on stages: 'Wolverine Will' at Performance Network, 'Steel Magnolias' at Saline Area Players

Show: “Wolverine Will” by Carla Milarch, one-time event, Oct. 27, 1 p.m.
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Children’s Theatre
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 5-12
Description: From lumberjacks to lugnuts, the bumbling and lovable Wolverine Will takes you on a whirlwind tour of Michigan history. From the earliest migrations of the Native Americans, to our unusual journey to statehood, to the innovations of Henry Ford, Michigan's native son uses music and laughter to tell some of the greatest stories of our great state.
More information
Fun Fact: Join the cast for complimentary milk, juice, and cookies in the lobby after the show.
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “Reynard the Fox,” October 27, 11 am and 12:30 pm
Company: Wild Swan Theater
Type of Company: Professional, family-friendly theater
Venue/location: Barnes & Noble, 3235 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 3+
Description: Wild Swan Theater favorites, Sandy Ryder and Michelle Trame Lanzi, engage young imaginations with the lively and fast-paced tale of Reynard the Fox. In this highly interactive 20-minute performance, children become Reynard’s shadow and echo, giving him all he needs to trick his animal friends.
Fun facts: Support and enjoy Wild Swan Theater by participating in the Barnes & Noble Book fair at the Ann Arbor store and online! Fill your wish list at the Barnes & Noble store on October 27th OR if you can’t attend the Bookfair visit www.BN.COM and support Wild Swan Theater by buying online from October 27, 2012 through November 2, 2012 and entering Bookfair ID 10848976 at checkout.
For tickets and information: Free, part of Huron Village’s Annual Halloween Event activities.

Show: “God of Carnage” by Yasmina Reza, through Oct. 27
Company: Basement Arts
Type of Company: Student Produced Theatre
Venue/location: Studio One at the Walgreen Drama Center. 1226 Murfin. Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.
Fun Fact: This play inspired the recent film adaptation "Carnage" starring Kate Winslett, Jodi Foster, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz
For tickets and information: www.facebook.com/events/424009877661215/

Show: “The Gravedigger” by Joseph Zettelmaier, one-time event, October 28, 7 pm
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 12+
Description: Late 1700s, in one of Bavaria's forgotten cemeteries, a lone gravedigger discovers a hideously scarred man hiding in a fresh grave. What the gravedigger doesn't know is that the man is none other than the legendary monster created by a mad doctor. What the scarred man doesn't know is the gravedigger's hand in his creation. And what neither men know is that they are hunted by their shared past in this tale of gothic horror and suspense. This is a staged reading of a new play inspired by the pages of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Review from Encore Michigan
Fun Fact: Zettelmaier’s other Halloween Play “Dr. Seward’s Dracula” is currently being staged in a Crypt in Dublin, Ireland.
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “The Last of the Haussmans” by Stephen Beresford, one-time event, October 28, 7 pm
Company: UMS/Michigan Theatre
Type of Company: High-Definition Broadcast from the National Theatre, London
Venue/location: Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St.
Recommended ages: 13+
Description: Anarchic, feisty but growing old, high society drop-out Judy Haussman remains in spirit with the Ashrams of the 1960s while holding court in her dilapidated Art Deco house on the Devon coast. After an operation, she’s joined by wayward offspring Nick and Libby, sharp-eyed granddaughter Summer, local doctor Peter, and Daniel, a troubled teenager who makes use of the family’s crumbling swimming pool. Together they share a few sweltering months in this chaotic world of all-day drinking, infatuations, long-held resentments, free love and failure.
Fun fact: The Play’s running Time is 3 hours including one 20-minute intermission.
For tickets and information: ums.org/performances/national-theatre-live-last-of-the-haussmans

Show: “Steel Magnolias” by Robert Harling, through Oct. 28
Company: Saline Area Players
Type of Company: Community Theater
Venue/Location: Liberty School Auditorium, 7265 N. Ann Arbor St., Saline
Recommended Ages: 12+
Description: The play centers around Truvy's local beauty shop and the "regulars" who frequent the shop. It begins on the morning of Shelby's wedding and follows her life and the friendships of these Southern women for the next three years. This community of Southern women comes together to share their secrets, fears and love for one another, sometimes while engaging in neighborly gossip. At the same time they provide a crucial support system characterized by humor, even in the darkest moments.
More information
Fun Fact: The play was written by Robert Harling in 10 days to express his personal experience in dealing with the death of his sister after a kidney transplant brought on by complications with diabetes.
For tickets and Information: 734-429-8535, www.salineareaplayers.org/magnolias.html

