stage

Stage listings are compiled by Cheryl Eddy. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, Lara Shalson, and Chloe Veltman. See 8 Days a Week for information on how to submit items to the listings.

theater

Opening

Antigone Zeum Theatre, 221 Howard; 1-888-462-2838, www.acteva.com/go/shakes. $17-22 (previews $5). Previews Tues/8 and July 9, 8pm. Opens July 10, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also July 17, 2pm); Sun, 2pm. Through July 20. See 8 Days a Week.

I Look like an Egg, but I Identify as a Cookie Chez Spencer, 82 14th St; 646-0924, www.subvert.com. $12-20. Previews Sun/6-Mon/7, 7:30pm. Opens July 13, 7:30pm. Runs Sun-Mon, 7:30pm. Through July 28. Heather Gold presents her new solo show, an autobiographical comedy that also includes the baking of cookies during the performance.

San Francisco Mime Troupe's 'Veronique of the Mounties' This week: Dolores Park, 18th St at Dolores; 285-1717, www.sfmt.org. Free. Fri/4-Sun/6, 2pm (live music at 1:30pm). At various Bay Area parks through Sept 1. See 8 Days a Week.

Bay Area

Arms and the Man Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, off Hwy 24 at Shakespeare Festival Wy/Gateway Exit, Orinda; (510) 548-9666, www.calshakes.org. $13-49. Previews Wed/2-Fri/4, 8pm. Opens Sat/5, 8pm. Runs Tues-Thurs, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through July 27. Cal Shakes performs George Bernard Shaw's classic romantic comedy.

Barefoot in the Park Playhouse, 27 Kensington, San Anselmo; (415) 892-8551, www.mctheatre.com. $10-18. Opens Sat/5, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through July 20. Marin Classic Theatre performs Neil Simon's comedy about New York newlyweds.

Cookin' at the Cookery: The Music and Times of Alberta Hunter San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose; (408) 367-7255, www.sjrep.com. $26-66. Previews Wed/2-Thurs/3, 8pm; Sat/5, 3 and 8pm; Sun/6, 2 and 7pm. Opens Tues/8, 8pm. Runs Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm and July 9, noon; July 12, show at 4pm only); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Aug 3. San Jose Repertory Theatre presents the musical, starring Tony winner Ann Duquesnay as the late blues legend Alberta Hunter.

Ongoing

Are We Almost There? Shelton Theatre, 533 Sutter; 345-7575. $20-22. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. Travel is the theme of this musical comedy revue.

Cocksucker: A Love Story Theatre Rhinoceros, 2926 16th St; 861-5079. $20-30. Extended run: Wed/2-Thurs/3 and Sat/5, 8pm; Sun/6, 3 and 7pm; starting July 9, runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through July 20. Theater Rhinoceros presents writer-director Ronnie Larsen's double-tale about a man named Isaac (the sympathetic Octavio Saez De Ibarra) with a unique penchant for fellatio who cross-dresses solely to maximize his opportunities; and two childhood friends, Joshua and Jimmy (Joshua Feinman and Ronnie Kerr), who join the Marines only to wind up victims of a porn movie scam. Meanwhile, in an elaboration on the play's somewhat muddled theme of sex and politics, Bill and Hillary Clinton (Randel Hart and Michaela Greeley) and Monica Lewinsky (Anna Loar) together represent the head of state. The two main storylines (the latter one based on an actual incident involving Marines at Camp Pendleton) take a while to get rolling and never quite intersect convincingly. But there are some surprisingly compelling moments in this otherwise fitful comedy, especially in the realistic treatment accorded the young Marines (rendered with an all-American innocence by Feinman and Kerr) and their casual exploitation at the hands of a predatory military and commercial culture. (Avila)

'Comedy on the Square' Shelton Theatre, 533 Sutter; 522-8900. $15. Performances include "A Celebration of Silliness!" with Fred Anderson (Sun, 3 and 7pm; through Aug 30).

Death and the Maiden Theatre Rhinoceros, 2926 16th St; 861-5079, www.therhino.org. $15-20. Thurs-Sat, 8:30pm (no show Fri/4); Sun, 3:30pm. Through July 20. Mystic Bison Theatre performs Ariel Dorfman's play about a woman who confronts a man she believes tortured her years before.

