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

Disney's The Lion King Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market; 512-7770, 356-LION, www.bestofbroadway-sf.com. $26-82. Opens Thurs/29, 8pm. Runs Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Sat and June 23, 25, 28, and 30, 2pm); Sun, 3pm (starting March 21, Sun show schedule changes to 1pm and 6:30pm; no shows June 27 and July 4). Through Sept 5. This Tony-winning musical employs hundreds of masks and puppets to weave Disney's tale of a lion cub who grows into a great leader.

Seduction New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $18-28. Previews Wed/28-Fri/30, 8pm. Opens Sat/31, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; starting Feb 8, also runs Sun, 2pm. Through March 28. The New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the world premiere of Jack Heifner's erotic comedy, an all-gay adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde.

Bay Area

The Man of Destiny Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $28-40. Previews Fri/30-Sat/31 and Feb 4, 8pm; Sun/1, 2 and 7pm. Opens Feb 5, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 7. Aurora Theatre Company performs George Bernard Shaw's "comedy of egos."

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.

Broke Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750, www.themarsh.org. $15-22. Extended run: Thurs/29-Sat/31, 8pm. Writer-performer Merle Kessler, in the guise of his nationally known alter ego, cranky radio and TV commentator Ian Shoales, takes stock of the new century – the only stock, needless to say, a cash-poor dot-com dreamer can put his hands on these days – in an evening of song and shtick humorously structured as a desperate PowerPoint-enabled business pitch. There's plenty of unevenness to this nervy, nerdy material – especially around the stale subject of the rapidly receding dot-com era. But Kessler rants against the aughts with well-established charisma (not to mention an undeniable dread), and the harmonies are always solid. (Avila)

Cinghiale! Exit Stage Left, 156 Eddy; (650) 712-9850, www.ticketweb.com. $15-20. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Feb 14. Cinghiale (saying "chin golly" is close enough) is apparently Italian for wild boar. Since my knowledge of Italian comes largely from menus, I rely on Emilie Miller's idiosyncratic one-woman show for the term's proper import, at least beyond the merely zoological. I have no evidence, in other words, for the existence of cinghiale alfredo. Miller's dish seems to be sociopsychological in nature – a bold, sassy, and dangerous delicacy at that – normally closeted at the back of the mind, but here wending its way through the testimonials of a diverse group of women comprising a society of recovering boar hunters. Amid these confessions of stifled female voices finding outlet in firearms, a troubled but gifted girl named Louise tells her tale ("Hello. My name is Louis. And I hunt."), which oscillates, along with Louise's physical and mental health, between an overprotective mother and a demonic inner force (living in her closet). The piece's quirky charm comes as much from Miller's animated delivery as her intriguing theme. Sure-footed comic timing, sharp characterizations, and a clever, playful appeal go some way toward compensating for the story's choppy, slightly muddled design. (Avila)

Citizen of Trees Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa; 621-7978. $15-20. Fri/30-Sun/1, 8pm. "There are a thousand ways to escape a life." The phrase, in writer-performer Cassie Terman's solo work, sounds strangely admonitory and boastful at the same time, but then contradiction is her theme. With a frequently enthralling blend of movement, gesture, music, and monologue, Terman assumes the guises of women and men caught between competing poles of desire. At turns comical and macabre, she explores with the moody reflexes of a clown, and sly references to archetypes of Greek mythology, a life not entered as much as endlessly negotiated in the disorienting stream of time. In the bittersweet metamorphosis of a young woman into a tree (an answer to her cry for rescue from an ensuing attacker), the paradox of escape meets simple, untroubled being. Inspired by a series of disparate Action Theater-style improvisations, there's no escaping a certain desultory aspect to the piece as a whole, which makes the ending seem a little forced. But Terman is a skillful and magnetic performer, and director Allen Willner, with the aid of his lush lighting design, ably underscores her transformations with arresting shifts in tone. (Avila)

'Comedy on the Square' Shelton Theatre, 533 Sutter; 522-8900. Most shows $15. Upcoming performances include "A Celebration of Silliness," with Fred Anderson (Sun, 3 and 7pm, ongoing); "Out the Box!," with comedians Stan Stone and Jivoni Jordan (Sat/31, 10pm); "The Keith Show!," with juggler and comedian Keith Everslage (Feb 8, 8:30pm); and Oui Be Negroes in "Coal Black Urban Tales," sketch and improv comedy (starting Feb 13, runs Fri-Sat, 10pm, through Feb 28).

