Frustrated with the half-hour delay, and already having chatted up the plaid-wearing I.C. boys next to me, I probably would have left my back-row seat in the State Theatre before the show even started Saturday night had I not been waiting to witness a true musical talent in the flesh.

When opening act for the night took stage, only a handful of people seemed really excited. (I found myself snickering when a middle-aged man jumped out of his seat to dance, for example.) It was a different story later on, however, when Sharon Jones pranced into the spotlight. Then, I was one of the only people left sitting down, because how can you sit down when a woman like that is onstage?

True to the connotations of the production’s title, deceptiveness, shiny exteriors and kitsch were at the heart of Hocus, which was performed this past weekend at Risley Theatre. Wrapped around it all — or, perhaps, at its core — is a stab at the commercial, materialistic and altogether unnatural and exploitative tendencies of Americana, undertaken in an offbeat, darkly humorous style akin to Kurt Vonnegut in the ’70s. Playwright and director Will Cordeiro (current Risley Artist-in-Residence) targets advertising, technology and politicians — a move that, by today’s standards, is hardly considered revolutionary.

When a mother tells her daughter that, on the night of her birth, “it was snowing and raining at the exact same time,” it is impossible to believe that Jenny Schwartz ’95, the writer of God’s Ear, was not inspired by the weather of her dear alma mater.

A play originally performed off-off-Broadway, God’s Ear is unlike any other. It seems impossible that a piece of theater could captivate you and make you want to cover your ears at the same time. The Schwartz Center’s production of the work, however, does exactly that.

While Ithaca lacks most of the defining characteristics of a larger city — good shopping, vibrant nightlife, etc. — you don’t have to travel far from campus to find excellent performance arts. This past weekend, the Ithaca Ballet opened its 2008-2009 season with a set of matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday, downtown at the State Theatre.

Sooooo Pretty: The Ithaca Ballet's dancers, who opened their '08-'09 season last weekend, wowed audiences at the State Theatre with their precision and grace.

I’ve seen enough florescant-tinged signs over the past few weeks, announcing the imminent arrival of Howie Mandel, that news of the comedian’s scheduled appearance had been seared into my brain. So effective were the highlighter-colored posters, reading “HOWIE IS COMING,” my subconscious had begun to anticipate the return of the Messiah. All I knew was that I didn’t know who this “Howie” character was, but he was coming, and he must be a big freaking deal, because not even Obama advertises with neon paper.

Deal!: Comedian and gameshow host Howie Mandel left the crowd at Barton Hall in stitches last Friday night.

Samuel Beckett isn’t for everyone. His novels are vast, nearly un-peopled monologues, an obsessive-compulsive’s droning echo chambers, which depict the struggle to keep oneself upright and hygienic in a bleak, mundane, thoroughly contaminated solipsistic mindscape. Admittedly, I have tried to read several of Beckett’s novels, only to abandon them half-way. Each time I begin one anew, I start to feel like one of his characters: haggardly trying to go on with a dim resolve, keeping a faith that I know will fail me, waiting for something (anything!) to happen.