This week’s lineup is bursting at the seams, with everything from locally produced classics and new plays to a touring production of an absurdist icon, several student performances, and a fundraiser for a beloved Ann Arbor institution. It’s a great illustration of how theater and performances not only entertain, but also educate, provoke, and build community.

Just about every organization listed below is either a non-profit or educational institution. That means that they have a stated mission to perform a community-enriching function as well as provide entertainment. Many have programs for kids, outreach and education departments, and artistic research and development functions, in addition to offering performances that meet the values outlined in their mission statements.

How familiar are you with your favorite theater’s mission statement? Can you see how the programs they provide live up to that, often ambitious, declaration? Most theaters’ mission statements are prominently located on their websites, so check it out if you want to see what higher purpose, in addition to great plays, you’re supporting!

Show: “A Night of Ann Arbor’s Best,” one-time event, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 7:30 pm
Company: Wild Swan Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Theatre for families
Venue/location: The Ark, 316 S, Main, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: All
Description: A performance fundraiser for Wild Swan Theatre, featuring local performers Tyler Duncan, Gemini with Emily Slomovits, David Mosher, Frank Pahl, Joe Reilly and Allison Radell, Peter Madcat Ruth, and more. Hosted by 107one’s John Bommarito.
Fun fact: Fast becoming THE Ann Arbor theater violinist, Emily Slomovits was also featured in Encore Musical Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof, and can be seen in Performance Network Theatre’s production of The Glass Menagerie.
For tickets and information: www.wildswantheater.org, 734-995-0530.

Show: "Proof" by David Auburn, through Oct. 13
Company: Basement Arts
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Studio 1 in the Walgreen Drama Center; 1226 Murfin Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 18+
Description: Following her father's death, Catherine must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father's madness—or genius—will she inherit?
Fun fact: The play premiered Off-Broadway in May 2000, and transferred to Broadway in October the same year. It closed in January 2003 after a total of 917 performances, and won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play.
For tickets and information: Tickets are free, available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.

Show: “Rhinoceros” by Eugene Ionesco, through Oct. 13
Company: University Musical Society presents Theatre de la Ville
Type of Company: Tour
Venue/location: Power Center, 121 Fletcher Street, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 12+
Description: It happens inexplicably: one by one, a man’s friends and neighbors turn into rhinoceroses, reducing his town to a perilous wasteland. In this brilliant restaging of Ionesco’s absurdist allegory, loneliness and horror consumer the individual who resists a popular movement in which civilians succumb to the collective in its most monstrous, destructive form. Ionesco’s indictment of 20th-century totalitarianism retains its sting amid today’s ideological climate. This play is performed in French with English supertitles.
Preview article
Fun fact: Ionesco is considered a leader of the “Theater of the Absurd.” Plays in this style suggest that human existence has no meaning. Playwrights whose work is often characterized in this style also include Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Edward Albee.
For tickets and information: www.ums.org, 734-764-2538

Show: “Almost, Maine” by John Cariani, through Oct. 14
Company: U-M Department of Theatre and Drama
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: Age 12+
Description: On a cold winter night graced with the Northern lights, the remote community of Almost, Maine, sparkles with wonder. As the night progresses, nine couples experience the various, unpredictable elements of love - that first spark, heartbreak, falling in love, breaking up, and the joys of discovering you’re meant for each other, or perhaps not. Filled with comic and poignant tales, "Almost, Maine" examines our search for human connection.
Review from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: The state dessert of Maine is the Whoopie Pie - check out Zingerman's Bakehouse recipe that was featured in the NY Times: www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/dining/181wrex.html
For tickets and information: 734-764-2538, tickets.music.umich.edu

Show: “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh, through Oct. 14
Company: Threefold Productions
Type of Company: Pre-Professional
Venue/location: Mix Studio Theatre, 8 N. Washington St., Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 18+
Description: McDonagh’s Tony-nominated script follows an unsuccessful author and his emotionally stunted brother as they are interrogated by two bulldog policemen about their suspected involvement in a recent string of child murders. This unrelenting story illustrates characters in a fight for life and legacy while they grapple with struggles of identity and morality.
Article from Encore Michigan
Fun fact: Playwright McDonagh prefers writing films to plays, claiming to hold a "respect for the whole history of films and a slight disrespect for theater." In a conversation with Irish drama critic Fintan O'Toole in BOMB Magazine, McDonagh said, "It's not that I don't respect theater. I'm intelligent enough to know that a play can completely inspire a person as much as a film...[but] theater isn't something that's connected to me, from a personal point of view, I can't appreciate what I'm doing."
For tickets and information: www.threefoldproductions.org

