ALOHA, SAY THE PRETTY GIRLS | Lindsay Albaugh directs this American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University production of Naomi Iizuka's 1999 Whiting Writers' Award–winning play, "a hilarious romp that follows young Generation X-ers in their quest for love and identity." | Zero Arrow Theatre, Mass Ave + Arrow St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 | Through February 14 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs-Sat | $10; $5 seniors, students; free ART subscribers
AWAKE AND SING! | Trinity Repertory Company stalwart Fred Sullivan Jr. directs this much-praised Gamm Theatre revival of Clifford Odets's classic 1935 drama about a fiery Jewish family struggling through the Great Depression. | Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St, Pawtucket, Rhode Island | 401.723.4266 | Through February 15 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 2 + 7 pm Sun | $24-$39
BAD DATES | Lenox-based Shakespeare & Company kicks off its first winter season with theater and television writer Theresa Rebeck's engaging one-woman comedy. Adrianne Krstansky directs Elizabeth Aspenlieder in the show, whose focus is a Manhattan single mom with a job managing a restaurant and a serious shoe habit; she takes us into her confidence while preparing for and rehashing the social engagements of the title. | Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble St, Lenox | 413.637.3353 | Through March 8 | Curtain 7 pm Fri-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $28.80
BAD JAZZ | Zeitgeist Stage Company presents the New England premiere of Brit writer Robert Farquhar's assault on a "theatrical world gone mad." On board are "a maniacal British director, a suicidal playwright, a male hustler named Elvis, and two 'Method' actors who immerse themselves into their characters' maladjusted worlds" a bit too much. David J. Miller directs. | Boston Center for the Arts Plaza, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | Through February 21 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 4 pm Sun | $35; $25 seniors, students | Carolyn Clay's review page 27
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS | Turtle Lane Playhouse revives the 1978 Broadway musical by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson, with music and lyrics by Carol Hall, set at Miss Mona's Chicken Ranch, a Texas bordello in operation since 1850. James Tallach directs. | Turtle Lane Playhouse, 283 Melrose St, Auburndale | 617.244.0169 | February 13–March 15 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $25-$27.50
BLACKBIRD | David Harrower's play won the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Play; SpeakEasy Stage Company presents its area premiere. Elliot Norton Award winner David R. Gammons helms the show, which "tells the story of a meeting between two people, Ray and Una, who 15 years ago had a passionate affair. Emotions run high as the pair recall their scandalous relationship and attempt to come to terms with the shattering truth of their abandoned love." Marianna Bassham and Bates Wilder make up the cast. | Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St, Boston | February 20–March 21 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues [March 17] | 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $47-$50; $42-$45 seniors, students; $30 gallery seats; $14 student rush, with ID, one hour before curtain, subject to availability
THE BLACK JEW DIALOGUES | "What's so funny about two American minorities that have slavery, the KKK, and chicken livers in common?" That's a question pondered by Boston natives Ron Jones and Larry Jay Tish as they make a home-town stop with their touring comedy "that explores the history and absurdity of prejudice, hate, and racism in America." Born of three days spent discussing the subject in a cheap hotel room, the show has been touring for two years. | Wimberly Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | February 13 | Curtain 8 pm Fri | $20-$25
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 8 pm Wed-Thurs | 7 pm Fri | 2 + 5 + 8 pm Sat | 1 + 4 pm Sun | $58; $48 limited view; $25 student rush
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF | Scott Edmiston directs Tennessee Williams's 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner set on the Mississippi plantation where Big Daddy is about to buy the farm and Maggie the Cat is jumping out of her sexual skin. Lyric Stage honcho Spiro Veloudos takes the stage as Big Daddy; Georgia Lyman gets to wear Liz Taylor's slip. | Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St, Boston | 617.585.5678 | February 13–March 14 | Curtain 2 pm [February 18, March 4] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25-$50
