FILM: Avatar in the arboretum, UC Davis Film Fest at the Varsity

MUSIC: Peter, the Wolf and the provost, too

Two theater productions wrap up their runs this weekend:

• The Memorandum — Vaclav Havel’s 1965 satirical farce about the blunders and headaches of bureaucracy and office culture, given a 21st-century upgrade in this production from the Institute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance, part of the Department of Theatre and Dance. Directed by Alejandro Torres, 2011 recipient of a Bachelor of Arts in dramatic art and film studies. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, May 17-19, Lab A, Wright Hall. Free. Read more.

• Rent — Studio 301 Productions, the campus’s only student-run troupe, presents Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning rock opera. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create in New York City under the shadow of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Undergraduates and graduate students past and present comprise the cast, crew and band. Mitchell VanLandingham, director, and Elizabeth Tremaine, music director. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, May 17-19, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 20, Wyatt Pavilion Theatre. Tickets are available at the Freeborn Hall ticket office or by calling (530) 752-1915.

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.