Opening

Sore Throats Last Planet Theatre, 351 Turk; 440-3505, www.lastplanettheatre.com. $10-18. Previews Thurs/28, 8pm. Opens Fri/29-Sat/30, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Aug 21. Last Planet Theatre performs Howard Brenton's subversive black comedy.

Bay Area

Oh My Godmother! Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High, Alameda; (510) 523-1553. $15-18. Opens Fri/29, call for time and performance schedule. Through Aug 14. Altarena Playhouse presents Ron Lytle's new musical, a Cinderella-inspired tale about a lovestruck gay teen.

Ongoing

Art SF Playhouse, 536 Sutter; 677-9596, www.ticketweb.com. $30. Extended run: Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm). Through Sept 3. SF Playhouse closes its second season with playwright Yasmina Reza's sniping comedy about friendship. Old pals Serge (SF Playhouse artistic director Bill English) and Marc (Louis Parnell) start an escalating argument over the value of Serge's new prized possession, a $57,000 modern-art painting that looks very much like a medium-size white canvas. When third musketeer Yvon (Keith Burkland) tries to act as peacemaker, the others read his conciliatory demeanor as typical spinelessness, and attack him. Sorting out what matters from what doesn't ends up being equally important in art and in life, which gets to the metaphorical nature of Reza's moral. Much of the power of Reza's play comes from the opportunities it affords the actors in conveying the tangle of tensions in the room. To this end, director Robin Stanton's cast knows what the play's about. Burkland's alternately admirable and pathetic Yvon has us seeing as many colors as Serge claims for his canvas. English, meanwhile, nicely shades Serge's amusing pretentiousness with a subtle, manic energy and simmering rage, and Parnell's Marc, having fancied himself "mentor" to Serge, expertly suggests a deeply wounded ego as he moves from sympathetic frailty to brutish megalomania and back. (Avila)

Blood Bucket Ballyhoo Hypnodrome, 575 Tenth St; 248-1900, www.hypnodrome.com. $18-69. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. Life is a macabre array, old chum, judging by the one-act comedy-thrillers brought together in Thrillpeddlers' summer shock show. Co-producer Russell Blackwood directs a game cast in a revue of side-show horror and kink that begins with Rob Keefe's Lips of the Damned (key terms include rats, poison gas, adultery, and guillotine fetish); followed by Eddie Muller's adaptation of the 1930 thriller The Drug, which opens an eye on a Saigon opium den; and finally pulls out all the stops (via electromagnetism) with Keefe's campy and especially satisfying A Slight Tingling, a piece combining preposterous medical flummery, haunted-house high jinks, and the worst excesses of 1950s sci-fi movies. Done up in semi-rigged surroundings with fervidly hokey fidelity to the Grand Guignol style (named for the famed Paris theater that staged impresario Oscar Méténier's gory "slice of death" melodramas when George A. Romero was just a red vein in his father's eye), Blood Bucket Ballyhoo is a platelet-heavy triplet of tawdry but tantalizing amusements. (Avila)

*A Boy and His Soul Thick House, 1695 18th St; 401-8081, www.thickdescription.org. $15-25. Thurs/28-Sat/30, 8pm; Sun/31, 5pm. Colman Domingo confesses he was a nerd growing up in West Philly, in youthful rebellion against the soul music cherished by his parents and his older brother and sister – that is, until he finally succumbed one night via live contact with some essential elements known as Earth, Wind, and Fire. What's character without soul, anyway? No longer nerdish, but rather a charismatic and able actor well known to Bay Area audiences (most recently as a spot-on Willie Brown, among various other characters, in The People's Temple), today Domingo can truthfully say, "My soul music is my life." And in the course of his sharp and infectious one-man show, A Boy and His Soul, we come to know just what he means. The premise of this music-laden memoir, directed by Thick Description's Tony Kelly in a New York-bound world premiere, is simple but supple: When the actor's parents put their old Philadelphia home up for sale, he travels out from New York to help get the place in order, discovering in the basement a discarded set of soul albums. The find mixes nostalgia with uneasy perplexity – how could his parents have given up such great music, and so great a part of the past they all shared? As he looks back on his teenage years – especially the affecting and humorous story of coming out to each member of his family – the intertwining themes of music and family grow even tighter. (Avila)

Confessions of a Dope Dealer Climate Theater, 285 Ninth St; (765) 215-1824. $15-20. Fri/29-Sun/31, 8pm. Sheldon Norberg presents his autobiographical show, drawn from drug-related experiences good, bad, and ugly.