Show: “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare, through October 28
Company: Eastern Michigan University Theatre
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Quirk Theatre, Quirk Dramatic Arts Building, intersection of East Circle Drive and Best Hall, EMU Campus, Ypsilanti.
Recommended ages: 13+
Description: One of William Shakespeare’s most popular yet controversial comedies. When everything in life is for sale, true value becomes uncertain. Survival depends upon asking the question, “How is the authentic disguised and the counterfeit revealed?” Crafted to reveal the judgmental masking and unmasking of society, The Merchant of Venice grapples with questions of justice versus mercy, honor versus betrayal and the truth of lust versus love in a world where cash is king.
More information
Fun fact: The forfeit of a merchant's deadly bond after standing surety for a friend's loan was a common tale in England in the late sixteenth century. The test of the suitors at Belmont, the merchant's rescue from the "pound of flesh" penalty by his friend's new wife disguised as a lawyer and her demand for the betrothal ring in payment are all present in the 14th century tale Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino, which was published in Milan in 1558.
For tickets and information: 734-487-2282, www.emutix.com

Show: “Evil Dead, the Musical” by George Reinblatt, through October 28
Company: Dexter Community Players
Type of Company: Community Theater
Venue/location: Copeland Auditorium, 7714 Ann Arbor St, Dexter
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Based on Sam Raimi’s ‘80s cult-classic films, Evil Dead: The Musical tells the tale of five college students who travel to a cabin in the woods where they accidentally unleash an evil force. Hilariously campy and bursting with more farce than a Monty Python skit Evil Dead: The Musical unearths the old familiar story: Boy and friends take a weekend getaway at secluded cabin, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit which turns friends into Candarian Demons, boy fights until dawn to survive. As musical mayhem descends upon this sleepover in the woods, “camp” takes on a whole new meaning with uproarious song and dance numbers.
More information
Fun fact: As inspiration for the film “Evil Dead,” filmmakers Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi conducted research of low-budget horror films at the local drive-in theater, allowing them the chance to document the behavior of what would become their target audience. Campbell said "the message was very clear: Keep the pace fast and furious, and once the horror starts, never let up. 'The gorier the merrier' became our prime directive."
For tickets and information: dextercommunityplayers.org, 734-726-0355

Show: “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, EXTENDED through November 4
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 14+
Description: Faded Southern Belle Amanda Wingfield will stop at nothing to find a husband for her painfully shy daughter, Laura, still living at home with her brother, Tom, a would-be writer working in a shoe factory. When Amanda enlists Tom's help in bringing home a "gentleman caller" from the factory, the family's dreams hang in the balance as they struggle to escape the hopelessness of their world. Set in 1937 St. Louis, this wistfully poetic memory play is regarded by many as Williams' most personal story, and his greatest masterpiece.
Review from Chelsea Patch
Fun Fact: In a later scene in the play, which is set in 1937, Amanda asks Jim to take a candelabra and wine glass out to Laura, asking if he can manage both. In the original script Jim says, "Sure, I'm Superman." While the Superman character did not appear in comics until 1938's Action Comics #1, the phrase already existed from English translations of ubermensch in works by Nietzsche, whom Williams often references in his plays.
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “Woyzeck” by Georg Büchner, adapted by Audra Lord, through November 4
Company: The New Theatre Project
Type of Company: Pre-professional
Venue/location: Mix Studio, 130 W. Michigan Ave. in Ypsilanti,
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: As The New Theatre Project’s inaugural show of the Reinvention season, Woyzeck will provide audiences with a theatrical experience unlike anything seen before on the Mix stage. The play, remaining incomplete after the playwright Georg Büchner’s early death in 1837, has no ending and only fragmented scenes. TNTP has restored the play with it’s own version of Büchner’s creation that allows the audience to choose how best to complete this mysterious and enticing piece.
More information
Fun fact: Tom Waits has a song on his album Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, entitled "Children's Story", which is based on Woyzeck
For tickets and information: 734-961-8704, thenewtheatreproject.org/
Special ticket offer: Have dinner at Bona Sera Cafe across the street and receive $1 off your ticket price, with receipt.

Show: “Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts, through December 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 donut 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 AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: Per capita, Canadians consume the most doughnuts, and Canada has the most doughnut stores per capita.
For tickets and information: 734-433-7673 (ROSE), www.purplerosetheatre.org