THE DREAMER EXAMINES HIS PILLOW | Shakespeare & Company does this early (1986) John Patrick Shanley play about a dreamer who wants to be a painter, his former girlfriend, his former girlfriend's father (who actually is a painter), and a refrigerator you're advised to keep an eye on. | Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox | 413.637.3353 | August 7–September 6 | Curtain times vary | $16-$38; $11-$29 students, seniors
"FEVER FEST 09: FRICTION" | The newly formed Small Theatre Alliance of Boston has taken over Whistler in the Dark's annual summer festival, which is now in its fourth year. On the bill: imaginary beasts in Angelo Beolco's Weasel, Veronica Barron and Company in would you meet me?, This and That Theater Group in The Old Woman, New Exhibition Room in Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, Bright Lights & Burning Nights Old Time Circus and Traveling Road Show in an excerpt from The Disappearing Man & Other Sad Songs, Phoenix Theatre Artists in Iron over the Curb, or Bollywood Ending, and Whistler in the Dark in Timothy Callahan's Friction of Dust. | Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont St, Boston |www.TheFactoryTheatre.org| August 6-16 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 4 pm Sun | $20; $15 students, seniors
THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA | Gloucester Stage takes on Edward Albee's 2002 Tony winner about a married, successful, 50-year-old architect whose life is torn apart by his love affair with a soulful denizen of the barnyard. Anne Gottlieb, Robert Pemberton, Dennis Trainor, and Jesse Rudoy star; we don't recall that there's an actual goat in the play, but if there is, casting is TBA. GSC artistic director Eric C. Engel is at the helm. | Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main St, Gloucester | 978.281.4433 | August 8-23 | Curtain 8 pm Wed-Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 4 pm Sun | $32-$37
THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED | Next up for Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater is Douglas Carter Beane's Tony-nominated 2006 comedy, a send-up of show-biz hypocrisy in which an up-and-coming film star falls in love with a male hustler, much to the chagrin of his high-powered female agent. Beane is the author of As Bees in Honey Drown and the book for the Broadway musical Xanadu. Daisy Walker directs | Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Julie Harris Stage, 2357 Rte 6, Wellfleet | 508.349.WHAT | August 6–September 5 | Curtain 8 pm Tues-Sat | $25-$32
MY FAIR LADY | "Cape Rep finally tackles a musical" — well, you can't argue with the choice. Kim Weild ("associate director of Broadway's Blithe Spirit starring Angela Lansbury") directs; Scott Storr provides the musical direction. | Cape Rep Theatre, 1772 Main St, Brewster | 508.896.1888 | July 30–August 29 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | $28
WHERE MOMENTS HUNG BEFORE | Boston Actors Theater presents this Joey C. Pelletier play about a birthday party and a funeral taking place at the same time and in the same place. The funeral is for Jasper Kelly, a gay man who was only in his early 30s; the birthday party is for Lucy, whose mom, Morgan, was Jasper's sister. Morgan's hoping the birthday part will make everyone feel a little better, but Lucy's not exactly thrilled, since it seems everyone's thinking about Jasper and not her. BAT artistic director Danielle Leeber is at the helm. | Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Comm Ave, Boston | 866.411.8111 | August 6-16 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $15; $10 students
