theatre

Lynn Nottage’s prophetic 2015 play, “Sweat,” could have been a bellwether of the 2016 election. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning work portrays a plight faced by a broad swath of Americans either ignored or manipulated by the candidates. “Sweat” follows a group of friends, lifelong residents of a factory town, as their lives are pulled apart when the local plant shuts down.  

While strolling through the Boston Public Library’s Central Branch this month, you may hear the tortured howl of a wolf coming from Rabb Hall. Don’t be alarmed; it’s just Company One Theatre breaking down complicated adoption dynamics in their show “Wolf Play,” a new production by South Korean playwright Hansol Jung running at the library through Feb. 29.

New Repertory Theatre is reviving the production of the musical “Hair,” on stage through Feb. 23.

The latest work to mine fresh ground in the life of Malcolm X is “Detroit Red,” a play by award-winning actor, lyricist and hip-hop playwright Will Power on stage through Feb. 16 in a world premier production at the Emerson Paramount Center in Boston.

Lyndsay Allyn Cox and Kelly Chick glide about the stage in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “Bright Half Life” with the ease and grace of a fully trained ballet corps. Slipping through time frames and memories, the two talented actors illustrate the highs and lows, joys and tragedy of a 40-year relationship, in just over an hour.

Creating a play about a second-wave feminist icon, even one as spectacular as Gloria Steinem, is an endeavor rife with pitfalls. The era of feminism during which Steinem rose to fame is known for being exclusive of people of color and other minorities. But in Emily Mann’s “Gloria: A Life,” playing at American Repertory Theater through March 1, representation is the name of the game.

For award-winning playwright Will Power (Fetch Clay, Make Man), Malcolm’s life was cut short too soon, but it was at a point where he had “reached a certain zenith that most people don’t get to reach.”

“King John” may be the title character of Praxis Stage’s latest performance in the company’s Shakespeare season, but it’s the play’s women who take charge in this adaptation.

Playwright Lynn Nottage’s powerful play “Sweat” opens at the Huntington Theatre Company Jan. 31 and runs through March 1.

On Thursday, Jan. 23, five actors with intellectual disabilities will take the stage in Back to Back Theatre’s “The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes” at ArtsEmerson. In 70 minutes, the powerful performance vacillates from hilarious to heart-wrenching to deeply intellectual and back again. 

Through Feb. 9, the Lyric Stage Company debuts a show as sweet as its name. “The Cake,” written by Bekah Brunstetter, follows a traditional Southern baker named Della who is thrown into moral conflict when her deceased best friend’s daughter Jen asks for a wedding cake for her same-sex marriage.

Several years ago, playwright Mary M. McCullough overheard a longtime married couple bickering about why the husband wouldn’t leave the house. McCullough jotted down a few lines of dialogue and put it away. Now, drafts later, that conversation reemerges in the debut of McCullough’s play, “Smoked Oysters,” playing at Greater Egleston High School in Roxbury Monday through Wednesday, Jan. 20–22.