Arts & Events

Two plays by Catherine Treischmann, a younger American playwright whose work's been staged Off-Broadway, around the US and in London and received commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep and the Denver Theatre Center, will have their Bay Area premieres by two separate theater companies in Oakland and San Francisco this month. 

'Crooked,' about a 14-year-old young woman with a twisted back and the desire to write, who moves with her mother to Oxford, Mississippi, meeting another young woman with a strong belief in Jesus, setting the scene for a family crisis, will be staged by Virago Theatre Company at the Flight Deck, 1540 Broadway in Uptown Oakland (near 12th Street BART), Friday-Saturday at 8, Sunday at 2 and 7 (preview Friday, February 19 at 7), February 20-March 1. $25. viragotheatre.org 

'How the World Began,' about a female high school biology teacher who moves to rural Kansas and gets embroiled in a controversy between faith and science, will be staged by Custom Made Theatre Company at the Gough Street Playhouse. Audience members who've attended a show from one of the productions can see the other for half price. Check with the box office. 

Gough Street Playhouse, 1620 Gough (at Bush), San Francisco, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8, Sundays at February 14-March 12, with previews on February 12 and 13. $20-$40. custommade.org