OPENING AND CURRENT RUNS

ALINA AND THE DISPOSABLE ARMY

Opening. This original play by Mallery Mackay-Brook is an "apocalyptic fairy tale" about a girl named Alina and a guy named Kaspar. Strike Anywhere Productions at Little Theater, 608 19th Ave E, 579-7313. $10. Opening Sun June 17 at 8 pm. Mon-Wed at 8 pm. Through June 25.

ARTHUR: THE HUNT

Final week. "At least half of the play consists of long expository scenes about what has been or what's to come, suffocating the story at hand. This talkiness is made worse by the Scots-Welsh hybrid accents that Taproot Theatre has invented, which hamper the actors and test the audience." (Bret Fetzer) Taproot Theatre, 204 N 85th St, 781-9707. $15-$29. Thurs at 7:30 pm, Fri at 8 pm, Sat at 2 and 8 pm. Through June 18.

THE AWAKENING

"Contrary to the press release, goofy musical numbers do not 'enhance' Kate Chopin's 'feminist classic.' I don't know what to say about the school-dance-squad choreography (the ensemble flaps their arms, the ensemble cradles invisible babies), except to note that no movement director allowed her name to be listed in the program. The script uses all the flat pronouncements in the novel, letting everything strange or blurry fall by the wayside. The only thing that kept me in the theater was to see how badly they'd botch the end, when Edna walks into the sea. It was just as awful as I'd feared." (Annie Wagner) Book-It Repertory Theatre at Seattle Repertory Theatre, 155 Mercer St, 216-0833. $15-$30. Thurs-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm, Wed at 7:30 pm. Through June 26.

BACK OF THE THROAT

Final week. "In this new play about civil liberties, everything onstage works exceptionally well. But the script isn't nimble enough to avoid preachiness, and the dead-serious direction exacerbates the situation." (Paul Constant) Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave, 325-6500. $15. Thurs-Sat at 8 pm. Through June 18.

BORN YESTERDAY

Previewing. This satirical comedy about politics, written by Garson Kanin in 1946, is about a floozy named Billie Dawn (Jennifer Lyon) who hires a D.C. journalist to improve her untutored mind. Warner Shook (The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?) directs. ACT Theatre, 700 Union St, 292-7676. $10-$54. Preview performances Fri-Sat June 17-18 at 8 pm, Sun June 19 at 7:30 pm, Tues-Wed June 21-22 at 7:30 pm. Through July 17.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

Opening. Michael Frayn's translation of Chekhov's conflicted comedy about a woman on the brink of losing her handsome estate. Stewart Hawk directs. Exchange Theatre at Seattle Public Theater, 7312 W Green Lake Dr N, 425-254-0090. $18-$20. Preview performance Thurs June 16 at 7:30 pm. Opening Fri June 17 at 7:30 pm. Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. Through July 10.

CLUBFOOT, OR, TALES FROM THE BACK OF AN AMBULANCE

Opening. This collaboration between playwright Bret Fetzer and EMT Stephen McCandless came about as a result of Richard Hugo House's Writers on Work Program. Fetzer directs; Chris Dietz, Pamala Mijatov, and Aaron Ousley star. Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave. Tickets available at the door only, $10. Opening Thurs June 16 at 8 pm. Fri-Sat at 8 pm. Through July 2.

DARIO AND BARIO

Final week. A dark-comedy clown duo (George Lewis and David Taft) performs an hour of physical theater. According to Lewis, it's "stupid raised to high art." Freehold East Hall Theatre, 1529 10th Ave, second floor, 325-6500. $12-$15. Thurs-Sat at 8 pm. Through June 18.

DEATH AND THE PLOUGHMAN

See Theater News. Final week. A physical-theater reinterpretation of the medieval German text by Johannes Van Saaz, in which a lowly farmer argues with Death over the death of his young wife. SITI Company at On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 217-9888. $25. Thurs-Sun at 8 pm. Through June 19.

DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN

Extended. This mid-'90s relic by comedian Rob Becker is about the supposed prehistoric propensities of the two sexes, and is performed by former Portlander Isaac Lamb. There was no excuse for this show then; there's none now. ACT Theatre, 700 Union St, 292-7676. $35-$39.50. Fri at 7:30 pm, Sat at 5 and 8 pm, Sun at 3 pm. Through July 10.

DINNER & DREAMS

Ongoing. The summer edition of the rabidly successful dinner-theater/circus hybrid, with tap dancer Roxanne Butterfly and chanteuse Debbie de Coudreaux. Teatro ZinZanni, 2301 Sixth Ave, 802-0015. $89-$109. Thurs-Sat at 6:30 pm, Sun at 5:30 pm.

