What’s your idea of a perfect Valentine? For many a romantic night out includes a nice dinner, complete with a luxurious dessert or glass of Champagne. But the perfect way to take your evening from special to one-of-a-kind is to throw in a performance at one of Washtenaw’s many theater venues.

For those who like the thrilling immediacy of intimate venues The Purple Rose, Encore Musical Theatre, or Performance Network will fit the bill. For a larger, more grandiose experience try the Michigan Theater, the Walgreen Center or Lydia Mendelssohn. Fans of the “off-off-off-Broadway” experience will appreciate the edgier atmospheres of Mix Performance Space or Performance Network’s Mosh Pit.

And since Ann Arbor boasts numerous bars and coffee shops, there’s always a place to discuss the evening’s themes and characters with your sweetie over a cocktail or coffee after the show. Because, sometimes, the way to that special someone’s heart is, actually through their heart.

Show: Fireside Festival of New Works: “Brill” by David Wells, music by Frank Allison, one-time event, Feb. 15, 7 p.m.
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 East Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 12+
Description: Set in Manhattan’s Brill Building during the summer of 1959, an aging Tin Pan Alley songwriter is forced to confront the inevitability of rock and roll when a young woman—with a guitar and aspirations of her own—shares his office.
Article from Broadway World
Fun fact: The origins of the term "Tin Pan Alley" are not clear, but popular account holds that it was originally a derogatory description of the sound made by many pianos playing different tunes being like the banging of tin pans in an alley. Many years later the nickname came to describe the music industry in general. According to musicologist Katherine Charlton, “the term Tin Pan Alley referred to the thin, tinny tone quality of cheap upright pianos used in music publisher's offices."
For tickets and information: 734-663-0696, www.performancenetwork.org/

Show: “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, through Feb. 16
Company: Eastern Michigan University Theatre
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Sponberg Theatre, EMU Campus, Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: Mature audiences only
Description: Q: When a dead man’s cell phone won’t quit ringing, what should you do? A: Answer it. Follow one woman’s beautifully twisted adventure as she dares to answer the phone and jumps into a series of events that have her questioning life’s ideals and complications. This play contains material and language that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: Playwright Sarah Ruhl was the recipient of a 2006 MacArthur Foundation fellowship, also known as the “genius award”.
For tickets and information: 734-487-2282, www.emich.edu/emutheatre

Show: “The Fisherman and his Wife” book by Paul Vanderoest, Music and Lyrics by Kerry Graves, one-time event, Feb. 18, 1 p.m.
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Children’s Theatre
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 East Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 2+
Description: This musical, based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, incorporates lively songs and likable characters to teach that satisfaction with yourself is the most precious commodity of all. Arthur and Zelda have a simple, happy life. But when Mamie the Mermaid gets tangled in Arthur's fishing line, he must choose his wishes carefully!
Fun fact: Performance Network’s Saturday Matinee series features a live children’s performance on the main stage once a month, followed by a milk (or juice) and cookie reception.
www.performancenetwork.org/1112ctn.php
For tickets and information: 734-663-0696, www.performancenetwork.org/

Show: “Talk Radio” by Eric Bogosian, through Feb. 18 Company: Basement Arts

Type of Company: Higher Education

Venue/location: Studio 1 of the Walgreen Drama Center, 1226 Murfin Dr., Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+

Description: Barry Champlain’s radio show “Night Talk,” the most popular radio show in Cleveland, has the potential of going to a national broadcast. Barry’s constant display of inflammatory views and ceaseless hectoring of his callers produces an equal amount of love and hate, giving this show its skyrocketing ratings. However, Barry’s personality clashes a little too much with one of his callers, giving Barry his most challenging radio program ever. Playwright Eric Bogosian presents a colorful group of lost souls calling in to fill the gaps between their hostile frustration and Barry.
Fun fact: “Shock jock” is a slang term used to describe a radio broadcaster or disc jockey who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively as a general-media term, and is rarely or never used within the radio industry.
For tickets and information: www.basementarts.org

Show: “Travelling Light” by Nicholas Wright, one-time event, Feb. 19, 7 p.m.
Company: University Musical Society
Type of Company: Time delayed cinema broadcast of a live performance at the National Theatre.
Venue/Location: Michigan Theater, 603 East Liberty, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: All
Description: A funny and fascinating tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood’s golden age. In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father’s cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant played by Antony Sher, and inspired by his assistant Anna, Motl stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl — now a famed American film director — looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams.
Event details
Fun fact: National Theatre Live performances are filmed in high definition and broadcast via satellite to over 300 cinemas around the world, live in Europe and some US cities, and time-delayed in countries further afield. There are over 75 venues in the UK alongside venues in the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Scandinavia, and Europe.
For tickets and information: Ticketmaster.com

Show: “No Child...” by Nilaja Sun, through Feb. 19
Company: Eastern Michigan University Theatre
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Sponberg Theatre, EMU Campus, Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: Mature audiences
Description: One teacher + determination + hope = change. Based on Nilaja Sun’s one-woman show, this production features a company of actors in the story of a guest teacher taking on the crisis of the American public education system. One teaching artist has big plans to use the arts to transform students at a New York City high school. Faced with the harsh reality of these students’ daily lives, she must search within herself to find the determination and hope to take a stand and make a difference.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: For her creation and performance of “No Child...” and its subsequent national tour, Nilaja Sun garnered 17 awards including: an Obie Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards including the John Gassner playwriting award for Outstanding New American Play.
For tickets and information: 734-487-2282, www.emich.edu/emutheatre