Cowboy Mouth Actor's Theatre, 533 Sutter; 433-7827, www.vipsf.com. $20. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 14. An unlikely couple – based on coauthors Sam Shepard and Patti Smith – are at the center of this drama. The play is performed as part of "Old Ghosts Underground Art Show," a showcase featuring theater, visual art, live music, dance, and more.

A Doll's House Geary Theater, 415 Geary; 749-2228, www.act-sf.org. $11-68. Wed/28-Sat/31 and Feb 3-7, 8pm (also Sat/31, Feb 4 and 7, 2pm); Sun/1, Feb 8, 2pm. Through Feb 8. American Conservatory Theater presents Ibsen's 1879 classic in a crisp, new translation by Paul Walsh. Nora (René Augesen) is a wife and mother increasingly stifled by her middle-class marriage to, and dependency on, the well-meaning but benighted Torvald (Stephen Caffrey). Annie Smart's set presents a gemütlich family room encircled by colorfully patterned collateral walls, like a concentric series of gift boxes, a suffocating record of Christmases past pushing outward like the rings of a tree, and a comfy bourgeois carapace smothering its occupant, Nora herself a sort of Russian doll, interiors inside of interiors. The play's journey inward is Nora's outward beyond these walls, and David Finn's lighting, as artificial at first as a toy shop, gradually grows more subdued, shadowed, and naturalistic. Ibsen's formulaic, slightly strained plotline has its limitations, and the supporting characters can hover less than satisfyingly between the play's heavy-handed melodramatic conventions and a restraint that leaves their significance ill-defined. But director Carey Perloff gets compelling performances in Augesen's formidable Nora and Caffrey's wonderfully detailed Torvald. Their confrontation in the third act, when the mask of a sham marriage falls away for good, turns Ibsen's sometimes quaintly antiromantic play into one that sounds suddenly and strikingly contemporary. (Avila)

Dooley and A Taste of Heaven New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $17-38. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 22. The New Conservatory Theatre Center presents one-act plays by Harry C. Cronin (Dooley, about homophobia in the military) and Alan Quizmorio (A Taste of Heaven, about two men who fall in love despite the confining rules of Victorian society).

The Last Sunday in June New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $18-28. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 29. The New Conservatory Theatre Center presents Jonathan Tolins's comedy about a group of gay friends who gather to watch the New York City Pride Parade.

No. 11 (Blue and White) Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason; 386-2373, www.abydostheater.org. $15-20. Thurs/29-Sat/31, 8pm. Abydos Theater presents Alexandra Cunningham's drama, set in the cliquey world of affluent, suburban high school seniors.

Noises Off Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter; 1-877-771-6900. $40-60. Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Open-ended. In Michael Frayn's popular comedy, a troupe of third-rate actors rehearse and perform a third-rate play three times. Revolving, like a typical French farce, around a multi-doored set, flying props, and the whirligig antics of a bunch of half-wit characters, this virtuosic piece of meta-theater demands absolute precision from the cast. But that's not all: with repetition being something of an obsession of Frayn's (the plot of his later play, Copenhagen, displays similar Groundhog Day tendencies), the director's challenge is to go beyond the ostinato of the action and sustain the audience's interest through every repetition. Although immaculately choreographed to milk the script's funniest moments, Richard Seyd's production often flags. As energetic as the performances are – Jane Carr is particularly adorable as daffy actress/housekeeper Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett – the lack of variety in the pace and pitch of the production sacrifices the subtleties of Frayn's work for a hectic melee of frenzied voices, flailing limbs, and flying sardines. (Veltman)

Psychos Never Dream Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia; 626-3311. $9-15 (Thurs and Feb 16, pay what you can). Thurs-Sun and Feb 16, 8pm. Through Feb 16. See Critic's Choice.

