Going to a play in the summer isn't that different from hitting a blockbuster film or burying your nose in a fat, classic novel: Big themes -- Hurricane Katrina, the silent-film milieu of the early twentieth century and the rise of AIDS -- power our current theater picks. Keep reading for three shows to see this weekend.

See also: High Flyers: Aerial Dance Festival Showcase

Warm Cookies of the Revolution at SLAB ATLAS Black Box Theatre 10 p.m. Friday, August 8

Folks attending Friday night's performance of square product theatre's Hurricane Katrina drama SLAB will get more for their money if they stick around after the show. Denver's Warm Cookies of the Revolution will present a free, pop-up version of its Sunday School for Atheists series, led by Chris Getzan of Warm Cookies and SLAB novelist Selah Saterstrom.

Continue reading for more Playbill picks.

Vintage Theatre, Mack and Mabel Vintage Theatre 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays August 8 through September 14 $21 to $26

Vintage takes a trip into the heyday of silent film in Mack and Mabel, the story of director Mack Sennett and his love affair with actress Mabel Normand. Told through flashbacks as an older Sennett reminisces about the coming of the talkies, the play was based on an idea by screenwriter Leonard Spigelglass and written by Michael Stewart, and features music and lyrics by Jerry Herman; Keegan Flaugh and Rachelle Wood star as Mack and Mabel. A musical about silent films? Why not? Kick up your heels!

Ignite Theatre, Rent Aurora Fox Arts Center 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays August 8 through 31 $19 to $27 720-362-2697

Ignite Theatre continues to dally with musicals in this big summer production of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning La Bohème update, Rent. The rock musical places Puccini's plot in an artsy community on New York's Lower East Side, under the rising specter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To keep the Broadway feel of the show intact, Ignite is also offering rush seats at every performance; line up one half-hour before showtime and take your chances on the $10 deal, which -- if you're really lucky -- might include a front-row seat.

Find a stage near you: Check out Westword's online listings for more theater and dance events for this week.

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