This is the second week of this year’s Free Night of Theater program. Tickets can be reserved online for shows this weekend beginning at noon today. Next Monday, there will be a new round of shows and ticket opportunities. Here’s a list of this week’s shows:

Show: Jitney
Theater: African-American Repertory Theatre
Free night: Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 10, 2:30 p.m.
The story: Jitney, a drama that includes the natural comedy of real life, takes place in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the setting of August Wilson’s cycle of plays on the Black American experience in the 20th century. The action happens in the early 1970’s in a worn-down “gypsy cab” station, where men hustle to make a living as unofficial, unlicensed taxi drivers. The ongoing, underlying tension comes from two principal sources: the threat that the makeshift taxi company may be shut down by the city and the explosive relationship between Becker, who runs the cab company, and his son, Booster, who has just returned from serving a 20-year prison sentence. The talk among the characters forms a rich urban symphony that swirls around the cab company. One’s personal business is always on public parade, as the men kibbitz, criticize and retell local dramas revolving around two seemingly eternal themes of economic anxiety and the armed truce between men and women.

Show: Miss Nelson is Missing
Theater: Dallas Children’s Theater
Free night: Oct. 9, 1:30 p.m.
The story: This classroom comedy is for unruly children everywhere who take advantage of their teacher’s good will and must face the most terrifying of substitutes – Miss Viola Swamp! What has become of sweet Miss Nelson? The kids of Room 207 find themselves playing detective in the search to find Miss Nelson! Enjoyed by ages 5 and above.

Show: The Curse of Castle Mongrew
Theater: Dallas Children’s Theater
Free night: Oct. 8. 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 9, 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The story: They’re kooky and they’re spooky! They’re wacky and they’re weird! No, not that other family! Meet the Mongrews! Young Katherine suddenly finds herself an orphan and is sent to live in the crumbling estate of her strange uncle. Little does she know that the creepy castle is under a curse! It’s Gothic horror! It’s romantic comedy! It’s madcap melodrama! It’s not to be missed! Enjoyed by ages 12 and above.

Show: Henry IV
Theater: Dallas Theater Center
Free night: Oct. 9, 2 p.m.
The story: You’ll see why this was the Bard’s most popular play during his lifetime. Raucous comedy and large-scale battlefield action punctuate the moving drama of a prodigal son who must learn to become a man and a king. With England torn by a civil war, the ailing King Henry is desperately fighting rebel armies. Meanwhile, his heir, Prince Hal, is partying with the London lowlifes, including (give him a cheer!) Shakespeare’s most beloved comic character, the drunken, obese knight, Sir John Falstaff–brought to life by the inimitable Randy Moore, the only actor who, over five decades, has been directed in productions by every one of Dallas Theater Center’s artistic directors.

Show: Noises Off!
Theater: Garland Civic Theatre
Free night: Oct. 8, 8 p.m.
The story: This madly funny romp, considered to be the funniest farce ever written, shows the hilarious pitfalls, downfalls and comic terrors of a theater company trying to perform a comedy play, spilling all the personal and backstage dirt of everyone involved. Don’t miss this laugh per minute roller coaster of fun.

Show: Backstage Acting Workshops, Ages 13-19
Theater: Junior Players
Free night: Oct. 9, 1 p.m.
The story: Junior Players is teaming up with Dallas Public Library’s Teen Centers to offer free acting workshops for youth 13-19 years old. You are encouraged to attend the workshops in each of the month’s they are being offered, but it is not required to participate. Workshops take place at Mountain Creek Library, Dallas West Library, Paul Laurence Dunbar Lancaster-Kiest Library and Skyline Library.

Show: Betrayal
Theater: Kitchen Dog Theater
Free night: Oct. 7 and 8, 8 p.m.
The story: When her marriage breaks up, Emma asks to meet with her former lover – her husband’s close friend, Jerry. Their reflection on their seven-year affair sparks the revelation of a different kind of betrayal. Told in reverse chronology, Harold Pinter exquisitely exposes the little lies and casual evasions that underpin our most intimate relationships in this 20th century masterwork.

Show: Spanish Brass
Theater: Latino Cultural Center
Free night: Oct. 10, 3 p.m.
The story: From Valencia, Spain, this internationally renowned brass quintet has performed throughout Europe, Asia and North America… and will make its Dallas debut at the LCC. This award winning quintet has won the First Prize in the Narbonne (France) International Brass Quintet Competition and recorded more than a dozen CDs and DVDs. Presented by the Latino Cultural Center in collaboration with the Dallas Wind Symphony.

Show: Dracula – The Melodrama
Theater: Pocket Sandwich Theatre
Free night: Oct. 7, 7 p.m.
The story: The old bloodsucker faces garlic, stakes and popcorn in one of our most popular melodramas.

Show: Poets ‘N Jazz in the Clarence Muse Café Theatre
Theater: The Black Academy of Arts & Letters
Free night: Oct. 8 and 9, 8 p.m.
The story: Rappin’ and Rhymin’ to just plain good jazz, featured poet Gino Morrow and a crop of new poets rise to the occasion when they rap and recite at one of Dallas’ most popular spoken word night spots.

Show: 33 Variations
Theater: Theatre Three
Free night: Oct. 8, 8 p.m.
The story: This recent Broadway sensation is a stunning inquiry into the creative mind and its mysteries. Katherine Brant, a brilliant musicologist is driven – even at the expense of her adult daughter’s happiness – to unlock the puzzle of why Beethoven spent the last years of his life writing thirty-three variations on a simple waltz by an insignificant musical hack. This inspiring drama shows both Katherine Brant and Beethoven in a titanic struggle against time and task; each divinely tortured but divinely triumphant.