Speaking in Tongues Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor; 789-8221. $20 (Thurs, two-for-$25). Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Feb 14. Actor's Collective performs Andrew Bovell's drama – the basis for the 2001 film Lantana – about intimacy and trust in several overlapping relationships.

*Spray Theatre Rhinoceros, 2926 16th St; 861-5079. $15-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm (also Sun/1, 3pm). Through Feb 7. New York-based writer-performer Mike Albo's terrific solo show, a must-see California premiere currently running at top speed on Theatre Rhinoceros's main stage, lays into the culture of consumption with a blazing and frequently spellbinding mix of comic monologues as well as some oddly compelling dancing. Along the way, the charismatic Albo so deftly catalogs the trumped-up obsessions of mass culture he's spoofing that you worry how he's spending his down time. But Spray's whirlwind tour of needy souls and spiritual cannibals is an invigorating dip into a media-drenched fishbowl society obsessed right out of its collective mind with material gratification – coupled, of course, with projections of deep spiritual well-being, physical beauty and prowess, witheringly off-the-cuff erudition, urban savoir faire, and lots of fame. Directed by AnnaCatherine Rutledge, Spray proves that good comedy, like a good expectorant, loosens what oppresses on the inside and hurls it onto the floor, where it no longer looks like so big a deal and, in fact, is kind of gross, but leaves us with a sense of temporary relief in which we breathe a little easier. (Avila)

Strange Love Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy; 567-8211, www.ticketweb.com. $15-25. Thurs/29-Sat/31, 8pm. Perry Alley Puppet Theatre performs three musical plays that offer humorous looks at relationships. (Suitable for audiences ages 12 and up.)

Talking with Angels Actors Center of San Francisco, 3012 16th St; 389-8975, www.talkingwithangels.com. $17-25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 6. Shelley Mitchell performs her solo play, drawn from the diaries of four young women living in Nazi-occupied Hungary.

Times like These A Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida; 285-8080, www.atjt.com. $18-30. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Feb 22. (Also, Feb 26-28, 8pm; Feb 29, 2 and 7pm, Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College, Berk). A Traveling Jewish Theatre performs John O'Keefe's play about two actors, a Jewish woman and her "Aryan" husband, struggling against the rise of Nazism.

*Triptych Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, Marina at Laguna; 441-8822, www.magictheatre.org. $24-38. Extended run: Fri/30-Sat/31, 5 and 8:30pm; Sun/1, 2:30pm. On the surface, Irish novelist and playwright Edna O'Brien's Triptych is about three women in love with the same man; the three being his American wife (Julia Brothers), his teenage daughter (Tro M. Shaw), and his Irish mistress (Lise Bruneau). The object of devotion, Henry, is a famous Irish writer-playwright living in New York City, brilliant and suave, with graying temples and expensive shoes. That's what we're told about him, anyway. And as we never see him, there's no reason not to form a picture of the consummate lady-killer. What we do see, in director Paul Whitworth's engaging world premiere presented by the Magic Theatre, unfolds as part domestic drama, part poetical allegory, and part postmodern psychoanalysis. In addition to being darkly passionate, O'Brien's work is playful, and in more than one sense: it's witty, brimming with literary allusion, and, not least, built so as to call into question the very meaning of the play itself. (Avila)

'Women on the Way Festival' Venue 9, 252 Ninth St; 289-2000, www.venue9.com. $15-20. Thurs/29-Sun/1, 8pm. Programs vary each night; check Web site for schedule. The fourth annual Women on the Way Festival features nine productions by women artists, performed in a variety of programming combinations over 12 days. The combination of the Elsewhere Troupe's multimedia work Without Ourselves, 5 Verses on Digital Identity; Rebecca Pappas's contrasting dance pieces Aqua and Doorjam; and Dance Elixir's three-movement work L'heure verte gives a strong taste of the energy and variety of this year's festival. Choreographer Leyya Tawil's long-limbed and voluptuous L'heure verte, inspired by the emerald liquor absinthe, and Doorjam, a rambunctious and cheeky portrayal of two teenage girls fawning over a ukulele-strumming crooner, are engagingly danced as well as vividly costumed and staged. With its arresting visuals and gently sinister vocals, Without Ourselves also delivers some sublime moments, but this overlong, repetitive, and static representation of a 21st-century technophobic nightmare could use a trip to the cutting room. (Veltman)

Bay Area

Helen of Troy (Revised) Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; (510) 649-5999, www.aeofberkeley.org. $10. Fri-Sat and Feb 19, 8pm. Through Feb 21. Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performs Wolfgang Hildesheimer's comedy that gets the real story of Helen of Troy from Helen herself.

