North by Northwestern

Oscar-mania is in full effect, and all of your friends can’t stop talking about La La Land. While it may seem like you need to watch 20 movies to be in the loop for this Sunday, it’s important to take a break and see some on-campus theater, dance and even opera from the Academy Award nominees of the future.

Feb. 23

White Snake

If you think your love life is crazy, be glad you’re not a snake spirit dating a human. Lovers and Madmen will perform Professor Mary Zimmerman’s reimagining of this Chinese legend filled with romance, magic and song. The White Snake is a spirit that becomes a human woman to experience life, falls in love with a kind man and marries him. However, their lives are complicated when a mad monk hears about the White Snake’s mystical past. With evil monks, snake spirits and true love, why would you want to miss this play? 7 p.m., Louis Room. Also Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. $5 for Northwestern students; pay what you can on Feb. 23.

Robin’s Hood

Purple Crayon Players are ready to teach girl power to young children. The theater group will be telling the legend of Robin Hood and his merry men – only this time, it will be merry women. They must confront a food shortage in their town in a play for third- to fifth-graders. This play was also written by a local playwright, so come and support some local talent. 7 p.m., Shanley Pavilion. Also Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Free.

Copenhagen

Believe it or not, Heisenberg is not just Walter White’s alter ego. The Performance Studies department will present Copenhagen, a play about the 1941 meeting of physicists Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg – in, you guessed it, Copenhagen. In the afterlife, the spirits of Bohr, Heisenberg and Bohr’s wife Margrethe try to figure out why Heisenberg visited them in Copenhagen when doing so could put Heisenberg in danger with the Nazis that he was working with at the time. This play is for all of the physics nerds who can’t get enough about quantum theory or the uncertainty principle 8 p.m., Alvin Krause Studio in Annie May Swift Hall. Also Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.; Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Free.

Dialogues of the Carmelites

Have you been dying to go to the opera? Well you’re in luck, because the Bienen School of Music presents Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites. This French opera takes place during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror – and, as the name implies, it was not a fun time to be French. The timid Blanche de la Force joins a Carmelite covenant to escape the chaos of a country where aristocrats were attacked on the streets. However, it is impossible to escape the world when anti-religious sentiment is on the rise. Don’t worry about not understanding what a bunch of French nuns are singing about – the opera will be in English. 7:30 p.m., Cahn Auditorium. Also Feb. 24-25 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 26 at 3 p.m.. $8 for Northwestern students.

Feb. 24

Danceworks 2017: Current Rhythms

Danceworks is back for its 2017 showcase of dance that will put your dorm room dabbing to shame.Guest choreographers will be Eduardo Vilaro, the artistic director of New York’s Ballet Hispanico, and Onye Ozuzu, the dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Columbia College Chicago. Northwestern faculty members Jeff Hancock and Joel Valentín-Martínez will also contribute original pieces. The choreographers promise a night of innovative dance pieces. 7:30 p.m., Josephine Louis Theater. Also Feb. 25 and March 2-4 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 26 and March 5 at 2 p.m.$6 advance, $10 door for Northwestern students.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

It’s hard to believe you wouldn’t’ve seen this movie by now as a Harry Potter fan, but A&O’s last film of the quarter offers a chance to relive the magic. Follow Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne) as he journeys through the American Wizarding World for J.K. Rowling’s spinoff of the beloved book and movie series. 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., McCormick Auditorium. Also Feb. 25, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Free.

Feb. 25

Michael Collins: A Staged Reading

You say you want a revolution? The American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University will present a staged reading of the new musical Michael Collins by Northwestern students. 20 students will perform a story about the Irish rebel who realized that Ireland needed to change its methods for revolutions. The play celebrates the man who got England to the negotiation table for the first time, along with his wife Kitty Kiernan, whose love inspired him to keep fighting. 7 p.m., Pick Staiger Rehearsal Hall. Free, RSVP encouraged.