With in-person readings at Potrero Stage, and online viewing, the 45th Bay Area Playwrights Festival will reach new audiences with five staged readings of works in-progress.

Contemporary social and political issues are tightly woven into "Sanctuary City," playwright Martyna Majok's gut-wrenching, personal-is-political drama, set between 2001 and 2005, and now playing at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Magical realist frosting is slathered thick on the humble crumbs at the heart of "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot," now playing in a Custom Made Theatre production.

The curtain rises on one of San Francisco's most exciting arts events of the year next week as Opera Parallèle presents the world premiere of its innovative take on "La Belle et La Bête" (Beauty and the Beast), combining live music and film.

Choreographic luminary Amy Seiwert brings the twelfth iteration of her annual 'Sketch' collaborative series to Fort Mason's Cowell Theater July 15 & 16, with world premieres by Natasha Adorlee and New Mexico-based choreographer Joshua L. Peugh.

Nearly two decades after the Kinsey Sicks debuted their Christmas show "Oy Vey in a Manger" at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, the dragapella group is bringing it back to the LGBTQ nonprofit arts organization for a yuletide residency this year.

In October, San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center will mount the world premiere of Nick Malakhow's new play "A Picture of Two Boys."

Matthew Sklar, composer of the "The Prom," the snazzy, uplifting queer musical that opens June 22 at the Golden Gate Theatre, discusses the eight-year development of the show, whose themes joyfully take on homophobia in a small town.

At a time when every day's headlines feature collapse, corruption, war and plague, "Hadestown" works like an angel in devil drag. Its sultry come-on promises to lick you with flame, then anoints you with balm of Gilead.

You can't help but focus on actress Jordan Baker's mouth during the first few minutes of "Dana H.", now on stage at Berkeley Repertory. Playwright Lucas Hnath's mother was held captive by a white supremacist kidnappers. How it's told is also disturbing.

Adam Rapp's "The Sound Inside," making its West Coast premiere in a polished Marin Theatre Company production, is neither fish-meta nor foul-Meta. It's shaggy dog-meta; a mind-bending piece about a novelist writing a novel.

The most inclusive showcase of trans, queer, disabled and gender-nonconforming artists is this year online June 16-19, with five programs of recorded performances in music, dance, performance and other genres. Also, it's free!

In TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's new production of the hit musical "Ragtime," actor Leo Ash Evens gained inspiration for his role as a Jewish immigrant from his own family's heritage. He also shared stories from some other iconic roles he's played.

The Cockettes were only around for a few years, beginning in 1969, but left a fabulous legacy in their wake. A new show at Oasis revives their drag fabulism, with some original troupe members, including composer Scrumbly Koldewyn.