The Last Schwartz Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; (415) 388-5208, www.marintheatre.org. $28-45 (Tues, pay what you can). Tues and Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also Thurs/29, 1pm; Feb 7, 2pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Feb 8. See "End of the Line," page tk.

Memphis Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; (650) 903-6000, www.theatreworks.org. $20-48. Tues, 7:30pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm; no 2pm show Feb 14); Sun, 2 and 7pm (no 7pm shows Feb 8, 15). Through Feb 15. TheatreWorks and North Shore Music Theatre present the world premiere of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan's new musical about a pioneering white radio DJ (based on real-life Memphis jock Dewey Phillips) who brings rock 'n' roll to the airwaves.

Yellowman Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; (510) 647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org. $10-55. Opens Wed/28, 8pm. Runs Tues and Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also Sat/31, Feb 5, 7, 14, 19, 28, and March 4, 2pm; no show Feb 6); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm). Through March 7. Berkeley Rep performs Dael Orlandersmith's exploration of the racial tensions that arise between an African American couple.

dance

Dimensions Dance Theater Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard; 978-ARTS, www.yerbabuenaarts.org. Sun, 3pm. $25-35. See 8 Days a Week, page tk.

Erika Shuch Performance Project, Leslie Seiters 848 Community Space, 848 Divisadero; 922-2385, 848@848.com. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. $10-15 (no one turned away for lack of funds). This shared evening of new works in progress includes All You Need, by Erika Schuch Performance Project, and the way to disappear, by Leslie Seiters.

Flyaway Productions Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; 345-7575, www.ticketweb.com. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. $20. Flyaway Productions' hour-long Grim Arithmetic of Water is a brave new enterprise in which Jo Kreiter, one of the most activist dancers in the Bay Area, takes on the big one: the rapid depletion of the one resource without which we cannot exist, water. In a series of largely independent episodes, she tries to illuminate the subject from different perspectives. At its best, Arithmetic has a meditative quality to it, but much of the choreography could use an injection of complexity. Too often it looks thin. Kreiter does use trapezes and apparatus but not in particularly fresh ways. However, her choice of collaborators was inspired; David Fredrickson's elegant and pristine steel constructions gleam in Mathew Antaky's brilliantly designed lighting. Jewlia Eisenberg's multihued and nuanced score draws its inspiration straight out of the human body and redefines what the voice can do. The dancers are Aimee Lam, Damara Ganley, Anje Marshall, Kim Reis, Tam Welch, and Courtney Moreno. (Felciano)

San Francisco Ballet War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness; 865-2000, www.sfballet.org. Opening-night gala: Wed/28, 8pm. Program One: Tues/3, Feb 6, 12, and 14, 8pm (also Feb 14, 2pm); Feb 4, 7:30pm; Feb 8, 2pm. $8-132. Program One is the encore presentation of the full-length Don Quixote, with original choreography by Marius Petipa and additional choreography and staging by Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov.

Bay Area

'Dance IS Festival' Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College, Berk; (925) 798-1300, www.juliamorgan.org. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. $10-15. A wide variety of companies partipate in this three-day festival, which revolves around a different theme each day: "Dance IS Movement" (Fri); "Dance IS Story" (Sat); and "Dance IS Social Change" (Sun).

Dance Theatre of Harlem Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft at Telegraph, UC Berkeley, Berk; (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm). $32-52. The company performs Michael Smuin's 2003 St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet; Sir Frederic Ashton's 1971 "Meditation," from Thaïs; and Balanchine's 1970 Concerto Barocco.

Maharlika Cultural Troupe Calvin Simmons Theatre, 10 Tenth St, Oakl; 1-877-366-7348, www.danceforpower.org. Thurs, 10:30am. $8-10. Dance for Power hosts 20 dancers from the company in a performance of music and dance from the Phillipines.

performance

'Around the World' Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750, www.themarsh.org. Mon, 8pm. $7. See 8 Days a Week, page tk.