DREAMS, OH DREAMS

Opening. An original play written and directed by Caleb Penn, about a man who wakes up in the morning to discover he's lost his faith in reality. Produced by the Backwards Company, a theater group composed of current Cornish students. Open Circle Theater, 429 Boren Ave N, 360-990-0320. $6. Opening Thurs June 16 at 8 pm. Fri-Sat at 8 pm. Through July 9.

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Final week. Director Justin Emeka and his African-American cast explore the Tennessee Williams classic as a "blues play." Ethnic Cultural Theatre, 3940 Brooklyn Ave NE, 325-6500. $8-$12. Thurs-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 2 pm. Through June 19.

CIRCUS CONTRAPTION'S GRAND AMERICAN TRAVELING DIME MUSEUM

"Circus Contraption's new and improved version of Dime Museum shows they've been studying their circus skills, with improved juggling routines and a stable of increasingly impressive acrobats and aerialists." (Brendan Kiley) Magnuson Park, Bldg 47, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, www.brownpapertickets.com. $20. Fri-Sun at 8 pm. Through July 30.

HOOK THE HOLY HOLLOW

Final week. "I wanted to like this play. Heavy petting? Awesome. Creepy Mormons? I'm there. Alliteration? Sign me up! Unfortunately, Hook the Holy Hollow is more tedious than creepy, and the oh-so-promising dirty parts play out like a field guide on how easy it is to arouse the very repressed." (Lindy West) Experimental Theatre Project at Chamber Theater, 915 E Pine St, fourth floor, www.brownpapertickets.com. $9-$15. Fri-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 3 pm. Through June 18.

JUNGLE: A HOBO PLAY

See review this issue. Rendezvous, 2322 Second Ave, www.brownpapertickets.com. $12-$15. Thurs-Sat at 7:30 pm. Through June 25.

LATE-NIGHT CATECHISM

Ongoing. Long-running interactive Catholic-school comedy, in which a nun tells you everything you need to know about your everlasting soul. Cloud 9 Productions at ACT Theatre, 700 Union St, 292-7676. $24.50-$29.50. Thurs-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 2 pm.

LOBSTER ALICE

Final week. "The philosophy is broad, the performances are tidy but not particularly gripping, and the set is as Dali as you'd expect it to be. It's fun to watch Dali simultaneously torture and delight his vanilla-pudding costars with comments about 'firm turds' and proclamations like 'shame is a woman with a moustache and a cake on her head,' but mostly it just made me wish for the real thing." (Lindy West) ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave SW, 938-0339. $12-$24. Thurs-Sat at 7:30 pm. Through June 18.

MY BOAT TO BAINBRIDGE

"This one-man show by Matt Smith is an extremely low-key tribute to a middle-aged crisis of heterosexual masculinity. Mainly this tired theme takes the form of a creepy obsession about his pet dog's severed testicles, but there's also a good deal of lame nostalgia for the Seattle of yore, and frequent mimicking of birdcalls." (Annie Wagner) Market Theatre, 1428 Post Alley, 781-9273. $15. Fri at 8 pm. Through August 19.

QUICKIES, VOLUME 6

"Quickies is an uneven collection of six short plays. Two were quite good (The Same Thing, about a man meeting his female doppelganger in a supermarket, and Sacajawea, profiling the hilariously hard-assed guide in Lewis and Clark's flotilla of pansies), one was okay, and the rest were forgettable. Quickies shone brightest in its interludes between plays-a ridiculous dance break, a satire of improv games, and a segment for the actors to show off disturbing talents (I've never seen lips stretch like that before). Sometimes fewer plays and more play equal better theater." (Brendan Kiley) Live Girls! Theater, 2220 NW Market St, www.brownpapertickets.com. $15. Fri-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 2 pm, Mon at 8 pm. Through June 26.

REALITY WORLD

An improvised faux-reality show, wherein you get to vote the actors offstage, and there are no shaky handheld cameras. Jet City Improv at Historic University Theater, 5510 University Way NE, www.ticketwindowonline.com. $8-$10. Thurs-Fri at 8 pm. Through July 22.

THE RITZ

"June is gay season, and here, to celebrate, is a very shitty gay play set in the gayest of settings. The central gag (I mean, premise) in this tedious production of Terrence McNally's tedious sex farce, The Ritz, is that a gangster checks into a bathhouse to hide from his hot-headed, gun-wielding brother, although the gangster has no idea what actually goes on inside such places. What ensues is a convoluted mess of bad dialogue delivered by a cast of floundering actors." (Christopher Frizzelle) Open Circle Theater at Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, 382-4250. $10-$14. Thurs-Sat at 8 pm. Through June 25.

