Here's the part where we try to connect these three shows into some sort of theme, topping it off with a sort of catchy title. It ain't gonna happen this week. These shows resist lumping.

San Francisco Fringe Festival at Exit Theatre
Quick! The SF Fringe ends this week, so here's your last chance join the stampede from venue to venue to see the good, the bad and the ugly. Exit Theatre proudly announces the Fringe is a non-juried event—they're kind of anti-elitist in that way. So, you never know what you're going to get, which is half the fun. Need some help anyway? Let's take a look at the rundown, and off the cuff, we'll call out a few good bets: Ripe Theatre with @six, Banana Bag & Bodice's The Fall and Rise of the Rising Fallen, Dan Carbone's Kingdom of Not, and Ian Walker's Stone Trilogy. Need more help? Check out the audience reviews. Still not sure? Jeez people, the tickets are like less than $10. Take a chance already.
Playing through September 17

Travesties at American Conservatory Theater
ACT just loves Tom Stoppard. Hardly a season goes by without one of his plays on the boards. Not that we're complaining; after all, he's one of the most brilliant playwrights alive today, and he's certainly shown SF the love by visiting often. (We heard that one of his favorite SF haunts was the newsstand across the street from the theater, where he picked up like every international paper. Don't know what he thinks now that Harold's is a smoke shop.) This season, the company opens with one of Stoppard's older plays, a 1974 piece about World War I, James Joyce, Vladimir Lenin—you know, really light subjects. Ah, we joke: Stoppard is heady, but his deft manipulation of history, literary references and the structures of plays is unparalleled.
Playing September 14 to October 14

Collaboration! Dance and Music at Cowell Theater
No, it's not theater, but we couldn't resist plugging this one because recent SFist contributor Amber (aka The Cookie Queen) is one of the dancers in it. There, we went and blew her cover. She would never admit she's a dancer. Well, maybe in her blog. Anyway, Collaboration! is all about choreographers collaborating with musicians, and you'll see everything from jazz and butoh to ballet and modern fusion, all performed to original compositions. If you go, we're sure Amber would appreciate cookies in lieu of flowers.
Playing September 15 to 17

Photo: Rob Chase's Yorick & Co at the SF Fringe Festival.

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.