MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs is back from vacation, and she joins The Current's Steve Seel and Jill Riley to talk about three performances opening this weekend:

Dinner For Seven: The Beyond Ballroom Dance Company celebrates its tenth anniversary with this show featuring high drama, bold technique and great couples-dancing. The show opens Friday and continues through the weekend at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis.

Six Characters in Search of an Author: Staging at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul, this play centers on a reality TV show set in a home. The house is suddenly invaded by a group of six characters who convince the TV show's production crew to complete their stories. Six Characters in Search of an Author is directed by Alan Berks. It opens Friday and it runs to March 24.

How to Swear Like a Minnesotan: This new play by local writer/comedian Joseph Scrimshaw is described as a "risqué hot dish of Minnesota Nice." Scrimshaw draws on his youth in Brainerd, Minn., and in North Minneapolis as he explores the edgy side of the mild Midwest. The play opens Saturday and continues every Saturday in March at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis.

Bonus: Listen to a description of The Audience, a play starring Helen Mirren that Marianne recently saw at London's Gielgud Theatre.

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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