FRIDAY-OCT. 28

>> TAG presents Sam Shepard’s play ‘True West’ all month

Lock up your toasters! “True West,” a Sam Shepard play that explores themes of sibling rivalry, the Old versus the New West and the trials of life as an artist, opens at The Actors’ Group Friday for a monthlong run.

The play features “bizarre plot twists” and “outrageously absurd humor” said the New York Times, including a dare by one brother, the thief Lee (Brandon Karrer) to his brother, struggling screenwriter Austin (Alex Monti Fox), to steal a toaster.

Battling brothers being what they are, you might expect a stage full of breadcrumbs, but the result is even messier.

First performed in 1980 in San Francisco, the play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has become a favorite in acting classes, allowing students to wrestle with its rich dialogue. The brothers’ roles have attracted an unusually broad range of talented actors, including Dennis and Randy Quaid, Tommy Lee Jones, Peter Boyle, Jim Belushi, Erik Estrada, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. A 2000 run on Broadway featured Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly switching roles from one show to the next.

TAG’s presentation also features Ann Brandman as the brothers’ mother and Jim Aina as a film producer, whose search for a movie to produce sets the two brothers on a twisted collision course.

SATURDAY

>> Rebelution set to represent their uplifting reggae sounds

Rebelution, the chart-topping Southern California reggae band, comes to the Blaisdell Arena this weekend.

The group’s uplifting, optimistic outlook and rock- and R&B-inflected sound have made it a favorite since it first formed in the town of Isla Vista, Calif., home of the University of California-Santa Barbara, where all the members graduated.

With degrees ranging from religion (frontman Eric Rachmany) to business (keyboard player Rory Carey), they brought an academic perspective to the music, with songs like “Attention Span” and “Educated Fools” from their eponymous 2006 debut EP.

The group went on to produce six full-length albums, all of which were well-received, from 2007’s “Courage to Grow,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard reggae charts, to the 2016 hit “Falling Into Place,” which earned the group its first Grammy nomination. Look for a nomination, and perhaps even an award with Rebelution’s latest effort, “Free Rein,” which at press time was No. 2 on the charts.

“Rebelution has really emerged as a powerhouse in the reggae community,” raves the website Readjunk.com in a recent review. “It really comes down to Rachmany and the rest of Rebelution’s message of being aware of social issues, uplifting lyrics and just a great vibe and atmosphere during their live performances. ‘Free Rein’ is another feather in the cap of a band who has repeatedly put out fantastic records.”

In addition to Rachmany and Carey, the group consists of Marley Williams on bass and Wesley Finley on drums.

MONDAY

>> Saosin is set to rock the Republik

Seminal alt-rock, post hardcore group Saosin brings its screaming, hard-driving sound back to Honolulu.

The group developed a large following in Orange County, Calif., before it even hit the airwaves with its 2003 debut EP, “Translating the Name,” a reference to the band’s name, which means “careful” in Chinese. (Language sticklers might recognize the term as spelled “xiao xin.”)

While the name suggests a cautious approach to life, their music was far from it, featuring then-lead singer and founding member Anthony Green alternating between a smooth, warm delivery and a fingernails-on-chalkboard screech. Shortly thereafter, Green left the band, but the group had continued success with Cove Reber on lead vocals, producing two albums and appearing on the Vans Warped Tour.

The band took a hiatus in 2010, but reformed with Green in 2013, and a year later released the album “Along the Shadow,” which featured the fatalistic “Silver String” and demonic “Racing Toward a Red Light.”

Beau Burchell’s virtuouso guitar-playing is another feature of the reconstituted band. Burchell is also one of the lead songwriters. Chris Sorenson is on bass and Alex Rodriguez is on drums.

WEDNESDAY

>> Matt Catingub jazzes up Blue Note Hawaii

Grammy Award-winning composer and musician Matt Catingub comes to Blue Note Hawaii for an evening of jazzy pop and rock favorites.

The versatile Catingub is known locally for his many ingenious arrangements of pop music, creating symphonic arrangements for local musicians like Cecilio & Kapono, Jimmy Borges and Raiatea Helm that were performed as part of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra’s pops series. He gave his first public performance here as a 15-year-old, leading the band for his mother, the great jazz singer Mavis Rivers, for a concert at the Waikiki Shell.

Nationally, Catingub has performed with a bevy of musicians from Diana Krall, to Al Jarreau, Gladys Knight and Kenny Rogers. He is considered one of the pioneers of arranging popular music for the symphony orchestra, with music by Kenny Loggins, Boz Scaggs, the Righteous Brothers, Vertical Horizon and others getting his orchestral touch. Currently artistic director of the Macon Pops in Georgia and the Glendale Pops Orchestra in Los Angeles, he won a Grammy for the soundtrack of the 2005 George Clooney film “Goodnight, and Good Luck.”

The Blue Note performances will feature music from the likes of Blood Sweat and Tears, Steely Dan, Chicago and Tower of Power. Catingub, who sings and plays piano and sax, will perform with a new group, dubbed the OmniOrchestra, which is filled with familiar names: Christina Souza on vocals, DeShannon Higa on trumpet, Larry Cook on sax, Zanuck Kapala-Lindsey on vocals and guitar, Bruce Hamada on bass and Steve Moretti on drums.