THE DUCK VARIATIONS AND SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO | The American Repertory Theatre's "Sex, Satire, Romance, and Ducks" tribute to David Mamet concludes with this double bill of early one-acts. In the first, old-timers Emil and George are parked on a bench watching a flock of ducks and telling stories about ducks, even though they don't know duckshit about ducks. It's still delightful, and here it's played by old pros Thomas Derrah and Will LeBow, who pat their paunches while waxing philosophic under the direction of ART associate director Marcus Stern. The less timeless Sexual Perversity finds Chicago couple Danny and Deborah perverse enough to want to move in together, but that'll leave Danny's friend Bernard and Deborah's friend Joan feeling left out. Presented by first-year ART/MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training students directed by fellow student Paul Stacey, it's short on Mamet's trademark staccato rhythms. | Zero Arrow Theatre, Mass Ave + Arrow St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 | Through June 28 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm Sun | $39; $25 stool
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 8 pm Mon-Tues | 7 pm Wed | 8 pm Fri-Sat | $15-$44
GOLDA'S BALCONY | Annette Miller reprises her Elliot Norton Award–winning portrayal of Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in this one-woman play by the late William Gibson that's set during a single evening during the Yom Kippur War. Daniel Gidron directs. | Shakespeare & Company, Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox | 413.637.3353 | Through July 3 | Curtain 8:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 3 pm Fri | 8:30 pm Sun | $16-$34; $11-$29 students, seniors
HELLO DOLLY! | For their 41st consecutive summer season, Reagle Players are offering "A Salute to Jerry Herman," and it kicks off with Broadway's Rachel York — Lucille Ball in the CBS bio-pic, and a Drama Desk Award winner for Victor Victoria opposite Julie Andrews — as widowed matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi, whose intentions toward the available Horace Vandergelder soon transcend the professional. We're promised a full orchestra, "Broadway" sets and costumes, Gower Champion (most of you aren't old enough to remember Marge and Gower) staging, and Broadway vet Jamie Ross as Horace. | Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St, Waltham | 781.891.5600 | Through June 27 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 7:30 pm Fri | 7:30 pm Sat | $32-$54
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
