If you think the play's the thing, you're in luck; theater companies around the state are staging new works and well-loved classics throughout the holiday season (which, like it or not, we're already in). Debuting on Friday, Nov. 6, Auxiliary Dog Theater (3011 Monte Vista NE) presents The Pavilion. Penned by Craig Wright and directed by Andie Rigler, this award-winning play focuses on the two halves of a high school's cutest couple and what happens when they meet again 20 years later. That may sound a bit generic, but Wright has written for "Six Feet Under" and "Lost" and also holds a masters degree in divinity. If that résumé is any indication, prepare to be sad, confused, hopeful and a little turned on. The show runs through Nov. 29, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. All tickets are $12 and seats can be reserved by calling 254-7716. Go to auxdog.org for more.

A few years ago, Lori Ostlund was known to Albuquerqueans as an instructor at TVI and one of the Two Serious Ladies who ran that eponymous furniture store in Nob Hill. She and her partner decided in 2005 that they needed more time to write, and in order to simplify their lives, they moved to San Francisco. Since then, her first book, the short story collection The Bigness of the World, has earned her the Flannery O'Connor for Short Fiction and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Grant. Prior to her upcoming appearance in Albuquerque, Ostlund chatted with the Alibi on the phone about the weather in San Francisco (sunny), novel-writing (difficult) and the Internet (distracting).

Among the office buildings and lofts of Downtown is Warehouse 508, the much anticipated and recently opened First Street youth center for arts, music and entertainment.