MAPLE AND VINE

Opening Friday: Making their Frank Theatre debuts in this Jordan Harrison play are Wade Vaughn, Sherwin Resurreccion and David Beukema. They join Katie Guentzel and Tessa Flynn in a satirical fantasy about an unhappy New York City couple who agree to move to the Society for Dynamic Obsolescence, a gated community where life is set in 1955, complete with the perfect-family values of the Eisenhower era. Harrison, who has been a fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, was produced by Frank last season ("Standing on Ceremony"). Directed by Wendy Knox, the play opens Frank's 25th season, which culminates next spring with "The Threepenny Opera." (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. & Thu., 2 p.m. Sun., $22, Old Arizona Studio, 2821 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., 612-724-3760, or www.franktheatre.org.)

CLAUDE PECK

ich, kÜrbisgeist

Opening Friday: Playwright Sibyl Kempson was seen last spring at the Walker Art Center in Elevator Repair Service's "Fondly, Collette Richland," a loosely formed work that found its meaning in imagery rather than strict narrative. This work at Red Eye is set in a medieval village in which time travelers show up and the inhabitants work hard and dance hard to ward off unseen forces. Steve Busa directs a cast that includes Miriam Must, Andrea Leap and Skyler Nowinski. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Thu.; 7 p.m. Sun.-Mon. ends Oct. 27; Red Eye, 15 W. 14th St., Mpls.; $8-$20. 612-870-0309 or www.redeyetheater.org.)

Graydon Royce

a strange and separate people

Opening Saturday: Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company takes on an edgy piece that questions sexual and religious identities. Written by Jon Marans ("Old Wicked Songs"), this play focuses on a gay man who has reawakened to his Orthodox Jewish faith. He becomes entangled in the lives of an Orthodox couple with fraught results. Kurt Schweickhardt directs the cast of Nate Cheeseman, Brandon Bruce and Elena Gianetti. (8 p.m. Sat., 1 & 7 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thu. Ends Nov. 3; Hillcrest Center Theater, 1978 Ford Pkwy., St. Paul; $19-$28, 651-647-4315 or mnjewishtheatre.org.)

graydon royce

Paula Poundstone

PAULA POUNDSTONE

Monday: The reigning queen of observational comedy, mining day-to-day domestic life for yuks aplenty, this stand-up comic is also a regular panelist (and perennial loser) on the NPR quiz show,"Wait, Wait … Don't Tell Me!" Her defense of bad answers, and occasional rants about the questions themselves, are often the funniest parts of the program. No wonder they keep inviting Poundstone back to Chicago to start more "Lightning Fill-in the Blank" rounds, usually in last place. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls., 612-377-224. $29.)

TOM SUROWICZ

KUNG FU ZOMBIES VS CANNIBALS

Opening Friday: This show may be a harbinger of how Mu Performing Arts pushes into the future under new leadership even as it nods to the past. "Kung Fu Zombies vs Cannibals," directed by new Mu leader Randy Reyes, is a mashup of martial-arts battles to a hip-hop soundtrack spun by a live DJ. The show, anchored in Buddhist precepts, follows a pair of Lao women who try to make sense of a world taken over by zombies and cannibals.

(7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Av. S., Mpls., $22, 651-789-1012 or www.muperformingarts.org.)

ROHAN PRESTON