Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! My daughter has participated in several youth acting classes and…read moretheater programs here and all of them have been fantastic. Her most recent class was a summer acting class with Alex Moore and she had a great time, learned a lot, and the kids put on an impressive performance at the end of the week. Bruce and the folks that runs the education/youth program are so friendly and helpful. We are so pleased to have found A2CT and will be enrolling in more programs soon!

What a gem of a small live theater producing a nice mix of musicals, comedies and dramas each…read moreseason. Ann Arbor Civic Theater splits their plays between two theaters, both affiliated w/ the University of Michigan. Excellent local theater with reasonable season ticket pricing. Five stars.

I love the State Theatre. The art deco style is beautiful and gives the place a personality you…read morereally don't see much anymore. The marquee on State Street is one of those sights that makes Ann Arbor. I appreciate the mix of old movies they show. It makes the theater feel alive instead of just another multiplex playing the same few blockbusters. The different theater sizes are nice too and the whole place feels very convenient, comfortable, and community-oriented.

OK, time to show some serious appreciation to our local indie movie theatres! In a time when so…read moremany are closing we're profoundly lucky to have them here in Ann Arbor (alongside the Michigan Theatre) and I admittedly have taken having them here for granted. No more! We've committed to going to see more flicks here. Just tonight we went to see The Phoenician Scheme and had the best time. Pros: * Convenience! It's right downtown and close to so many places where you can grab a quick bite before a movie (we opted for NYPD for pizza tonight). * Really good popcorn! And much less expensive compared to big multiplexes. Today we got a large popcorn and pop combo for a cool $11! It's a bit smaller in size than the bigger guys but the quality is great (very satisfying) and they use real butter, y'all! * Tickets are also not terribly expensive comparatively and, though they only offer a few films at a time, you can see things here they don't screen anywhere else in the area. Especially now that so many theatres have closed (RIP Main Art). State Theatre is a destination! Sure, they don't have the big recliner chairs, and I do admit I miss those, but there's something really special about that old school movie experience. Every time I come here I feel like a teenager again coming here to see Run Lola Run with my friends. It's a special place and I hope it continues on for more years to come. I'll do my part to make it so!

OMG Clinton Theatre is a delight with homemade shakes,…read moreorganic popcorn, the best previews in the land, and a family atmosphere that makes it a hometown delight for over a century. Support your local community and your inner child. Take yourself, whatever your age to Clinton theater ASAP

Great environment, amazing food, the homemade ice cream sandwiches are the BEST!!! Definitely a…read moreMUST for anyone. With the insanely low price, you can make the drive from just anywhere and it will be worth the trip! Highly HIGHLY recommend. Owners are super nice too!

The summer festival is back! A three week community celebration with evening performances on two…read moreoutdoor stages, and a ticketed indoor venue. Kids activities, a family tent with cornhole, demonstrations, and free bike tune-ups on Weds. Held on UM campus by the clock tower. Drinks and food for purchase available on site.

As free summer festivals go, Ann Arbor has one of the best. With events nearly every evening all…read morethroughout June and into early July, it's one festival that you won't want to miss! I was able to visit several times with friends, and we always ended up wandering to the "Top of the Park" where we would away to upbeat music and enjoy some delicious food. Everyone seems to congregate here, so it's not uncommon to bump into other friends and see your party grow as the night wears on. We would find ourselves talking, eating, dancing, and laughing late into the night and after the stars had already appeared on more than one occasion. I was sad that the festival wasn't longer but am already looking forward to next year and more summer nights under the stars at the top of the park!

Just a fun homemade- community made festival and parade. We have never been to the Friday night…read morepart of the fest, we attend the Sunday parade. We have been going from time to time since the kids were really little, at least a decade. We have not always made it out here, but we were able to attend this year then take a nice walk around the city. This is a fun little event, nothing fancy, but great for all ages and the kids love the bubbles.