SEX IN SEATTLE, EPISODE 11: THE ULTIMATE DATING CHALLENGE

"In this installment of Sex in Seattle (a soap opera detailing the relationship woes of four Asian-American women), it's the men who carry the weight of the show. Ray Tagavilla, as the hissable sudser villain Harold Chinn, is notably engaging. The female characters seem rather static this go-round, except for the charming, punky-dorky Tess (Audrey R. Fan). The entanglements are tricky for newcomers to intuit at first, but we're eventually spoon-fed exposition as the characters go to Muckleshoot (see, because dating is like gambling, cough-cough...). There are genuine laughs of the dating-farce variety, well-paced and affably shameless. This sort of thing is critic-proof: SiS begins with the characters in turmoil and ends with them in different types of turmoil, and the ride is a lot more spirited than two hours of television. It's not thee-yay-ter, but it's sugared-up fun." (Paul Constant) SIS Productions at Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 325-6500. $8-$12. Fri-Sat 8 and 10:30 pm. Through June 25.

SIDE BY SIDE: A JOURNEY WITH DEPRESSION

One week only. A one-man, autobiographical show by Brian Wetzel. Alki Congregational UCC, 6115 SW Hinds St, 935-2661. $15. Tues-Wed at 7:30 pm.

STIMULUS

Final week. "Long-form improv: The genre should tell you everything you need to know. Improvisation, like stream-of-consciousness fiction, is a delicate art that should only be attempted by the few but is unfortunately popular with the many. In this version, five actors and one guitar player riff on whatever pops into their heads and the results are exactly what you'd expect." (Brendan Kiley) Jerk Alert Productions at Freehold's East Hall Theater, 1525 10th Ave, second floor, 755-8726. $7. Fri-Sat at 11 pm. Through June 18.

STUPID KIDS

See review this issue. Empty Space Theatre, 3509 Fremont Ave N, 547-7500. $10-$40. Thurs at 7:30 pm, Fri-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 2 and 7:30 pm. Through June 26.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Final week. "It pains me to say it, because I see so few driven, aesthetically unified productions of plays by Shakespeare, but this neat Taming of the Shrew is rotted at its core. Director Stephanie Shine recasts the entire sexist torture session as a moralistic little ceremony that helps boys learn to be men. But The Taming of the Shrew is not an algebra problem to be solved. Its outrageous, offensive excess always spills over the edges of the simple devices meant to contain and excuse it." (Annie Wagner) Seattle Shakespeare Company at Center House Theatre, Seattle Center, 733-8222. $18-$26. Thurs-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. Through June 19.

THEATRE4PLAY FESTIVAL

One week only. These revival performances coincide with the Theater Communications Group National Conference, which is being held in Seattle from June 15-18. Some will undoubtedly be tedious, but check out Marya Sea Kaminski (one of the best actors at Washington Ensemble Theatre) in Brimming, a solo work performed in a bathtub. And Akropolis Perfomance Lab's Dream of a Ridiculous Man, an adaptation of all things Dostoevsky, might be worth it. People who enjoy taking off their clothes are encouraged to attend Maria Glanz's See Me Naked. (And just so you know, the original performances of The Syringa Tree, Dead Woman Home, and The Shape of Things all received negative reviews in this paper.) Theatre Puget Sound at Theatre 4, Seattle Center House, fourth floor, www.brownpapertickets.com. $15 gets you into everything. See Me Naked, Thurs June 16 at 8 pm, Sat June 18 at 8:25 pm. Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Thurs June 16 at 9:20 pm, Sun June 19 at 5:45 pm. Brimming, Fri June 17 at 7 pm, Sun June 19 at 7:45 pm. The Syringa Tree, Fri June 17 at 7:50 pm, Sun June 19 at 2:25 pm. The Shape of Things, Fri June 17 at 9:35 pm, Sun June 19 at 8:35 pm. Baggy Pants, Sat June 18 at 7 pm, Sun June 19 at 1 pm. Dead Woman Home, Sat June 18 at 9:45 pm, Sun June 19 at 4:15 pm.

THE THREE SISTERS

Tony Award nominee Bartlett Sher directs the new adaptation (by fellow nominee Craig Lucas) of Chekhov's play. The cast includes Judy Kuhn (Broadway star and the voice of Disney's Pocahontas) and other luminaries of stage, screen, and audio book. Intiman Theatre, 201 Mercer St, 269-1900. $10-$46. Thurs at 7:30 pm, Fri at 8 pm, Sat 2 and 8 pm, Sun at 2 and 7:30 pm. Through July 9.

