MPR News' Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Steve Seel and Jill Riley to talk about productions that span everything from Roman mythology to class issues to our own personal flaws.

Venus and Adonis — Ballet of the Dolls presents this production explores concepts of love and romance through the choreography of Myron Johnson, an experimental, multimedia stage production and the music of Kate Bush, Carole King, Tracy Chapman and others. Venus and Adonis stages Friday, Saturday and Sunday at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis; Saturday's production is followed by a discussion with the artists.

Flaw Fest — From the man who brought us How to Swear Like a Minnesotan, this new stand-up comedy show by Joseph Scrimshaw is about all his horrible flaws, including such things as his obsession to play bad James Bond video games, a stubborn need to fight with large animals, the idiocy to drink something called a Watermelon Shooter, the hubris to write a rock 'n' roll song about a helium balloon. Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 open the show. The show will be recorded as part of a forthcoming comedy album by Scrimshaw. There are two shows on both Friday and Saturday nights, at 7 and 10 p.m., at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis.

Good People — Set in south Boston's Lower end and in Chestnut Hill, an affluent Boston suburb, this play follows Margaret, a 50-year-old woman who grew up in the rough-and-tumble south end of Boston. Margie navigates her life of living below the poverty line with humor and colorful stories filled with poor and disenfranchised "southies." In search of help, she finds her high school friend, Mike, who is now a doctor, the play goes on to explores issues of class. The play runs Sept. 13 to Oct. 6 at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul.

Marx in Soho — Frustrated with what he sees and hears from our world, Karl Marx returns to earth for one hour to defend the relevance of his ideas and highlight the serious social issues facing the world today. Written by Howard Zinn, this play stages this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28, at Dreamland Arts in St. Paul. Tickets are pay what you can.

Marianne Combs joins The Current's Morning Show for the Weekend Arts Roundup every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Read about all the latest arts news at the State of the Arts blog at mprnews.org.

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• State of the Arts blog