The kickoff to the Ann Arbor festival season and by far one of the funnest gatherings in town…read more Festifools is split up into two events--the original and flagship "Festifools" and a younger twilight party called "FoolMoon." Here's the dish on each. Firstly--Both typically take place on the second weekend of April. FoolMoon goes down on Friday night and Festifools on Sunday. FoolMoon is a night time processional through several streets of Ann Arbor made up of locals who have made luminaries and are dressed up in lovely glowing garb (in the weeks leading up to FoolMoon you can attend luminary workshops to help make your own or buy kits at a few local shops like Downtown Home and Garden). The processionals all end downtown by Washington and Ashley for a nightime block party filled with cool sights, light projects and shows, beer, food, music and merriment. And all those eye popping and impressive luminaries. The party, on a nice weather night, goes until midnight. So it's truly a party. In general FoolMoon is my favorite of the two and is one of my favorite things to do in town. Sadly this year it was raining and I'm just not built for elements like that so I didn't make it down but next year I shall be sure to return. Festifools is what they call "a gigantic public art spectacular, created by members of the community and U of M students." Folks get together in the weeks leading up to the event and make huge papier-mâché puppets (most of which need several people to help control) which they then take to Main Street and march in a parade (along with costumed revelers and marching bands) for folks to enjoy. The puppets typically veer into the silly, the surreal, and maybe a little creepy. This year I saw some Pac Man ghosts (silly), big headed replicas of notable locals (the surreal), and a big fat baby with a phone that said "send nudes" (the creepy). There was also a huge Vincent Van Gogh, little kids dressed up as robots, Chinese dragons, an octopus controlled by about 10 walkers, and so so much more. This event is short, it only runs about an hour (4-5 pm) but they pack in a lot into it. Lots of fun, great for kids, pet friendly (I walked my dog down to watch the processional), and most importantly-- FREE! Great cheap fun for the whole family! Or just curious onlookers on the street! Happy to have such a cool, creative community in town working on this. Hoping they continue this tradition for many many years into the future!

Going to the movies is fun again at Emagine!…read more I recently embraced my inner child with a trip to see Toy Story 5 with a group, and I'm glad I discovered a new place that I like! Located just off of Michigan Ave in Saline, Emagine combines comfy seats, reasonable prices on popcorn, and plenty of other snacks for a night at the movies that is a real night out. The friends that we went with even got a drink along with their "encore" service, which brought a second drink in the middle of the movie. I forgot how much I enjoyed getting lost in the plot of a good movie, and if it includes pretzel bites and pizza, even better!

This is the best theater in the area. It is always clean, has a very nice bar, great food options…read morewhere they bring the food to your seats, and reasonable prices. Their seats also recline and are roomy. This is my go to movie theater. I just have to keep my son from wanting to purchase the themed popcorn buckets all the time, lol.

My husband and I couldn't remember the last time we had been to this Cinemark (all signs point to…read morepre pandemic?) and I was honestly a little apprehensive about how it would be since a lot of theatres have been falling by the wayside but to my pleasant surprise it's actually still in pretty good shape! Typically we go to another theatre that's a bit closer with some better amenities (a fairly robust food, menu, a full bar, etc) but we came here because it was the only theatre in the area showing a movie we wanted to see. Gone are the days of the giant movie releases where multiple concession counters are open, so parts of the building do feel like of deserted, but it was still pretty busy for a Monday night and there was a bit of a line, though it did move pretty quickly. A lot of it is grab and go (including most hot food), so it's convenient and quick, though the quality does suffer a bit not being made to order (compared to their local chain competitor who delivers your food to your seat). I got the chicken fingers and we split some fries and they were ok. Not great but not terrible. It got the job done. We also split some popcorn which was freshly popped. I'd probably just stick to that and a soda next time. The theatres are clean and the seats themselves are recliners and pretty comfy and in good condition. Projection was good, as was the sound. Commercials/trailers were almost a half hour long which felt a bit like overkill, tho. Over all, it was fine. Not impressive enough to get us to change our regular theatre but serviceable for a visit now and again.

