Congratulations to all the graduates this weekend -- but especially the theater folks, some of whom I watched grow up on stage!

The Wall Street Journal is calculating that thanks to today's IPO -- which has been covered by the media with a D-Day frenzy -- Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's stock in the company is worth $19.23 billion (as of 1:23 p.m PST; see cool widget below). Playing up the 99% angle, we indulge in a Friday afternoon fantasy:

What would you do with all that money?

My mind reels at the sum, but my list includes a great apartment in Manhattan, never flying in the middle seat of economy class ever again, loads of money to charity/loved ones, and a beautiful state-of-the-art performing arts complex in Fresno complete with endowed professional non-profit theater company and numerous Equity jobs for actors.

1. GET 'DIRTY' ONE LAST TIME
The Good Company Players happy production of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is in its final weekend. Peter Allwine (pictured below), Gordon Moore and Danielle Jorn give high-caliber comedic performances in this adaptation of the 1988 film. [Details]

Faculty at Fresno State continue to bark about the university administration's April decision to 1) adopt "Fresno State" in virtually all references instead of "California State University, Fresno" and 2) unveil a new logo dominated by a doggie paw print.

Though the name policy continues to sting, the logo is drawing particular fire. The big concern: the requirement that the new logo be used on official university letterhead and business cards instead of a much more academic-looking official seal. (The seal will continue to be incorporated into the stationery, but only as a faint watermark.) Opposing faculty members ask: Who wants to send off a student recommendation letter sporting a paw print to an Ivy League graduate school? Or go to an international scholarly conference and hand out business cards that look like they were designed for an elementary school?

Veteran English professor Craig Bernthal, whose pointed blog, Huron County Extract, has become a lively thorn in the administration's side, provides an account of the debate at a recent meeting of the faculty Academic Senate. (In a comment on my earlier Beehive post on the name change/logo issue, he calls the new stationery embarrassing.) Bernthal also takes a droll swipe at the paw print itself, suggesting that it looks less like a tough bulldog's sturdy clawed foot and more like, well, a cat's. Excerpts from his exclusive "interview":

Meanwhile, the paw-print model for the new Fresno State logo, Ms. Maneki Neko, was caught in a candid moment at a local sushi restaurant and answered a few questions.

Huron County Abstract: "Maneki-san, does it bother you that your paw print is being used to represent a bulldog?"

Maneki Neko: "Not for $15,000."

The North Fresno ArtHop doesn't usually get as much love as its much bigger southern cousin, so here's a plug for two venues:

Mixed media artist Myrna Axt will hold an artist's reception 5 p.m. Thursday for her new exhibition, "Existence & Materialism: A Voyage of My Imagination," at Boling Fine Arts Gallery. Axt says her work in the show focuses on "our modern-day materialism where objects are thrown away, and where consumption represents the 'good life, ' focusing more on money, image, and fame than ever before." The show, which opened May 1, runs through May 25.

Check out the winning entry in the sixth annual "I Am Fresno State" competition:

Rigoberto Moran of Farmersville, a junior majoring in Mass Communication and Journalism with a digital media option, won the first place $400 cash award plus $200 as the "viewers' choice" selection.

Here's the lineup:

WONDER OF THE WORLD
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Brad Myers
October 5-13, 2012

THE STY OF THE BLIND PIG
By Phillip Hayes Dean
Directed by Thomas-Whit Ellis
November 2-10, 2012

THE ELEPHANT MAN
By Bernard Pomerance
Directed by J. Daniel Herring
December 7-15, 2012

CONTEMPORARY DANCE ENSEMBLE
Kenneth Balint, Artistic Director
February 15-23, 2013

FROZEN
By Bryony Lavery
Directed by Kathleen McKinley
March 15-23, 2013

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
By Mary Zimmerman
Directed by Ruth Griffin
May 3-11, 2013

Looks like a challenging, provocative season. I'm looking forward to it!

Good Company Players is gearing up in a big way for the highlight of its season: the starring appearance of country-music star Louise Mandrell in the musical "Calamity Jane," which opens July 19. I devoted my Sunday Spotlight column to Mandrell's recent trip to Fresno. She came to sit in on auditions for the remaining roles in the show.

Mandrell told me that "Calamity Jane" will be the last time she performs, at least into the near future. She isn't using the word retirement, but her husband, John Haywood, has been ill, and in recent years she's cut back her career to spend more time with him.

"Because of my husband's health, this is the last thing on the books," she says of her appearance in the Good Company show. "If his health improves, that may change, but as of now, this is the last thing that is for sure."

And who will play the role of Wild Bill Hickok, the love interest of Calamity Jane, in the show? The lucky guy is veteran Good Company actor Brian Pucheu. Mandrell told me after the casting announcement that she's delighted to work with Pucheu, although she admits that the extreme beard that he sported during auditions -- which he grew out for his first-rate portrayal of Charles Guiteau in the just-finished run of "Assassins" at Fresno State -- did throw her at first. After she looked at pictures of a less-hirsute Pucheu in earlier roles for Good Company, she declared him "quite handsome."

Photo: Mandrell, left, works with William Johnson, Brian Pucheu and Teddy Moldonado during auditions for "Calamity Jane." On the jump: More pics and the "Calamity Jane" cast list.

The show went on.

Despite all the drama off stage -- an ongoing strike by local union musicians, along with the replacement just four days ago of three principal performers after the national actors' union supported the striking musicians -- Fresno Grand Opera steamed on schedule into the Saroyan Theatre Friday night with "Show Boat."

There are wonderful moments in this show -- and some uneven and bland ones, too. (And on Friday a few too many opening-night jitters.) But overall this "Show Boat" is a nice production of an important piece of theater history. The play might seem a little creaky at times in terms of narrative and structure, but it offers glorious music and lyrics by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Strong performances from some of the principal performers (who came from both the opera and musical-theater worlds) add a nice polish to the show, and it's fun to watch hard working and talented community-theater actors get to do their thing as members of the ensemble on the big Saroyan stage.

There's one additional performance of "Show Boat" 2 p.m. today (Saturday).

There are just hours to go before Fresno Grand Opera's last production of the 2011-12 season, "Show Boat," opens. Because of the strike against the opera company by the local musicians union, which I've covered in great detail, I think it's safe to say that no production in local history has divided the community so sharply even before the downbeat.

Within minutes of posting my regular Weekend Picks Beehive compilation feature on Facebook -- which did not include "Show Boat" because I knew I'd need to devote an entire post to the complexities of the issue -- a reader asked: "and what about SHOWBOAT?"

I'm seeing the show tonight and plan to post a review and recap of the evening, probably in the wee hours. I think the whole experience will be fascinating. It's only human nature to view any kind of art through one's own subjective filters, and how an audience member feels about the strike will likely color perceptions. (On Facebook, some people have already talked about how great the show will be, while others say it will be substandard.) As a critic, I have to try to leave all the baggage of the show at the door and approach it purely as an artistic experience.

Before I get into a recap of strike-related stuff, I'll point you to my traditional-style preview piece in Friday's 7 section. In an interview with stage director Valerie Rachelle, I trace the importance of "Show Boat" in the musical theater canon and talk about specifics of the Fresno production. Jessica Medoff, pictured, who plays the leading role of Magnolia in the historic musical, comes to Fresno Grand Opera production after experience in both operatic and musical theater roles with such companies as Opera New Jersey and Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater.