Arts

Send listings two weeks in advance to stage@seattleweekly.com.

Openings & Previews

365 Days/365 Plays Suzan-Lori Parks' yearlong theater project, a cycle of 365 short plays, offers one- to 10-minute performances from a great variety of performers in venues across the city. Week 6, through Sun. Dec. 24: Shawn Belyea. Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave. 8 p.m. each night. Week 7, Dec. 25-31: Josh Beerman. Various venues and times, see www.365seattle.com. Free.

The Cicada Tree A staged reading of Tom Ansart's new tragedy, a tale of seduction, betrayal, incest, patricide, and entomology. Northwest Actors Studio at Gary Tucci Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St., 935-8261, www.nwactorsstudio.com. Donation. 9:30 p.m. Fri. Dec. 22 only.

Dorothy the Dinosaur's Dance Party A Wiggles spinoff show, with favorite characters and songs—everything but the Wiggles themselves. The Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., 292-ARTS. $20. 11 a.m. Fri. Dec. 22, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. Sat. Dec. 23.

Holiday Bizarre: A Jewish Christmas! SEE THE WIRE, WEDNESDAY.

The MeshugaNutcracker! Hanukkah in the legendary town of Chelm, set to Tchaikovsky's tunes. The Bagley Wright Theatre in Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center, 443-2222 or 877-900-9285, www.seattlerep.org. $36-$42. 7:30 p.m. Wed. Dec. 20-Thurs. Dec. 21 only.

The Show Troy Miszklevitz's one-man musical comedy: "An insane traveling "nature-activist" tells a story about a New York City street hustler who attempts to win the affections of a local club diva by becoming the new host of a late-night talk show with the help of a local hobo." Whew! Washington Ensemble Theatre at The Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave. E., 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $5-$15. Opens Fri. Dec. 22. 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Ends Sun. Jan. 7.

Sister's Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of The Magi's Gold A holiday spinoff of Late-Night Catechism. Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave., 425-893-9900, www.kpcenter.org. $15-$28. 7:30 p.m. Wed. Dec. 20-Thurs. Dec. 21, 8 p.m. Fri. Dec. 22, 2 & 8 p.m. Sat. Dec. 23.

Last Chance

Ain't Misbehavin' The acclaimed musical brings back the jumpin' jazz romance of Harlem at its peak. Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave., www.jazzalley.com. $26.50. 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thurs., 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends Sat. Dec. 23.

Antagonism It's an apt title for Eclectic Theater Company's double bill of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter and writer/actor Beau Prichard's timely debut one-act, Interrogation, each play featuring the same two actors, Luke S. Walker and Prichard himself. In Pinter's 1957 absurdist drama about blindly following orders—however anonymous, irrational, or brutal they may be—two men tensely wait for their next shady assignment in their shared basement flat in industrial Birmingham, England. They are thrown for a bit of a loop when a different kind of order suddenly appears in the room's dumb-waiter hatch. A dark farce ensues. Walker infuses his hapless Gus with an everyman frumpiness and necessary empathy; Prichard's more ruthless and bossy Ben is less nuanced, with a touch of hysteria in his pronouncements. Both actors manage working-class British banter well, which becomes especially apparent when they switch to American in their reversed roles as manipulative interrogator and defiant prisoner in Prichard's post-9/11 drama, Interrogation. For his first produced effort, Prichard's got some nice tension and a bit of humor mixed in, but he'd do well to toss out the clichés—canned references to the "Founding Fathers" and to American idealism, straight-from-the-headlines descriptions of torture, horny comments about the prisoner's fiancée, etc. The play could also do with a clearer resolution. I was hoping for a twist and thought it might come at the end with a breakout or physical confrontation involving a pen, but instead, just the actor—not the character—escapes his shackles. Eclectic Theater Company at Odd Duck Studio, 1214 Tenth Ave., 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com, www.greentheatre.org. $6-$10. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Ends Sat. Dec. 23.SUE PETERS

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever SEE THE WIRE, SUNDAY.

Bud, Not Buddy SEE THE WIRE, THURSDAY.

A Child's Christmas in Wales A stage adaptation of the Dylan Thomas story. Stone Soup Theatre, 4035 Stone Way N., www.stonesouptheatre.com. $14. 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Ends Sat. Dec. 23.

A Christmas Carol SEE THE WIRE, SUNDAY.

A Christmas Carol With Jim Winkler as Scrooge and music arranged by Dawn Clement. Centerstage Theatre at Knutzen Family Theatre, 3200 S.W. Dash Point Rd., Federal Way, 253-661-1444, www.centerstagetheatre.com. $8-$25 (kids $1 at Sat. matinees). 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Ends Sat. Dec. 23.

A Christmas Carol A liitle more Dickens. Unity Theater, Unity Masonic Lodge, 2nd floor, 119 North Bend Way, North Bend, 425-831-5667, www.unitytheater.org. $10-$15. 7 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends Sat. Dec. 23.

The Excursionists A wonderfully witty and slapstick riff on 19th-century Jules Verne–style adventures: The good professor and his lordly friend speed in their subaquatic train, the Neptunia, to find a new land to call England (which, you see, "has sunk!"). Lunacy leaps and bounds through running gags, great visual humor, and a tightly timed two-man show (all neatly divided into chapters, for the viewing public). As each continent in turn sinks beneath the sea, our intrepid adventurers persevere in their quest, overcoming not only giant squid but natives, penguins, and their own outrageously campy personalities. Faced with the harsh truth behind their voyage while trapped at the South Pole, they press ever forward, remaining stoically British until the end. Theatre Off Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave. S. $12. 7:30 p.m. Wed. Ends Wed. Dec. 20.NEIL CORCORAN