Show: "Spring Awakening" by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, based on the play by Frank Wedekind, through Feb. 19
Company: UM Department of Musical Theatre Studio Production
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin Ave., Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: This play contains mature content including partial nudity, sexual situations and strong language.
Description: Adapted from Frank Wedekind's 1891 expressionist play about the trials, tears, and exhilaration of the ten years, "Spring Awakening" traces the journey from youth to adulthood with power, poignancy, and passion.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: The lead producer on the smash Broadway hit was Tom Hulce, Plymouth, Michigan native, who is most well-known for his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Mozart in the movie Amadeus, and his role as "Pinto" in National Lampoon's Animal House.
For tickets and information: SOLD OUT. Ticket wait list starts at the theatre one hour prior to showtimes. League Ticket Office 734-764-2538 tickets.music.umich.edu

Show: "Noises Off" by Michael Frayn, through Feb. 19
Company: UM Department of Theatre and Drama
Type of Company: Higher Education
Venue/location: Mendelssohn Theatre, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 12+
Description: In a provincial English town, a theatre troupe rehearses a touring production of a sex comedy, “Nothing On”. Unfortunately, almost nothing is going right - the cast can’t remember their lines, they mix up their blocking, misplace props, and they’ve lost sight of why they’re acting! Even the director is certain that the show will be a disaster. Somehow the cast pulls through, but by mid-tour the drama has moved backstage, as cast and crews’ personal lives start to mirror the insanity in the play, with sexual dalliances, jealousies, and chaos reigning overall. By closing night, the play is in complete shambles both onstage and off, with open “warfare” occurring among cast members and everyone simply trying to survive until the final curtain.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: Playwright and novelist Michael Frayn devised the concept for “Noises Off” while watching another one of his plays from backstage. “It was funnier from behind than in front and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.”
For tickets and information: League Ticket Office 734-764-2538 tickets.music.umich.edu

Show: “God of Carnage” by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, extended through Feb. 26
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 East Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+, Contains adult themes and language.
Description: Boys will be boys, but adults will be worse! In this 2009 Tony-winner for Best Play, two couples meet at one of their homes to discuss a playground altercation between their young children. Hostility rumbles just under the surface, as their civilized battle of wits and words devolves into a hilariously chaotic evening, where nothing is safe, not even the furniture. This comedy of (bad) manners will change the way you look at polite conversation. Contains adult themes.
Article from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: Hostess Veronica’s precious coffee table book, that is accidentally defiled by one of her guests, is a rare collection of works by Oskar Kokoschka, an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.
For tickets and information: 734-663-0696, www.performancenetwork.org/

Show: “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, through Feb. 26
Company: The Encore Musical Theatre Company
Type of Company: Equity Special Appearance Contract
Venue/location: 3126 Broad Street, Dexter
Recommended ages: 8+
Description: Leiber and Stoller, as much as anyone, virtually invented rock ‘n’ roll, and now their songs provide the basis for an entertainment that illuminates a golden age of American culture. In an idealized 1950’s setting, the classic themes of love won, lost and imagined, blend with hilarious set pieces and slice-of-life emotions in this rocking musical revue.
Review from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: In the 1950s the rhythm and blues genre, up to then restricted to black clubs, was increasing its audience-share in areas previously reserved for traditional pop music, and the phenomenon now known as "crossover" came into being. Leiber and Stoller affected the course of modern popular music in 1957 when they wrote and produced the crossover double-sided hit by The Coasters, "Young Blood"/"Searchin'."
For tickets and information: www.theencoretheatre.org, 734-268-6200

Show: “If You Start a Fire [Be Prepared to Burn], an Internet sex comedy for the Recession Generation”, by Kevin Kautzman, through March 4
Company: The New Theatre Project
Type of Company: Professional Non-Equity
Venue/location: Mix Performance Space, 130 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Lucy and Chris are typical American twenty-somethings struggling to survive the Great Recession with their dignity intact. They hate their jobs like most everybody else, but they need the insurance, and at least they have each other. Right? When Chris loses his job, he convinces Lucy they should launch a boutique sex website and sell the idea of her as an all-American girl next door, somehow both pure and hedonistic at the same time.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: According to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007. With sub-prime loan losses mounting and the fall of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, a major panic broke out on the inter-bank loan market. As share and housing prices declined, many large investment and commercial banks suffered huge losses and even faced bankruptcy. For tickets and information: Call or text 734-645-9776, www.thenewtheatreproject.org

Show: “A Stone Carver” by William Mastrosimone, through March 10
Company: Purple Rose Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity
Venue/location: Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park Street, Chelsea
Recommended ages: 13+
Description: “A Stone Carver” tells the story of a retired stonemason who clings to the past, and his son who refuses to look back. When Agostino, a seventh-generation stone carver is evicted from his home to make space for a highway, he barricades himself in his house, determined to outlast the bulldozers. In a last-ditch effort to save his father from jail, Agostino’s only son Raff, arrives at the house with his new fiancée. A battle of wills ensues, putting their already-rocky relationship to the test. Can Raff convince his father to move forward before it’s too late?
Review from the Rogue Critic
Fun fact: Playing each other's love interest has become routine for real life husband and wife actors Charlyn Swarthout and Matthew David. They played opposite each other in PRTC productions "A Streetcar Named Desire" (Stella and Stanley), "Boeing-Boeing" (Gretchen and Robert) and now "A Stone Carver" (Janice and Raff).
For tickets and information: www.purplerosetheatre.org or 734-433-7673