American Son
Sept. 24-Oct. 3
Zeitgeist
Christopher Demos-Brown’s award-winning play opened in 2016, moved to Broadway and became a Netflix film. An African-American professor waits at a police station for news of her missing son, who was involved in a traffic stop. Her estranged white husband, an FBI agent, arrives and both parents confront their fears, disparate backgrounds and racial biases.

Don’t Hug Me
Sept. 25-Oct. 4
Encore Performing Arts, Cloquet
Subtitled “A Minnesota Love Story With Singin’ and Stuff,” this musical features a smooth-talking karaoke salesman who arrives in Bunyan Bay on the coldest day of the year and shakes up lives.

Folk Fest
Saturday, Sept. 26, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Duluth Folk School
Ten-year celebration of the folk school with an early morning breakfast and walk, crafting classes, a gathering of artists and artisans, alley dance and folk jam, and live music by Ross Thorn and McKain Lakey. Events are free until the 8 p.m. concert.

Wheels of Murder
Saturday, Sept. 26, 1 p.m.
Duluth Public Library
Historian and author Jeffrey M. Sauve discusses true crime, historical sleuthing and the art of writing period literature. His latest book recounts the astonishing exploits of Hans and Lew Kellihan, whose ill-fated 1896 heist in Sherburn, Minn., marked the world’s first bank robbery carried out on bicycles.

Duluth Does The Dead
Saturday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m.
Sacred Heart
More than two dozen Twin Ports musicians perform songs from the Dead’s huge and diverse catalog. Expect an endless jam. Kim Curtis Monson of The Fish Heads serves as MC. This one-night-only concert is part of an ongoing tribute series staged at Sacred Heart Music Center twice a year.

Celebrate the Night
Sept. 27-Oct. 4
Multiple locations
A week of free events celebrating dark skies through music, art and science, star parties, telescope viewings, a planetarium show, concerts and art presentations. Sunday kicks off 6:30 p.m. at Fitger’s with music by Paul Metsa, David Huckfelt and Jeremy Ylvisaker.

Church Basement Ladies
Oct. 1-10
Fitger’s Spirit of the North Theater
Musical comedy about a group of women work tirelessly work behind the scenes in a small Midwestern town church, preparing food and organizing events for the congregation. The ladies form a tight-knit sisterhood as they navigate the joys and challenges of their roles.