Park Shakespeare

The Garfield Shakespeare Company will conclude its season with four performances of “Twelfth Night” this weekend and next.

Retired schoolteacher Joe Cook , who in 2008 revived the presentation of Shakespeare plays at the Southside park, directs two-hour shows at 7 p.m. today and Saturday and Sept. 11 and 12 in MacAllister Center. Admission is free.

He describes his approach as “pretty traditional, not modern-dress. The important thing is to find the humor — we try to capitalize on the comedy, make it entertaining.”

Besides presenting “Much Ado About Nothing” at Garfield in June, the company did a day-camp tour at four city parks this summer with an abbreviated version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Neil LaBute ‘Within’

The Theater Within will present six performances of Neil LaBute’s “The Mercy Seat,” a drama about the relationship between a man and a woman who survive the World Trade Center destruction on 9/11.

The production is the third in the “Awaiting Illumination” series, which features post-show talkbacks with cast and crew. Performances will be at 8 p.m. Sept. 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26. Tickets are $12 ($10 for students and seniors).

The Theater Within, an outreach program of the Church Within, is at 1125 Spruce St., four blocks east of Fountain Square. For reservations, call (317) 850-4665.

Drums leading off

Jim Rupp, a drummer from Ohio, will open the Jazz Artist Series at the University of Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Now the drummer with the Woody Herman Orchestra, Rupp also owns a percussion store in Columbus. He will be joined by Indianapolis musicians Steve Allee , piano, and Frank Smith , bass, for the 7:30 p.m. concert in the DeHaan Fine Arts Center, 1400 E. Hanna Ave.

The rest of the series:

Oct. 7: saxophonist Don Aliquo.

Nov. 11: trumpeter Scott Wendholt.

March 17: trombonist Mike Davis.

April 7: bassist Rufus Reid.

General admission is $20 (seniors $10, children and college students with ID, $5). Call (317) 788-3255.