Crowns Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter; 771-6900, www.ticketmaster.com. $25-60. Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Aug 21. Peninsula company TheatreWorks brings its hit production of Regina Taylor's musical – a celebration of African American women and their church hats – to San Francisco.

Doing Good This week: Presentation Theater, 2350 Turk; (415) 285-1717, www.sfmt.org. Free. Wed/27-Thurs/28, 8pm. Also: Mosswood Park, MacArthur at Broadway, Oakl. Sat/30, 2pm. Also: Yerba Buena Gardens, Fourth St at Mission, SF. Sun/31, 2pm. Same phone and price. Continues at various Bay Area venues through Oct 2. The San Francisco Mime Troupe performs its annual traveling show; this year's play is set against the backdrop of post-World War II US foreign policy, and is inspired by John Perkins's Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

Drunk With Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $15-28. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Aug 14. The legendary nightclub singer is celebrated by Terese Genecco in this show, part of the New Conservatory Theatre Center's In Concert series.

The Elephant Man Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter; 433-1226, www.jeanshelton.com. $25-30. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 20. Shelton Theater presents Bernard Pomerance's play about the life of John Merrick.

Goin' Dot Com! Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson; www.goindotcom.com. $30. Wed-Sat, 7:30pm. Through Aug 9. The high-tech boom years are recalled in this comedic musical.

Golda's Balcony Geary Theater, 415 Geary; 749-2ACT, www.act-sf.org. $18-69. Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Wed and Sat, 4pm); Sun, 3 and 7pm. Through Aug 13. Tovah Feldshuh stars in William Gibson's portrait of Golda Meir.

The Golden Hammer: Wounds, Booze, and Forgotten Misconduct Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 1-800-838-3006, www.themarsh.org. $15-22. Sat/30, 8pm; Sun/31, 7pm. Who knows what he's like in court, but on stage solo performer and attorney Mark McGoldrick wins over his audience with unpretentious charm and quiet intelligence. His latest monologue weaves together three stories revolving around questions of justice and child sexual abuse, coming across so solidly in director David Ford's serenely unfussy staging that its subtleties register only slowly. The central tale involves his own rocky youth in the suburban desert of Arizona, where as a naïve teen he worked as "grease monkey" in an auto body shop whose owner-operator later faced charges of serial molestation. McGoldrick inter-cuts this with an account of a child molestation case he handled as an Oakland public defender, and another (extra-judicial) case he reluctantly stepped into on behalf of a World War II vet he meets on a rafting trip. With ready humor and relaxed bonhomie he regales and unsettles us with the personal, professional, and ethical conundrums that arise, while ultimately eschewing any pat response. Memory remains fallible and vulnerable, and justice is equally elusive. No doubt it's sometimes a relief for an attorney and his audience to be allowed to walk away with only a productive set of reflections. (Avila)

The Gondoliers Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission; 978-2787. $10-44. Thurs/28-Sat/30, 8pm (also Sat/30, 2pm); Sun/31, 2pm. Also: Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; (925) 943-7469. Aug 4-6, 8pm (also Aug 6, 2pm). Same price. Lamplighters of San Francisco performs the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

*Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 620 Sutter; 474-8800, www.ticketweb.com. $27-32. Wed/27-Sat/30, 8pm; Sun/31, 2pm. In this summer's second brilliant revival of a 1994 queer theater crossover hit (the other being Medea: The Musical at the Rhino), Make It So Productions and the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre present actor-director Matthew Martin's very funny spoof of the 1964 Bette Davis Southern gothic murder mystery, Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Martin's deadpan Davis is dead-on, and as indisputably supreme as ever, in this tale of a cracked Southern belle living in a condemned mansion under a cloud of suspicion, following the death of her lover many years before. Joining Martin at the head of an engaging cast is international drag superstar Varla Jean Merman (a.k.a. Jeffrey Roberson), playing the Olivia de Havilland role of sinister-sweet cousin Miriam, a deft and hilarious turn that does full-figured justice to a canny production (the role passes to Arturo Galster after June 26). Meticulously staged (with shrewd use of the original soundtrack and some choice sound cues in a generally faithful rendering of the movie's plot), the show nicely combines all the lazy comfort of a late-night TV discovery with camp's arch stylizing of Hollywood style into a kind of laid-back American kabuki of comedy. (Avila)

Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train Fellowship Theater Guild, 2041 Larkin; 776-4910, www.fellowshipsf.org. $18-20. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Aug 7 and 14, 2:30 and 7pm. Through Aug 20. Fellowship Theater Guild presents Stephen Adly Gurigis's drama about about conflicting perceptions of good and evil, set on Riker's Island.

Liberties Taken Brava Theatre Center, 2789 24th St; www.rococorisque.com. $15-20. Fri/29-Sat/30, 8pm. A smarmy and vaguely sinister PR-pusher named Herbert Kerbers (Erik Pearson) and New York harbor's own Francophone, Lady Liberty (Joyful Simpson), in fishnet stockings, stand before an obscenely sized transmitter tower as master and mistress of ceremonies, respectively, in Rococo Risqué's mock USO show, a fast-paced agitprop cabaret. Complete with 1940s-style musical accompaniment by a capable seven-piece band and a tribute-cum-striptease to the ridiculous color-coded terror alert system by the lithesome Code Alert Dancers, the show's through-line has Lady Liberty eventually endangered by the very forces purporting to champion her. A sharp 12-person cast, meanwhile, careens from one satirical sketch to another. If the jokes lean to the familiar, some bits still work very well (a meeting of the UN Security Council is a howl) and the energetic mix of political conviction and high irreverence makes agreeably shameless sport of the sacred two-headed cow of consumerism and militarism, grown by now quite mad on the rendered meat of corporate-owned one-party democracy. (Avila)

Los Big Names Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; 441-8822, www.magictheatre.org. $20-38. Wed-Fri, 8:30pm; Sat, 6 and 9pm; Sun, 3 and 7pm. Through Aug 21. See "I Am My Own Cast."

*Not a Genuine Black Man Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750. $15-22. Extended run: Thurs-Fri, 8:30pm; Sat, 5pm. Through Aug 27. What, the unapologetically middle-class Brian Copeland asks, is the real meaning behind the phrase "a genuine black man"? By way of an answer, the stand-up comic and KGO radio host offers up a simultaneously funny and disarmingly frank story about growing up African American in the racist suburb that was San Leandro in the early 1970s. Letting his narrative bounce back and forth between his boyhood memories and a period of depression that overtook him as a parent in 1999 – and interlacing the autobiography with verbatim utterances from both sides of the fight his family joined to desegregate the city – Copeland brings admirable chops as a comedian to bear on some difficult and disturbing, if ultimately hopeful, material. (Avila)

*The Tribute to Frank, Sammy, Joey, and Dean Post Street Theatre, 450 Post; 771-6900, www.ticketmaster.com. $30-60. Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); Sun, 3 and 7pm. Through Aug 7. You know you've made it when God is your warm-up act. And while it may be little more than a convenient, tossed-off premise, God (voice of the late Buddy Hackett) recalling the Rat Pack from their heavenly lounge to play one last gig has about the right ring of latter-day hokeyness and chutzpah to it. If it sounds cheesy, as soon as the sizzling band strikes up the first tune and Frank (Tom Tiratto), Sammy (Louie Velez), and Dino (Andy DiMino) belt out a flawless "Where or When," you realize it's also very much the real deal. The brainchild of Hackett's son Sandy (who, in addition to writing and directing, holds his own alongside veteran performer-impersonators as an excellent Joey Bishop), The Tribute infectiously recreates those storied Las Vegas evenings of the early 1960s when Sinatra, Davis, Martin, and dead-pan comedian Bishop (who, incidentally, dwells not in heaven but in Santa Monica) sang, joked, horsed around, boozed up, and caroused, while making their audience feel like they were partying with the Rat Pack. Notwithstanding a certain concession to the session (toning down the decidedly off-color humor and raunch of an earlier era), this is hep history come alive. (Avila)

Regretrosexual Phoenix Theater, 414 Mason, Sixth Fl; 820-1457, www.regretrosexual.com. $20. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 27. Comedian Dan Rothenberg performs his autobiographical show about the complexities of romance.

Slow Falling Bird Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor; 675-5995, www.crowdedfire.org. $18-30 (previews, pay what you can). Previews Thurs/28-Fri/29, 8pm. Opens Sat/30, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 20. Crowded Fire Theater Company performs the world premiere of Christine Evans' surreal look at refugees and guards in Australia's immigrant detention camps.

Stomp Golden Gate Theatre, One Taylor; 512-7770, www.ticketmaster.com. $35-55. Wed-Thurs, 8pm; Fri, 6 and 10pm; Sat, 5 and 9pm; Sun, 3 and 7pm. Through Aug 7. The "international percussion sensation" returns.

What Mama Said About 'Down There' Our Little Theater, 287 Ellis; 921-8234, www.celebrateclitoris.com. $15-20. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 29. Sia Amma performs her multicharacter solo show about sexuality and communication between mothers and daughters.

*What You Will (or 12th Night) Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida; 1-866-GOT-FURY. $12-30. Extended run: Thurs/28-Sat/30, 8pm. Director Rod Hipskind's truncated title for foolsFURY's freewheeling take on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will, already points to a unique angle on Shakespeare's zany, somewhat sinister comedy. His vision rides the play's strong undercurrent of contingency, chaos, and sexual ambiguity (all of that and more folded into the original subtitle) to a logical extreme. This includes compounding the play's gender confusion by casting women in two traditionally male roles - the jaded fool Feste (played as female by Davina Cohen), and loudmouth souse Sir Toby Belch (played in male drag by Parker Leventer). There's also a notable amount of improvisation incorporated into an otherwise sharply choreographed representation of volatile desire. The play's intertwining narratives pivot on the story of shipwrecked twin siblings Sebastian (Ryan O'Donnell) and Viola (Csilla Horvath). Separated during a storm at sea, they wind up entangled in the lovesick stratagems and mischievous schemes of Illyria's fairly demented coastal kingdom. At its best, What You Will beautifully meshes the sublime poetry and comedy of the text with bold staging and ebullient but precise performances that draw on the stylized physical theater foolsFURY has used to great effect. (Avila)

*Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Actors Theatre San Francisco, 533 Sutter; 296-9179, www.ticketweb.com. $10-40. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Sept 10. The American Dream is a nightmare from which playwright Edward Albee has been trying to wake us all. Four decades before The Goat began pushing past everybody's comfort zones, Albee's most famous play scathingly unmasked the shallow optimism and propriety of the 1950s with a little game of "get the guests." In this domestic, if hardly domesticated, scenario – proving as vital as ever in Actors Theatre's taut and terrific production – a young biologist (Daniel Hart Donoghue) and his repressed wife (Tara Donoghue) accept a late-night invitation to drinks at the home of a middle-aged couple, George (Christian Phillips) and Martha (Julia McNeal), unwittingly stepping into a marital battle zone of Cold War proportions. Set at a small New England college in "New Carthage," and written the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the willful explosion of private lives in a seemingly staid academic home comes freighted with "public" viciousness stretching back centuries. Characters so drunk and yet so wonderfully, savagely articulate, however, don't produce tragedy so much as what Albee himself called "grotesque comedy," while keen direction from Keith Phillips and Kenneth Vandenberg and four perfectly pitched performances play it to the hilt. (Avila)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Next Stage Theater, 1620 Gough; (650) 326-0656, www.mysticbison.com. $10-30. Thurs-Sat, 7:30pm. Through Aug 13. Mystic Bison Theatre and Dance performs Edward Albee's enduring classic, featuring a multicultural cast.

Whoop-Dee-Doo! New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $20-32. Extended run: Fri-Sat and Aug 10-11, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Aug 14. New Conservatory Theatre Center's Pride Season Ten presents the musical prequel to When Pigs Fly.

Bay Area

Dostoevesky's The Grand Inquisitor Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; (510) 558-1381, www.centralworks.org. $9-25. Thurs/28-Sat/30, 8pm; Sun/31, 5pm. Central Works presents Gary Graves's adaptation of the story-within-a-story from the Brothers Karamazov. The play is set during the height of the Spanish Inquisition in the chamber of the Grand Inquisitor, the most powerful man in Spain, whose executioner would "put the question" to the king if the Inquisition demanded it. Graves stars as the Inquisitor, delivering a complex portrayal of a sinister and world-weary man on the brink of insanity. David Skillman stars opposite him, transitioning easily through four different characters in the series of dialogues that make up this intimate and haunting production. (Shalson)

Harold and Maude: An Intimate Musical Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield, Palo Alto; (650) 903-6000, www.theatreworks.org. $20-52. Tues, 7:30pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Aug 14. TheatreWorks performs the West Coast premiere of the musical based on the darkly comic 1971 film.

Killing My Lobster and the Wonderful World of Science New venue: Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; (415) 558-7721, www.killingmylobster.com. $12-17. Extended run: Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 7:30 and 10pm (Aug 6, show at 8pm); Sun, 7pm. Through Aug 6. Killing My Lobster tackles, tickles, helps up, then groin-kicks the world of science in this latest offering by the San Francisco-based sketch comedy troupe. By some accounts science is already down too, at least in the so-called "cultural" sphere, where creationists and intelligent-designers appear to be reproducing faster than Darwin's finches. Whether or not this situation signals an imminent Second Coming, it's certainly a comedy godsend, taken fine advantage of by performers Melanie Case, Liisa Ingimundson, Daniel Lee, Nick Olivero, Nicole Socia, and Corbett Trubey – under the capable direction of Paul Charney – in scenes spoofing science class, science dating, science writing, and science nay-saying in Kansas and elsewhere. A clever musical finale ends leaves the evening on a high note, though too often the sketches begin with a strong idea only to end in a fizzle. The nimble performances can't fail to charm, however, and come enmeshed in KML's typically impressive production values, including set designer Erik Flatmo's bold eye candy, live musical transitions and sound effects, and a nice bit of planetarium-style pseudo-documentary on the origins of human knowledge, among other amusing audio-visuals. (Avila)

The Knight of the Burning Pestle Forest Meadows Amphitheater, Grand Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael; (415) 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $15-26. Sat/30, Aug 5, 7, and 13, 8pm; Sun/31 and Aug 14, 4pm. Through Aug 14. Marin Shakespeare Company performs this musical farce loosely based on Don Quixote.

Livin' Fat Historic Sweets Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakl; (510) 233-9222. $12.50-35. Fri/29-Sat/30, 8pm (also Sat/30, 2pm). Omega 'N' Essence Productions, Inc. presents Judi Ann Mason's comedy about an African American family "struggling over a financial blessing."

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, 100 Gateway, Orinda; (510) 548-9666, www.calshakes.org. $10-55. Part One: Tues-Thurs, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Aug 6, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through Aug 7. Part Two: Previews Aug 17-19, 8pm. Opens Aug 20, 8pm. Runs Tues-Thurs, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sept 3, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 11. "Marathons": Sept 10, 17-18, 3 and 8pm. "Rep week": Part One, Sept 13 and 15, 7:30pm; Part Two, Sept 14, 7:30pm and Sept 16, 8pm. See "I Am My Own Cast."

