WOMEN OF WILL | In preparation for the world premiere — August 25-27 — of the expanded, five-part version of Shakespeare & Company founder Tina Packer's opus, which will be presented over the course of three days, we get this "tour de force of performance, discussion, and just a bit of crowd participation" in which Packer, with the help of Nigel Gore, presents scenes from the plays that illuminate what it means to be a woman, or to show "qualities traditionally considered feminine," in Shakespeare's world. Eric Tucker directs. | Shakespeare & Company, Founders Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox | 413.637.3353 | Through July 24 | Curtain through June: 7:30 pm Thurs-Sat [June 4, 5, 10, 12, 19, 25, 26] | 2 pm [June 20] or 7:30 pm [June 6, 27] Sun | $35-$45
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 | Indefinitely | Curtain this week: 2 + 5 + 8 pm Thurs [June 3] | 4 + 7 pm Fri | 4 + 7 + 10 pm Sat | 4 + 7 pm Sun | 8 pm Tues | 2 + 8 pm Wed-Thurs [June 9] | $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 | 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 | 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
