THE WINTER'S TALE | Director Kevin G. Coleman promises "nothing less than magic. . . . It's about making the impossible, possible." We'll see how he decides to make Shakespeare's most famous stage direction possible: "Exit, pursued by bear." Jonathan Epstein stars as Leontes; Elizabeth Aspenlieder plays Hermione. | Shakespeare & Company, Founders Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox | 413.637.3353 or shakespeare.org | Through September 5 | Curtain this week: 7:30 pm Thurs [August 5] | 2 pm Fri | 7:30 pm Tues | 2 pm Wed | $14-$85
INDEFINITELY
BLUE MAN GROUP | The Drama Desk Award–winning trio of cobalt-painted bald pates begin their delightful and deafening evening of anti–performance art beating drums that are also deep buckets of paint, so that sprays of color jump from the instruments like breaking surf, and end by engulfing the spectators in tangles of toilet paper. | Charles Playhouse, 74 Warrenton St, Boston | 617.931.ARTS or blueman.com | Indefinitely | Curtain this week: 5 pm Thurs [August 5] | 7 pm Fri | 2 + 5 + 8 pm Sat | 4 + 7 pm Sun | 8 pm Mon-Thurs [August 12] | $48-$62; $30 student rush
THE DONKEY SHOW | Diane Paulus & Randy Weiner's disco-set riff on A Midsummer Night's Dream is an hour-long work set in the Studio 54–inspired environs of Club Oberon and framed by episodes of Saturday Night Fever in which you may or may not choose to star. The dramatis personae include Dr. Wheelgood, a gold-lamé-clad Puck on roller skates; club owner Mr. Oberon, who's out to humiliate his haughty diva girlfriend, Tytania; desperately yearning or cockily dismissive lovers Helen, Dimitri, Mia, and Sander; and a twin couple of ruffle-shirted, Afro-coiffed dudes both named Vinnie. Ingeniously double-cast, sexily supple, and screeching into headsets, they join the paying crowd (a small minority of whom occupy tables in a cabaret area that also sees action) for an immersive night of hedonism and hustle driven by the pounding beat and melodramatic passions of disco hits from the 1970s. | Oberon, Mass Ave + Arrow St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 or cluboberon.com | Indefinitely | Curtain 8 pm Fri | 8 + 10:30 pm Sat | $25-$49
SHEAR MADNESS | The dramatis personae of the audience-participation whodunit (which is now the longest-running non-musical in American theater history, having run 30 years in Boston) continue to comb Newbury Street for the murderer of a classical pianist who lived over the unisex hair salon where the show is set. | Charles Playhouse Stage II, 74 Warrenton St, Boston | 617.426.5225 or shearmadness.com | Indefinitely | Curtain 8 pm Tues-Fri | 6 + 9 pm Sat | 3 + 7 pm Sun | $42; $31.50 with AAA discount; half-price college-student rush, one ticket per college ID, at the box office, one hour prior to curtain
