Calendar

U-M students present an evening of old and new Indian culture, featuring Western and Eastern fashion shows, music, and a variety of student-choreographed performances that showcase various Indian dance styles performed in traditional regalia. One of the largest student-run productions in the country, with over 250 participants, this popular show usually sells out in advance. 7 p.m., Michigan Theater. Tickets $16–$22 in advance online at muto.umich.edu, and (if available) at the door. iasaboard22@umich.edu.

(John McTiernan, 1987). Sci-fi action romp, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, about a group of special forces facing off against an alien killing machine in the Central American jungle. Followed by a discussion and Q&A with Michigan-born, Arizona-based novelist and essayist Ander Monson, whose new book, Predator: A Memoir, a Movie, an Obsession, is a playful and loving frame-by-frame dissection of the film, which he has watched 146 times. Cosponsored by Literati Bookstore. 7 p.m. $5 ($17 includes a copy of the book). 112 Jackson Plaza. 585-5567.

Nov. 11 & 12. NYC-based comic, a former Bronx assistant DA whose observational comedy covers a mix of sports, politics, and America’s problems with race. Cauvin’s video series of Donald Trump impressions went viral in 2020. Preceded by 2 opening acts TBA. Alcohol is served. 7:15 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) & 9:45 p.m. (Sat.), 212 S. Fourth Ave. $16 reserved seating in advance at etix.com and $18 general admission at the door. 996–9080. 

Nov. 4–6, 11, & 13. Nile Andah & Oluchi Nwaokorie direct high school students in James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's 1987 musical, a “fractured fairy tale” with a witch who raps, a bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood, an indecisive Cinderella, and a Prince Charming with a roving eye. This collage of fairy tales that begins as a lively fantasy ends as a moving lesson about community responsibility. Featuring one of Sondheim’s most eclectic scores, that ranges in style from jazz to vaudeville to rhapsodic ballads and operatic duets and trios. Tonight’s performance is preceded at 6 p.m. by an Opening Night Gala ($75 includes dinner and premium seating) to celebrate the Guild’s return to the recently remodeled Schreiber Auditorium. 7:30 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), PHS Schreiber Auditorium. Tickets $20 (students and seniors, $15) in advance at showtix4u.com/events/ptg and at the door. kelmigianj@aaps.k12.mi.us.

A jazz ensemble led by this renowned Detroit bassist, Hayden performs her Ocean: The Life of Poet Phillis Wheatley, a new 7-part suite exploring the life of this 18th-century Boston poet, the first African-American to gain international fame as an author. 7:30 p.m., KCH, 415 N. Fourth Ave. Tickets $19–$50 in advance at a2tix.com; reservations recommended. 769–2999. 

Nov. 11 & 12. William McClelland directs fellow RC students in celebrated Canadian poet (and former U-M classics professor) Anne Carson’s 2017 translation of Euripides’ classical tragedy The Bacchae. It tells of the catastrophe that results when King Pentheus bans the worship of a new god, Dionysus, in his city. The young god leads all the women of Thebes to the mountains to frolic and dance with wild animals, and is avenged when his followers (including Pentheus's own mother) tear the young king to pieces. 8 p.m., RC Keene Auditorium, East Quad, 701 East University. $5 admission. 647–4354.

Nov. 10–13. Linda Goodrich directs an all-female cast of U-M musical theater students in Michael John LaChiusa’s 2006 Off-Broadway 1-act musical, based on Federico García Lorca's 1936 play The House of Bernarda Alba, about a controlling, newly widowed mother who is challenged by her 5 rebellious daughters. 7:30 p.m. (Thurs.), 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin Ave. Tickets $24–$30 (students, $13) in advance at tickets.smtd.umich.edu & the Michigan League Box Office, and at the door. 764–0583.

Conductor Earl Lee leads the orchestra in a program featuring Elgar’s collection of inventive and beautiful variations on a melody Elgar’s wife liked that he rearranged as musical portraits of their friends. Also, contemporary composer Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, a 2014 orchestral arrangement of a work she originally composed for a string quartet, and John Adams’ recent Must the Devil Have all the Good Tunes?, a piano concerto whose title—inspired by a quote attributed to Martin Luther—suits the bursts of diabolical glee that bookend its standard three-part structure. Guest piano soloist is University of South Carolina music professor Phillip Bush, a former member of the Philip Glass Ensemble. 8 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Tickets $25-$90 in advance at a2so.com & the AASO office (35 Research Dr., ste. 100), and (if available) at the door. 994–4801.

Nov. 4–6 & 11–13. David Widmayer directs local actors in Shakespeare’s high-spirited, sharp-tongued comedy about 2 sets of young lovers. One couple, both disdainful of love, are tricked into acknowledging each other, while the other couple’s love is nearly ruined by a deception that, abetted by the paranoia of returning military heroes, leads to trumped-up charges of infidelity. For this production, AACT incorporates contemporary music and themes and turns the play’s central characters into musicians and poets. 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Civic Theatre, 322 W. Ann. Tickets $15 (students, $10) in advance at a2ct.org & by phone and at the door.  manager@a2ct.org, 971-2228. 

Every Thurs.–Sun., Nov. 4–Nov. 27. Carla Milarch directs Pulitzer-winning Polish American playwright Martyna Majok’s fast-paced, unsparing, and unsentimental drama about a pair of teenage lovers, undocumented immigrants who must navigate the broken promise of “sanctuary” when one of them  learns that his mother will return to her country of origin. A New York Times reviewer called the play “masterly,” saying it “snaps with surprises” and “effectively embodies the way external forces—in this case, immigration policies in the United States—distort the inner lives of actual humans.” 8 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Theatre Nova, 410 W. Huron St. Mask & proof of vaccination required. Tickets $22 in advance at theatre-nova.ticketleap.com & at the door. 635–8450.

This Memphis singer-songwriter blends poetry with humor to pen thoughtful country-rock songs with strong melodic hooks that have been recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, and Randy Travis. He has released 7 solo albums. 8 p.m., FUMC Green Wood Church, 1001 Green Rd. at Glazier Way. Tickets $15 in advance at greenwoodcoffeehouse.org and at the door. 665–8558.

(Ridley Scott, 1982). Highly regarded sci-fi film set in a dystopian L.A. in which synthetic humans are bio-engineered by a corporation. When a group of them escapes, a burnt-out cop, played by Harrison Ford, reluctantly agrees to hunt them down. This version of the film includes material cut from the original release. 9:30 p.m. State Theatre. Mask and proof of vaccination (or negative Covid test within 72 hours) required for all patrons over the age of 12. Tickets $10.50 unless otherwise noted (children under 12, students, seniors age 65 & older, & U.S. veterans, $8.50; MTF members, $8) in advance online (recommended) & at the door. For updated schedule, see MichTheater.org.