OPENING
ACT A LADY | Theater on Fire closes its season with this farce by Seattle playwright and Brown University grad Jordan Harrison. “When the men of a small Prohibition-era town decide to put on a play dressed in ‘fancy-type, women-type clothes,’ the whole community is affected: gender lines blur, eyebrows raise, identities explode, and life and art are forever entangled.” Who’d have guessed! The cast includes Lisa Caron Driscoll, Craig Houk, Crystal Lisbon, Greg Maraio, Chelsea Schmidt, and Chris Wagner; Darren Evans directs. | Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill St, Boston | 866.811.4111 | April 16–May 1 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | $15 Thurs; $20 Fri-Sat | $10 students, seniors
THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD | “A cheating husband, a meddling neighbor, and a dropped ice cream cone combine to shatter Rhonda Russell’s quiet, suburban life. Seven very different characters offer their own perspective of the day Rhonda went berserk.” That’s the set-up for this 2004 work by Australian dramatist Robert Hewett; the catch is that all seven characters are played by one performer — in this case, former American Repertory Theater company member Karen MacDonald. Emerson College performing-arts chair Melia Bensussen directs this regional premiere. | Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack St, Lowell | 978.654.4MRT or merrimackrep.org | April 22–May 16 | Curtain 2 pm [April 28] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 pm [no April 24] + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7 pm [no evening May 16] Sun | $26-$56
EDWARD II | The Provincetown Theater Company gives us Christopher Marlowe’s underperformed study of the 14th-century English king whose predilection for male favorites proved his undoing. Look for a more sympathetic portrait of this ruler — who was, like Marlowe, probably gay — than the one Mel Gibson created for Braveheart. Anthony Jackman directs. | Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St, Provincetown | 508.487.7487 or provincetowntheater.com | April 16–May 2 | Curtain 7:30 pm Fri-Sun | $22; $18 students, seniors
MAMMALS | Apollinaire Theatre Company presents the East Coast premiere of this work by English playwright Amelia Bulmore that got a decided thumbs-up from the Sunday Times. “Jane and Kev don’t have secrets. They don’t have room for them. Their children take up all the space. But when Kev comes home from a business trip with something to confess, he starts a chain reaction which has shattering consequences. Their weekend guests, wisecracking Phil and glamorous Lorna, are blissfully free of family chaos by contrast. But not being tied down isn't necessarily all fun and games either.” Ted Batch, James Bocock, Becca A. Lewis, Alison Meirowitz, Lorna Nogueira, and Maria Schaedler-Luera star; Danielle Fauteux Jacques directs. | Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St, Chelsea | 617.887.2336 or apollinairetheatre.com | April 16–May 16 | Curtain 8 pm Fri-Sat | 3 pm Sun [May 9, 16] | $25 advance; $30 doors; $20 senior advance; $15 student rush
