Weekend arts picks: May 14-17

Theater: The prolific and crafty Steven Dietz has had several of his plays produced by Florida Stage (Lonely Planet, Rocket Man, Private Eyes) and now the Manalapan theater is unveiling a world premiere of his, Yankee Tavern, about conspiracy theories and paranoia. A cast led by Carbonell Award winners Antonio Amadeo and Kim Morgan Dean inhabit this post-9/11 tale of life in a rundown New York bar, where a young man grapples with the questions posed by a mysterious stranger, as outlandish hypotheses become dangerous realities. Michael Dixon (Black Sheep) directs. Opening Friday evening and running through June 21. Call (561) 585-3433 or (800) 514-3837 for reservations. — H. Erstein

Music: The Seraphic Fire chamber choir explores themes of religious tolerance today as it launches four concerts of music by two men who worked for the Gonzaga Duke Vincenzo I of Mantua: Claudio Monteverdi, the author of the first great operas, and his little-known contemporary Salamone Rossi. Rossi was Jewish, and the first significant Jewish art-music composer in history, and it was the relaxation of the laws restricting Jews that allowed Rossi to work closely with Monteverdi as well as write a series of pieces in Hebrew called Songs of Solomon. The concert, called The Jew and the Gentile, also features madrigals by Rossi and sacred music by Monteverdi. 1 p.m. today at the Harriet Himmel Theater in CityPlace and 8 p.m. today at Temple Judea in Coral Gables; 8 p.m. Saturday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, and 4 p.m. Sunday at Temple Emanu-El in Miami Beach. Tickets: $35. Available at the door, or by calling 305-285-9060, or visiting www.seraphicfire.org. — G. Stepanich

Abram Kreeger’s Piano Lovers series at the Boca Raton Steinway Gallery on Federal Highway resumes Sunday evening with a concert by South Florida-based Mira Feldman. The Russian-born pianist plans works by J.S. Bach (the Chaconne in D minor, arranged by Busoni), Franck (Prelude, Fugue and Variations, arranged by Harold Bauer), Chopin (Waltz in A-flat, Op. 34, No. 1), Rachmaninov (Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5), Villa-Lobos (Impressoes Seresteiras) and Ernesto Lecuona (La 32, from the Danzas Cubanas Tipicas). Kreeger is a true fan of the piano literature, and he prefaces the recitals in the Steinway Gallery hall with interesting comments about the works to come. 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the concert. Call 929-6633 or visit www.pianolovers.org. — G. Stepanich

Art: This Saturday night, a group of 20 emerging and established artists will meet outside under night lights in the yard of a 1920s cottage home in Lake Worth to display their mixed-media projects. Some have created collaborative pieces, such as a series of six tablecloths by Terre Rybovich and Mark Gierok in which he has reinterpreted her charcoal bodyprints into oil paintings that are enriched with fruit juices and other foodstuffs.

Featured artists include Nora Annes, Nune Astaryan, Kevin Cummins, Mark Fairchild, Lynelle Forrest, Steve Futej, Jacek Gancarz, Isabel Gouveia, Sibel Kocabasi, Dan Leahy, Lucia Hare-Leahy, Talya Lerman, Sam Perry, Stephan Shasha, Carolyn Sickles, Pinar Sinka, Maxine Spector, and, Ryan Toth. There will also be a movement installation by Brook Waszak, Kathryn Comerford, Shanna Lillis and Cassandra Tanenbaum, and music by Eren Kocabasi. The event was curated by Sibel Kocabasi. The Open Air Exhbition will be held at 112 South J St. in Lake Worth from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. Call 667-3187 for more information. — K. Deits