Signs of Life Gallery director James Schaefer usually lingers behind the scenes. But he’s been working in his studio for the past month, and tonight he opens a show that highlights the fruits of his labor. “Signs and Seasons” includes 40 pieces of botanical, landscape and figurative work. There’s a reception from 7 to 10 tonight, and the show remains on view through the end of May.

Two one-act plays – directed, designed and performed by Kansas University theater students – open tonight at the Inge Theatre. “Wonderful Time” presents a cynical view of a romantic world and a romantic view of a cynical world. And “The Brides” is a musical fantasy set in the mind of a mythical bride moments before she enters church to be married. The shows begin at 7:30.

And Europe’s longest-running murder mystery opens tonight at Lawrence Community Theatre. In Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap,” one of the guests snowed in at a house is murdered, and a detective among the guests must solve the crime. Curtain goes up on the classic whodunit at 8 p.m.

I’m Mindie Paget with Art a la Carte.