The eco-monster musical comedy, based on the 1984 Lloyd Kaufman classic cult film, plays at The Danforth Music Hall with a homegrown cast. I had a chance to attend one of the preview shows this week.

The Toxic Avenger storyline is pretty simple to follow: Geek Boy (Melvin Ferd the Third) gets taunted by high school thugs, who dump him into a vat of radioactive toxic waste, after which he emerges as an uber-strong mutant freak (Toxie), bent on winning the heart of the high school hottie and ridding the town of the eco-unfriendly New Jersey mayor.

Abandoned by husband and shunned by her people, Madama Butterfly is 'stuck by a pin, and mounted on a board.' Unable to overcome her dishonour, she is forced to commit jigai. This compelling story is one of the best I've seen on the COC stage, and we've got a pair of tickets to pass on to one lucky reader.

Two of Daniel Karasik's plays are being produced this autumn. One of them is coming up at the Tarragon Theatre in early October while the other production is in November...in Potsdam, Germany.

Daniel was born and raised in Vaughan, which, according to its official civic tagline, is 'The City Above Toronto'.

Red One Theatre's free, traveling production of the play is wrapping up this weekend with performances at De Grassi Street Park tonight and at the south end of Glen Stewart Park on Friday and Saturday at 7pm.

For Torontonians who slept through Fringe, napped through Summerworks, and dreamed through 'Dream in High Park', this may be our last shot of theatrical redemption before September breaks.

Without further ado, here are my 8 reasons to go and check it out...

I've found that Toronto audiences much too easily give a standing ovation, but at last night's opening show of the Mirvish production at Canon Theatre, it was rightly deserved.

This Theatre Royal Stratford East and UK Arts production of the Perry Henzell hit (based on the 1972 film starring Jimmy Cliff) comes off a successful run in London's West End. If you embrace the culture of reggae music, you'll likely enjoy this show immensely.

If you get bored of one of the 10 plays, it'll soon be over and another one will likely amuse (Jalapeno Cough Syrup), infuriate (While Isabelle Bleeds) or equally annoy you (Fifty Years Hungry). That said, most of them are well-written and acted.

One of the highlights of the 10 plays for me was The Piano by Amy Fox, featuring a sassy Ese Atawo as The Countess (pictured above) who claims to live above a young couple, played by Adrian Sheperd-Gawinski and Sara Mitich. We learn that sometimes reality and imagination don't always get along. But where should the piano go?

The Shadow is a new opera by composer Omar Daniel and librettist Alex Poch-Goldin about intrigue, desire and deception in Old Barcelona. It centers around Raoul, a postman who woos a young lady, lives beyond his means trying to impress her and gets chased down by his shadow.

The Shadow is more than just a metaphor in this case. It has been a tradition in old Barcelona to have a man exceptionally dressed follow around, or shadow, those who don't pay their debts, shaming them into paying up, or exposing their secrets and making their lives miserable as recompense. In some cases, this practice still exists in Barcelona today, with an El Cobrador del Frac (The Debt Collector in Top Hat and Tails).

The opera, directed by Tom Diamond, isn't your typical lavish, melodramatic production and it's more pleasurable as a result. The intimate Berkely Street Theatre houses this show and most of the story sung in English. There's a small flat-panel TV suspended above the left side of the stage, hovering over the seven-piece stage "pit orchestra" ensemble. It subtly provides translation surtitles to the Spanish-sung passages. In such a small venue, it's a delight to see up close the facial expressions of the performers.

Candles are for Burning Co-op present 4-H Club, Killer's Head and Cowboys #2, giving us a glimpse into Shepard's American west. In some cases, a very wild, wild west. All three plays are directed by Steve McCarthy (also a member of The Elastocitizens) who created, with Michelle Monteith and Christian Barry, 2006's much lauded Revisited.

The moment I enter the venue, I get a sense of what's to come. The plays are housed in a dilapidated mansion at 160 St. George Street (two buildings south of the Bata Shoe Museum at St. George and Bloor). It feels like an old barroom where one might encounter Tom Waits on the upright, slightly out-of-tune piano in the corner.

Especially when your parents have divorced, you get to see your dad one night a week, your science fair project gets hijacked and you're made to be the flower girl at your dad's wedding to his new floozy girlfriend.

Kristen Thomson single-handedly depicts four characters that together tell the story of Claudia, a preteen trying to cope with all this and puberty in Crow's Theatre's remounted production of I, Claudia showing at The Distillery District's Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

Dan MacIvor's A Beautiful View would've been more aptly titled Nothing Is Enough.

The mantra was repeated often enough throughout this two-person play, and with each repeated mention, one got a better sense of its meaning for the characters, played by Caroline Gillis and Tracy Wright.

They're two women whose lives weave in and out of an on-again, off-again relationship. We're drawn into their lives through vignettes that take us to a campsite, an outdoor outfitters store (somewhat like MEC) an airport bar and several parties.

I've really enjoyed MacIvor's plays in the past. Especially House, Here Lies Henry and Monster. The dialogue is always witty and sharp, especially when delivered by the playwright himself.

MacIvor (pictured right) being absent in this one left me with a longing to hear his voice, which I felt was diluted when told through the two female characters.

There are definitely some bona fide LOL moments as they chase after fleeting moments that embrace their sexuality, friendship and love.

During their fundraiser this week at the Supermarket, the innovative theatre company publicly announced they're expanding beyond the west end's Dufferin Grove with their latest project, Cyclops. Cyclops, or the Cycling Oriented Puppet Squad, is a bicycle-based theatre project made up of a mobile performance crew. The squad will pedal theatre and urban environmental issues to a community near you for the next three summers.