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; www.batsimprov.com. $12. This week: "Spontaneous Broadway" (Fri, 8pm) and "Rock n' Roll Theatresports" (Sat, 8pm).

'Behind Every Terrorist – There Is a Bush' Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness; 392-4400, www.cityboxoffice.com, www.deceptiondollar.com. Sun, 7pm. $9-22. (Also Mon, 7pm, Gunn High School, Spangenberg Theatre, 780 Arastradero, Palo Alto). See 8 Days a Week, page tk.

'CAFE Presents' Off-Market Theater (and Studio), 965 Mission; 896-6477, www.cafearts.com. $10. This week: "Stories of San Francisco," monologues and short stories by Vonn Scott Bair, with films by Ezra Chowaki and Rebecca Salzer Dance Theater (Fri-Sat, 8pm).

'Chicken' Spanganga, 3376 19th St; 821-1102, www.spanganga.com. Fri, 8pm. $10. David Henry Sterry performs his solo play, subtitled Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent.

'Cinderella Waltz' Mission Recreation Center, Auditorium, 745 Treat; 337-4713, www.sffct.org. Thurs-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 1pm. Free. San Francisco Free Civic Theatre performs Don Nigro's fractured "fairy tale for adults."

'Figs Part One' Goat Hall, 400 Missouri; 864-6123. Fri-Sat, 8pm. $10. Vile Jelly Puppet Theatre performs an original puppet opera with chamber orchestra, based on Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.

'Flash Family!' Blue Bear Performance Hall, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, second fl, Marina at Laguna; 885-5678. Sat, 8:30pm. $7-14. The improv theater company performs.

'The New Americans' Zeum, Fourth St at Mission; 749-2228, www.act-sfbay.org. Fri-Sun, 8pm (also Sun, 2pm). $7-10. American Conservatory Theater's "First Look" series, featuring workshop productions of new plays, hosts performances of Cindy Lou Johnson's gold rush-era drama.

'Poets' Theater Jamboree' California College of the Arts, Timken Lecture Hall, 1111 Eighth St; www.sptraffic.org. Fri, 7:30pm. $10. Small Press Traffic presents a series of plays featuring poets as playwrights, directors, producers, and actors; this week's participants include Drew Cushing, Bill Luoma, Dawn Lundy Martin, K. Silem Mohammad, Erin Wilson and Jean Lieske, and Ronaldo V. Wilson.

'Political Play Reading Series' Phoenix Theatre, 424 Mason; 820-1460. Wed, 7pm. Through Jan 28. Free. Second Wind Productions presents this series, which wraps up this week with Hanoch Levin's Murder.

'Va Va Voom Room' Plush Room, York Hotel, 940 Sutter; 885-2800, www.vavavoomroom.com. Fri, 10:30pm. Through Feb 27. $20. The New York City-based ensemble performs a burlesque and vaudeville cabaret.

Bay Area

'Bay Attention Part 2' Oakland Box, 1928 Telegraph, Oakl; (510) 290-2277, (510) 430-9388. Fri, 8pm. $7. Local youths are spotlighted at this production of the Oakland Box Theater Youth Advisory Commission; performers include Aphasiatiks, Delinquent Monestary, Attik, DJ Treat-U-Nice, DJ Drewski, the Oakland Breakers, graffiti artists, and others.

'Sleep Here' 21 Grand, 449B 23rd St, Oakl; (510) 444-7263. Sat-Sun, 9pm. $7-10. Interdisciplinary performance ensemble Human Sewing Machine presents an installation piece that examines sleep in modern society through still photographs, video, spoken word, and dance theater.

comedy

Bazaar Cafe 5927 California; 831-5620. Tues, 8pm: "Doug Ferrari and Friends," stand-up comedy, free.

Cafe Sapore 790 Lombard; 1-877-835-2844. Fri, 8pm: San Francisco Comedy College show, $10.

Climate Theatre 285 Ninth St; 863-1076. Mon, 8pm: "Monday Night Improv Jam," presented by the San Francisco Improv Co-Operative, $5.

