blackmailers and male prostitutes, cross-dressers and brothels was recorded, and various persons involved were interviewed.
For tickets and information: Call or text 734-645-9776 or email tickets@thenewtheatreproject.org.

Show: “Marie Antoinette, the Color of Flesh” by Joel Gross, through Aug. 28
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity (SPT)
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 East Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 12 +
Description: Called “A touching story of love" by The New York Times, this play gives history a refreshingly sexy face. A sumptuous blend of fact and fiction, it creates an imagined love triangle between Marie Antoinette; her official portraitist, Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun; and a fictitious aristocrat and lover to both, Count Alexis de Ligne. Spanning two politically explosive decades surrounding the French Revolution, this boudoir drama weaves politics, history, romance and art.
Encore Michigan article
Fun fact: The rakish character of Alexis de Ligne is based on Swedish Count Axel Fersen, with whom Marie Antoinette had a rumored affair. Her third child was born exactly nine months after a visit by the count, which stirred even more public discontent for their queen. Before her death, Fersen helped coordinate an escape attempt for Marie and Louis that ultimately failed. To this day, the truth behind the affair remains a secret.
For tickets and information: 734-663-0696, www.performancenetwork.org/

Show: “Consider the Oyster” by David MacGregor, through September 3
Company: The Purple Rose Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity (SPT)
Venue/location: Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park Street, Chelsea
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: During the celebration of a Detroit Lions Super Bowl victory, Gene Walsh impulsively proposes marriage to the love of his life. When she joyously accepts, he tumbles over the coffee table. This chance fall begins a hilarious cascade of startling twists that turn the happy couples’ future upside down and inside out.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: The oyster shell used in “Consider the Oyster” is a real Pinctada Maxima pearl oyster shell from the Philippines. The Purple Rose ordered it from a dealer in Malta through Amazon.com. The large size of the shell in the show is rare.
For tickets and information: www.purplerosetheatre.org/onstage/production-archive/consider-the-oyster

More season announcements:
Purple Rose Theatre: www.purplerosetheatre.org/20112012-season-announced
U of M School of Music, Theatre and Dance: www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/perf_events.php