Arts & Culture

I once saw an actress who played Martha in Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in an actual black fright wig.

For years, Oscar-winning screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin resisted the idea of a stage musical based on his 1990 Hollywood hit “Ghost” — until he teamed up with a Tony-winning director and Grammy-winning songwriters.

Enchanted fairy-tale creatures wave their freak flags at Spring Mountain Ranch during Super Summer Theatre’s “Shrek the Musical” in an exuberant presentation by Feral Tale Theatricals.

The troupe’s 2014-15 season, themed “#LeadUsNot,” includes two world premieres — one of them to be staged at a local motel — and the local debut of “Spring Awakening,” the Tony-winning rock musical.

While most people are familiar with the role organized crime played in the casino industry in Las Vegas, the connections between the mafia here and in Cuba are often overlooked.