Let us tell you about the birds and the trees.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at Orpheum Theatre
Not since Mark Morris's The Hard Nut or the antics of Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo has the Bay Area seen anything quite like Matthew Bourne's all-male version of Swan Lake. But let's not brand this as mere parody. Bourne has made quite a career of reimagining the classics (anyone remember The Car Man at Cal Performances a few years back?), and his Swan Lake picked up an Olivier Award (the top theater award in England) for best dance production in 1996. Some critics see this show as a mocking of Britain's Royal Family, others call it the "gay Swan Lake" for the central story of a Prince who basically falls in love with the male swan, but the story is much more complex and heartrending than that. However, for some of us, the only encouragement we need to get our butts to this show is the promise of young, muscular and shirtless men leaping about the stage for a couple of hours.
Playing March 21 through April 16

Photo of Jose Tirado, Neil Westmoreland and the Swan Lake company by Bill Cooper.

Shadow of Giants at Brava Theater
Nestled in Humboldt County's redwood forests and a bit east of Humboldt State University is the small former logging town of Blue Lake. It seems an unremarkable place, but in the center of it is the Dell'Arte Company, which has the only MFA program in ensemble-based physical theater in the United States. If you don't get a chance to catch one of their shows while you're visiting Humboldt for whatever reason you're visiting Humboldt (a-hem), you're in luck. For two nights only, Brava Theater hosts Dell'Arte's eco-drama Shadow of Giants, a play about the struggle between environmentalists who are trying to preserve the ancient trees and the timber companies who want to make a buck. Written by Dell'Arte graduate Matthew Graham Smith, Giants is based on the woman who brought this struggle to the national consciousness, Julia Butterfly Hill, and continues the company's tradition of creating work inspired by the beauty and politics of the region. Dell'Arte may be from a small town, but their art is as wondrous as their redwoods.
Playing March 24 through 25

For more stage options, check out the listings at the Guardian, the Express, the SF Weekly, and the calendar on Theatre Bay Area's website.