DIVIDING THE ESTATE | Well, that's the question in the late Horton Foote's Tony-nominated play, whose production is moving to Hartford Stage after getting closed down on Broadway in January. Texas matriarch Stella Gordon wants to keep the 100-year-old family estate intact, even though its time seems to have passed. Her three children are more interested in the title activity. The production is directed by Hartford artistic director Michael Wilson (which is partly why it wound up in Hartford); Hallie Foote heads the cast. | Hartford Stage, 50 Church St, Hartford | 860.527.5151 | Through July 5 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues [June 16] | 2 pm [June 17, 24] Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs [no July 2] | 8 pm Fri [no July 3] | 2 pm [June 27] + 8 pm [no July 4] Sat | 2 + 7 pm [evening June 14] Sun | $23-$68 | Carolyn Clay's review is on page 28
FAITH HEALER | Berkshire Theatre Festival opens its 2009 season with Brian Friel's story about the Irish faith healer who tours Great Britain with his wife and his manager, a story that's told entirely through monologues. Colin Lane has the title role, David Adkins is Teddy, Keira Naughton is Grace; Eric Hill directs. | Berkshire Theatre Festival Unicorn Theatre, Main St, Stockbridge | 413.298.5576 | Through July 4 | Curtain through June 20: 8 pm Thurs-Sat + 2 pm Sun | Curtain June 21-July 4: 8 pm Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat + 7 pm Wed | $15-$44
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST | Wellesley Summer Theatre updates Oscar Wilde's essay on the importance of being something other than the offspring of a handbag to the Jazz Age, where Oscar himself would surely have had a swell time had he still been around. "Critically acclaimed members of the WST company" are promised for the cast; Nora Hussey and Valerie von Rosenvinge direct. | Wellesley Summer Theatre, Schneider Hall, Wellesley College, Wellesley | 781.283.2000 | Through June 28 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $20; $10 students, seniors
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING | Actors' Shakespeare Project transfers the Bard's Sicilian comedy to a vaguely 1950s America, where soldiers returning home from a war, show up at a nightclub (with cabaret tables for actors and audience) and couples sway to music of the era and Bobbie Steinbach delivers the play's signature tune, "Sigh no more, ladies," as a jazz number to which listening gents snap their fingers as she turns "Hey nonny, nonny" into Elizabethan scat. And as the sparring Beatrice and Benedick, tart, smart, long-married thespians Paula Plum and Richard Snee are the life of the swank-on-a-shoestring affair, managing to wed Noël Coward–esque sparring to the slapstick of the twin scenes in which, thinking themselves successful eavesdroppers, B&B are tricked into acknowledging their feelings for each other. Some of the comedy feels forced and some of the drama overwrought, but director and designer Benjamin Evett's production concept captures the festive feel of much of the play, and the show beautifully suits the old-fashioned, high-ceilinged elegance of Hibernian Hall. | Roxbury Center for the Arts at Hibernian Hall, 182 Dudley St, Roxbury | 866.811.4111 | Through June 14 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs-Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $25-$47
