Perhaps the fact that I find myself genuinely conflicted as I try to assess David Mamet’s Oleanna is actually something of a mark in its favor. After all, as opposed to the many perfunctory crowd-pleasers that do little to challenge convention, this script offers plenty of food for thought, ensuring an intellectually stimulating experience for practically all audience members regardless of what they come away thinking about the work.

New initiative Women of Wilton (WOW)—a project of Ronnie Larsen of Plays of Wilton and Nicole Stodard of Thinking Cap Theatre—is getting off to a great start with a seriously wow-worthy production of Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. Written during the late 70s and first produced in 1980, this play by openly lesbian playwright Jane Chambers was considered monumental for its time. This is primarily due to the fact that it was one of the first commercially successful works to portray gay women as full-fledged, well-rounded human beings as opposed to tortured by self-hatred or as stereotype-ridden caricatures. 

“Wonder” might be an understatement of just how awestruck I was by Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Cirque Adventure. Conceived and directed by Deena Marcum Selko and featuring an original score by Quentin Chiappetta, this acrobatic extravaganza recently blew into the Adrienne Arsht Center courtesy of Moth Entertainment, a company that “creates live stage shows designed to connect with audiences of all ages.”

Before there was man, there was boob. Or at least that’s the way that Defending the Cavewoman retells the creation myth in its opening few moments, positing that Eve originally had a third such appendage out of which God then formed her a companion. It’s a clever enough feminist revision of the original story, and an engaging way to introduce audiences to the show’s amusing irreverence and basic concerns.

By half measure, full measure—actually, by virtually any measure—Measure for Measure as produced by the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival is a triumphant excavation of one of the bard’s less-produced works that here proves itself to be just as engrossing as his most popular ones. 

Those who are unfamiliar with the show may want to consult at least a summary beforehand to help make up the distance of the 17th century language, or, as I did, to skim through the script beforehand so as to develop a kind of road map for the events that will unfold. However, combined with crisp direction by Trent Stephens and the cast’s energetic performances, I imagine the fairly straightforward story is likely comprehensible to seasoned Shakespeare fans and newcomers alike. 

Well, you know what they say, right? It’s all good fun until a hydrangea loses its roots.  

To introduce the show now playing at Gablestage in its most basic sense: Native Gardens is a play that revolves around a dispute between neighbors over the potential placement of a fence meant to divide their gardens. But before I contemplate the absurdity of finding myself close to tears at the conclusion of a play about a garden dispute, I suppose I should explain that the show’s true subject could perhaps be more accurately described as the joy that can be found when the sense of common humanity overcomes the surface obstacles to understanding. 

Though the two main characters of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Lillian and Michael, are both loners by nature, there’s no arguing with the fact that it does, indeed, take two to tango. To name a few more of the styles that this odd couple ends up traversing over the course of the popular play currently on view at Empire Stage from fledgling company Artbuzz Theatrics, it also takes two to swing, waltz, foxtrot, cha-cha, and at least in some cases, contemporary dance.