Out on the Town: A curated listing of local entertainment

July 1 to July 15

Ongoing

Theater RED opens its 2017 season with a Milwaukee premiere written by Jared McDaris, The Wayward Women. It’s an Elizabethan-style comedy inspired by William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Performances take place July 13–15 and July 19–22 at 7:30 p.m. at The Alchemist Theatre, 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee. The theater seats 64 patrons and offers refreshments before the show and during intermission. Tickets are $18. theaterred.com

Peter and the Starcatcher is a “swashbuckling and magical adult prequel to Peter Pan.” The play — directed by Matt Crowle and featuring music by Rick Elice — runs from July 5 to July 23 at Peninsula Players Theatre, 4351 Peninsula Players Road, Fish Creek. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Tuesdays–Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, except for July 23, which starts at 4 p.m. Tickets are $38 to $44. 920-868-3287 or peninsulaplayers.com

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Zoethica is a new installation by Peter Krsko — the spring 2017 University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute’s Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence. The exhibition runs through Aug. 6 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Ave., Madison. Admission is free. Zoethica features bio-inspired installation work by Krsko, UW-Madison students in his residency course, and guest artists Katie Schofield and Dan Steinhilber. 608-246-4550 or olbrich.org

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art presents Taking Sides: Social Critique in Modern and Contemporary Art. The exhibition — with nearly one hundred works of art in varied media from MMoCA’s permanent collection — focuses on themes critical to the notion of art as a platform for political statement. These include social violence, group demonstrations, abuses of military power, evils of the authoritarian state, threats to the environment, class and racial inequity, ethnic and gender identity and compassion for the vulnerable. Taking Sides runs through Oct. 15 at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art State Street Gallery, 227 State St., Madison. Hours at the MMoCA are Tuesdays through Thursdays noon–5 p.m.; Fridays noon–8 p.m.; Saturdays 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; and Sundays noon–5 p.m. Admission is free. 608-257-0158 or mmoca.org

July 1 to July 7

Outskirts Theatre Co. presents Bare: A Pop Opera, directed by Ryan Albrechtson. It’s about the unlikely romance between Peter and Jason, residents of St. Cecelia’s Catholic Boarding School, and its impact on their friends and family. Performances take place June 30, July 1, and July 7–8 at 7:30 p.m.; and July 2 and July 9 at 3 p.m., at Tenth Street Theatre, 628 N. 10th St, Milwaukee. Tickets are $20. 414-367-6484 or outskirtstheatre.org

Jazz in the Park is a free, outdoor, summer music series, featuring an eclectic lineup of jazz, big band, funk, R & B, reggae, blues and more. The grounds open each Thursday at 5 p.m., and the musicians play 6–9 p.m. in Cathedral Square Park, 520 E. Wells St., Milwaukee. The July 6 show will feature The Blues Disciples. There will be no show July 13 due to Bastille Days. Jazz in the Park asks attendees to leave pets and adult beverages at home. Wine, beer and cocktails can be purchased from various beverage tents. The series runs through Aug. 31. 414-271-1416 or easttown.com

Starry Nights is a series of free outdoor concerts performed at the Gerlach/Haack Outdoor Theater at Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, 19805 W. Capitol Dr. in Brookfield, Friday evenings in the summer. The Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform at the July 7 event at 6:30 p.m. The theater offers lawn seating only, so guests who would like chairs must bring their own. 262-781-9520 or wilson-center.com

Milwaukee-based live music variety show Dead Man’s Carnival combines turn-of-the-century vaudeville with a do-it-yourself underground punk-rock ethic, including traditional circus skills, obscure sideshow stunts, magic, juggling, striptease, human oddities, fire performance, aerial gymnastics, and more. The show comes to The Miramar Theatre, 2844 N. Oakland Ave., Milwaukee, July 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $25. 414-967-0302 or themiramartheatre.com

July 8 to July 15

The 2017 NEWaukee Night Market is a free, open-air market that offers a wide variety of experiences, including art, craft and food vendors, live art creation, local music — and a beer garden. The market will be held on Wisconsin Avenue between Second and Fourth streets in Milwaukee 5–10 p.m. July 12. Future market dates include Aug. 16 and Sept. 13. 414-273-1386 or newaukee.com/event/2017-newaukee-night-market

Milwaukee’s French festival Bastille Days — celebrating its 36-year anniversary — returns to downtown Milwaukee’s Cathedral Square Park, 520 E. Wells St., July 13–16, running from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. The free event attracts more than 250,000 visitors annually, and includes live music, an international marketplace, chef and wine demos, French and Cajun cuisine, roaming busker entertainment, and a 43-foot Eiffel Tower replica offering hourly light shows. 414-271-1416 or easttown.com

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents So Thrive My Soul, adapted and directed by Ryan Quinn and performed by the inaugural class of the theater’s Professional Training Institute. So Thrive My Soul “ cuts Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet down to its very core, leaving 70 minutes of heart-filled exuberance with star-crossed lovers and cross-gendered casting.” The production runs July 13–16 at Stiemke Studio at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, 108 E. Wells St., Milwaukee. Showtimes are 7 p.m. July 13–15, and 2 p.m. July 15–16. Tickets are $5. The Professional Training Institute is a free, yearlong, advanced actor training program for Milwaukee students in 8th to 12th grades who have an interest in pursuing a career as a professional theater artist. 414-224-9490 or milwaukeerep.com

Kenosha Pride holds its fifth annual Pride Weekend July 14–16. Events include the Mr. & Miss Kenosha Pride Pageant at Club ICON, 6305 120th Ave., Kenosha, at 9 p.m. July 14; a pre-Pride party — also at Club ICON — July 15 at 10 p.m.; the Kenosha Pride March, beginning at noon at Library Park and ending at Veteran’s Memorial Park July 16; and the Kenosha Pride Fest at Veterans Memorial Park, located at the lakefront and 52nd Street, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. July 16. Kenosha Pride Fest will include stage performances by local artists, including local drag performers, comedians, a ventriloquist and more. kenoshapride.org

Hosted by Marcus Parks, Ben Kissel and Henry Zebrowski, The Last Podcast on The Left is a comedy podcast that covers all the horrors our world has to offer — both imagined and real — from demons and aliens to cults and serial killers. The podcast comes live to Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 N. Fourth St., Milwaukee, July 14 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. 414-286-3663 or pabsttheater.org

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Grammy and Emmy-nominated standup comedian and writer Tig Notaro brings her act to the Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Ave., Madison, July 15 at 8 p.m. Notaro writes, produces, and stars in the semi-autobiographical comedy series One Mississippi, premiering this fall from Amazon Studios, and her memoir I’m Just a Person is a New York Times best-seller. Tickets are $35 in advance. 608-241-8864 or barrymorelive.com

Joel Hodgson — creator of the critically acclaimed Mystery Science Theater 3000 television show — and its new host, Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray), bring the first live touring production of MST3K — the Watch Out for Snakes! Tour — to The Pabst Theater, 144 E. Wells St. in Milwaukee. There will be two shows July 15, the first at 7 p.m. and the second at 10 p.m. Tickets are $39.50 to $49.50, with VIP packages also available. 414-286-3663 or pabsttheater.org