Political theater? In July?

California Stage goes “out of season” this weekend with two small shows that don’t shy away from politics.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday (July 26-28) at 8 p.m., Cal Stage presents the one-man show Marx in Soho, in which Karl Marx returns from the afterlife after agitating for a chance to “clear his name.” Through a bureaucratic error, Marx is sent to SoHo in New York, rather than his old haunts in London, to make his case. The script, by Howard Zinn, has been staged around the world. This production, featuring actor David Levy (who looks the part), is on a low-key national tour ($12-$19).

On Sunday (July 29) at 2 p.m., there’s a reading of Legacy, a new play about a couple that was active in the Black Power movement in the ’60s and went on to university careers. Playwright Leslie Perry will attend the reading ($15-$20).