Of Mice and Men Belrose Dinner Theatre, 1415 Fifth Ave, San Rafael; (415) 454-6422. $25 ($37.50 with dinner). Fri/29-Sat/30, 7:45pm (optional dinner at 7:15pm). Belrose Dinner Theatre performs John Steinbeck's classic American drama.

Richard III This week: Memorial Park, 24176 Mission, Hayward; (510) 420-0813, www.womanswill.org. Free. Sat/30, 6pm. Also: Centennial Park, adjacent to 5353 Sunol, Pleasanton. Sat/30, 6pm. Also: Rengstorff House, 3070 N. Shoreline, Mtn View. Sun/31, 1pm. Same phone and price. Continues at various Bay Area venues through Aug 14. Woman's Will performs an all-female version of Shakespeare's historical drama.

*The Thousandth Night Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $28-45. Extended run: Wed/27-Sat/30, 8pm; Sun/31, 2pm. Solo performer extraordinaire Ron Campbell (Buckminster Fuller; The Bone Man of Benares) closes Aurora Theatre's season with the Bay Area premiere of this 38-character, one-man show. Set in 1943 in occupied France, Campbell plays Guy de Bonheur, a fictional actor from the historical Café Scheherazade in Paris, who performs stories from The 1001 Nights for French gendarmes at a railway station in a desperate attempt to escape deportation to a German concentration camp as a purveyor of "subversive" material. Without his fellow actors, Guy (teetering between panic, exhaustion, a guilty conscience, and a formidable ebullient professionalism) must play all the parts himself. Since playwright-historian Carol Wolf wrote The Thousandth Night especially for the protean actor, original collaborator Jessica Kubzansky again directs, and Campbell has Aurora's intimate thrust stage and expert design team to work with, one

might expect this to be a perfect vehicle for the accomplished soloist. Of course, one would be right. But the 1993 play is timely too. As Guy's story and stories resonate with our own, we recognize both the folly and last hope for a man who, faced with encroaching tyranny, found it "so easy to do nothing; so easy to be afraid." (Avila)

Two Gentlemen of Verona Forest Meadows Amphitheater, Grand Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael; (415) 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $15-26. Fri/29, Sun/31, Aug 6, 12, and 14, 8pm; Aug 7, 4pm. Through Aug 14. Marin Shakespeare Company performs the Bard's classic with a Fellini-inspired twist.

The Ugly American Berkeley Rep's Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; (510) 647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org. $15-35. Wed and Sun, 7pm (no show Wed/27); Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 13. Workshop performance of Mike Daisey's Monopoly, Aug 14, 7pm, $5. Mike Daisey performs his solo show about an exchange student's misadventures in London.

dance

'West Wave Dance Festival' ODC Theater, 3153 17th St; 863-9834, www.summerfestdance.org. Program Eight: Thurs-Fri, 8pm. Program Nine: Sat-Sun, 8pm. $18-20 (festival passes $16-100). The 14th annual festival closes with world premieres by Alma Esperanza Cunningham Movement, Randee Paufve, EmSpace Dance, Nancy Karp + Dancers, and more.

Bay Area

'Tandem' Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; (925) 943-SHOW, www.dlrca.org. Fri, 7:30pm. $59. Moving Arts Dance performs with jazz guitarist Craig Chaquico at this "Hearts for the Arts" benefit for children's arts programs.

performance

'ARTSummer Family Open House' School of the Arts, 555 Portola Dr.; 551-7990, www.sfartsed.org. Fri, 12:30-6pm, free. Celebrate 40 years of the San Francisco Arts Education Project. Young theater players perform How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at 3pm and 6pm.

'The Banana Fairy, Ang Mutya ng Saging' Bindlestiff Studio, 505 Natoma; 255-0440, www.bindlestiffstudio.org. Thurs-Sat, 8-10pm, $8-10. Revival Arts Productions performs Playwright Leoncio Deriada's play.