THE TRULY TALL TALE OF SNOW WHITE: THE UNTOLD MUSICAL

Final week. A one-act musical, liberally adapted from the story of Snow White. Stone Soup Theatre, 4035 Stone Way N, 325-6500. $10. Opening Fri June 10 at 7:30 pm. Sat at 3 and 7:30 pm, Sun at 3 pm. Through June 19.

THE UGLY AMERICAN

See review this issue. ACT Theatre, 700 Union St, 292-7676. $30. Thurs-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 3 pm, Tues-Wed at 8 pm. Through June 26.

DANCE

OUT OF THE DUST

Two nights only. The New York-based company Danielandsomesuperfriends previews a new dance work about reading. Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave N, Edmonds, 425-672-7758. $10. Fri-Sat at 7:30 pm.

SHARON KIHARA

One night only. A solo bellydance performance. Northwest Actors Studio, 1100 E Pike St, second floor. $10 at the door only. Fri June 17 at 8:30 pm.

TEN TINY DANCES IX

One night only. Ten choreographers on the wee stage at Re-bar. Performances by all-stars including Pat Graney, locust, Sarah Rudinoff, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group, Wilkes.Barber/Proximity, and more. Re-bar, 1114 Howell St. Tickets at the door only, $15. Sun June 19 at 8 pm.

SLICE

Opening. An evening of modern dance with choreography by Aiko Kinoshita (an excerpt from the forthcoming Remnants) and Cheronne Wong (the premiere of the dance-theater piece The Waiting Room). Velocity Mainspace, 915 E Pine St, 325-6500. $10-$14. Preview performance Thurs June 16 at 8 pm. Opening Sat June 18 at 8 pm. Sun at 8 pm. Through June 26.

LATE NIGHT

AN EVENING WITH WENDY PEFFERCORN

A show promising "high-brow and low-bow [sic] humor." Garage Band Theatre at Northwest Actors Studio, 1100 E Pike St. $8 at the door. Sat at 10:30 pm. Through June 25.

SWING-IT MIDNIGHT REVUE

A late-night comedy and music show, from the folks at Jet City Improv. Historic University Theater, 5510 University Way NE. $5 at the door (18+ w/ID required). Sat at midnight. No closing date set.

IMPROV & COMEDY

DAVE ATTELL at the Moore, 1932 Second Ave, 443-1744. $29.50. Sun June 19 at 7:30 pm. JET CITY IMPROV at Historic University Theater, 5510 University Way NE, 325-6500. $8-$10. Fri at 10:30 pm, Sat at 8 and 10:30 pm. SISTERS OF SAL at Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, 781-9273. $10. Sat June 18 at 8 pm. AUGGIE SMITH at Comedy Underground, 222 Main St, 628-0303. Thurs at 8:30 pm, Fri-Sat at 8:30 and 10:30 pm. TAPROOT IMPROV COMEDY at Taproot Theatre, 204 N 85th St, 781-9707. $5. Fri June 17 at 10:30 pm. THEATRESPORTS at Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, 781-9273. $8-$10. Fri at10:30 pm, Sun at 7 pm.

SPECIAL EVENTS

ALL STORIES ARE FICTION

Mike Daisey does his workshop monologue thing (usually only seen at P.S. 122 in New York) as a benefit for Sketchfest Seattle. This one's called Nothing Like I Used to Be. Re-bar, 1114 Howell St. $12 at the door only. Mon June 20 at 8 pm.

CARLOTTA'S BIRTHDAY BASH WING-DING

One night only. Troy Mink celebrates 8 years of Carlotta's Late-Nite Wing-Ding-the beloved variety chat show hosted by Mink's Southern-matron alter ego-with a blowout birthday show. Special guests include Bret Fetzer, Artis the Spoonman, Awesome!, and Carlotta's actual brother from Kentucky. Northwest Actors Studio, 1100 E Pike St. $12 at the door only. Sat June 18 at 10:30 pm.

SEX IN SEATTLE, EPISODE 3: THE COLORS OF LOVE

An encore reading of a long-ago episode from the Asian-American girly soap opera. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 323-9443. $6-$8. Sat June 18 at 5 pm.

THEATER AS ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A LECTURE

See Theater News. Anne Bogart talks about the future of live theater. Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Center, 217-9888. $12. Sat June 18 at 6:15 pm.

WET EXTRAVAGANZA & FUNDRAISER

Washington Ensemble Theatre unveils their new season and performs "The Culture of Freedom Cabaret." Hengst Studio, 1506 Franklin Ave E, www.brownpapertickets.com. $40 ($10 after 10:30 pm). Sat June 18 at 8:30 pm.