This weekend, Eastern Michigan University's theater department will present staged readings of local playwright Joseph Zettelmaier's "All Childish Things" trilogy — "Episode I" on Friday at 7 p.m.; "Episode II" on Saturday at 7 p.m.; and "Episode III" on Sunday at 3 p.m. — at EMU's Sponberg Theatre. (Note: these productions contain adult language and themes.)

Directed by Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre artistic director Shannon Ferrante, the trilogy follows a group of four longtime friends who plan a "Star Wars" action figure heist and then must live with the fallout of that scheme.

"Episode 1" — which has been produced at Planet Ant as well as Lansing's BoarsHead Theater, and was a 2005 nominee for The American Theatre Critics New Play Award — centers on the friends' attempted break-in at a Kenner Toys warehouse; "Episode 2" finds the characters struggling to re-build their shattered friendships, and "Episode 3" focuses on a cross-country trek that three of the friends undertake to redeem themselves.

Tickets for each reading are $7 apiece, and available by phone at 734-487-2282 or online at EMUtix.

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.