See Spot play 

• PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLMOVIEPHOTO.COM
• HOT SPOT : Newly opened South County performance venue The Spot will screen a favorite flick every evening at 7 p.m., as part of its 2011 Summer Movie Festival. Pictured is Uma Therman and Leo Bloom in The Producers.

The newest performance space in South County—or the Central Coast, for that matter—is intriguingly named enough to host any number of nighttime happenings. But this week will see the retro-tastic The Spot, located at 116 W. Branch St. in Arroyo Grande, take the form of a movie theater for its 2011 Summer Movie Festival. The venue will screen one classic flick every evening for nine days, June 21 through 29. Screenings will take place at 7 p.m. and include favorites like Gone With the Wind, The Producers, The Godfather, Back to the Future 1, 2, and 3, The Wizard of Oz, The Blues Brothers, and Blazing Saddles.

In July, The Spot will present the musical The Last Five Years, starring Jake McGuire and Leanne Gosmeyer. The show tells the story of struggling actress Cathy Hyatt and up-and-coming novelist Jamie Wellerstein, and their relationship over a period of five years. But the two stories told in The Last Five Years, written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, don’t necessarily stick to the same time. In fact, they go opposite ways, as a snippet from the show’s flyer takes pains to explain:

“The show uses a form of storytelling in which Cathy's story is told in reverse chronological order (beginning the show at the end of the marriage), and Jamie's is told in chronological order (starting just after the couple has first met). The characters do not directly interact except for a wedding song in the middle as their timelines intersect.”

The show runs July 8 through 24. General admission is $20; students pay $15. For showtimes or more information about the mysterious new Spot, call 474-5711 or visit thespotag.com.