Devil in the Deck Climate Theater, 285 Ninth St; 364-1411. $15-25. Extended run: Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through July 26. Paul Nathan stars in his one-person show about a con artist named Jack Swindle who travels the world performing magic and cheating at cards. Combining card tricks with stories, Nathan weaves the tale of a life that begins with an inauspicious tarot reading, an experience that instills in its protagonist an obsession with cards and the determination to cheat them (and life) at every turn. The fusion of mysticism, magic, and straight-up duplicity is pleasing, and when Nathan shows us exactly how his mesmerizing tricks are done, we are reminded that just because it's artful deception, doesn't mean it's not magic. However, Nathan's storytelling is less beguiling than his card manipulations and Swindle's character remains as two-dimensional as the Jack of Spades that slips between his fingers, while his studied smarminess turns the women who fill his stories into little more than paper dolls. (Shalson)

Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972. $18-38. Extended run: Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through July 13. The last theatrical extravaganza created by costume designer extraordinaire Howard Crabtree and his longtime collaborator, lyricist Mark Waldrop, before Crabtree's death in 1996, this zany musical revue depicts Crabtree's dream autobiography. The familiar setup opens on a series of campy sketches, borrowing from a range of musical genres, about finding joy in the face of adversity. The rainbow-colored sensibility feels dated at times, but Waldrop's new pieces written for this production – torch songs for the likes of Dick Cheney and Pat Robertson, performed with eye-fluttering sincerity by Jeff Manabat – are clever and timely. (Shalson)

Let's Pretend I'm Not Your Mother Climate Theatre, 285 Ninth St; 364-1411. $20. Extended run: Thurs-Sat, 9:30pm. Through July 26. Titillation Theatre helps inaugurate Climate Theatre's new venue with writer-director Jennifer Hotcher's cabaret: a smorgasbord of sex in the city that kicks off with a course on how to undress for your lover, conducted by a professional stripper (Hotcher), and pulsates right through 10 more sexy, frequently funny vignettes. The show has been bouncing around a number of small venues for the last year (between police raids), and the momentum has paid off. The sketches may be uneven in conception, but the cast is aces and consistently pleases. (Avila)

Little Mary Sunshine Goat Hall, 400 Missouri; www.openstage.org. $10-20. Thurs-Sat, 7pm; Sun, 2pm. Through July 13. OpenStage Repertory Theater performs a musical spoof that pays tribute to classic movie musicals and 1920s operettas.

*The Lonesome West Magic Theatre, Bldg D, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; 441-8822. $17-37. Wed/2-Thurs/3 and Sat/5, 8pm; Sun/6, 2:30 and 7:30pm. Brothers Valene (Robert Parsons) and Coleman (Phil Stockton) are self-fashioned orphans since one of them "accidentally" blew their father's head off with a shotgun. That hasn't stopped them slugging away mercilessly at one another with words, mischief, and fists. Why? One gets the idea that in Leenane it's just what folks do, spurred on by some combination of claustrophobia and boredom. Getting liquored up on the local moonshine, vended by a pretty young squirt named Girleen (Frances Anita Rivera), just adds fuel to the fire – or a bit of peace, if you're Father Welsh (Craig Neibaur), driven to drink by a flock of the meanest and most sinful charges any inept but kindhearted priest ever had the misfortune to come upon. The third installment in Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's Leenane trilogy lights up the dim environs of a small rustic village in Galway with electric dialogue, liberally doused with provincial profanities, and a macabre humor whose jagged edges are relieved only by moments of sweet and somber innocence that come as inevitably as the respites at a boxing match. Although it's the weakest link in the trilogy, The Lonesome West is an engaging, frequently very funny play that benefits from four fine performances under the persuasive direction of Barbara Damashek. (Avila)

Love and Taxes Magic Theatre, Bldg D, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; 437-6775, www.zspace.org. $25-27. Wed-Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 2:30 and 7:30. Through July 13. Bay Area "outsider" Josh Kornbluth premieres his latest monologue, recounting the famed nonconformist's "detour into the system" through the U.S. tax code. Framing the tortured and blissful days surrounding the making of his independent film Haiku Tunnel is a secret shame: a mounting "tax problem" resulting from seven years' delinquency, interrupted finally by the guiding sleight of hand of a high-powered tax attorney named Moe. Meanwhile, a budding relationship ensues with Sara, the neurotic girl of his dreams, who insists on bending his antiestablishment proclivities to her more conventional worldview. In his familiar conversational style, replete with acute observations, Spaulding Gray-like epiphanies, and visual aids, Kornbluth revisits his relationship with his beloved father, the eccentric communist celebrated in Red Diaper Baby. Unfortunately, in measuring the distance he must travel from his father's ideals to cope with a new relationship and new responsibilities, the show ends up dwelling on a less interesting cast of characters. Further underlining that distance is the less than inspired Capra-esque ending after Mr. Kornbluth goes to Washington. Directed by David Dower, it's a likeably self-indulgent piece, but at a little over two hours it can be a little taxing too. (Avila)

Nora (A Doll's House) Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason; 820-1460. $10-20. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through July 19. Second Wind Productions presents Ingmar Bergman's modern adaptation of the Ibsen classic.

