Audience members will be picked for jury duty for this whodunnit mystery. Bjorn Faulkner has swindled millions of dollars from investors. In the wake of a crash, he is facing bankruptcy despite a loan from the wealthy father of his new wife. In a penthouse with his mistress, Bjorn falls to his death. Was it a suicide — or murder?

This is TAG's first foray into an original musical, based on Jeff Katts "Soul Saviour" film series about demons and angels waging war for human souls. This production is part of TAG's "Dark Night" series of original plays and is written and directed by Eric Nemoto with music and lyrics by Sherry Eatmon.

David Mamet's scathing look at the American political system focuses on incumbent Charles Smith, whose chances for re-election are looking very grim. Amidst the biggest fight of his political career, Smith has to find time to pardon a couple of turkeys, saving them from the slaughter before Thanksgiving, to win back public support.

Written in 1942, W.H. Auden's play has affinities with the medieval mystery plays.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play is the fourth in August Wilson's cycle of plays about the African-American experience in the 20th century.

Samuel Beckett's two-character play is an intellectual tickler in two short acts.

A Lambda Literary Awards finalist, this play has two connected acts: "American Coffee" in which a mother deals with the sudden appearance of her gay son, who has arrived with his lover for his sister's wedding, and "The Shangri-La Motor Inn," which picks up with the newlywed couple, already having doubts.

ARMY COMMUNITY THEATRE

Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter 438-4480

www.armytheatre.com

Tickets: $12 to $20

Insider tip: Arrive early and have your automobile paperwork ready when you arrive at the gate for a smooth check-in.

The award-winning show traces the career of "America's greatest showman," P.T. Barnum, who knew "there is a sucker born every minute" before he joined James A. Bailey to form "the greatest show on Earth" — Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The sequel to ACT's hit of last season. School is out, and Troy and Gabriella are looking forward to a summer to remember.

The popular Broadway musical follows a hopeful band of Broadway gypsies who aim to land a job in the show and be "one singular sensation."

The revival of the revolutionary Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill piece is set in London's seedy Soho district before and during the coronation of Queen Victoria.

ARMY COMMUNITY THEATRE READERS THEATER

Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter 438-4480

www.armytheatre.com

Tickets: Free

Sundays at 2 p.m.

Insider tip: This is a chance to sit on the Richardson Theatre stage and see up-close some of Hawai'i's top talent. All works are by award-winning American playwright Horton Foote.

"The Road to Graveyard": Sept. 13, 20 and 27

"The Carpetbagger's Children": Nov. 22, 29 and Dec. 6

"The Man Who Climbed Pecan Trees": Feb. 28, March 7 and 14

"Lily Dale": May 16, 23 and 30

DIAMOND HEAD THEATRE

520 Makapu'u Ave. 733-0274

www.diamondheadtheatre.com

Tickets: $12 to $42

Insider tip: Buy a FlexPass subscription ($54 to $150) for the season without committing to a set date for each performance. Call with your preferred performance date prior to each show and your tickets will be waiting at the box office.

It begins with the audience being greeted by a narrator sitting on a darkened stage. He is a fan of vintage musicals who seems to be suffering from the blues, and he quickly decides to cheer things up by playing a record of the original cast recording of a fictional Broadway musical. When the needle touches the record, the audience is transported to a 1928 Broadway theater and into "The Drowsy Chaperone."

The perennial seasonal movie follows two army buddies from World War II who have become a very successful song and dance team as they try to help their former commander's faltering business.

This stage adaptation of Amy Tan's novel tells the story of four older Chinese-American women and their complex relationships with their American-born daughters.

The music, the fashion and the freedom of the 1960s — with tongue planted firmly in cheek — is recreated on stage.

Set in Damon Runyon's mythical New York City, this classic musical comedy soars with the spirit of Broadway as it introduces the audience to a cast of vivid characters.