Cobb's Comedy Club 915 Columbus; 928-4320, www.cobbscomedy.com. Wed, 8pm: "All-Pro Comedy Showcase," $7. Thurs-Sat, 8pm: Harlan Williams, $20-25. Sun, 8pm: "SF Sketchfest" (see listing below), $17.

Java Beach 1396 La Playa; 665-5282. Wed, 8pm: "Doug Ferrari and Friends," stand-up comedy, free.

Punch Line 444 Battery; www.punchlinecomedyclub.com. Wed-Sat, 9pm (also Fri-Sat, 11pm): Scott Capurro, $10-15. Mon, 9pm: "Joe Klocek's Get It?!," $5. Feb 3-7, 9pm (also Feb 6 and 7, 11pm): Johnny Steele, $10-15.

'S.F. Sketchfest' Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson; and Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Columbus; 1-866-468-3399, www.sfsketchfest.com. This week at Eureka Theatre: "Film Night": Cow Monkey (Wed, 8pm, $8); I Will Not Apologize and Totally False People (Thurs, 8pm, $15); Slovin and Allen and Totally False People (Fri, 8pm, $17); Slovin and Allen and I Will Not Apologize (Fri, 10:30pm, $17); Slovin and Allen and Respecto Montalban (Sat, 8pm, $17); Slovin and Allen, and Price and Nash (Sat, 10:30pm, $17). At Cobb's: "Closing Night Cabaret," with Kasper Hauser, the Meehan Brothers, Price and Nash, Respecto Montalban, Totally False People, and host Joe Klocek (Sun, 8pm, $17).

Shelton Theater 533 Sutter; 433-3040, www.mantasticks.com. Wed-Sat, 10pm (also Wed-Thurs, 8pm): Chicago sketch comedy group the Mantasticks perform, $20.

Uptown 200 Capp; 355-9932. Wed, 8:30pm: "Uptown Comedy Open Mic," with host Eric Peterson, free.

Bay Area

Glenview Performing Arts Center 1318 Glenfield, Oakl; (510) 531-0511, www.theoaklandplayhouse.com. Sat, 8pm (ongoing, every last Saturday of the month): Oakland Playhouse Improv Troupe performs, $15.

'Oh That Sit Was Funny' Comedy Club 380 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl; (510) 228-7038. Thurs, 9pm: Dijon hosts featured performer Spencer, $10. Tues, 9pm: "Dijon's Comedy Corner," $10.

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, S.F.; (415) 440-5530. "Spoken Word Salon," with host Diamond Dave Whitaker, 8pm, free. Canvas Cafe 1200 Ninth Ave, S.F.; (415) 504-0060, mike@westcoastvideo.net. "Open Mic Talent Showcase," 7:30pm, free.

Thursday: Coppa D'Oro Cafe 3166 24th St, S.F.; (415) 826-8003. "Poetry on the Patio," spoken word and acoustic music open mic with host Charlie Getter, 6:30pm, free. Hotel Cosmo 761 Post, S.F.; www.artworksf.com. "Poetry (and More) at the Cosmo," with hosts Jeanne Powell and Philip T. Nails; this week, journal release party for Little Elegy zine, hosted by Colleen Marlow, 6pm, $3. Mediterranean Cafe 2475 Telegraph, Berk; (510) 526-5985. "Word Beat Reading Series," with featured readers Charles Curtis Blackwell and Mark G., followed by open mic, 7pm, free.

Sunday: Cody's Books 2454 Telegraph, Berk; (510) 845-7852. "Poetry Flash," with David Biespiel and Thom Gunn, 7:30pm, $2. Cafe Prague 584 Pacific, S.F.; (415) 433-3811. Mark Schwartz hosts featured reader Louis Cuneo, plus open mic, 4pm, free.

Monday: Priya Indian Cuisine 2072 San Pablo, Berk; berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com. "Poetry Express," with open mic hosted by Mark States and featured readers Nance Wogan and Jim Barnard, 7pm, free. Pegasus Books 2349 Shattuck, Berk; (510) 649-1320. "The Last Word" with poets Mark States and Paradise, 7pm, free.