'Bay Area Playwrights Festival' Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; 283-2986, www.playwrightsfoundation.org. $12-15. Through Aug 7. Fri, 8pm: "Bleed Rail." Sat, noon: "Lamb and Jelly." Sat, 4pm: "Water Stories From the Movave Dessert." Sat, 8pm: "Stars Fell All Night." Sun, noon: "Bash!" Sun, 2:30pm: "Bash!" Sun, 4pm: "Green Girl." Sun, 8pm: "Emophiliacs." Mon, 8pm: "Braided Sorrow."

'The Ever After' Potrero Hill Neighborhood Playhouse, 953 DeHaro; (650) 533-6205, lmsp@latimerlo.com. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. $15-20. Through Aug 7. Alexis Johansing, Brittany Madson, and others perform playwright Gina Latimerlo's modern take on fairytale endings.

'Faultline Festival' New College of California, 777 Valencia; www.newcollege.edu. Wed-Tues, 7pm. $5-15. Through Aug 14. BA and MA graduates of the Experimental Performance Institute at New College perform their works.

Guillermo Gómez-Peña Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia; 626-2787, www.theintersection.org. Sat, 7:30pm. $5-15. The preformance artist reads from his new book Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy and guest Rhodessa Jones performs.

'Homo sapiens Today, with Sir Kensington Longbottom' Dark Room, 2263 Mission; 401-7987, www.darkroomsf.com. Wed-Thurs, 8pm; Fri-Sat, 10pm. $10-15. Frank Turco performs his show about an anthropologist filming a TV show on Homo sapien life.

'Karma' El Rio, 3158 Mission; www.elriosf.com. Sat, 8pm. $8. MC Nafis hosts a queer and trans cabaret featuring performances by Hanifa Walidah, Sistas in the Pit, Nappy Grooves, Harlem Shake, and more.

'Live at Da Savoy!' African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton; 550-8541. Sat, 7pm. $20-25. Top Hat Productions presents an evening of music and performances featuring Bobbie Webb and the Smooth Blues Band, Dr. Rhoss, and more.

'Oh My Goddess!' Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750, www.themarsh.org. Thurs, 7pm. $15-25. Sherry Glaser performs her one-woman show.

'The Pete and Guy Show' Purple Onion, 140 Columbus; 410-7049. Wed, 8pm. Free. This show features music, storytelling, poetry, and art.

John O'Keefe Marsh, 1062 Valencia; c Wed, 8pm. $25-50. Playwright and actor O'Keefe performs new work as part of the the Marsh's 2005 San Francisco Treasure series.

'Teenage Pap: The Second Coming of Adolescence' Galería de le Raza, 2857 24th St; www.galeriadelaraza.org. Sat, 8-10:30pm. $3-5 sliding scale. The butch performers of Butchlalis de Panonchtitlan tackle queer sexuality, politics, and Los Angeles culture.

comedy

Brainwash 1122 Folsom; 861-3663. Thurs, 7pm: "Brainwash Comedy Open Mic," with host Tony Sparks, free.

Canvas Gallery 1200 Ninth Ave; 504-0010. Tues, 8pm: "Comedy Open Mic Night," with host Susan Alexander, free.

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight; 552-6949. Mon, 9pm: "Stand-up Showcase," with rotating hosts Leah Eva and Sam Arno, free.

Cobb's Comedy Club 915 Columbus; www.cobbscomedyclub.com or www.ticketweb.com. Wed, 8pm: "All-Pro Comedy Showcase," $10. Thurs-Sun, 8pm (also Fri-Sat, 10:15pm): Tammy Pescatelli and Corey Holcomb, $15-20.

50 Mason Lounge 50 Mason; 398-4129, www.susanalexandershow.com. Fri-Sat, 8pm: "San Francisco Comedy Club Showcase," with host Susan Alexander, $10.