Show: "Sunday in the Park with George" by Stephen Sondheim, through Oct. 21
Company: U-M School of Music, Theatre and Dance Department of Musical Theatre
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: All
Description: "Sunday in the Park with George" won the 1984 Drama Desk Award for Best Musical and the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Featuring a soaring score and insightful lyrics, "Sunday in the Park with George" offers a glimpse into the conflicts between artistic passion and everyday life.
Preview article
Fun fact: Guest conductor Alexander Gemignani (U-M MT 2001) played the Boatman/Dennis in the 2008 Broadway revival of the show. Gemignani also appeared on Broadway in "Assassins," "Sweeney Todd" (2005 revival), "The People in the Picture," and as Jean Valjean in the 2006 revival of "Les Misérables."
For tickets and information: 734-764-2538, tickets.music.umich.edu

Show: “The Fantasticks” by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, through Oct. 21
Company: The Encore Musical Theatre Company
Type of Company: Equity Special Appearance Contract
Venue/location: The Encore Musical Theatre Company, 3126 Broad Street, Dexter
Recommended ages: All
Description: "The Fantasticks" is a beautiful coming-of-age story, with an amazing score. You may recognize songs like "Try to Remember", "Soon It's Gonna Rain", and "They Were you."
Encore Michigan article
Fun fact: While the theatrical production is traditionally performed on a bare stage with two-piece musical accompaniment, the 1995 film adaptation transposed the action to the 1920s American West, affecting a look similar to "Oklahoma!," and most of the songs were rearranged for a full orchestra. The film was scheduled for a Thanksgiving release, but executives at MGM/UA, discouraged by indifferent preview audience response, lost faith in the project and shelved it. Due to a contractual obligation to Jones and Schmidt, an abridged version was finally was released in four theaters in September 2000. It grossed only $49,666 in the US.
For tickets and information: 734-268-6200, www.theencoretheatre.org

Show: “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, through October 28
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 14+
Description: Faded Southern Belle Amanda Wingfield will stop at nothing to find a husband for her painfully shy daughter, Laura, still living at home with her brother, Tom, a would-be writer working in a shoe factory. When Amanda enlists Tom's help in bringing home a "gentleman caller" from the factory, the family's dreams hang in the balance as they struggle to escape the hopelessness of their world. Set in 1937 St. Louis, this wistfully poetic memory play is regarded by many as Williams' most personal story, and his greatest masterpiece.
Review from AnnArbor.com
Fun Fact: There is a critically acclaimed Indian adaptation of the play, filmed in the Malayalam language, titled Akale (meaning At a Distance). The story is set in the southern Indian state of Kerala in the 1970s, in an Anglo-Indian/Latin Catholic household. The surname Wingfield was changed to D'Costa, reflecting the part-Portuguese heritage of the family, but the story remains essentially the same.
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts, through Dec. 15
Company: Purple Rose Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park Street, Chelsea
Recommended ages: Contains Adult Language & Content
Description: Arthur Przybyszewski has just about given up on everything: a social life, the chance of romance and most of all his family’s long standing Chicago donut shop. But when idealistic dreamer, Franco Wicks walks through the door of his vandalized storefront, Arthur realizes through their unlikely friendship that life still has more to offer him. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts (August: Osage County) this comedy-drama will make you a believer too.
Review from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: The dictionary-approved spelling for the ring-shaped cake made of dough and fried in fat is doughnut. The shortened donut has been around since the late 1800s, but it wasn’t popularized until the late 20th century, when the successful American doughnut chain Dunkin’ Donuts made it ubiquitous.
For tickets and information: 734-433-7673 (ROSE), www.purplerosetheatre.org