The "hills are alive" in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about a postulant named Maria who proves too high-spirited for the religious life and ends up bringing music into the lives and hearts of the seven von Trapp children and their widowed father, the Captain, with the songs "Do, Re, Mi," "My Favorite Things" and "Edelweiss," among others.

HAWAII OPERA THEATRE

Blaisdell Concert Hall, 596-7858

www.hawaiiopera.org

Tickets: $29 to $120

Insider tip: College students with valid identification can purchase a "best available" ticket for $20. Seat locations are assigned at the Will Call Window 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Mozart's comedy continues the tale of the Barber of Seville, Figaro, who has given up barbering to become Count Almaviva's major domo.

The second opera in Richard Wagner's famous Ring Cycle introduces the twin siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde.

The tragic tale of the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi living as Bohemians in the Latin Quarter of Paris is a mixture of heart-stopping music and delightful comedy that celebrates the eternal spring of youth and love.

HAWAI'I PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

HPU's Paul and Vi Loo Theatre 375-1282

www.hpu.edu (click "student life" then "theatre")

Tickets: $15 to $20 (HPU students $5)

Insider tip: Discount tickets available on Thursday nights.

World premiere of a comedy written by award-winning author Yokanaan Kearns. It focuses on Gwendolyn, who is just out of college and looking forward to an orderly life in Los Angeles until her mother returns from Hawai'i with a boyfriend named Lohi'au.

Amid the familiar backdrop of a war in the Balkans, Raina believes in romantic love and her fiance Sergius believes in the glory of war. Neither expects their beliefs to be proven so wrong by an enemy soldier who insists that chocolate is more useful in war than ammunition.

HONOLULU THEATRE FOR YOUTH

Tenney Theatre, St. Andrew's Cathedral 839-9885

www.htyweb.org

Tickets: $8 to $20

Inside tip: Pick up an HTY passport, have it stamped by showing your ticket stubs, and you can return for free to the same production as many times as you want.

Fantastical fairy tale based on a Hans Christian Andersen story is staged with spectacular costumes and the unique choreography of the Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre. Suitable for ages 4 and up.

Join award-winning, local storyteller/musician James B. McCarthy for a celebration of the diversity of the cultures, geography and music that have shaped the nation. Suitable for ages 5 and up.

A popular children's opera about a boy who has a problem telling tall tales. One night three kings appear at his humble peasant dwelling to change his life. Suitable for ages 5 and up.

Set on Maui in the late 1930s, this world premiere production written by Lee A. Tonouchi is inspired by the true story of swimming coach Soichi Sakamoto and his Three Year Swim Club. Suitable for ages 8 and up.

This interactive play uses humor, movement and participation to engage young audiences. Created for ages 3 and up.

"Just So Stories"
April 9-May 8

How did the camel get his hump? How did the elephant get her trunk? Short fables from the author of "The Jungle Book" teach valuable lessons through imagination, adventure and humor. Suitable forr ages 4 and up.

KUMU KAHUA THEATRE

46 Merchant St. 536-4441

www.kumukahua.org

Tickets: $5 to $13

Insider tip: If you can prove you don't have a job, tickets are $5.

A collection of monologues, scenes and stories written by local playwrights, poets and storytellers.

An American teaching English to local Okinawans eschews traditional ESL teaching methods to have his students relate personal stories to the class. As the tales are told, the young students reveal their attitudes toward the American soldiers stationed on the island.

One-act play and six short plays by Eric Yokomori explore the human condition via dramatic surrealism and theater of the absurd.

Narrative theater adaptation of Steven Goldsberry's novel. The play incorporates hula, chant and storytelling to bring the many myths of Maui to the stage.

On Aug. 1, 1938, to express their solidarity with striking workers in Honolulu, more than 200 Big Island men and women belonging to different labor unions attempted to peacefully demonstrate against the arrival of a ship from O'ahu. They were met by a force of more than 70 police officers who tear-gassed, hosed and fired riot guns into the crowd. Fifty of the demonstrators were hospitalized. Based in part on research from labor historian William J. Puette's book "The Hilo Massacre: Hawaii's Bloody Monday."