R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe Project Artaud Theater, 450 Florida; 626-DOME, www.foghouse.com. $25-35 (Wed/2, pay what you can). Extended run: Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Ongoing. Fuller was one of the great brainiacs of the 20th century, a philosopher, mathematician, inventor, and idealist who devoted his life to finding the best fit between nature and humanity. In D.W. Jacobs's fitful, two-hour monologue based on the life and writings of Fuller, actor Ron Campbell dexterously pings from one of the visionary's obsessions to another, inhabiting Fuller's eccentric soul with physical and verbal intensity. (Veltman)

Urinetown: The Musical Geary Theater, 415 Geary; 749-2228. $16-66. Wed/2-Sat/5, July 9-12, 15-19, 22-26, 29-31, Aug 1-2, 5-9, and 12-16, 8pm (also Sat/5, July 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, Aug 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 2pm); Sun/6 and Tues/8, 7pm (also Sun/6, 2pm); July 13, 20, 27, Aug 3, 10, 17, 2pm. Through Aug 17. American Conservatory Theatre performs Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis's parody and tribute to musical theater, about a town suffering through a severe water shortage.

Bay Area

Attempts on Her Life New venue: La Val's Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; 1-866-GOT-FURY, www.foolsfury.org. $15-20. July 11-12 and 18-19, 8pm. foolsFURY remounts their acclaimed production of Martin Crimp's avant-garde play about the various identities of a mysterious woman.

The Bacchae John Hinkel Park, Southampton between San Diego and Somerset, Berk; (510) 525-1620. Free. Sat/5-Sun/6, 5:30pm. Actors Ensemble of Berkeley bring Euripides' classic tragedy to John Hinkel Park.

The Guys Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; (510) 647-2949. $10-54. Wed/2, 7pm; Thurs/3, 8pm; Sat/5, 2pm. Cast: Jimmy Smits and Wanda De Jesus. It's not hard to imagine audiences overlooking The Guys' more obvious weaknesses in the wake of 9/11, even the hokey, vaguely self-serving dialogue and tedious construction. This early and unique contribution could be welcomed for what it was: an attempt to offer a community outlet for grief, and a sincere salute to some very brave souls who died serving their city. But as it moves away from New York and the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the play becomes less tenable, not only as theater, but also as an attempt to speak relevantly to audiences who've lived for two years with the savage war on terror unleashed and justified in the name of national security. (Avila)

Proof Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mountain View; (650) 903-6000. $20-48. Tues, 7:30pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through July 13. See "Lacking 'Proof.' "

Thérèse Raquin Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822. $28-38. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through July 27. The Aurora Theatre Company presents Emile Zola's theatrical adaptation of his novel – "a whirlwind of lust, murder, and revenge" set in 19th-century France.

The Wyrd Sisters Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; (510) 558-1381. $8-20 (July 31, pay what you can). Thurs-Sat, 8pm (no show Fri/4); Sun, 5pm. Through July 13. (free preview July 24, runs July 25-Aug 10: Thick House, 1695 18th St, S.F. Phone, price, and schedule same.) Central Works performs a new play by Gary Graves that draws on familiar Shakespearean characters.

dance

'Summerfest/dance presents West Wave Dance Festival 2003' This week: McKenna Theater, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway; 345-7575, www.summerfestdance.org. $18-25. The annual festival, which runs through July 27, highlights contemporary dance by West Coast choreographers. This week: 14 Bells, dance improv by Tannis Adoniou and other Bay Area choreographers (Sun, 5pm); Conversations, by Kunst-Stoff (Tues/8 and July 9, 8pm).

Bay Area

'Ibdaa: Palestinian Youth Dance Troupe' Scottish Rite Temple, 1547 Lakeside, Oakl; (510) 548-0542, www.mecaforpeace.org. Tues, 7:30pm. $20-75. The Palestinian youth dance troupe performs. Also on the bill: Michael Franti, Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company, and Melanie Demore; proceeds benefit the children of Dheisheh refugee camp.

