Roundup

December

• Dec. 4: Idaho Actors Collective opens The Last Supper, a play about a group of idealistic but frustrated liberals who decide to murder right-wing pundits. The show runs Dec. 4-6 and 11-13 at 8:00 at 2722 W. Sunset Ave., Boise.
• Dec. 5: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents An Old-Fashioned Christmas, a combination of skits, readings and holiday songs. Show dates are Dec. 5-6, 11-13 and 18-20. Show times are 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is on Ninth Street between Front and Myrtle in Boise.
• Dec. 5: CAN-ACT presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Dec. 5 and 12 at 7:00 and Dec. 13 at 3:00 at 214 7th Ave., Caldwell.
• Dec. 6: Opera Idaho and the Opera Idaho Children's Chorus present Opera Idaho Sings Christmas, which includes selections of The Messiah, other holiday tunes, and a sing-along, at 7:00 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main in Boise.
• Dec. 6: The Morrison Center's Encore! youth performance company presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids, at 7:00 at the Morrison Center.
• Dec. 6-7: The Eugene Ballet presents The Nutcracker, the classic holiday story of a girl who is rescued from the evil Mouse King by her brave toy nutcracker, at 3:00 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Dec. 6: Music Theater of Idaho opens a musical adaptation of the classic Dickens story of Scrooge, A Christmas Carol. The show runs Dec. 6 and 10-13 at 7:30 and Dec. 6 and 13 at 1:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Dec. 6: Boise Art Museum opens an exhibit of photos of Idaho Special Olympics athletes called Let Me Be Brave: Portraits in Courage by Idaho photographer Susan Valiquette.
• Dec. 7: The Boise Philharmonic presents Encore!, a brass chamber concert, at 2:00 at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 4601 Surprise Way in Boise.
• Dec. 7: The Boise State University Music Department presents their holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Morrison Center.
• Now through Dec. 12: Encore Theatre Company opens A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, a drama inspired by the Little House on the Prairie books. The show runs Dec. 5-6 at 7:00 at NNU's Science Lecture Hall in Nampa and Dec. 12 at 7:00 at the Caldwell Center for the Arts at 603 Everett St., Caldwell.
• Now through Dec. 12: Works by artists Anna Marie Boles, Jan Boles, Garth Claassen, Stephen Fisher, Steve Grant, Dori Johnson and Lynn Webster are on display at Rosenthal Gallery at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Dec. 12-14: Ballet Idaho presents The Nutcracker, the classic holiday story of a girl who is rescued from the evil Mouse King by her brave toy nutcracker. The show runs at 8:00 Dec. 12-13 and 2:00 Dec. 13-14 at the Morrison Center.
• Now through Dec. 13: Boise Little Theater presents The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, in which, one year after finding the true meaning of Christmas, Scrooge is back to his old ways and has decided to sue Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The show runs Dec. 4-7 and 10-13 at 2:00 Sunday, 7:30 Wednesday and 8:00 Thursday through Saturday at the theater on Fort Street.
• Now through Dec. 13: Stage Coach Theatre presents Moving, a comic slice-of-life tale of a family dealing with one of the most stressful days any family undergoes: moving day. The show runs Dec. 4-7 and 11-13 at 7:30 Thursday, 8:15 Friday through Saturday, and 2:00 Sunday at the theater at Orchard and Overland in the Hillcrest Shopping Center.
• Now through Dec. 13: Boise Contemporary Theater presents No ... You Shutup, a one-woman show by comedian Lauren Weedman about a woman who is searching for a way to feel at home with a family of her own and exploring marriage, adoption, reproduction and careers. The show runs at 8:00 Nov. 19-22, 26 and 28-29 and Dec. 3-6 and 10-13 and 2:00 Nov. 29, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 at 854 Fulton St. in Boise.
• Dec. 17: Company of Fools presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, in which several radio actors recreate all the characters, as well as sound effects and songs, in the Frank Capra movie about George Bailey and the new lease on life he gets when he sees how life would be like in his hometown without him. The show runs at 7:00 on Dec. 17-18, 23 and 30-31, 8:00 on Dec. 19-20, 26-27 and Jan. 2-3, and 3:00 Dec. 21, 24, 28 and Jan. 4 at the Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.
• Dec. 18: Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance performs at 7:30 at the Morrison Center at BSU.
• Dec. 19 and 21: Boise Master Chorale performs Handel's Messiah at 7:30 on Dec. 19 at Northwest Nazarene University's Swayne Auditorium in Nampa and at 2:00 on Dec. 21 at the Cathedral of the Rockies at 717 N. Eleventh St. in Boise.
• Now through Dec. 20: Starlight Mountain Theatre opens The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Dec. 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Now through Dec. 27: Prairie Dog Productions opens It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol, a mashup of the tales of George Bailey and Ebenezer Scrooge. The show runs Dec. 5-6, 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27 at 7:15 and Dec. 14 and 21 at 2:00 at 3820 Cassia in Boise.
• Now through Feb. 8, 2009: The Boise Art Musuem opens an exhibit of ceramic sculptures, drawings and paintings by Japanese artist Jun Kaneko. Some of Kaneko's ceramic pieces are up to 13 feet high and 5,000 pounds.
• Now through March 1, 2009: The Boise Art Museum opens Small Wars and 29 Palms, two documentary photo series by Vietnamese photographer An-My Lê that explore the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Now through May 2009: The Boise Art Museum hosts a site-specific architectural structure called After, by Lead Pencil Studio architects and artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo.

