Playbill: Four Front Range Plays and Performances for August 27-29

Ready to get back into a nice, dark theater for a live performance? Small theaters around town are beginning to stir as new seasons get under way, while downtown Fort Collins will throw a Northern Colorado-centric Fringe Festival touting local talent. Say goodbye to summer with these theatrical events.

Bright Ideas
Avenue Theater 
August 27 through October 3
7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Tickets: $23.50 to $26.50
303-321-5925
The Avenue roars back with Eric Coble’s snarky comedy Bright Ideas, which pokes fun at parents who jump through hoops to place their toddlers in exclusive pre-schools, and the plot comes to a head over a dinner party gone bad. A perfect start for back-to-school season.

Fort Collins Fringe Festival
Downtown Fort Collins
August 27 through 29
See website for schedule and prices
The third annual Fort Collins Fringe Festival is a field day for budding and unconventional regional talent, presenting a whirlwind of 72 performances — including collaborations, dance and comedy — over three days at various downtown locations. Admission is by token, available in increments of five to thirty (you can buy them in bulk in advance online for $10 to $50). Along with a nonstop schedule, FCFF will host a Free Family Fringe from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, August 29, in Library Park, 207 Peterson Street in Fort Collins and, later that evening, an after-party at the Downtown Artery, 252 Linden Street, beginning at 9:30 p.m. Let the fringeing begin!
Upstart Crow Theatre Company
Misalliance
Dairy Center for the Arts
August 28 through September 12
Tickets: $21 to $25
Upstart Crow, a company devoted to classic theater, moves to the Dairy Center for its first two shows while the company’s home at Boulder’s Nomad Theater undergoes renovations. The season begins with George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance; go back in time as a single day unfolds at a country house in Edwardian England.
Fire House Theater Company
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
John Hand Theater, 7653 East First Place in Lowry
August 29 through September 26
7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
2 p.m. Sundays
Tickets: $20 to $22
303-562-3232
Fire House brings Christopher Durang’s smart Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which imagines what happens when adult siblings — settled, middle-aged Vanya and Sonia and their celebrity sister Masha — get together and get into it, with Masha’s trophy boyfriend along for the ride. Steven Tangedal directs.

Find a stage near you: Check out