MANOA VALLEY THEATRE

2833 E. Manoa Road 988-6131

www.manoavalleytheatre.com

Tickets: $30 to $35

Inside tip: If you are 25 or younger, tickets are $20.

Broadway show tunes, characters, personalities and plots are parodied in this award-winning spoof by Gerard Alessandrini.

The Marvelous Wonderettes set out to create a rockin' '60s party to celebrate the holidays with friends and family amid news of shop closings.

Five Southern women, whose friendships began on their college swim team, set aside an August weekend — spanning 33 years — to recharge those relationships.

Following a group of young Americans searching for love and peace during the Vietnam era, "Hair" is a timeless portrait of a movement that changed the world.

A successful mystery writer lives a millionaire's life in an English manor house that reflects his obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife's lover to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewelry for their mutual benefit. The proposal sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke's imagination ends and reality begins in this twisted game with murderous consequences.

An award-winning pidgin musical comedy by the late Lisa Matsumoto.

PALIKU THEATRE

Windward Community College 235-7310

www.paliku.com

Tickets: $18 to $28

Insider tip: The $18 ticket price is for theatergoers 25 years and younger.

A landmark musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, where two young idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs.

The musical adaptation of Margery Williams' classic follows the adventures of the toy rabbit as he tries to become real.

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I-MANOA

Kennedy Theatre 956-7655 or 944-2697

www.hawaii.edu/kennedy

Tickets: $12 to $22 (UH students $5)

Insider tip: Purchase tickets at www.etickethawaii.com the same way you purchase tickets for athletic events.

Help find the giant, endangered cassowary bird as he hides from the audience in this environmental tale. For children 4 to 8.

Korean Buddhist monks of the Young San Preservation Group perform poemp'ae or "sacred chanting," accompanied by Korean drums, cymbals and gongs.

Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter's play about a 70-year-old father who lives in a seedy house in London with his brother and two adult sons. Into this volatile household enters the eldest son and his attractive young wife. Sexuality and a struggle for power, laced with moments of outrageous comedy.

This Beijing opera makes its English-language world premiere by telling the famous legend of a snake spirit who descends to Earth as a beautiful woman to marry a handsome young man, then must fight to restore his life and save their marriage in the face of supernatural attacks from a powerful monk.

The annual dance concert takes sustainability to the stage with dances created on environmental themes with choreography by UH faculty and guest artists and performed by UHM students.

Twenty local dance professionals come together to create a dance/theater concert with each collaborator performing their own dance sequence.

World premiere of the English-language version of Bertolt Brecht's play as translated by Markus Wessendorf.

EARLE ERNST LAB THEATRE

Kennedy Theatre 956-7655 or 944-2697

www.hawaii.edu/kennedy

Tickets for Prime Time: $12 to $15 (UHM students $5)

Tickets for Late Night: $8 to $10 (UHM students $5)

Insider tip: Tickets for the Late Night performances are only available at the door beginning one hour before curtain.

PRIME TIME THEATRE

The latest work from MFA and BFA dance students, and new student choreography are presented.

Theatrical montage of a woman whose journey to become a star leads her to work in the porn industry.

A Caucasian military family with Appalachian roots living in Hawai'i Kai has very little in common with a local family living in Pearl City during the early 1970s, until they learn their 16-year-old daughter is pregnant by the local family's son.

Spring finale shows off the work of this year's student dancers and choreographers.

LATE-NIGHT THEATER

Through his subconscious, Sleepwalker encounters individuals who test both his faith and his desires.

This production gives the audience insight into what makes two performance pieces tick — first with Daniel Macivor's "This is a Play," which takes the saying "do what I mean, not what I say" literally, and second with "The Natalia Gallery" with dances inspired by the architectural photography of Natalia Ibarra-Blomgren.