Harvey's 500 Castro; stoodup-sf@hotmail.com. Tues, 9:30pm: "Comics Gone Wild!," with Ronn Vigh, Betsy Salkind, Janice Barbone, and more, free.

Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts 1519 Mission; 554-0402, www.jonsimsctr.org. Fri-Sat, 8:30pm: "The BS Show," with Betsy Salkind and Bridget Schwartz, $10-15.

Luggage Store 1007 Market; www.luggagetuesdays.blogspot.com. Tues, 8pm: Comedy open mic, free.

Mock Cafe 1074 Valencia; 826-5750, ext 5, www.themarsh.org. Sat, 9:30 and 11pm: Stand-up comedy, $7.

Purple Onion 140 Columbus; 956-1635. Thurs, 9pm: Will Durst and Johnny Steele, $15. Sat, 8pm and 10:30pm: "The Will Franken Show," $12-15.

Rx Gallery 132 Eddy; www.angrywaiter4am.com. Fri, 8:30pm: "Joke-e-okie," free. Sat, 9:30pm: "Plug n Play," free.

SFCC Club House 414 Mason, Ste 705; www.sfcomedycollege.com. Sat, 8pm: "The Stand-up Project," free.

Uptown 200 Capp; 206-9997. Wed, 8:30pm: "Uptown Comedy Open Mic," hosted by Eric Peterson, free.

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: Canvas Cafe 1200 Ninth Ave, SF; (415) 504-0060, mike@westcoastvideo.net. "Open Mic Talent Showcase," 7:30pm, free. Lost and Found Saloon 1353 Grant, SF; (415) 981-9557. Open mic with host Chris Brown, 8:30pm, free. Starry Plough 3101 Shattuck, Berk; (510) 841-2082. "The Berkeley Poetry Slam," 8:30pm, $5-7.

Thursday: 16th Street and Mission BART plaza 16th St at Mission, SF; (415) 255-9881. "CAI Street Arts Workshop," open mic, 9:30pm, free. EastSide Arts Alliance 2587 International Blvd, Oakl; (510) 533-6629. "Holla Back," open mic, 8:30-10:30pm, donations accepted. Mediterraneum Cafe 2475 Telegraph, Berk; (510) 526-5985. "Word Beat Reading Series," with featured readers Russell Gonzaga and Karen Gorman, 7pm, free. Dalva 3121 16th St, SF; (415) 290-5048. "Poetry Mission Thursdays," open mic hosted by Elz, 7-9pm, free. Railroad Expresso 705 Monterey, SF; (415) 333-4009. Open mic, 7pm, free.

Saturday: Red Vic Peace Center 1665 Haight, SF; (415) 864-1978. "Open Mic and Hot Tamales," 5pm, free. Java Source 343 Clement, SF; (415) 387-8025. Open mic, 9pm, free.

Sunday: Cafe Prague 584 Pacific, SF; (415) 905-8837. Ken Wainio reads, plus open mic, 4-5:30pm, free. Café Melt! 700 Columbus, SF; (415) 392-9290. "A Literary Obsession," writing group and open mic hosted by Raucous Rhetoric, 5-7pm, free.

Monday: Purple Onion 140 Columbus; 217-8400, www.caffemacaroni.com. "Live at the Purple Onion," open mic hosted by the Kitchenettes, 7-10pm, $5. Priya Indian Cuisine 2072 San Pablo, Berk; berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com. "Poetry Express," with featured reader Tureeda Mikell, 7pm, free. Bird and Beckett Books and Records 2788 Diamond, SF; (415) 586-3733. Poets Bill Mercer and Jehana Wedwood read, plus open mic, 7:30pm, free.

Tuesday: Black Repertory Group Theatre 3201 Adeline, Berk; (510) 652-2120. "Twilight Tuesdays," open mic, 7-9pm, $5. Club Deluxe 1511 Haight, SF; www.thewordparty.com. "Jazz and Poetry Tuesdays," open mic, 8pm, free.