PRIVATE LIVES | The Wellesley Summer Theatre Company has recruited Heather Boas, Danny Bolton, Derek Stone-Nelson, and Cheryl Turski for the classic 1930 comedy by Noël Coward about a divorced couple, Elyot and Amanda, who meet again on adjoining hotel balconies on the first night of their respective honeymoons with new spouses in the south of France. "Don't quibble, Sibyl!" WSTC artistic director Nora Hussey is at the helm. | Schneider Center Theatre, Wellesley College campus, Wellesley | 781.283.2000 | January 7-31 | Curtain 7 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $20; $10 students, seniors
STREGA NONA | This adaptation of Tomie dePaola's children's tale about the Italian grandmother and her magical pasta pot and her clumsy new assistant (think: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice") has a score by Aron Accurso, choreography by Nicole McGann, and a "pop-up-book-inspired" set design by Andrea Bechert; Tracy Ward directs. | Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St, Boston | 800.982.ARTS | January 9 | Curtain 11 am + 2 pm + 5 pm | $20-$35
[TITLE OF SHOW] | SpeakEasy Stage Company starts off the new year with this new show about two friends who decide to write a musical about two friends who are trying to write a musical. Oh yes, and it's a musical, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and book by Hunter Bell. Paul Daigneault directs; the cast has Jordan Ahnquist as Jeff and Joe Lanza as Hunter, plus Amy Barker as Heidi, Will McGarahan as Larry, and Val Sullivan as Susan. Running time is 90 minutes, with no intermission. | Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Studio Theatre, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.482.3279 | January 15–February 13 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Thurs [Tues February 9 only] | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 Sat | 3 pm Sun | $30-$54
NOW PLAYING
GROUNDSWELL | The Lyric Stage Company of Boston offers the New England premiere of Ian Bruce's 2005 play, which takes its title from a line in T.S. Eliot's "The Dry Salvages." "The lives of three disappointed men intersect with volatile consequences in a hotel in a sleepy South African port town when Thami, the gardener and caretaker, and Johan, the odd-job man and former police officer, conspire to pressure the hotel's lone guest into investing in their diamond-mining scheme. The three men find themselves in a power struggle fueled by greed and entitlement." The New York Times called it a "cross between David Mamet and Athol Fugard." Daniel Gidron directs; the cast includes Jason Bowen, Timothy John Smith, and Richard McElvain. | 140 Clarendon St, Boston | 617.585.5678 | Through January 30 | Curtain 2 pm [January 27] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25-$54
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM | Next up for Actors' Shakespeare Project is the Bard's mix-and-match comedy of moonstruck love, with Benjamin Evett directing, Marianna Bassham as Titania, and Robert Walsh as Bottom, plus Shelley Bolman, Autumn Elise Henry, Jennie Israel, Michael Kaye, Curt Klump, and John Kuntz (Puck?). | Midway Studios, 15 Channel Center St, Fort Point Channel, Boston | 866.811.4111 | Through January 24 | Curtain 10 am [January 13] Wed | 10 am [January 7, 21] + 7:30 pm Thurs | 7:30 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $47; $38 seniors; $25 students