*Noche Flamenca Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Dana Ct, Berk; (510) 642-9988. Wed/2-Thurs/3 and Sat/5, 8pm; Sun/6, 7pm. $30-42. Noche Flamenca is a show not to be missed. Not because of the bravura performances, of which there are plenty. Not because the individual numbers are beautifully timed. They are. Not because the programming balances music and dance like few others. It does. What makes Noche Flamenca so extraordinary is that it takes you deep inside the volcano from which its artists pull their hot lava emotions. The show is stark, powerful, and almost austere. This is flamenco as chamber music. Antonio Rodriguez, "El Chupete," is not handsome; deprived of long lines, he looks like he has been carved out of rock. But boy, do these feet pound the earth. Isabel Bayon is the more lyrical of the two female dancers, lovely in the way she interacts with the singers. Soledad Barrio, lamenting human mortality, literally took my breath away. Yet Noche Flamenca's star is singer Antonio Vizarraga, ironic, raspy, and with an edge of steel that cuts to the bone. (Felciano)

performance

'From Piers to Plantations, A Union in Hawaii' New College Theater, 777 Valencia; www.laborfest.net. Mon, 7pm. $10. (Also July 9, 7pm, La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, Berk. $10) LaborFest's 10th-anniversary celebration (themed "A War on All Fronts") includes a performance by Ian Ruskin about the life of Harry Bridges, a union organizer in Hawaii.

comedy

'Blue Blanket Improv'Check website for times and locations. www.blueblanketimprov.com. Blue Blanket Improv presents a free workshop and improv show. Ongoing.

BrainWash Café 1122 Folsom; 861-3663. Thurs, 8pm: Comedy open mic hosted by Tony Sparks, free.

Fort Mason Center Marina at Laguna (check daily events sandwich board to see exact location); 453-9092. Sat, 1-4pm: Improv workshop with Jim Crenna, $10. Ongoing.

Java Source 343 Clement; 387-8025. Fri, 10:30pm and Sat, 10pm: Comedy open mic hosted by Tony Sparks, free.

Luggage Store 1007 Market; 255-5971. Tues, 8pm: Comedy workshop with Tony Sparks, $3.

Bay Area

Cafe Eclectica 1309F Solano, Albany; (510) 964-0571. Sat, 8pm: "A Night of Improvised Comedy" with East Bay Improv, 8pm, $5.

spoken word

Open mics take place almost every night in cafés throughout the Bay Area. If you want to perform, show up about half an hour before start time to put your name on the list. A day-by-day guide to spoken word events and featured readers:

Wednesday: BrainWash Café 1122 Folsom; 440-5530. "Spoken Word Salon," with host Diamond Dave Whitaker, 8pm, free. Savoy Tivoli 1434 Grant; 905-8837. "Savoy Tivoli Reading Series" with host Mark Schwartz and featured reader Alice Gould, 8pm, free.

Thursday: Coppa D'Oro Cafe 3166 24th St; 826-8003. "Poetry on the Patio," spoken word and acoustic music open mic with host Charlie Getter, 6:30pm, free.

Friday: City Lights 261 Columbus; www.laborfest.net, www.unionwriters.org. "Hands and Hearts: Labor and Working Class Poetry," presented as part of LaborFest, 5pm, free.

Saturday: Caffe Sempione 641 Vallejo; 362-6317. "Caffe Sempione Reading Series," with featured reader Ramu, followed by open mic, 7pm, free. Brava Theater Center 2781 24th St; 641-7657, ext 106. "Women: All Praise Givin' – We're the Reason Why You're Livin'," spoken word and open mic featuring devorah major, 9pm, $1-10. Berkeley Public Library West Branch, 1125 University; (510) 527-9905. Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading, 3pm, free.

Sunday: Cody's Books 2454 Telegraph, Berk; (510) 845-7852. "Poetry Flash!," with G.P. Skratz (with musician Andy Dinsmoor) and Summer Brenner, 7:30pm, $2.

Monday: Sweetie's Cafe and Bar 474 Francisco; sciaf@yahoo.com. Poetry open mic hosted by Susan Birkeland, 8pm, free. Priya Restaurant 2072 San Pablo, Berk; berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com. "Poetry Express," open mic hosted by Mark States, 7pm, free. Perry's Joint 1661 Fillmore; 931-5260. "Celebration of the Word," open mic hosted by Jeanne Powell, 7pm, free.