January

• Jan. 8-10: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Disney's Beauty and the Beast, a musical version of the fairy tale, at 7:30 at Capital High School in Boise.
• Jan. 9: Stage Coach Theatre presents Any Body Home, a comedy about a real estate agent trying to sell a condo despite the fact that the owner is dead and laid out on the sofa. The show runs Jan. 9-10, 15-18, 22-25 and 29-31 at 7:30 Thursdays, 8:15 Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:00 Sundays at the theater at Orchard and Overland in the Hillcrest Shopping Center.
• Jan 9-10: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels performs at the Morrison Center at 8:00 Jan. 9 and 2:00 and 8:00 Jan. 10.
• Jan. 10: The Boise Philharmonic presents its Sounds Like Fun! percussion concert for families at 10:30 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
• Jan. 15-16: Chicago's Second City performs at 7:00 at the Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.
• Jan. 16: Boise Little Theater presents Open House, a comedy about two elderly women living together in the same home until one day when the son of one of the women concocts a scheme to sell the home and keep the money for himself. The show runs Jan. 16-17, 22-24 and 29-31 at 8:00, Jan. 25 at 2:00 and Jan. 28 at 7:30 at the theater on Fort Street.
• Jan. 16-17: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Always ... Patsy Cline, a musical about the country singer and one of her biggest fans, at 7:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Jan. 23: An Dochas and Haran Irish Dancers will perform at 7:30 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Jan. 23-24: The Boise Philharmonic and Boise Master Chorale present The Passion of Joan of Arc and Voices of Light, an opera composed to serve as the score for the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. The production takes place at 8:00 Jan. 23 at Northwest Nazarene University's Swayne Auditorium in Nampa and 8:15 Jan. 24 at the Morrison Center at Boise State University.
• Jan. 23: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre opens Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare's comedy about Beatrice and Benedick -- and the circle of friends and relatives who play matchmaker between them -- and Hero and Claudio, an engaged couple whose wedding nearly breaks up because of malicious interference and deception. Show dates are Jan. 23-24 and 29-31 and Feb. 5-7, 12-14 and 19-21. Show times are 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is on Ninth Street between Front and Myrtle in Boise.
• Jan. 23: Prairie Dog Productions presents Phantom!, a spoof of The Phantom of the Opera, on Jan. 23-24, Jan. 30-31, Feb. 6-7 and Feb. 13-14 at 7:15 and Jan. 25 and Feb. 8 at 2:00 at the theater at 3820 Cassia St. in Boise.
• Jan. 28: Boise Contemporary Theater presents I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda, a play about a woman from Rwanda who wants to write a book about how her family was killed in the genocide and the creative writing teacher who helps her. The play was inspired by the real life experiences of refugees in Britain. The show runs Jan. 28-31, Feb. 4-7 and Feb. 11-14 at 8:00 and Feb. 7 and 14 at 2:00 at 854 Fulton St. in Boise.
• Jan. 29-Feb. 1: Idaho Dance Theater presents No Hesitation at 8:00 Jan. 29-31 and 2:00 Feb. 1 at the Boise State University Special Events Center.
• Jan. 31: The Boise Philharmonic presents its Sounds Like Fun! strings concert for families at 10:30 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.