A surreal thriller and pitch-black comedy that will enjoy four performances in the days before Halloween, the student-produced The Pitchfork Disney will run October 27 through 30 in Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre, author Philip Ridley's work lauded by London Theatre as a play “for those who completely and wholly enjoy confrontational and edgy theatre. If you’re looking for a chilling play that will haunt you for the next 24 hours in the best possible way, then you’d better pick up some tickets."

If Halloween is approaching, it must be time for that annual theatrical command: “Let's do the 'Time Warp' again!” Consequently, the Circa '21 Speakeasy will stage its seventh-annual presentation of the cult-musical smash The Rocky Horror Show from October 21 through 30, treating audiences to live performances of classic songs in this nutty, interactive experience that has been delighting show regulars and virgins alike for close to 50 years.

The 1999 winner of the United Kingdom's Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, Conor McPherson's arresting and chilling drama The Weir enjoys an appropriate-for-Halloween run at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre from October 14 through 30, the work praised by the New York Times as “beautifully devious” and by the Evening Standard as “a modern masterpiece.”

If you were to tell me a marriage could teeter on the brink of destruction simply due to the addition of a dog … I’d have countered that no one would let canine conflict get that far. Only that’s exactly what happens in the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's production of Sylvia, written by A.R. Gurney and directed by Kathy Graham. Friday’s performance ultimately left me feeling like I am killing it with marriage, as both my husband and I agree on our position on getting a dog: While they’re great, dog ownership simply isn’t for us.