This North Coast Weekend

Apart from the ongoing political theatre, there's one new show opening and several one-weekend presentations.

Opening tonight at HSU is Insectia...the ant war, an HSU Theatre, Film & Dance production which runs this weekend and next, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 in the Van Duzer Theatre, with a 2pm matinee this Sunday. It's a physical theatre show for families and school children, though the live band (led by Gregg Moore), the effects and stage fighting, and especially the cool anime-inspired costumes, might appeal to kids of all ages. It's short, so it's priced to move. More info here.

The much-discussed production of The Vagina Monologues found a home at the Eureka Theatre, and will be performed on Friday and Saturday beginning at 6:30 PM. Proceeds from the door and a silent auction go to local community service organizations. There's an info website.

The Arcata Playhouse hosts another traveling troupe, the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater Company, which presents You Don't Know Jack on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 8. It's subtitled "An Akashic Fairytale Shipwrecked Between Myth and Reality" and is described as a post-modern fairy tale about a dysfunctional family recovering from war. The company has it's own website, too.

Around We Go Again is an evening of three works by second-year students of the Dell’Arte International MFA program. Up Is To My Left is inspired by Tim O’Brien’s short story "The Things They Carried", about the Vietnam War. Dreams of Iron Beams is inspired by the story "Mrs. Ferris" by Paul LaFarge. It's about George Washington Gale Ferris of Galesburg, Illinois, who designed something special for the 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago. (Oh come on, you can guess!) An Ingenious Experiment is a dark comedy inspired by Roald Dahl’s story "Georgie Porgy," exploring the effects of a traumatic childhood incident. You get all three for the price of one at the Carlo Theatre, tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 PM, with a Sunday matinee at 2. Info at Dell'Arte.