Just past the southeastern edge of Ann Arbor, over the Ypsi line, lives this monolithic box built…read moreon a scale of a bygone era. It's not quite a dying mall, but much of the vast expanse of parking lot is crumbling and in shambles. Fortunately, the front parking lot is fine, and as far as I can tell the building never comes close to reaching its maximum capacity. Did it ever? Are there even that many people in Washtenaw county? The inside matches apace with concession stands aplenty. However most sit empty and vacant. The one up front is active and pops the very familiar movie theater style, overly salty corn, smothered in butter flavored grease, for a small fortune. I'm really spoiled when it comes to popcorn. If you can find the White Cat kernels from Indiana, and pop them at home, you'll be spoiled too. But I digress. I did kinda like the efficiency of the concession operation, with the attendants behind the counter getting you your food and drink, and then walking up to the register to pay. That said, the person at the register looked a little dead in the eyes. Can't blame 'em. It seems like a brutally monotonous gig. The theaters themselves are fine. Some are smaller. Some are bigger. Can't say I love the bzzzzzz bzzzzzz of the reclining seats. Can't say I love the IMAX experience either. It's been a long long time since I've seen an IMAX, but I remember the screens being bigger. If I'm not mistaken at one point the minimum size of an IMAX was three stories tall. Perhaps they have made adjustments to the standards in the past 20 years to smooth the path to more screens across the US. Ultimately, I'm glad we have a multiplex in the area. Not everything shows at the smaller theaters in town. That doesn't mean that I don't feel guilty about seeing pictures at the big chain. Perhaps it helps that the experience of Cinemark and their convenience fee for buying tickets online, and all of their pricing shenanigans that try and get you into the Movie Club, fills me with a bit of rage. The bottom line is that Cinemark is fine. Theoretically it could earn bonus points for some of the interesting international films they show, and a few fringe offerings to boot, but the negatives cancel those out. Better concessions and fewer pricing shenanigans would elevate the experience and actually make me want to go there, as opposed to just ending up there when it's the only spot showing a movie I want to see.

Something about this place is one part magical old-timey performance space and the other half is…read moregrimy hole in the wall. Pretty great combination if you ask me. As others have mentioned, not the greatest sound for louder shows. But they do bring through lots of interesting little projects - mostly local - my favorite so far has been the burlesque show - or Forest's one-man-band "Skate Laws" - or "suicide by cop" (a punk band that perhaps takes itself a bit too seriously but is for the thrashing about and actually pretty good). Unfortunately, finding out that these shows exist is a whole 'nother issue. Their website calendar usually just shows the puppet shows which is a great source of frustration for me. You'll have to either know people involved in the productions or search for DIY posters around Ypsi (The Ugly Mug usually is a good source for those things). Pretty sure all the shows geared toward adults are BYOB (haven't seen a sign yet that says a certain show is requesting it not be). So grab a paper bag or a flask before you show up, if you want to imbibe. It's definitely 'flex space' in that depending on the event, it's divided into church pews and seats with a floor seating up in front and sometimes it's all open with some seats on the periphery. The basement is a place you can hang out if you want to get away from the crowd upstairs - but it's mostly a storage space. There's a couch near the bathroom which, despite the fact that... well, it's near the bathroom... seems to be a popular place for making-out and other transgressions. I guess people are turned on by different things. Like proximity to bathrooms. To each their own. If I could find out about the shows more, I would go more. Until then it's nice to know it exists and the shows I have attended there were mucho enjoyable.

The first thing I thought of when I entered the Dreamland Theater was the great scene from "All…read moreAbout Eve" when the Hollywood-bound director lectures Eve about "the theater" "Want to know what the Theater is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets... Donald Duck, Ibsen, and The Lone Ranger, Sarah Bernhardt, Poodles ....It may not be your Theater, but it's Theater of somebody, somewhere" The Dreamland may not be your theater, but it's there, in a skinny, shabby little room in downtown Ypsi, providing puppet shows for kids and adults alike. They offer other shows, too, but I was there for the puppets. The first thing I saw was a haphazard crowd of kids and adults looking for seats. There are four church pews in the front and a two row riser in the back (no more than 30 seats total, I'd guess). Naturally, the stage is up front, but there is also a projection screen to the right. Eventually, the lights dimmed and ""A Puppet History of Ypsilanti" commenced. The show began with shadow puppets on the rear-lit screen. Then the narrative continued on stage. The beautiful and brightly colored hand-made curtain opened to reveal wooden puppets and painted backdrops. The curtain would close between scenes and the puppetmaster would drop a new bit of scenery or a different puppet in the mix, then reopen the curtain. I really enjoyed the creativity and technical prowess that went into the multimedia performance. They used a pre-recorded dialogue track and operated the puppets in sync. This backfired at times, like when the soundtrack skipped (repeatedly), but considering that there seemed to be just one guy running the show, and it only cost five bucks, I was pretty impressed. The writing was underwhelming. The story was informative (Phyllis Diller is from Ypsi - how did I not know that?!?!?), but it was obnoxiously self-referential at times, and probably went over many of the kids' heads. I wish the playwright had left out the stuff about himself and just stuck to talking about Ypsi. At the end of the show, my companion referred to the forty minute program as "janky"and okay, yeah, it was. But I'm so excited that someone bothered to build a stage and some seats, fashion a curtain and some puppets, add a broken CD player and sell tickets - just footsteps from my front door! It may not be everyone's theater, but it's theater for me.